'Vidarbha-like package for suicide-affected areas'

New Delhi, Aug 15: The Government will soon announce a financial package on the Vidarbha pattern to all suicide-affected districts as part of ''concrete steps'' to address the problems of farmers reeling under the burden of ''crushing debt'', Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today.

''We have waived interest on over-due loans for debt-stressed farmers in Vidarbha and will do the same in other suicide affected districts,'' he said while addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

The Prime Minister said he was pained to meet families of farmers who had committed suicide in Vidarbha because they could not repay loans taken to meet the cost of health care of their loved ones.

''I see that our farmers in many parts are in a crisis, not managing to eke out a decent living from their land. When I visited Vidarbha, the plight of the farmers there made a deep impact on me.

''The agricultural crisis that is forcing them to take the desperate step of committing suicide needs to be resolved. We need to think about how we can provide a decent livelihood to our farmers?'' he said.

While admitting that a lot of work ought to be done to improve the prospects for farmers, he indicated the Government would work towards ensuring more remunerative prices for them.

In this context, Dr Singh pointed out that the Government had recently constituted an expert group to look into the problem of agricultural indebtedness.

''I am confident that in a few months, we will take concrete measures to help our farmers overcome the burden of crushing debt,'' he said.

Dr Singh said the Government wanted to ensure that more people got employment in the manufacturing and services sector so that the disproportionate burden on agriculture in providing a livelihood to two-thirds of the population was reduced.

Moreover, ''we need to understand that if we want better prices for farmers so that they earn a better livelihood, the prices of what they produce and sell will have to go up! We certainly cannot grudge our farmers better incomes when incomes of other sections of society are rising!'' However, the Government would simultaneously ensure adequate supply of essential commodities at affordable prices to the needy and the poor, he added. He also sought to reassure that the prices of essential commodities would be kept under check.

Speaking about the achievements of his Government and on his promise two years ago of providing a ''New Deal for Rural India'', he said much was done, but much more had to be done.

''We have kept our word and almost doubled agricultural credit in less than three years as promised. We are providing short term loans to farmers at 7 per cent... We are trying to reach institutional credit to each and every farmer so that they are out of the clutches of moneylenders''.

The Government was reviving the cooperative banking system for which a Rs 13,000 crore package was being implemented. It had been paying special attention to horticulture, animal husbandry, cotton, sugarcane and other crops.

A National Fisheries Development Board has been set up for increasing the livelihood of fishermen. Agricultural research was being improved and Krishi Vigyan Kendras would soon be functioning in every district of the country by the year end, he said.

UNI