Centre to announce package for suicide-prone districts in South

Bangalore, Sep 14 (UNI) A substantial financial relief package to provide succour to the farmers of suicide-prone districts of South Indian States will be announced by the Centre in a few days, soon after the Prime Minister returns from his overseas tour, Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam S Ramesh informed today.

Talking to newspersons after launching the mascot for the second Indian International Coffee Festival to be held in February, he said 31 districts -- 16 from Andhra Pradesh, six each from Karnataka and Maharashtra and three from Kerala -- would be covered under the package. In Karnataka, Belgaum, Chitradurga, Shimoga, Chikmagalur, Hassan and Kodagu would be covered in the package.

Giving details about the package, he said it would be a huge one, comprising various aspects such as loan rescheduling, interest rate reduction, irrigation, livestock development and agriculture credit.

The most important aspect was that it also covered the financial and debt rescheduling of coffee industry, he added.

Mr Ramesh said the Prime Minister had discussed the issue with Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and assured party delegations from the Southern States in this regard.

Earlier, addressing the gathering after the launch, the Minister called upon the coffee growers in the country to put in sincere efforts to increase domestic consumption of coffee. It was a big challenge as nothing had changed on this front even after liberalisation for over a decade. The proportion of coffee export to domestic consumption remained at 72 per cent and 28 per cent respectively. The international festival should make an attempt to entice foreign buyers, especially Italy, Russia, Germany and the United States where Indian coffee had carved a niche for itself, he said.

He announced that the international Tea Festival would be organised in August in Guwahati to promote tea consumption.

UNI SR GD LL DB1821