Sonia asks Congress CMs to deal with terror, farmers suicides

Nainital, Sep 23 (UNI) With an eye on the coming assembly elections in four States, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today asked the UPA Government to make agriculture the focus of the eleventh Five-Year Plan and tackle firmly the challenges on the internal security front while ensuring that no community felt under siege or as an automatic target of suspicion.

''The suicides of so many farmers in some States of the country are a challenge to our collective conscience and beckon us to immediate action,'' she observed while inaugurating the Seventh Conclave of the Chief Ministers Congress-ruled Sates.

Agriculture and internal security are the two issues that will dominate the proceedings at the two-day conclave, being held in this tourist resort of Uttaranchal amid tight security. Top party leaders may also discuss the strategy to be adopted in the coming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab and Manipur.

Referring to wheat imports, she said largely because of stagnation in production and fall in procurement in key states like Uttar Pradesh, the Government was compelled to take the step.

Ms Gandhi pointed out that the coverage of institutional credit for small and marginal farmers was woefully inadequate as a result of which the grip of money-lenders continued.Crop insurance covered barely 10 per cent of the farmers.

Blaming the NDA Government for being insensitive to the distress of farmers, she said the NDA had set up a National Commission on farmers just two months before the elections, but within three months of Dr Manmohan Singh becoming the Prime Minnister, the National Commission was reconstituted with Dr M S Swaminathan and given expanded terms of reference.

The Commission had submitted four reports which were receiving serious consideration by the Prime Minsiter, Mrs Gandhi said. She listed inititatives taken by the Congress-led UPA Government and hoped these would impact positively on the growth of agriculture.

The Congress President referred to the recent meeting of PCC chiefs of Maharashtra,Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala with the Prime Minister for a special financial package for the suicide-prone districts in their state. ''I understand the Prime Minster has responded to this request favourably and we can expect an announcement soon.''

Referring to the Eleventh Plan being finalised,she expressed the view that without massive public investment and without far reaching reforms in public delivery systems, the much needed agricultural growth could not take place. The only way in which this can be achieved is by significant increase in the productivity and yields consistent with ecological sustainability, she asserted, adding. ''Each one of you should put in place a mechanism that will provide continuing institutional focus for revitalization.'' The Congress President emphasized that the strategy should be to provide non-farm employment to rural youth .Small scale industries and village industries could play an important role as well as the creation of new industrial growth centres.

Mrs Gandhi was firmly of the view that prime agricultural land should not be diverted to non-agricultural uses as being done in the development of Special Economic Zone(SEZ). ''Industry requires land no doubt, but this must be done without jeopardising our agricultural prospects. Farmers must get proper compensation when their land is purchased.'' She wondered whether farmers also could become stake holders in the projects that came up on the land acquired from them. She suggested that the resettlement and rehabilitation projects must be strengthened and implemented in an effective and credible manner so as to inspire confidence in the people to be displaced.

Tracing the problem of naxalism to the land alienation among the scheduled tribes, Mrs Gandhi called for a complete overhaul of the entire system of land administration guaranteeing conclusive land titles. Stressing the need for strengthening the public distribution system to ensure food security to the poor and vulnerable sections, she suggested development of new areas from where procurement would take place She also called for giving minimum support price to farmers every where.

Expressing serious concern over continuing terrorist attacks in various parts of the country, Mrs Gandhi underlined the need for upgrading intelligence system. urgently. She wanted the state governments to enable each state to have a fully equipped anti-terrorism force.

In this context, she favoured effective police action free from social bias and political pressure, to deal with organizations disturbing communal harmony. But at the same time she wanted that tough and anti-terrorist actions should not lead to polarization of the society. ''While recognizing that there can be no compromise on internal security, we must make sure that that no community feels itself under siege or as automatic target of suspicion.

About the naxalite problem, she said the administrative machinery must be more responsive in tribal areas. ''Laws to protect the interests of tribal families must be implemented in letter and spirit.'' Whether the Centre should play a more pro-active role in this regard ''must be discussed and clearly spelt out.'' Expressing her anguish at the situation in the North East,the Congress President felt if it could be ensured that the benefits of development projects reached the people, the hold of militant groups could be weakened.

Hailing the resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, she pointed out that the Congress had always advocated a dialogue. She said even while in Opposition the party had supported this idea of Dialogue on all issues including Jammu and Kashmir. However, she expressed serious concern over terrorist attacks in the state.

Mrs Gandhi concluded her speech by saying that the Chief Minsters should ensure that party organization is fully involved in whatever the state government does.

The 14 Chief Ministers attending the Conclave are Amarinder Singh (Punjab), Bhupinder Singh Hooda, (Haryana), Ghulam Nabi Azad (Jammu and Kashmir), Virbhadra Sing (Himachal Pradesh), N.D.Tiwari (Uttaranchal), Sheila Dikshit (Delhi), Tarun Gogoi (Assam), Y.S.Rajasekhar Reddy (Andhra Pradesh) Gegong Apang (Arunachal Prades), Vilas Rao Deshmukh (Maharashtr), J D Rymbai (Meghalay), Okram Ibobi Singh (Manipur), Pratap Singh Rane (Goa) and N Rengaswamy (Puducherry).

UNI