Bansal stresses on raising agri growth rate

Ludhiana, Oct 16 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal today said that the annual contribution of agriculture to the gross product would have to be raised if India is to sustain an economic growth rate of eight per cent.

Inaugurating a farmers training programme at the Punjab Agricultural University campus, organised by Bank of India in collaboration with the University, Mr Bansal assured the farmers that the government was not averse to their problems. India took a strong stand at the WTO conferences and did not compromise on the interests of the Indian farmers, he added.

''For India to become a major economic power house, the agri sector will have to grow'', he said. A strong marketing infrastructure and farmer-friendly forward training measures need to be taken, he added.

Refering to PAU, the minister said state agricultural universities should not be starved of funds as agriculture had an important role to play in the Indian economic growth . For this, transfer of technology from the universities to farmers was imperative, he added.

Mr Bansal, who discussed the financial health of the University with Vice Chancellor Dr K S Aulakh, said the country's universities could run commercially on their own and state funding was important.

PAU was a service university and it cannot be left to fend for itself and it has to be adequately equipped with money, he added.

Regarding the special central grant of Rs 100 crore announced for PAU, the minister said that he would take up the matter with the Prime Minister and Finance Minister P Chidambaram so that the grant reaches the University soon.

Stressing the need to provide people ''accessibility'' to the banks, Mr Bansal said that at present at least 51 per cent of the population had no access to banks or financial institutions . Only 27 per cent had an access to the banks, while another 22 per cent depended on the money-lenders to meet their financial requirements.

The minister also disclosed that NABARD had agreed to increase its share in Punjab from Rs 186 crore to Rs 600 crore this year.

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