Nitish launches Biometric Card Scheme for farmers

Patna, Apr 18 (UNI) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today launched the Biometric Card Scheme for farmers saying agriculture and dairy had immense potential to change the face of the state.

Addressing the silver jubilee celebrations of Cooperative Milk Producer's Federation Ltd (COMFED), Mr Kumar said here that when majority of cooperatives were gradually slipping on the brink of closure, the COMFED added glory to the state and cooperated in the development of Bihar.

''Apart from the dairy projects, special attention was being paid to the Agriculture sector for an overall development of the state,'' he added.

Mr Kumar further said the current year had been declared as the ''Agriculture year'' and the state government had prepared a long- term plan of Rs six thousand crore for promoting agriculture, which would be executed in the next five years.

Under the scheme, farmers would be given a card with their finger prints as identification mark with which they will enjoy the facility of drawing money from the ATM of UTI bank.

Addressing the function, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said countries like China, Thailand, Vietnam and Bangladesh had laid special emphasis on agriculture for their economic growth.

On this occasion, Cooperative Minister Giriraj Singh said that the cooperative movement would play a pivotal role in dairy development.

UNI RS-KKS ADG PY BST1931