Tackle farmers' problems on war footing: Jamir

Nagpur, Aug 20 (UNI) Maharashtra Governor S C Jamir today said the problems of farmers in Vidarbha region of the state should be tackled on a warfooting.

Speaking to reporters here, Mr Jamir said that concerted efforts must be made to eliminate the root cause of despair among the farmers.

''We must all put our resources together to solve the problem, as Vidarbha has seen a spate of suicides by farmers,'' he said.

The Governor also called for a multi-pronged approach to tackle the problems of naxalism, Maoism and terrorism.

''There is no one single reason for these problems. Among them is economic condition,'' he said.

Mr Jamir said a mechanism should be evolved to reduce the administrative burden on the vice chancellors (VCs) of universities so that they could concentrate on academics.

Although no specific measures had been initiated yet, the thought process had already begun in this direction, Mr Jamir, who is also the Chancellor of the 19 universities in the state, said.

''I don't want the VCs to be replying to notices and complaints.

I don't want them to get bogged down by volumes of correspondence,'' the Governor said.

VCs are the academic heads of the high institutions of learning, and should, therefore, be engaged in improving the standards of education and strive for excellence in teaching, he said.

Asked if VCs would be asked to spend a minimum number of days in a month at headquarters, Mr Jamir said all aspects would be taken into consideration while working out the mechanism.

Earlier, Mr Jamir inaugurated the 12-day long disaster management training programme, titled 'Avhan' (The Challenge), for cadets of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) from all parts of Maharashtra.

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