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Maharashtra

  • State will spare no efforts to help farmers, says Patil

    In a massive propaganda drive to claim credit for the 60000 crore loan waiver, NCP which is the alliance partner in the state said that the government was ready to share any additional burden, if so directed by the Centre, to provide further succour to distressed farmers in Vidarbha region. Addressing a mammoth farmers' rally, organised by the NCP here, Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil on Wednesday said the state government would 'fulfil any responsibility' that the Centre gave it while increasing the relief to farmers. Describing as 'historic' the decision to waive loans of farmers holding up to five acres of land, Patil said the state had requested the union government to initiate measures that would benefit more farmers. The state government would seriously consider granting loan waiver to small artisans like cobblers, ironsmiths and carpenters, living in villages, who also had a debt burden but had not benefited from the waiver for farmers, he said. The Deputy Chief Minister, who also holds the Home portfolio, said he had given 15 days for all private money lenders to return all goods and land pledged by hapless cultivators to them to get loans. The police would take strict action against such money lenders afterwards if they did not comply with the instructions, he said. Admitting that the milch cattle given to farmers under the relief packages had become a 'burden' for the beneficiaries since they did not know where to sell the milk, Patil said it was necessary to train these farmers to help them market the output and earn a profit thereon. Patil said government would increase the grant under the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojana and extend concessions to women's self-help groups (SHG's) to provide succour to the downtrodden Nearly four crore farmers in Maharashtra would benefit from the loan waiver announced by the Centre, Patil said. Saying that the pains of cultivators in Western Maharashtra and in Vidarbha were different, he said farmers in Vidarbha had to battle an unfavourable nature on top of the debt burden. Patil assured that the state government would provide all the funds necessary to ensure that the ambitious Gosikhurd project, which is expected to irrigate 1.90 lakh hectares of land in Nagpur, Bhandara and Chandrapur districts, was completed in the next 4 years. Addressing the gathering, Minister for Water Resources Ajit Pawar said his department had asked the Finance Department to allocate more than Rs 3,000 crore in the forthcoming state budget for completion of various irrigation schemes in Vidarbha, including medium and large projects, canals and lift irrigation projects. Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said a request had been made to the Prime Minister to initiate measures to provide succour to more farmers. ''We are happy, but not satisfied with the loan waiver. We should not stop here,'' he said. The government must take steps to help farmers holding more than five acres of land, he said. The Government of Maharashtra must also help in this direction, he added. Earlier, Maharashtra Minister for Public Works Anil Deshmukh said the rally was being held to express thanks to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Union Minister for Finance P Chidambaram and Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar for the historic decision of loan waiver for farmers.

  • Maharashtra's annual Plan fixed at Rs 25,000 cr

    The Plan outlay of Maharashtra for 2008-09 has been pegged at Rs 25,000 crore inclusive of additional Central Assistance of Rs 250 crore for projects of special interest to the State. This was agreed at a meeting between the Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, here today. In his opening remarks, Mr Ahluwalia said performance in both human development and growth rate of the State was satisfactory as it is all set to achieve growth rate above national target for the Eleventh Plan. Against 3.8 per cent growth rate in Ninth Plan, the State has recorded growth of 8.2 per cent in the Tenth Plan. Improving urban infrastructure, housing, irrigation and agriculture should be given priority during the Eleventh Plan. He said the Commission was keen to improve performance of centrally sponsored programmes and invited suggestions on flexibility needed in the guidelines of these programmes.

  • Oh! What a lovely waiver

    Karza maafi or voter maafi?: File picture of the relatives of a farmer who committed suicide due to mounting debt last year.

  • Govt admits fish drought in the state

    THE state government faced the wrath of both the treasury and opposition members on the issue of fishermen's problems in the council on Tuesday.

  • BJP wants 10-year plan for farmers

    THE BJP has demanded that the Centre demonstrate that it was serious about ameliorating the condition of farmers by preparing a ten-year action plan for the revival of the sector.

  • Make waiver bigger: Sonia

    Sangli/Osmanabad: The government has got a reminder on Rahul Gandhi's "suggestion' to expand the scope of the Rs 60,000 crore farm waiver, with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi declaring that she has

  • Glitz that does not shine

    India has added two more swanky symbols to make it part of the first-world grade: in Hyderabad and the gleaming Bengaluru international airport.

  • 12 farmers commit suicide in Vidarbha

    Twelve more debt ridden farmers committed suicide in the last 24 hours in Vidharba.

  • Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology

    The Institute was formally established under the UNDP's Special Fund Project as the Institute of Tropical Meteorology (ITM) at Pune on November 17, 1962 as a distinct part of the India Meteorological Department (IMD). On April 1, 1971, the Government of India gave it an autonomous status with a new name as the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).

  • Central Water and Power Research Station

    In the beginning of the 20th century, the need for small scale laboratory investigations to study the twin problems of irrigation and drainage was recognised by the Government.

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