Chief Minister Jayalalithaa is committed to bringing about the Second Green Revolution in the State which is why she has sanctioned 75 per cent subsidy for agri-puts, N. R. Sivapathi, Minister for School Education, Youth Welfare, Sports, Law, Courts and Prisons, said here on Saturday.
Speaking at a seminar on food production technology, organised in connection with the pre-season intensive camp, the Minister said “the Chief Minister is giving a lot of priority to agriculture irrespective of the expenditure.”
He said in order to establish the riparian rights of the farming community in Tamil Nadu she had moved the Apex Court to force Karnataka to release water in the Cauvery.
While all the Ministers of Karnataka are unanimous in telling the Central government that their State should not be instructed to release any more water to Tamil Nadu, even former External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, who hails from Karnataka, endorsed their views.
“It is under such circumstances, a petition has been moved in Supreme Court to get water for Tamil Nadu,” he added.
He said the crop loan for Tiruchi district had been fixed at Rs.1,563 crore for the current financial year and so far more than Rs.644 crore had been disbursed.
Collector Jayashree Muralidharan said food grains had been raised in 32,000 hectares in the district during the current fiscal. Under the Special Samba promotion scheme, various inputs including zinc sulphate, gypsum and biofertilizers are distributed at 75 per cent subsidy. Utilising this opportunity, ryots should take part in the productivity competition and win the prizes, she urged them.
J. Sekar, Joint Director of Agriculture, welcomed the gathering. Deputy Director K. Ponnusamy proposed a vote of thanks.
