Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday announced a slew of sops for farmers facing hardships due to crop failure in wake of drought like conditions prevailing in the poll-bound State due to deficient rainfall.
“It has been decided that interest on the crop loans taken by farmers, hit by the drought like conditions, shall be borne by the state-government, which would be around Rs 300 crore,” Mr. Modi told media on the sidelines of his Vivekananda Yuva Vikas Yatra.
“The government has also decided to give 50 per cent relief in the electricity bills of such farmers,” he said.
“Its also the responsibility of state government to be concerned about farmers who are facing hardships, on account of drought like situation prevailing in Gujarat, earlier,” Modi said.
The monsoon arrival in this part of Western coast was somewhat delayed this year. It touched Gujarat coast around June 17, but afterwards remained static for a long time, leading to drought like conditions in many parts of the state.
Regions of Kutch and Saurashtra were the worst hit with over 70 per cent deficient rainfall reported, in first spell of monsoon.
However, now the situation has changed somewhat in the last fortnight with rains lashing the state.
Hit by crop failure, several farmers mainly from Saurashtra region had committed suicide.
Opposition Congress has made farmers suicide a major issue ahead of the polls in Gujarat, accusing the ruling BJP government of inaction.
Keywords: Narendra Modi, Gujarat Assembly elections, Vivekananda Yuva Vikas Yatra, south west monsoon, Gujarat farmers, Gujarat drought
It is found that inequality with respect to income, education and health
is higher in Gujarat than some of the major states. Shockingly, in terms
of hunger - as revealed by the 'State Hunger Index 2008' - Gujarat
ranked 13th among 17 big states and worse than Orissa.
With respect to Human Development Index (HDI), Gujarat's story is
devastating. The HDI for Gujarat, in 2008, was 0.527 and it ranked 10
{+t} {+h} among major states. Kerala stood first (HDI: 0.790),
Himachal Pradesh scored 0.652, Punjab 0.605, Maharashtra 0.572 and
Haryana 0.552. With respect to three HDI components - income, health
and education - Gujarat does not present a shining story. In this
respect, states like Kerala took the lead in every sector, while
Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West
Bengal did better than Gujarat.
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