Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Ramesh Chennithala on Saturday rejected Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia’s call on conversion of paddy fields.
In a strongly-worded statement here, Mr. Chennithala said Dr. Ahluwalia’s statements could not be taken at its face value, especially at a time when Kerala was making all-round efforts to bring more paddy land under cultivation. His statement goes against the very grain of the State’s objectives of increasing paddy production and productivity to meet its food grain requirement. Apart from formulating schemes to increase production of paddy, the State was implementing several Central schemes also under its food security project, he said.
Mr. Chennithala said Kerala had, in fact, dismissed the proposal made by Dr Ahluwalia years ago. Noted economist Dr. P S Lokanathan had put forward a similar view as part of the socio-economic and technological survey conducted years ago. Kerala had rejected the survey report. Besides, Kerala had faced shortage of food grains even during the pre-Independence period when several areas were under princely rule. The acreage under cultivation has been coming down in Kerala during the last 40 years, leading to a corresponding shortfall in food grain production. “Dr. Ahluwalia’s views are unrealistic. His views that Kerala should depend on other States for its food grain requirements was also untenable because production there was coming down. This pointed out to the fact that Kerala should strive to achieve self-sufficiency in food grain production. In this context, Dr. Ahluwalia’s views do not even deserve a debate at all,” he said.
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