Pranab Mukherjee stated on Wednesday that he would look for the possible chances to set up a committee of the CMs of different states located in eastern part of India as he sought to make another Green Revolution in this part of the country.
He also complimented some eastern states like Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal for their significant rise in the production of rice in this fiscal.
Mukherjee said the staple grain production reached a whopping 102 lakh tones, mainly due to the rise in rice production. In 2011-12, the rice production rose to a record 7 million tones.
Mukherjee came out with these facts and figures while talking about the debate on 2012-13 Union Budget, took place in Lok Sabha .
According to him, having realized the growth possibility, these states were given a major push and that was what made this outcome possible.
Mukherjee said he would seek to explore the prospect of establishing a committee, consisting of the CMs of eastern states with a view “to give further impetus to achieving green revolution” in the region.
Mukherjee had also accepted the advices given to him by JD(U) member N K Singh.
N K Singh had come up with suggestion of forming a panel of CMs. He had said “Given the importance of incentivizing agriculture in the eastern region, a chief ministers’ committee comprising the CMs from the eastern states should be constituted for a coherent action plan and adequate support from the central government”.
According to him, this is one among the eight “tangible actions” which would make budgetary announcements more credible.
In order to expand green revolution in the eastern part of the country including states like Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Eastern UP, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal, the government had sanctioned a supplementary sum of Rs 400 crore under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana in 2011-12.
Budget 2012-13 has lifted the grant to Rs 1,000 crore after the success of the scheme in which rice was the priority crop.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar was specifically lauded by Mukherjee for his state has raised the rice production to the double of its earlier amount. Significant hikes were also noticed in rice production in other eastern states like Jharkhand and West Bengal.
He said even international organizations like UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Indonesia-based World Rice Institute acclaimed this achievement.
—Agencies