Agriculture sector needs long-term solutions, loan waiver temporary: Venkaiah Naidu
Mumbai, Nov 15: Terming farm loan waiver and free power supply as mere "temporary and populist" steps, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu Thursday made a pitch for long-term solutions like infrastructure support and cheap credit to improve the agriculture sector.
Delivering the Laxmanrao Inamdar Memorial Lecture here, Naidu also called for suitable changes in the laws governing the cooperative sector in view of changed techno-economic and business scenarios to make the cooperative institutions "viable and vibrant".
The University of Mumbai had organised the lecture to mark the birth centenary late Laxmanrao Inamdar, who was instrumental in the formation of Sahakar Bharati in 1979.
"There are many challenges in the agriculture sector. You cannot have temporary solutions to agriculture. Loan waiver, free current ... they are temporary," he said.
"What is needed is remunerative price, infrastructure support for agriculture and cheap credits. Unfortunately for political reasons, we move to populistic, temporary measures," Naidu said adding that the governments should rather focus on long-term solutions.
He said since agriculture was becoming unviable, people were moving to urban areas from rural parts.
"You cannot reverse urbanisation, even if you want to ... Even today, 56 per cent people depend on agriculture.
"The best method of (improving) agriculture according to me is the strengthening of the cooperative movement. This has to be understood by all including the planners, NITI Aayog, political parties, Parliament, people and media," he said.
"The prime minister promised to double farmers' income by 2022. This is a noble idea, but it is not simple. The government has raised the MSP of most of the crops. Cooperatives can help small and marginal farmers in taking the benefits of higher MSPs," he said.
Terming India's cooperative movement as the "biggest" in the world, he said it has led to tremendous progress in several sectors of the Indian economy.
"I am told 75 per cent of rural households have been covered through a network of over 8.50 lakh cooperatives with a membership of well over 25 crore," he said.
Naidu, however, lamented that in recent years, the cooperative sector has faced structural challenges like dormant membership, lack of active participation of members in the management, politicisation of cooperatives and bureaucratic control.
Similarly, low level of participation by women and youth is a challenge and needs to be addressed, he said.
"Mounting dues in cooperative credit institutions, inadequate mobilisation of own resources, over-dependence on governmental and institutional support, lack of professional management have proved harmful to their growth. There have been instances of mismanagement and absence of monitoring," he said.
"Probably, the time has come to bring requisite changes in the relevant laws governing the cooperative sector in the context of changed techno-economic and business scenario to make the cooperatives viable and vibrant enterprises," the vice president said.
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Tension grips Bangladesh after unrest over uprising leader’s death; vandalism at several places
Dhaka (PTI): Bangladesh interim government on Friday urged citizens to resist violence by “a few fringe elements” as the body of a prominent July Uprising leader, who died in Singapore six days after he was shot, reached the capital.
Various parts of the country were rocked Thursday night by attacks and vandalism, including stone-hurling at the Assistant Indian High Commissioner's residence in Chattogram, after Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus confirmed Sharif Osman Hadi's death in a televised address to the nation.
There were, however, no reports of fresh violence since Friday morning.
Hadi, one of the leaders who had taken part in the student-led protests last year – termed as July Uprising - and a candidate for the scheduled February 12 general elections, died while undergoing treatment at a Singapore hospital six days after he was shot by unidentified men.
Body of Hadi, who was the spokesperson of the Inqilab Mancha, arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) at around 6 pm on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight, amid tight security and widespread public mourning, state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) said quoting Biman General Manager (Public Relations) Boshra Islam.
Members of the Bangladesh Army, Armed Forces Battalion (AFB) and police were deployed in large numbers to maintain security when Hadi's body was taken out of the airport, it added.
Hadi's passing away at the Singapore General Hospital triggered widespread mourning across political circles, activists of Inqilab Mancha and the general public, BSS said.
Yunus has declared a one-day state mourning on Saturday following Hadi's death.
Earlier on Thursday, soon after Yunus' announcement, protesters took to the streets and attacked offices of leading newspapers, vandalised 32 Dhanmandi with hammers, and also demolished an office of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina's disbanded Awami League party in Rajshahi city.
Regarded as the centre point of Bangladesh’s pre-independence struggle for autonomy for decades, 32 Dhanmandi was largely demolished with excavators on February 5 this year. It was also set on fire soon after the August 5, 2024 fall of the then Awami League government and Hasina fleeing to India.
Protesters also hurled bricks and stones at the residence of the Assistant Indian High Commissioner in Chattogram at 1:30 am, but failed to cause any damage.
Police responded with tear gas and baton charges, dispersing the crowd and detaining 12 protesters. A few injuries were also reported.
Senior officials assured the assistant high commissioner of enhanced security.
In Dhaka, protesters attacked the office of a leading cultural group, Chhayanaut, and brought out the furniture, setting it on fire.
Sporadic violence was also reported from other parts of the country overnight.
Meanwhile, after the flight from Singapore landed in Dhaka, local media reports and videos shared on social media showed Hadi's followers lining up on both sides of the road from the airport to Shahbagh to receive him before his coffin was brought to the Dhaka University Central Mosque for a public meeting.
In a Facebook post, Inqilab Mancha announced that a janaza will be held in Bangladesh on Saturday after Zuhr prayers (afternoon) at Manik Mia Avenue in the capital.
Hadi was shot in the head last week by masked gunmen as he initiated his election campaign at central Dhaka’s Bijoynagar area. He died while undergoing treatment at a Singapore hospital after fighting for his life for six days.
On Thursday night, the National Citizen Party (NCP), a large offshoot of Students Against Discrimination (SAD) that led the July Uprising, which ousted the Hasina-led government, joined a mourning procession on the Dhaka University campus.
Supporters of the group chanted anti-India slogans alleging that Hadi’s assailants fled to India after committing the murder. They called upon the interim government to close the Indian high commission until they were returned.
“The interim government, until India returns assassins of Hadi Bhai, the Indian High Commission to Bangladesh will remain closed. Now or Never. We are in a war!” said Sarjis Alm, a key leader of NCP.
Starting Thursday through night, a group of people, believed to be part of the protesters, also attacked the offices of Bangla newspaper Prothom Alo’s office and the nearby Daily Star at the capital's Karwan Bazar, near the Shahbagh intersection.
Reports said they vandalised several floors while journalists and staff of the newspaper were trapped inside, and the mob ignited a fire in front of the building.
Critically ill former prime minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) strongly condemned the vandalism and said that the Yunus-led interim government will have to shoulder its responsibility.
In his address on Thursday, Yunus vowed to bring those involved in Hadi's brutal murder to justice quickly, saying, “No leniency will be shown” to the killers.
“I sincerely call upon all citizens – keep your patience and restraint,” he said.
“No one can stop the democratic progress of this country through threat, terrorist activities or bloodshed,” he said, adding that the responsibility of realising Hadi's dream lies on the shoulders of the entire.
