| Farmers on verge of starvation | | Centre announces farming budget, state still sleeping over the issue | | G S Asgotra
Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 3: While the union government has increased farming budget with a worth of nearly Rs 15,000 cr from its previous budge to overcome the prevailing agrarian crisis across the country, J&K farmers, particularly of Jammu region, are facing drought like situation due to the failure of three crops after the September 2014 floods, but the government is neither declaring a drought-like situation in the state nor meeting the aspiration of farmers, leaving them in a quandary.
Since the metrology department had already announced the rain shortfall from previous years, it was obvious that the low wheat crop (rabi) production was likely to hit farmers severely and the government should have prepared itself to meet the exigency by desilting canals well in time to provide irrigation water to farmers and preparing some contingency plan to redress the problems of kandi farmers. Such a non-serious government approach has brought farmers on the verge of starvation.
While farmers are staging protests for discharging water in canals without wasting time, but nobody in the administration was bothered.
Raman Sharma, a farmer of Kathua, said despite a protest by them yesterday, the concerned department had not released water in Irrigation Canal, Kathua. "Owing to weather vagaries and non-discharge of water, farmers are adversely affected and their plight is getting from bad to worse but government is still in deep slumber to address their grievances", said a farmer.
The callous government approach can be gauged this fact that despite the damages suffered by crops due to floods and unseasonal hail storms in September 2014 and April 2015, and deficit rain fall this year, which has broken the backbone of farmers, the government has paid no heed to provide them adequate compensation. |
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