Implemented most suggestions of Swaminathan report: Khattar

Sunit Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, March 24

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has asked opposition parties to stop misleading farmers on the issue of the Swaminathan Commission report, as his government has implemented most of its recommendations. “Swaminathan himself has expressed satisfaction over the efforts made by the state government to implement the recommendations of his report,” the Chief Minister said while addressing the 3rd Agri Leadership Summit-2018 here today.

Khattar said that former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was the chairman of the working group of Chief Ministers on Agriculture Production, but he did nothing to implement the Swaminathan Commission report, which contained 28 points. “This is despite the fact that he (Hooda) was Chief Minister for 10 years and the Congress was also in power at the Centre at that time,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that the farmers of Haryana are progressive and in a better position as compared to those in other states. The state government was committed to the welfare of farmers and was making all efforts to improve their condition.

“In agriculture, neither the cost of production nor benefits lie in the hands of farmers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that from next year, the minimum support prices (MSPs) of all notified crops will be at least 1.5 times their cost of production,” said Khattar.

He added that it had been also decided to use solar power and pond water for irrigation. Of the total 14,000 ponds, about 6,000 ponds are overflowing and their water would be tapped for the purpose.

Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Parshottam Rupala appreciated the Haryana Government for taking effective steps to realise the vision of the Prime Minister to double the income of farmers by 2022.

State Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar said that the state government was implementing the concept of peri-urban farming to meet the growing demand of vegetables, fruits, milk and flowers of four crore people of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR).

He urged farmers to link with market and sell their produce directly to consumers, as this would help them increase their income. The government plans to set up Kisan Bazaars in all towns of the state, he said.

Bihar Agriculture Minister Prem Kumar said Haryana and Bihar should work together in the areas of mutual interest for their progress.

Progressive farmers honoured

• Progressive farmers and organisations were honoured with cash prizes and certificates. 
• Anandvir of Fatehabad was awarded Phal Ratan, Chand Singh of Gurugram Sabzi Ratan,  Krishan Pal of Yamunanagar Phool Ratan,  Sultan Singh of Kurukshetra Mushroom Ratan, Harbir Singh of Kurukshetra Nursery Ratan, Mukesh Soni of Hisar Aushadhiya Ratan,  Vinay Kumar of Jhajjar Masala Ratan, while Aashish Gupta of Sonepat, Vinit Gupta of Panchkula and Anil Singh of Jind were honoured with Udyami Ratan award.
• The CM also honoured Vedpal of Jhajjar and Vikas Duhan of Rohtak with Matsya Ratan award. 
• Progressive farmers Sultan Singh of Karnal, Balwan Singh of Rohtak, Vajir Singh of Sonepat, Mukesh Kumar of Gurugram, Mumtaj of Narnaul, Pratap Singh of Faridabad, Navinder Kumar of Hisar, Naresh Kumar of Sirsa, Prithvi Singh of Kurukshetra, Joginder Singh of Ambala, Kuldeep of Jind, Suresh of Bhiwani, Rakesh Kumar of Rewari, Kitab Singh of Kaithal, Rajender Kumar of Yamunanagar, Rajender of Panipat, Suresh of Jhajja, Krishan of Fatehabad, Manohar Lal of Panchkula, Abdul Razak of Palwal, Shahid of Mewat and Ombir Maharana of Charkhi Dadri were also honoured.