PremiumPM Modi inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of projects worth around ₹38,800 crore in Mumbai. He will also inaugurate two lines of the Mumbai Metro
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said small farmers are now being top utmost priority when agricultural policies are formulated
“In our country, crores of small farmers were also deprived of every comfort for decades, they were not even taken care of in government policies. Today this small farmer is the biggest priority of the agricultural policy of the country," he said after launching a slew of projects in Karnataka.
The prime minister also underlined the importance of water security and said if India has to develop, challenges related to water security should be addressed like border, coastal and internal security.
“Double engine government is working with an approach of felicitation and consolidation," he said.
He added that out of 99 irrigation schemes that were lying pending in 2014, 50 have already been completed and schemes have been expanded. In Karnataka also many such projects are underway.
Narayanpur Left Bank Canal – Extension Renovation and Modernisation Project (NLBC – ERM) with a canal carrying capacity of 10,000 cusecs can irrigate 4.5 lac hectares of command area, he informed.
He also spoke about the unprecedented focus on micro-irrigation and ‘per drop more crop’ as more than 70 lakh hectare of land have been brought into the ambit of micro-irrigation in the last 7-8 years. This project will benefit 5 lakh hectares of land in Karnataka and work is going on to raise the water table, he said.
PM Modi added that India can become developed, only when farms and factories are both prosperous.
“The next 25 years are ‘Amrit Kaal’ for every citizen, for every state. We have to create Viksit Bharat during this Amrit Kaal. This can happen only when every person, family and state gets associated with this campaign," he said.
India can be developed when the life of the farmer in the field and the entrepreneur is improved. India can be developed when there is good crop, and factory output also expands. This will need learning from the negative experiences and bad policies of the past."
Later in the day, PM Modi will be in Mumbai to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of projects worth around ₹38,800 crore. He will also inaugurate two lines of the Mumbai Metro and will undertake a ride.