Nitin Gadkari for doubling agriculture share in GDP to achieve higher economic growth, says Modi govt focussed on rural sectors

NEW DELHI: Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday pitched for doubling the share of agriculture in GDP to achieve higher economic growth as he asserted that the present government has put special focus on agriculture and rural sectors.
Speaking at the Times Network India Economic Conclave here, Gadkari said, “The current share of agriculture in our GDP is barely 12%. We need to increase that to 24% to achieve the targeted economic growth. Even now 65% of our population is dependent on agriculture. In the last nine years, our government has put a thrust on agriculture and rural sectors.”
Responding to a question on the 2024 general elections, Gadkari exuded confidence that the people will vote for the Modi government again because of the development that has happened in the last nine years. “We believe in doing our work and don’t think much about the future,” the minister said. He added that the government doesn’t discriminate between NDA and non-NDA governed states for development work.
Gadkari said the government’s focus is to make farmers “urjadata” (creator of energy) and not just “annadata” (provider of food). He said the government’s thrust on use of ethanol as vehicle fuel is now bearing fruit and the next focus is on putting an ecosystem in place to produce bitumen from rice stubble. “We require around 80 lakh tonnes of bitumen annually for road projects and other domestic requirements. Our refineries have capacity to produce 50 lakh tonnes and we import the remaining 30 lakh tonnes. The Central Road Research Institute has proven technology for converting rice stubble into bitumen,” he said.
On his focus to promote green and alternative fuel, the minister said the government is mulling whether some interest subsidy can be provided for buying construction equipment vehicles that run on ethanol, methanol or electricity.
The minister told the business leaders attending the conclave to focus more on “performance audit” of their work force rather than just “financial audit”. Gadkari said while chairing a review meeting at the NHAI headquarters on Monday, he directed its chairman and highway secretary to carry out the performance audit of officers. “Now performance audit of officers will be the basis for their appraisal and promotion,” he said.
Gadkari also said that his ministry is looking at completing nearly 90% of ongoing highway projects worth Rs 65,000 crore in Delhi and surrounding areas by this year-end. “We are also looking at the option of a sky bus from SP Marg in Delhi via Dhaula Kuan to Gurgaon. Our focus is to make Delhi free from air, water and sound pollution. Delhi is the most polluted city,” he added.