Why not ease of doing index for agriculture too, asks Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu

A high-profile launch of noted bureaucrat and former Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh Mohan Kanda's book, 'Agriculture in India: Contemporary challenges in the context of doubling farmers' income, 'took place at CESS Auditorium, Begumpet, on Wednesday.

The chief guest was Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu. The other dignitaries present on the dais, apart from the author, included B Vinod Kumar, vice-chairman, Telangana State Planning Board, K Padmanabhiah, Chairman, Court of Governors, ASCI, Anil Shah, publisher, BSP Books, and J Devi Prasad, Director, Agricultural Management, CGG.

After a brief introduction about the author and the various strategic positions he held in his long administrative career, Devi Prasad, who opened the proceedings, spoke about the need for 'innovation-led' agriculture growth in India. Highlighting a few salient features of the book, hailing it as an 'important attempt,' he said that it focused on centre-staging farmers' environment and the sub-sectors which determine their life. It also goes beyond 'what needs to be done' to 'how can it be done', he added.

Mohan Kanda, observing that he had been 'inflicting himself' on the readers for the past one year, spoke about how the Vice-President participated in his earlier book releases also. Recalling his association with VP from his MLC days, Kanda asserted that he always remained 'Venkaiah Naidu' despite holding many posts in his long career. He thanked Vinod Kumar representing TS government at the event.

Speaking about the state of affairs in TS, Vinod Kumar said there was a problem of plenty because of excess paddy production this season. He agreed that the concept of doubling of farmers' income, promoted by the PM instilled confidence in the farming community. Highlighting the farmer welfare schemes of KCR government like 'Rythu Bandhu', replicated in other States, Vinod Kumar revealed that the average land holding of the ryot in the State was less than a hectare, as of present.

"The Centre seems to be in a great hurry to bring in modernisation," opined K Padmanabhaiah, former Union Home Secretary. Asserting that it was time that farming was treated as an enterprise and farmer as an entrepreneur, he added that since more than 50 per cent of India was dependent on agriculture to survive, there should be an ease of doing agriculture index to see how farming practices and systems enable farmer welfare. "Also, we have 420 agricultural colleges and 70 agri universities in India. There should be a system where students from these institutions should be paid a stipend and asked to work with 50 farmers per student for a year to improve farming practices," he felt. Speaking about the book and the author, he observed that Kanda was eminently suited to write on farming, as he did not have any land holding in his family for the past three generations.

In his concluding remarks, after releasing the book formally, the VP sought frontline warrior status for the farmers as they braved odds and kept up the production levels higher by four per cent during the trying times. As the son of a farmer, "the subject is dear to my heart," he revealed and complimented the author for his book which discusses new policies and new challenges for the sector.

Emphasising the need for farmers to be modern and updated with latest pricing, increased productivity, market access, continuous investments in agriculture and diversification into organic farming, Venkaiah Naidu spoke at length, drawing parallels with Asian neighbours, like Vietnam, where paddy productivity is better than that of India. He wanted a positive rural bias and a radical shift towards agriculture among the people. Anil Shah proposed a vote of thanks.