Modi launches 'DD Kisan' channel, pushes for farmers' growth

New Delhi: Making a strong pitch for growth of farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched a television channel for farmers, DD Kisan, which would provide information about best agricultural practices and related content, to mark the completion of his government’s first year in office. Launching DD Kisan Channel, Modi lamented that present system had left farmers to fend for themselves and there was a need to make the sector “vibrant and dynamic”. [caption id=“attachment_2263824” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption] He said the country cannot move forward without their progress and called for increase in crop productivity by 50 percent. “Why experts from various fields including seed, soil and fertilizer cannot come together to help farmers and increase productivity… The farming community is a big one. And, if we have to take India forward, we will have to take the villages forward,” Modi said. Linking the issue of malnutrition with low production of pulses, he noted that the country was dependent on imports to meet its requirement of edible oil and pulses and urged scientific community to work with farmers to ensure that there was enough production to meet domestic demand by 2022 when India celebrates its 75 years of independence. Though his over 40-minute speech dealt with various issues pertaining to farmers and their betterment he did not mention the contentious land bill on which his government is facing stiff opposition, including from NDA allies. The Prime Minister observed that a study done over 200 years ago has shown that paddy productivity was 15-18 tonne per hectare without the help of advanced techniques and fertilizers, while the average grain production was now only 2 tonne per hectare. The world average is 3 tonnes, he said. Invoking former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and his slogan ‘Jai Jawan-Jai Kisan’, which gave a fresh thrust to agriculture and led to a huge increase in grain production, he called upon farmers and experts to use modern science to give another boost to the sector. He called for increasing foodgrain productivity from 2 tons per hectare to 3 tons per hectare. The Prime Minister emphasized the need for multi-cropping and diversification and expressed confidence that trillions of rupees spent on launching new satellites will help farmers by accurate prediction of weather. He called for farmers to adopt a three-pronged approach to agriculture, which balanced farming, animal husbandry and tree plantation. The Prime Minister said the DD Kisan channel should keep an eye on and inform farmers about the changes in weather, global markets etc., so they can plan ahead and take theright decisions well in time. He also called for making ‘Tehsil’ the unit of agricultural planning and development. Modi said the Kisan channel is an attempt to reach the knowledge to farmers through farmers as he noted that it has become necessary to bring a big change in agriculture. “We need to work in mission mode,” he said. In his speech, the Prime Minister also mentioned a Muslim farmer who had improved the yield of potato with the use of modern technology in farming. Hailing the launch of DD Kisan channel, Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh said that it is a golden moment for the farmers as the channel will help in taking new research technologies from “Lab to the Land”. Singh took a dig at the Congress saying those who ran the country for 67 years had left the opportunity for Modi to launch the Kisan channel. In an obvious jibe at Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin, Singh said,“this country is Hindustan not Italy. As long as each farm does not get water, every hand will not get employment.” The Congress President has recently upped the ante against Modi government on farmers’ issues, particularly the land bill. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed hope that ‘DD Kisan’ channel would generate enthusiasm and awareness about the farming in the same way as the various sports channels have popularised sports. Modi said since information about sports around the world is readily available with several channels, it has generated enthusiasm even though there had not been so much focus on sports in schools and colleges. He hoped the Kisan channel would do something similar for the farming, “which is such a huge sector”. Noting that different channels hunt for those who can sing or dance the best, Modi said that similarly the Kisan channel can hold competition and find out which farmer is practicing the best kind of agriculture. Modi also mentioned that through these channels ideas and innovations or ‘jugaad’ as they are often called, can be brought to TV viewers across the country and there can be live telecasts straight from the fields. The Prime Minister in a lighter vein said that if Prasar Bharati, does well, in three years it may find the going getting tough as several private broadcasters, may rush to start their own channels for farmers. At the launch ceremony, Prasar Bharati chairperson A Surya Prakash mentioned that though ‘DD Kisan’ is a hindi channel, it does not mean that Prasar Bharati does not care for other languages. “What we propose to do is to take the best of the programmes from DD Kisan and have them dubbed and broadcast in all our regional channels,” Surya Prakash said. PTI