A renewed focus on Tamil Nadu’s rural economy and water sector has been a striking feature of the DMK regime, which is completing one year in office on Friday.
The decision to present a separate budget for agriculture, the move to accord prominence to “gram sabha” meetings besides increasing the frequency, and ensuring the participation of farmers in the execution of silt removal from water courses in the Cauvery delta, are among the measures that the DMK government has taken.
“With long-term planning, the government is providing encouragement to organic farming and it is commendable that it has named a wing at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University after a prominent proponent of the type of farming, Nammazhvar, to improve organic farming and research,” says P.R. Pandian, a Mannargudi-based farmer-leader. That is not the only action of the government to honour farmers. For the purpose of preserving, producing and distributing the medicinally valued traditional paddy varieties to farmers, a mission has been launched in the name of another activist, “Nel” Jayaraman.
