Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said a second Green Revolution is needed to
increase farm production and control rising food prices, as well as to
meet the grain requirement under the proposed Food Law.
Singh assured farmers that the government would take steps in the
12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) to ensure easy access to fertilizers, seeds and credit and would boost
irrigation facilities to reduce dependence on monsoon.
"We need a second Green Revolution in agriculture. We can tackle the problem of rising food prices only by increasing agricultural production and productivity. We also need to increase agricultural production to implement a food security law. We will accelerate our efforts in this direction in the 12th Plan," he said
addressing the nation on the 65th Independence Day.
The Prime Minister also said the government will soon introduce the National Food Security Act.
"After the rights to education, employment and information, we will soon enact a legislation for providing food security to the people," he said.
Food inflation jumps to 9.9% Under the proposed Food Security Act, the government plans to give legal entitlement to nearly 70 per cent of the country's population on cheaper foodgrains. The bill has been approved by the empowered group of ministers and would soon be presented in Parliament.
Singh praised farmers for achieving record foodgrains production of 241.56 million tonnes in the 2010-11 (July-June) and helping the country to export sugar and cotton.
Food inflation for the last week of July inched closer to double digits mark at 9.9 per cent.
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