National policy for farmers

Coimbatore: A national policy for farmers is likely to be in place on August 15, the 60th Independence Day, eminent agriculture scientist Prof M S Swaminathan said.

Since there was no exclusive policy for farmers, the new national policy would find ways and means to raise their income, Swaminathan told reporters.
Stating that Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had already discussed the issue with the officials based on his (Swaminathan's) draft policy, which envisaged to look after the income of farmers, he said this would be placed before the National Development Council for discussion by Chief Ministers, as agriculture is a state subject.

The Chief Ministers after discussion would put it before the Cabinet and the new policy was expected to be in place on August 15, he said.
"When there is a pay commission and other mechanism to decide the income of employees, why should not there be a policy for farmers, 70 per cent of the total population of India?" he asked.
A process is on to set up a National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority, to analyse the risk and assess the benefits, which would be transparent, he said.

Similarly, a National Association of Genome Entrepreneurs would be formed on April 14 here, which would help identify genes controlling fibre quality and other important traits, Swaminathan said.

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