Bhopal, Mar 1: Reacting to the Union budget presented in the Loksabha today the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the waiver of loans of farmers is a welcome step but there is need to take concrete measures to turn agriculture into a lucrative proposition and to reduce the cost of farming, failing which the farmers would again get into debt trap.

Chouhan stressed the need for reducing the interest on farm loans to four percent, to augment irrigation sources, direct provision of fertilizers subsidy to farmers, ensuring electricity to farmers and to bring down the prices of fertilizers and seeds to reduce the cost of farming. There is need to encourage commercial crops instead of traditional crops like wheat and gram and to make higher provision for construction of rural roads and cold storage. Then alone the welfare of farmers who account for about fifty percent population of the country would be promoted, he added.

Chouhan said that the central government should differentiate between developed and other states which have lagged behind in development due to historical-geographical reasons and should offer special assistance or packages to backward states like Madhya Pradesh. He said that while making financial allocation Punjab and states like Madhya Pradesh should not be placed on the same pedestal. At present, the situation is that the central government demands sharing of 50 percent cost of laying railway lines even Madhya Pradesh.

Chouhan said that at the last meeting of the National Development Council he had urged in the presence of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to declare next two Five Year Plans as Water Plans. Provision of water would automatically solve half the problems of farmers. Resources of states like Madhya Pradesh are limited, yet we have decided to provide a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal on the procurement of wheat and to slash the interest rate on farm loans from seven to five percent whereas the central government is going to increase the same to seven percent. We were expecting that the central government would decrease it to four percent.

While describing the increase in slabs of income take an appropriate measure the Chief Minister said that the central government considers only 41 people of Madhya Pradesh as poor and provides wheat and kerosene for distribution through fair price shops accordingly, whereas the actual number of these people is 60 lakh in the state. Similarly, two percent people of Madhya Pradesh and 70 percent people of Andhra Pradesh have been considered eligible for the benefits of Indira Awas Yojana. This situation has arisen due to counting of shanties having roof of half backed tiles as half concrete house. Due to this the houseless people of Madhya Pradesh are not benefiting from the scheme. Chouhan said that there should be greater allocation to improve the level of primary education.