Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari possess good knowledge and is a progressive leader. His advice to farmers to refrain from looking at the God may be right because he is within us in varying content. He also added that peasants need to take care of their lives to improve the lot. Gadkari asked the farming community to change its mindset and embrace new technology to achieve success. He also laid emphasis on imparting training to farmers for enhancing agricultural productivity. He asked them to not lose hope during crop failure and study the cropping pattern and make changes accordingly.
The land constitutes the nation. Why do you bother about the boundary land between China or Pakistan? The farmer may own land because our constitution allows that but if that may not be the case then the land will belong to the government. Here comes a concept of co-operative farming. This concept has failed to succeed in our country because of deep rooted sentiments vis-à-vis land ownership.
It is the government’s duty to ensure the land becomes more productive through the use of advanced agricultural science. More and more barren land should be turned into productive land for agricultural purposes. I had read a report in a Pune based Hindi newspaper which mentioned about a foreigner who bought a plot of land in Punjab and turned it into a hugely productive venture. When he can do it then why can’t the government do it too? It is because the government feels it’s job is be a “Raja” and enjoy the benefits of being in power rather than worrying about farming work. Gadkari should ask our national carrier SCI to buy or manufacture a decent passenger ship under Indian flag.
After the loss of M.V. Chidambaram, we do not have a good passenger ship. M.V. Akbar and Nankowri are reportedly getting obsolete (a crew working on Akbar informed me that she may soon be scrapped). We need to have some decent and modern vessels for carrying passengers along the coast and on international voyages. Chidambaram was a good ship with two main engines, a small ECR, stabilizers and a forward hatch in which we carried onions from Nagapattinam. We read encouraging reports that passenger service will soon start between Mumbai and Goa. This route must be very vibrant and flourishing.
Our Aviation minister feels happy to fly with the matchbox. I read that he wants an airport close to his house by acquiring fertile land. Our domestic aviation should be opened up for foreign participation so that domestic flights become cheaper and middle class people can avail aviation service. This step will reduce the burden on Railways.