Focus On Rural Transformation: PM

Transforming the fortunes of rural India is not possible without increasing farm productivity and farmers'' incomes - goals to achieve which the government would invest Rs 25,000 crore, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

We have kept our focus on giving a new deal to rural India. We have doubled the supply of credit for farmers, reduced its cost, and where farmers have been in distress, we have written off interest and rescheduled loans, he said in his address to the nation.

Agriculture share in GDP has fallen to less than 20 per cent now from over 50 per cent in 1947, mirroring the decline in the sector from which about two-thirds of the country''s population derives livelihood.

We will soon launch a special programme to invest Rs 25,000 crore in agriculture, to enhance the livelihood of our farmers and increase food production. We will also focus on the needs of our farmers in dry and drought prone zones. I am touring a few states to personally review the agricultural situation across the country, he said.

He said the UPA government has helped in increasing farmers'' income by raising substantially the support price for wheat and rice. Through the Bharat Nirman, the government is investing in road, power and telecom connectivity in the rural areas to bridge the rural, urban divide.Rural transformation

Singh, however, said: This, I believe, is only a part of our total effort. There is more to be done and more will be done. In the coming years, our main emphasis will be on agricultural development, the Prime Minister asserted.