President Pranab Mukherjee has called for a Second Green Revolution in Agriculture that is more holistic and widespread.
He was speaking at the national conference on—Ushering Second Green Revolution in Indian Agriculture through Public-Private Partnership—organised by the ministry of agriculture in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Tuesday.
He said that such an initiative should be accompanied by development of rural infrastructure, human development and increased sensitivity to ecology and environment. “Given the gargantuan task ahead, it is imperative that the government should seek the right partnerships by building innovative structures that adequately encourage the involvement of the private sector in this area,” he said.
The president exhorted ministry of agriculture and CII to resist any temptation to be persuaded by some arguments to give only proportionate importance to the agriculture sector.
He said the linkage that the agriculture sector has to almost all the facets of the society is indisputable. Its growth can spawn the much-needed social and economic transformation without which economic growth in other areas and that of the nation as a whole would lose its meaning.
Tariq Anwar, Union minister of state for agriculture & food processing industries; Adi Godrej, president, CII; and Chandrajit Banerjee, director-general, CII; were present on the occasion.
