A major food crisis is awaiting India as the country's population has been increasing by 1.8 per cent while the food production rate was only 1.3 per cent, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader M Venkaiah Naidu said in Tirupati on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference, Naidu stated that the country needed food security and that imports could not substitute food stocks. He alleged that during the tenure of the National Democratic Alliance government, food products were exported to other countries and now due to wrong policies of the United Progressive Alliance government, India was importing 55 lakh tonnes of food.
National Commission on Agriculture M S Swaminadhan demanded the UPA government to review the agriculture policy and reduce taxes on agricultural products besides creating enough godowns for storage of food and instructing the banks to arrange credit up to 70 per cent on cheaper rates, to those who stored their foods in godowns.
Naidu demanded the UPA government to involve the farmers as stake holders in SEZs by giving 15-20 per cent development land to those whose land was acquired for the zone. He alleged that district collectors were issuing notices and taking over fertile lands from farmers.
The main aim of forming SEZs was to increase foreign export FDI, increasing manufacturing to add GDP and employment, he said, stressing upon the need to constitute a regulatory authority for SEZs.
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