Page 8 - Putting Farmers First

INTRODUCTION

Independent India has seen many Prime Ministers but among them,
Narendra Modi is unique. Before going onto win the 2014 Lok Sabha
elections, he had been Chief Minister of a state for over thirteen years.
As Chief Minister, Modi was known to be someone who immersed
himself deeply in the intricacies of policy matters and the way they
work on the ground.
Transforming Lives of Farmers in Gujarat

Among the biggest policy triumphs of his tenure as Chief Minister of
Gujarat was the way he transformed the lives of farmers of a semi-
arid state and made them self-reliant and prosperous. Modi’s working
style when it came to farmer welfare was bottom up – his policy was
driven by his deep understanding of farmers’ problems and in finding
innovative win-win solutions for them.
As Chief Minister, Narendra Modi was sensitive to even the smallest
needs of the farmers and made the whole administrative machinery
farmer-friendly.
Vibrant Gujarat, Gujarat government’s flagship investor summit used
to make big headlines. However, it was just a two-day event held only
once in two years. In contrast, Modi used to hold Krishi Mahotsav for one
month every year where every level of the government was mobilised
to work with farmers.
A unique innovation pioneered by Modi during this Mahotsav was
the ‘Krishi Rath’, which would visit every tehsil of Gujarat. This was a
mobile team of experts, scientists and government officials from every
agriculture-related department who would visit each area and educate
the farmers about latest farming techniques, technology adoption, and
offer assistance to farmers.
Narendra Modi was also a pioneer when it came to bringing the
benefits of science to farmers through soil health cards. About this,
Dr M.S. Swaminathan, often known as ‘Father of Green Revolution’, said
in 2007:
“At the National Commission on Farmers, we again re-emphasised
the importance of strengthening soil testing laboratories, mobile
soil testing vans, issue of soil health card to every farmer but
nothing has been done. Some states like Gujarat have done good
work, so the agricultural growth rate in Gujarat is over 9%.”