PM Backs Land Bill, Says Working With "Good Intention" To Help Farmers

"The country's livestock is diminishing. And I am surprised at that those people who are undertaking big
campaigns for political mileage that if losing land for a farmer is painful, equally worrying is the depletion of livestock as it will have adverse impact on villages," Modi said.

Talking about empowering farmers, he said, "I have not come from the heavens. I have lived among villagers and poor people and have reached here... I know that India will not make progress till villages develop and till farmers make progress."

He said "it has been realised that farmers' plight will not end by throwing crumps at them" and that they need technology for farming, infrastructure, good roads, need irrigation, need electricity, need own house. Should people in villages not have such facilities?

Batting for the facilities for villagers on the lines of urban areas, Modi asked "Should they not benefit?" He then talked about the government's shemes for irrigation, Soil Health Card and building of concrete roads.

"We recognise the power of our farmers and we are making efforts to empower them and ensure proper remuneration for their produce," he said.

Taking on the Congress for saying that its policies were being "copied" by his government, the prime minister said some programmes may seem similar "but sometimes, more powerful than policies is the intent. We have good and firm intentions, yours was not. That is why we are marching ahead."

He said his experience of 10 months in power demonstrated that "if intentions are right, then decisions are also right as are the results".

He attacked the previous UPA government, saying decisions had remained pending for years.

"When I got files, I saw proposals of 2007 hanging till 2014, proposals of 2011 pending till 2014 .. I wonder what they were doing. Files were pending upto 2-7 years. Hundreds of such proposals were pending. I showed the courage to take bold decisions and the nation has got going," he said.

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