Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday said that the pace of his State's development had increased ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) had come to power at the Centre and lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his initiatives aimed towards the welfare of farmers.
Chouhan, who accompanied Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Kisan Kalyan Mela at Sehore, said that the farmers of Madhya Pradesh have full faith in the State and Central Governments.
"The rate of development of Madhya Pradesh has increased ever since Prime Minister Modi's government came to office at the centre. When Centre helps then rate of development is bound to rise," Chouhan told reports here.
"We have never received such a big amount from the Centre for crop damage, today, Rs. 2000 crores was announced for Madhya Pradesh," he added.
Prime Minister Modi, during his address at the Kisan Kalyan Mela, said that the Madhya Pradesh Government under the leadership of Chouhan has done a lot of work for farmers. He said that his government wants to integrate technology in the agriculture sector for the farmers' welfare.
The Prime Minister also distributed soil health cards, and crop insurance settlement claims to select beneficiaries on the occasion. Chief Minister Chouhan addressing the convention said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi was so popular that even the Congressmen keep chanting his name all the time. "Wherever you go, it is `Modi Modi', you go to America, England, Dubai and France, at all these places people chant `Modi'. And Congress also does `Modi Modi'. They do not see anybody else.In their dreams at night they see only Modi," Chouhan said, addressing a function at Sherpur village to felicitate the Prime Minister for launching the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima (crop insurance) Yojna.
The Centre had released Rs 2,000 crore for drought-relief in Madhya Pradesh, Chouhan noted. The water from Narmada will soon be available for irrigation across the state and his government aimed to enhance the irrigation potential from 36 lakh hectares at present to 60 lakh hectares, he said.
The Chief Minister claimed that the crop insurance scheme launched by the UPA government was a failure because of several deficiencies. For instance, compensation was paid only if the crops in the entire tehsil were affected.
The insurance under the new scheme would be paid even if a single farmer is affected, he said. During the function, Prime Minister Modi handed `soil health cards' to three farmers. He also launched 'margadarshak pustika' (guide booklet) on crop insurance scheme.