PM Modi launches Kisan Channel, makes a strong pitch for empowerment of farmers

Launching DD Kisan Channel, which would provide information about best agricultural practices and related content, the Prime Minister said that agriculture had so far been a "neglected" field and there was a need to make it "vibrant and dynamic".

Modi, whose government has been projected by the Opposition as "anti-farmer", chose the occassion to highlight the NDA's committment to farmers and rued that they had been left to to fend for themselves. "Farmers are such a big community in the country. We will have to think how to make resources available to them. We will have to move forward accepting the fact that if our country has to progress, the villages of the country will have to progress.

"If villages have to progress, then agriculture will have to be developed by giving it a priority. This is directly related to the economy of India," he said. Asserting that there was a need to change the mindset that farming was for "not so bright", he said earlier agriculture used to be the first choice of occupation but now it is the last option to be exercised by the youth.

PM Modi unveiling DD Kisan (PTI) 

"The cycle has turned anti-clockwise. I think it needs to be turned back once again...The youth of the country, who have turned away from agriculture can again take it up if we bring modern technology to the farm and field," he said. Making a strong push for use of modern technology in agriculture, the Prime Minister said that if the country has to move forward, villages will have to be developed and this can be done only by promoting agriculture. "There is a need to create an atmosphere of competition in the field of farm production at tehsil level," he said.

Exhorting farmers to link agricultural activities with global requirements, he underlined the importance of guiding them about the global economy vis-a-vis production policy. While his over 40-minute speech had no mention of the contentious land bill on which his government is facing stiff opposition, including from NDA allies, Modi spoke at length about various issues pertaining to farmers and their betterment.

Invoking former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and his slogan 'Jai Jawan-Jai Kisan', which gave a fresh thrust to agriculture and led to a huge increase in grain production, he called upon farmers and experts to use modern science to give another boost to the sector. He called for increasing foodgrain productivity from 2 tons per hectare to 3 tons per hectare.

The Prime Minister emphasized the need for multi-cropping and diversification and expressed confidence that trillions of rupees spent on launching new satellites will help farmers by accurate prediction of weather. He called for farmers to adopt a three-pronged approach to agriculture, which balanced farming, animal husbandry and tree plantation. The Prime Minister said the DD Kisan channel should keep an eye on and inform farmers about the changes in weather, global markets etc., so they can plan ahead and take the right decisions well in time.

He also called for making 'Tehsil' the unit of agricultural planning and development. Modi said the Kisan channel is an attempt to reach the knowledge to farmers through farmers as he noted that it has become necessary to bring a big change in agriculture. "We need to work in mission mode," he said.

In his speech, the Prime Minister also mentioned a Muslim farmer who had improved the yield of potato with the use of modern technology in farming. Hailing the launch of DD Kisan channel, Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh said that it is a golden moment for the farmers as the channel will help in taking new research technologies from “Lab to the Land”. Singh took a dig at the Congress saying those who ran the country for 67 years had left the opportunity for Modi to launch the Kisan channel.

In an obvious jibe at Congress President Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, Singh said,"this country is Hindustan not Italy. As long as each farm does not get water, every hand will not get employment." The Congress President has recently upped the ante against Modi government on farmers' issues, particularly the land bill.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed hope that 'DD Kisan' channel would generate enthusiasm and awareness about the farming in the same way as the various sports channels have popularised sports. Modi said since information about sports around the world is readily available with several channels, it has generated enthusiasm even though there had not been so much focus on sports in schools and colleges.

He hoped the Kisan channel would do something similar for the farming, "which is such a huge sector". Noting that different channels hunt for those who can sing or dance the best, Modi said that similarly the Kisan channel can hold competition and find out which farmer is practicing the best kind of agriculture.

Modi also mentioned that through these channels ideas and innovations or 'jugaad' as they are often called, can be brought to TV viewers across the country and there can be live telecasts straight from the fields. The Prime Minister in a lighter vein said that if Prasar Bharati, does well, in three years it may find the going getting tough as several private broadcasters, may rush to start their own channels for farmers.

At the launch ceremony, Prasar Bharati chairperson A Surya Prakash mentioned that though 'DD Kisan' is a hindi channel, it does not mean that Prasar Bharati does not care for other languages. What we propose to do is to take the best of the programmes from DD Kisan and have them dubbed and broadcast in all our regional channels," Surya Prakash said.

The Prasar Bharati chairman also referred to the issue of autonomy for the public broadcaster, saying that as long as public funds come to it, the Information and Broadcasting (I and B) ministry will be answerable to Parliament on what goes on in the corporation. The relationship between Prasar Bharati, and I and B ministry is therefore a "tightrope walk" he said while adding that I and B minister Arun Jaitley had unobtrusively steered it along the path mandated by the Parliament.

The 'DD Kisan' channel is being dubbed as the first of its kind in the world by officials, who say that it would cover agriculture, rural areas and also areas like horticulture, food processing and animal husbandry. Minister of State for I and B Rajyavardhan Rathore called it the first 24 hour channel for farmers in the world.

Apart from Modi, Rathore, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Cabinet secretary Ajit Seth, I and B secretary Bimal Julka and Prasar Bharati Chief Executive Officer Jawhar Sircar, several senior officials and farmers from across regions were also present at the event.