VS urges Kudumbasree Mission to promote farming

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has urged the Kudumbasree Mission to take up initiatives to promote farming.

Addressing a large gathering of members of Kudumbasree units in the city corporation area on Thursday evening, he said a major intervention on the part of the Mission would help to reverse the decline in agricultural productivity. �For many reasons, the younger generation is reluctant to take to farming. Large tracts of farmland are left fallow on grounds of declining income. This trend can be reversed if Kudumbasree units take to farming in a big way.

Mr. Achuthanandan said many of the farming schemes taken up by Kudumbasree units had yielded success. �Tens of thousands of acres have been restored as paddy fields and vegetable farms. This has helped bring down poverty in rural areas,� he said.

Thousands of women from all parts of the city turned up at the Chandrasekharan Nair stadium for the get-together organised in connection with the 12 {+t} {+h} anniversary celebrations of the Kudumbasree Mission in the capital city.

The Chief Minister called on Kudumbasree members to be vigilant against attempts to create similar outfits based on political, religious and communal considerations. The mission, he said, could play a key role in the campaign against casteism, religious fundamentalism, superstition and social evils.

He praised the Kudumbasree Cleanwell units for their role in keeping the city clean.