Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal urged the Centre to constitute a high-level panel to revamp the "sagging agrarian economy" in the country and put it on a strong pedestal.
"Otherwise the national economy on the whole would be in tatters," Badal said while addressing a gathering at the foundation laying ceremony of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Manawala, near here.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and HRD Minister Smriti Irani were among those present at the programme.
Badal said there is utter disappointment among the peasantry due to unviable agriculture policies of the successive Congress governments at the Centre in the past.
He said it was an extremely deplorable situation that the farmers who heralded the Green Revolution in the 1960s and made the country self reliant in food production were now committing suicide.
The Chief Minister sought Jaitley's immediate intervention for formulating a concrete policy to bring an end to the "agrarian crisis." Badal hoped the IIM would also prove to be a mentor to the state in devising agricultural policies that could benefit of the farmers.
Attacking the previous UPA government at the Centre for its apathetic attitude towards Punjab, Badal alleged that it was always inimical to Punjab and its people.
He blamed the UPA "for ruining our state socially, economically and politically through its anti-state policies".
Badal urged Jaitley to consider an industrial package exclusively for border districts, if not for the entire state.
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