The farming community has welcomed chief minister M Karunanidhi’s promise to supply free motors to small farmers.
Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association secretary, S Ranganathan, said, "We appreciate the chief minister’s gesture. I request the government to give submersible motors instead of mono-block ones. Also, a majority of small and marginal farmers don’t have power connection. The state should look at the possibility of providing motors and power connections to those people also by clubbing them as small groups."
Ranganathan lamented that though the government promises six hours of power supply during day and three hours at night to the farming community, the supply was highly irregular and not dependable. "Even if we get eight hours of supply, it is enough, but there should be certainty about it," he said. For marginal (those with a landholding of up to one hectare) and small (between one and two hectares) farmers, agriculture is not merely an economic activity, but their livelihood. They hold about 56% of the state land area.
The average land holding of farmers in the state, which was 1.25 hectares in 1976-77, has gone below 0.8 hectare now. It is much lower than the national average of 1.33 hectares.
According to an estimate of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board spends roughly Rs 1,200 crore per annum for providing free power to farmers. Agriculture power connections, which increase by roughly 2% per annum, constitute about 9% of the total TNEB subscriber base. Further, unlike the domestic sector, all connections in the agri sector are three-phase connections.
The scheme to give motors to farmers is not totally new. From 2009 onwards, the state has been giving 50% subsidy to 10,000 farmers per annum (roughly Rs 10 crore) to buy new motors.
At the Independence Day celebration, Karunanidhi also distributed state government awards to various people. The Kalpana Chawla award was given to differently-abled athlete J Deepa of Madurai. She has won many medals in the international level athletics competitions.