The Hindu Business Line : Not by credit alone

This is with reference to the editorial "Not by Credit alone" (Business Line, June 28). As pointed out in the editorial, credit is critical, but that alone is unlikely to resurrect the farm sector from its moribund state in many regions. It may be recalled in this regard that the lead bank scheme introduced in the 1970s with lot of consideration and seriousness to identify the potential of each village through impressionistic surveys and find ways and means to develop the village to make it self reliant unfortunately was not given the attention it deserved and failed to bear fruit.

Even with several decades of planning and development, the rural sector continues to remain weak and money lenders still rule the roost. This reflects the poor attention the authorities and institutions have so far given to this sector.

It is time to revisit the lead bank scheme and ensure that the village profiles are first updated and the credit gaps identified before finance is made available.

Money support alone will not bring results unless other well meaning supporting systems such as land holdings, irrigation system, distribution of seeds fertilisers and other inputs, marketing tie-ups and rural infrastructure are put in place.

What is required is a co-ordinated effort from all concerned . Even the very identification of persons for implementation of various schemes for rural development requires to be seriously reviewed so that the right person is selected to do the right job.

The country cannot afford to experiment further as there is neither the time nor the resources.

T. V. Gopalakrishnan

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