Mother of all farm packages soon

To address the agrarian crisis in the Indian economy, a new package for agriculture with a central investment corpus of around Rs 30,000 crore will be announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in about 10 days.

The largest central intervention by any government ever, the package will envisage contributions by the Centre to the states, which will be asked to match the amount.

The scheme will be output-linked "� states will have to commit to an output when they get the money. This will provide them the autonomy to have comprehensive local plans.

The prime minister will also meet chief ministers at the National Development Council meeting on May 29, to discuss how states can move to a power surplus position by 2012.

Sources close to the development acknowledged disquiet in the government on this issue.

Both these announcements are part of a hamper of socially inclusive gifts the prime minister promised India on the UPA government's third birthday, when he presented a Report to the People, a compendium of actions taken by the government during its tenure.

He also said credible steps would be taken to improve the public health system and a social security net for unorganised labour will be put in place.

The prime minister acknowledged that inflation was a problem. In his speech that was made before he launched the Report to the People, he said the growth process had unleashed a galloping demand for "some products", putting pressure on prices and causing inflation, especially in essential commodities.

"We have taken credible steps to control inflation and will continue to be vigilant on this front, so that the poor and vulnerable sections of society do not suffer," he said.

"All reasonable measures will be adopted to accelerate the tempo of agricultural production and to strengthen the public distribution system," he said.

The last chapter of the Report to the People has a summary of the steps the government has taken in the last year to counter inflation, which counts the increase in demand for primary goods, supply-side constraints because of stagnation in agriculture, increase in international prices and pressure on commodities like wheat as the reasons for inflation.

Profusely thanking Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Singh said: "I have been fortunate in having the unstinted support and cooperation of Soniaji. She is a source of great inspiration for us all, particularly for all poor people across the length and breadth of our country".