New Delhi, Jan.27: President Pratibha Patil on Monday gave a call to undertake steps that can ensure a second Green Revolution in the country.

Addressing the nation on the Republic Day-eve, President Patil stressed on the need for an intense focus on increasing agriculture productivity to ensure food availability, particularly of agricultural produces which are in short supply, to avoid spiraling food prices.

“To achieve this very important objective, I call for urgent steps towards a Second Green Revolution. There should be use of new technologies, better seeds, improved farming practices, effective water management techniques, as well as more intense frameworks for connecting the farmer with the scientific community, with lending institutions and with markets,” said Patil.

“Our farmers are ready and willing to work, earn and learn. We have to respond positively and do some out of the box thinking,” she added.

Patil said a bottleneck and an impediment in bringing about the desired results, for which policies and schemes have been formulated and huge allocation of funds made, is weak implementation and corruption in the system.

“The causes of the chronic ailment of tardy implementation have to be treated. There should be accountability for lack of implementation of projects, programmes and schemes. This is critical for bringing about positive change,” she said.

“We need technologies for more efficient and cleaner energy, for our industry and agriculture. India has to chalk out strategies that will promote research and development resulting in innovative methods and techniques. The quality of research in our country must be upgraded to build knowledge structures,” Patil added. (ANI)