Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Aug 19: "People may be wondering why we are organizing the ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ even though there are no elections around. When the new ministers were being introduced, the opposition parties raised a din and the situation the house witnessed during this period was unheard of. Therefore, these 43 new ministers have undertaken this Yatra to introduce themselves to the people of their respective states," clarified union minister of state for agriculture and farmers welfare, Shobha Karandlaje.

Speaking after initiating the Udupi district ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ at Ram Mandir Hebri on Wednesday August 18, she said that there might be problems relating to specific crops in different districts. She promised to solve such problems by discussing the same with department officials and by working with the government. "In only seven years, India reached ninth place in the world as far as export of food grains is concerned and we are proud of this feat," he stated. She also explained that 305 million metric tonnes of food grains and 365 million metric tonnes of fruit had been exported.

Shobha said that the Prime Minister has set aside Rs 1.3 lac crore for agricultural development and farmers’ welfare.

BJP district president Kuilady Suresh Nayak, MLA Raghupathi Bhat, Uday Kumar Shetty, Mahaveer Hegde, coastal development authority chairman Mattaru Ratnakar Hegde, Kiran Kumar Kodgi, Karnataka Cashew Development Corporation chairman, Maniraj Shetty, and others were present.