Budge Wish List

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[A large numbers of farmers from all over the country on Wednesday met Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi to seek farmers' friendly budget. Sajjan Kumar, a senior Congress leader, said that he requeted Sonia Gandhi to make amendments in the land acquisition policy to increase benefits to farmers. &quot;In the forthcoming budget small farmers should be given incentives, there should be amendment in the land acquisition policy, farmers should get better compensation and also more employment opportunities. We have also sought alternative employment to poor and landless peasants,&quot; he said. The farmers came to Delhi as a part of an interactive programme in the run up to the budget from which they are expected to seek several concessions. According to the National Crime Records Bureau data, Maharashtra is ahead of all others in the farmers' suicide cases. In last one-year; the rise in farmer suicides in Maharashtra is four and a half times higher than Andhra Pradesh. The latest data from the NCRB shows that Maharashtra recorded 4,453 farmer suicides. Tata Institute of Social Sciences' figures suggest that around 150,000 farmers had committed suicide over the past 10 years as they could not repay debt owed to money-lenders. (ANI)