CHENNAI: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss condemned the state government for engaging agriculture students to conduct Agri Stack survey in the state, demanding to take them off the job.
In a statement, Anbumani said the government has engaged students instead of revenue department staff to digitise data pertaining to farmers and agriculture. "The central government has instructed the state governments to digitise agriculture data after collecting details through a survey. In other states, the survey is being conducted by private firms under the supervision of the revenue department. But, students are being engaged in Tamil Nadu," he pointed out.
The PMK leader said that a pilot survey was conducted in 48 villages in 24 districts on November 6, noting that the agriculture department has issued orders to conduct the survey in all districts and complete it by the end of this month.
"Though digitising the data is a useful exercise, it is unfair to conduct the survey using students. It is not easy for the students to cover 61 crore acres of agricultural land. Students should not be engaged in the survey, considering their safety. Also, the accuracy of the data will be compromised as the students are not adequately trained in survey application," he said.
Anbumani also flagged that the students' examinations and industrial visits have been postponed due to the survey work. "This will affect their education. Also, the government is not providing them travel allowance. The students are forced to spend their own money. Above all, the digitisation should be conducted by the revenue department; not by the agriculture department," he opined.
Saying that the central government has allocated Rs 2,817 crore for the exercise, Anbumani urged the government to carry out the survey using the funds allocated to Tamil Nadu.
In a separate statement, party founder S Ramadoss condemned the government for not implementing the old pension scheme as promised before the elections.