That the other agricultural products were making rapid progress and that there was no need for any anxiety. It was, therefore, with some shock that the country read about the proceedings of the aix which met in New Delhi wherein thia question was pointedly referred to by the planning minister as well as by the minister of food and agriculture. From the discussion that appeared in the newspapers, we found that there was something very seriously wrong with our agricultural sector and that it was not making that headway which it was expected to make and which it claimed it was making and, therefore, as a result of the stagnation in this sector, the entire economy was stagnating. Some detailed considerations regarding the reasons why our agriculture was not making any progress were also considered according to the reports. From the discussion, it becomes quite clear that the administrative machinery was not geared to the very big tasks that were ahead in the agricultural sector and even today it has become more and more difficult to find out exactly on whom the responsibility for developing the agricultural sector is to be fixed and who is to be held responsible in case the targets which have been prescribed for the agricutural sector are not fulfilled. At the very outset, Sir, I might submit that I have no hesitation in offering my congratulation to the Railway Minister for the good financial position of our railways, as indicated in his speech on the railway budget for the year 1999-00. There has also been a fall, as speakers have mentioned before, in railway goods traffic, and in income from passenger traffic. The fall in goods traffic has been attributed by the railway authorities to unfair competition from private operators of transport.
