I feel the situation has changed considerably now since the first press commission to make a thorough enquiry about the various problems confronting the Indian Press. Madam, I feel that this is a necessary step to be taken in view of the fact that many of the recommendations made by the Press Commission have become outdated and some of them have not been accepted by the Government of India. Therefore, it is very essential that we should have another Press Commission to enquire about the Indian Press. Now, I would deal with some of the points which I referred to earlier, namely, the tendencies of monopoly in the Indian Press. At the outset, I welcome the Budget and I support the Budget. I am thankful to the Government for having paid Rs. 65,000 crore to farmers who were defaulters. But where is the guarantee that these defaulters will not become defaulters once again? I would like to know the action that is being proposed to be taken by the Government to prevent them from becoming defaulters once again. This matter has to be looked into by the Government. The cost of cultivation is going high. The farmers also want that their children must be educated and become Engineers or Doctors, and the standard of living of the farmers also has gone up. The cost of fertilizers has gone up. There is no guarantee for them to get good yield for their crops which they have sown. There is no guarantee of rains and no guarantee of water. Even now, 70 per cent of our land is cultivated under dry land cultivation. Such is the situation now. So, we are not sure that they will not become defaulters once again. Madam, in 1983 I was the Minister for Cooperation in Karnataka. I tried this. I had waived all the interest outstanding of the farmers on the condition that they would pay their overdue. Most of them paid their overdue. I was very happy thinking that they would never become defaulters, but within another three years they became defaulters once again because they could not get good yield for their crops due to drought and other conditions.
