Kochi: All India Kisan Morcha (AIKM) has stressed the need for evolving a consensus on implementing value-added tax (VAT) simultaneously all over India and called for another round of discussions between the central government and state finance ministers.

AIKM president Mahadeva Rao Sivankar says some of the Congress-ruled states are yet to formulate a concrete policy on the implementation of VAT. "Similarity, there is a precondition for development and the partial implementation will not produce the intended effect."

Unable to meet credit burden and coercive methods being adopted by the governments for loan recovery, nearly 150 farmers had committed suicide in Congress-ruled states, he alleges. "These governments for not taking any preventive steps; they are adopting an anti-farmer policy."

About the central government's ambitious river-linking project, he says it will fetch a permanent solution for the drought-affected states and will lead to village connectivity. "The central government has earmarked Rs 500 crore in the previous budget with a view to stabilise prices of agricultural commodities like spices, coffee, tea and rubber."