New Delhi: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said there is a need to create
employment opportunities in rural and tribal areas to check migration to metro cities.
Addressing the second edition of Save the Earth Conclave, Gadkari further said the economic
condition of farmers and workers in villages is serious.
“Youth, farmers and workers from villages are migrating to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore
and Pune due to lack of employment opportunities there. We should create employment
opportunities in villages and tribal areas,” he said.
The Road Transport and Highways Minister said youth and farmers are migrating from villages
out of compulsion, highlighting 10,000 farmer suicides in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.
He also called for a transformational shift in the agriculture sector to save farmers, saying they
are ‘annadata’ (food producer), but they should now become ‘urjaadata’ (energy provider).

Gadkari also made a case for increasing production of alternative fuel and biofuel.
“We import fossil fuels worth Rs 22 lakh crore, which is also causing pollution… so we need to
work on increasing production of alternative fuel and biofuel,” he said.
The sugar price is determined by Brazil, the oil price by Malaysia, the corn price by the US, and
the soybean price is influenced by Argentina. “Our minimum support price (MSP) is higher than
market price,” he said.
The minister pointed out that bamboo plantation can create 5 crores jobs in India.