The idea of
incentivizing and building rural infrastructure to fight backwardness
The NDA government’s renewed emphasis on
agriculture is a well thought out strategy to finally eradicate poverty and
make rural poor an integral part of India’s growth story. Rather, such
spending has proved to be of temporary relief without really changing the
ground reality. It is experience that has prompted the government to initiate
schemes meant to build durable rural infrastructure to motivate people adopt
agriculture as a viable alternative career option.
This is an interesting departure from
the past. The government’s plan is to transform the most backward districts in
the country as models of India transforming. In this, the Gujarat experiment in
Kutch is proving useful. The focus this time is on the 100 most backward
districts in the country of which majority are in three states, Bihar, UP and
Madhya Pradesh. These three states together account for seventy of the most
backward districts in the whole country. More striking is that not a single
most developed district in the country falls in these states. Some believe
nothing can be done in the case of backward districts. But they can be made
number one, said the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, recently. He was
commenting on backwardness and total absence of development in certain regions
in the country.
The issue of regional disparity has
foxed planners for long. Previous governments have initiated many schemes
specially designed for the most backward districts. Perhaps they failed because
the focus was more on poverty alleviation and temporary job creation. They did
not create rural infrastructure. Nor could they make agriculture profitable in
the absence of roads, irrigation and connectivity.
As Chief Minister, before he became
Prime Minister, Shri Modi has rebuilt the earthquake ravaged, hopelessly
parched Rann of Kutch into a land of promise. Shri Narendra Modi has an
unbeaten record of ushering in an era of double digit agricultural growth trajectory
in Gujarat between 2003 and 2014, when the national average was languishing at
less than two per cent. Shri Modi has also vowed to make the incomes of the
Indian farmers double in the next four years. Taking cue from this agrarian
success story, in Gujarat, a state which was never considered an agrarian
state, because of the vast Saurashtra region which used to witness massive
migration, cattle and people every year because of draught, many other states
like MP, Chhattisgarh and now Maharashtra have adopted the techniques which were
pioneered in Gujarat. This agrarian growth strategy was built on better irrigation,
modern farming tools, easy availability of cheaper farm loans, 24-hour
electricity and tech savvy marketing of farm produce. In each of these
initiatives there is a large volume of innovative planning and hands on
implementation. The NDA Government at Centre has been trying to replicate his
experience in the entire country.
Soil testing to find the health
condition of agricultural land is a major step in the direction of agrarian
revolution. Neem coated urea is another. Building check dams, water
conservation through ponds and other water conservation methods, raising the
ground water level, reducing water wastage by promoting drip irrigation,
changing crop pattern studying the soil fertility, water availability and market
condition are other ingredients of this approach. Then reaching technology
through electrification, computerization of Panchayats, building smoother roads
through Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sarak Yojna which will also help marketing and internet
connectivity which has been promised to reach every village are the things that
will ensure development at the grass roots level.
Never before have so many poor people
become bank account holders in India. Under the Jan Dhan Yojna about 30 crore
new bank account has been opened. This financial inclusion is at the centre of
a dynamic agrarian economy. The government in the financial year has saved Rs
50,000 crore through direct cash transfer scheme. This with free cooking gas
connection to 50 million BPL families is changing lives of millions of
families. The rural job guarantee scheme has been reworked with highest ever
annual allocation and ensuring the availability of farm labour. These will also
limit the flight of labour to cities leaving their traditional farm labour.
How can agriculture become profitable?
How can the farmer income double by the turn of this decade? Will it ensure the
end of rural indebtedness and farmer suicides? Yes, all this is possible if the
Prime Minister is able to replicate at the national what he achieved in
Gujarat. Shri Modi has put the common man at the pivot of his economic
narrative. He has placed great faith in the Indian farmer and brought
agriculture to the centre stage of his growth engine. The new schemes,
allocation for agrarian transformation tell this fascinating story. Rs 1.87
lakh crore is the next year allocation for agriculture and allied areas. The
thrust areas in this are, MNREGA, availability of easy farm loans and better
irrigation. The fund for irrigation corpus and dairy processing increased
substantially. Crop insurance under Fasal Bima Yojna, along with agricultural
credit yojna has Rs 10 lakh crore which is whopping compared to past records. More
credit will incentivize farm investment and propel food processing
industrialization. This will ensure durability and better returns for farmers. This
could also boost job opportunity in rural India.
Rabi crop sowing has seen an eight per
cent rise this season. Reports say the kharif crop this season is going to be a
record 297 million tone because of better rain fall. The building of better
panchayat roads, 2000 kms of coastal connectivity roads and 130,000 panchayats
getting high speed broadband under BharatNet will certainly improve marketing
and remunerative pricing of farm products making agriculture as a profitable
career option. Agriculture production is bound to leapfrog as a consequence of
all these measures and the goal of food for all and complete eradication of
poverty from the face of India in the near future will become a reality once
these policy driven, targeted measures are executed.
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