“We will bring one crore hectares agricultural land under micro-irrigation, this would be supplemented with ‘fertigation’ to promote judicious use of fertilizers.” — Promise in 2019 BJP Manifesto
An evaluation of the research below indicates that:
1. While there has been substantive coverage of micro-irrigation in India’s farmlands towards accomplishment of the promised degree of support, where in 83.46 Lakh Hectares have been purportedly served under this scheme, a significant component of this accomplishment (31.70 Lakh Hectares) is attributable to efforts undertaken between FY 2015-16 and FY 2018-19, which predates the ‘scope’ of this evaluation.
2. The coverage achieved in the timespan of relevance for this evaluation (17th Lok Sabha term), starting with FY 2019-20 to FY 2023-24, is 51.8 Lakh Hectares.
It can therefore be concluded that:
The Government’s objectively verifiable performance is 48% lower than the promised objective. This translates to an approximately 48.2 lakh hectare investment ‘gap’ attributable to this implementation effort.
Research
- Question No. 1610 (Unstarred) , Lok Sabha 16,Session 17, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Feb 12, 2019, the PMKSY-Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) scheme is implemented by Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare. PDMC focuses on increasing on farm water use efficiency by promoting efficient water application systems such as drip and sprinkler irrigation system. As of Feb 2019, an area of about 31.70 lakh ha has been covered under Micro Irrigation and funds of Rs. 8733.1317 cr are provided to States. The State wise details of Central Assistance provided during 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 are provided in the Annexure- II of the response to the question.
- Question No. 664 (Unstarred) , Lok Sabha 17,Session 15, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Feb 6, 2024, An area of 83.46 lakh hectare has been covered under Micro Irrigation in the Country under PDMC from 2015-16 to 2023-24(till date). State-wise details and percentage of coverage are provided in the Annexure of the response to the question.
Links
- https://www.enavabharat.com/state/maharashtra/washim/implementation-of-the-plan-gave-impetus-to-development-54-works-will-irrigate-2182-hectares-of-land-573013/
- https://sansad.in/getFile/loksabhaquestions/annex/17/AU1610.pdf?source=pqals
- https://sansad.in/getFile/loksabhaquestions/annex/1715/AU664.pdf?source=pqals
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