Modi cabinet clears scheme aimed at providing irrigation facilities to every village

New Delhi: In order to reduce farm sector's dependence on monsoon, the Centre, on Wednesday, approved a central scheme for providing irrigation facility to every village by converging the ongoing schemes being implemented by various ministries.

The 'Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)' was cleared at the Union Cabinet meeting, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The Agriculture Ministry's proposal on PMKSY has been approved in the cabinet meeting today," sources said.

The new scheme assumes importance as 65 per cent of the total 142 million hectare of cultivable farm land in the country is still not covered by irrigation.

According to sources, the PMKSY aims to ensure access to some means of protective irrigation to all agricultural farms in the country, to produce 'per drop more crop', thus bringing much desired rural prosperity.

The scheme, with a budget allocation of Rs 1,000 crore for this fiscal, proposes to provide flexibility and autonomy to states in the process of planning and executing projects for ensuring water to every farm.

It would also ensure that district and state irrigation plans get prepared on the basis of agro-climatic conditions and sources of availability of water in that region.

That apart, PMKSY seeks to promote extension activities relating to 'on farm water management and crop alignment' for farmers and grass root level field functionaries, they added.

The state agriculture department would be the nodal agency for implementation of PMKSY projects, while there would also be an inter ministerial National Steering Committee (NSC) for periodic review of the same.

The PMKSY intends to focus on 'end-to-end solution' in irrigation supply chain by implementing the new programme in a "project mode" with decentralised state-level planning and execution, sources said.

A number of central schemes are operational to augment irrigation coverage. However, the goal of bringing irrigation water to every village farm has still been far from reality, primarily due to fragmented approach followed by existing schemes.

PMKSY funds would be given to states as 75 per cent grant by the central government and the remaining 25 per cent share is to be borne by the state government. For north-eastern region and hilly states, the funding pattern would be 90:10.