Comments
The Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has kept the allocation for Green Revolution in Eastern India unchanged at Rs 1,000 crore in his Budget for 2013-14.
The Government had, in its Budget 2012-13, raised the allocation for the green revolution project by almost 150 per cent to Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 400 in 2011-12).
It was during Union Budget 2010-11 that for the first time, separate funds were allocated for the eastern parts of the country. The scheme, which comes under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, includes Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern UP, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal.
Rice was a priority crop under the scheme. The other areas of focus were asset-building activities such as water management, construction of farm ponds and repair of irrigation channels.
“Bringing the green revolution to eastern India has been a remarkable success. Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal have increased their contribution to rice production,” the Finance Minister said in his Budget speech.
Of the Rs 1,000 crore allocated in 2012-13, West Bengal received nearly Rs 270 crore.
According to Paritosh Bhattacharya, Director of Agriculture, almost the entire fund has already been utilised primarily towards improving paddy productivity. “The main motive behind this project is to ensure food security. The idea was to tap the eastern region for foodgrains and pulses,” said Pranab Chatterjee, Professor, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishwavidyalaya.
Crop Diversification
The Centre has also allocated Rs 500 crore for encouraging crop diversification to promote technological innovation.
“The original Green Revolution States face the problem of stagnating yields and over-exploitation of water resources. The answer lies in crop diversification,” Chidambaram said.
West Bengal, on its part, has already embarked on a diversification project by aiding the cultivation of crops, such as hybrid maize, sesame, black gram (urad) and khesari dal (Lathyrus sativus) – a cheap variety of pulses with high protein.
“The area under pulses cultivation in the State has come down from 5 lakh hectare in early 80s to about 2 lakh hectare at present. The Government is looking at how to enhance the production of various pulses and oilseeds,” Chatterjee said.
Ground Reality
However, according to paddy farmers in the State, mere allocation of funds for improving productivity might not yield results.
According to Salauddin Mullah, a farmer of Boromuriya village at Golsi block in Burdwan district, Green Revolution can be achieved only if the Government addresses issues pertaining to water, electricity, seeds and fertilisers. Burdwan is called the “rice bowl” of West Bengal.
“Most often than not, we hardly benefit from such schemes. It is important they ensure that we get proper financial assistance from institutions,” he said. shobha.roy@thehindu.co.in
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.