Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for integration of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGA) with the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana. This will help in creating more irrigation assets, he said.

A day after clearing changes in the Land Acquisition Act, Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Tuesday on the irrigation scheme and asked the Departments and Ministries concerned to fast-track the scheme. He also called for a multi-pronged approach to reach the goal of providing irrigation facilities for every farm through the scheme. The new scheme was mentioned in the Budget, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saying, “Bulk of our farm lands are rain-fed and dependent on monsoons. Therefore, there is a need to provide assured irrigation to mitigate risk.

To improve access to irrigation we propose to initiate the scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana’. I propose to set aside a sum of ₹1,000 crore for this purpose.”

According to the Economic Survey for 2013-14, currently 63 million ha, or 45 per cent of net cropped area, is irrigated.

Under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP), ₹64,228 crore of Central loan assistance (CLA)/grant had been released up to December 31, 2013.

Noting that the rural job guarantee programme over the past few years was used for creation and augmentation of irrigation assets, Modi said, “NREGA should be integrated with the overall plan of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana.” He also called for precise monitoring of outcomes. 

At the macro-level, the Prime Minister asked the Water Resources Ministry to identify river-interlinking projects that could be immediately taken up, and called for comprehensive mapping and identification of water bodies.

He said satellite imagery and 3D photography could be used to guide villages to the best possible sources of irrigation. 

The meeting was also attended by Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati and the Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.

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