States get more time to spend funds under PMKSY

by Mentors4ias · December 1, 2015

The Agriculture Ministry has extended by a month the deadline for States to utilise funds under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) for implementation of micro irrigation projects.

About Rs. 1,000 crore had been allocated to States for micro irrigation schemes to be implemented by November but several States were found lagging, at a review meeting held recently
Earlier the Minister had said that unutilised funds should be diverted to States that showed better utilisation. .
Against a target of 5 lakh hectares, only 1.32 lakh hectares had been brought under micro irrigation.

The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, with an outlay of Rs. 50,000 crore for a period of 5 years (2015-16 to 2019-20), aims to achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level.
It focuses on convergence of ongoing schemes including the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation; the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) of the Department of Land Resources; and On Farm Water Management (OFWM) component of National Mission on Sustainable Agricure (NMSA) of the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation.
Under the scheme, States were supposed to restore water bodies and converge micro irrigation projects.
The programme envisages drought proofing, drip and sprinkler irrigation and tying up with MGNREGS schemes, all of which are within the purview of State governments.
The PMKSY has to be implemented in an area development approach, adopting decentralised State-level planning, allowing the States to draw their irrigation development plans based on district/block plans.

The major objective of PMKSY is to

achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level,
expand cultivable area under assured irrigation,
improve on-farm water use efficiency to reduce wastage of water,
enhance the adoption of precision-irrigation and other water saving technologies“(More crop per drop)”,
enhance recharge of aquifers and
introduce sustainable water conservation practices by exploring the feasibility of reusing treated municipal waste water for peri-urban agriculture and
to attract greater private investment in precision irrigation system.