Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sanchayee Yojana

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

The union government has approved the extension of Pradhan Mantri krishi sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) till 2026, which would help in funding the irrigation projects to increase the water supply in the country.

PMKSY

• The scheme was launched in 2015, it is an amalgamation of existing components with an output-driven approach as an umbrella programme with various components envisioning increased irrigation potential.
• It has been formulated with the vision of extending the coverage of irrigation ‘Har Khet ko pani’ and improving water use efficiency ‘More crop per drop’ in a focused manner with end to end solution on source creation, distribution, management, field application and extension activities.

Objectives Of The Scheme

• Achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level
• Har Khet ko pani– Enhance the physical access of water on the farm and expand cultivable area under assured irrigation
• Integration of water source, distribution and its efficient use, to make best use of water through appropriate technologies and practices.
• Improve on – farm water use efficiency to reduce wastage and increase availability both in duration and extent.
• 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.
• Ensure the integrated development of rainfed areas using the watershed approach towards soil and water conservation, regeneration of groundwater, arresting runoff, providing livelihood options and other NRM activities.
• Promote extension activities relating to water harvesting, water management and crop alignment for farmers and grass root level field functionaries.
• Explore the feasibility of reusing treated municipal wastewater for peri – urban agriculture.
• Attract greater private investments in irrigation.

Components of the scheme

PMKSY consists of 3 main components implemented by various ministries-

• Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti oversees implementation of-

• Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP)
• Har Khet Ko Pani (HKKP)

• Watershed Development under Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development
• Per Drop More Crop under Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare

Achievements of the scheme

Development of Hybrid Annuity PPP model: In order to accelerate the pace of micro irrigation development in the country, NITI Aayog-Water resource division has assisted in the development of Hybrid Annuity model with Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) to provide water to every field.

Siang Multi-Purpose River Valley Project: To harness the hydro power potential in the North-East part of India, the Multi-Purpose River Valley Project on Siang River in Arunachal Pradesh has been proposed by MoWR, RD&GR.

Water Management Index: In pursuit of cooperative and competitive federalism, NITI Aayog has been laying emphasis on developing indicators on various social sectors. As a step in this direction and keeping in view the criticality of water for life, NITI Aayog has prepared a report on Composite Water Management Index (CWMI).

Challenges

• Ignoring problems

• One of the principal causes of the failure of the AIBP was its inability to take land acquisition into account. The requirement of agencies to possess land first before funding is not in the scheme of PMKSY.
• Therefore, two of its sub-components, namely AIBP and  Har Khet Ko Pani are  adversely affected and fall short of the target.
• The programme unveils a grand vision of end-to-end solutions from tapping water source to distribution to water management in order to increase water and agriculture productivity in the command area, it turns a blind eye to the fact that the command area is not under the control of the government.

• Lack of government investment

• “Per Drop More Crop” requires higher investment to introduce costly sprinklers and drip irrigation which small landowning farmers cannot afford.
• The extent of government contribution in the investment of micro-irrigation on behalf of farmers, or incentives for farmers who adopt such micro-irrigation, finds no mention in PMKSY.

• Lack of accountability

• There is also no reference to accountability when there is a failure to meet targets or to formulate any district plans. The tenure of service of the bureaucrats heading the committee is secure, irrespective of the outcome of PMKSY

• Absence of new thinking in approach

• It is a hotchpotch of old schemes:The Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) for fast-tracking of public irrigation projects, Per-Drop, More-Crop for promoting drip and sprinkler irrigation, and Watershed Management.
• Har Khet Ko Paani is a new component focusing on local water bodies and groundwater, but its funding is puny.

Case studies

• Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh

• The Gram Panchayat Irrigation plans were prepared through Water Gap Analysis for all 1003 Gram Panchayats and these were integrated into a Comprehensive District irrigation plan, 100% Geo tagging of all structures has been done using satellite imagery
• ‘Panta Sanjivani’ was implemented to provide protective irrigation to the rain fed groundnut crop during dry spells. A comprehensive District Irrigation Plan (DIP) was made focusing on “Drought Proofing” instead of “Drought Relief”.

• Banaskantha, Gujarat

• The district developed an Agriculture Contingency Plan and a comprehensive District Irrigation Plan (DIP) to ensure convergence of all programmes/activities for water conservation.
• Requirement of water for domestic use, crop, irrigation, livestock, industrial purpose was calculated separately.
• Renovation, Restoration and Repairing (RRR) of old canal structure during off season was done to minimize loss of water. Regular contact with farmers and user groups/ mandlis was established to assess their demands, time of release of water, frequency, etc.

Way Forward

The Agricultural sector i.e the primary sector of the economy can flourish only when the farmers no longer have to depend on the monsoon rain, for the economic growth of the  entire nation, continuous supply of irrigation water without any hindrance to the cultivated field is the need of the hour. However, the cultivators need to be educated to use the water efficiently in order to minimise losses and to increase the productivity of their farms.

Livemint link-

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/cabinet-approves-implementation-of-pmksy-scheme-for-202126-11639562477698.html

https://pmksy.gov.in/AboutPMKSY.aspx

Question- Evaluate the performance of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sanchayee Yojana.