Union Budget 2016-17: Irrigation projects to get Rs 86500 over next five years

Raveena Singh moneycontrol.comIn a bid to increase agriculture output, Finance Minister has proposed to spend Rs 86,500 crore on irrigation projects over the next 5 years.While the government had announced Rs 5,300 crore to support micro-irrigation, watershed development and the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) last year, the amount seemed to be fairly small for agriculture sector that engages the largest workforce—almost 50 percent.Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced allocation of Rs 17,000 crore to Accelerated Irrigation Programme Benefit (AIPB) for FY17. Further, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana will be implemented in mission mode where 28.5 lakh hectares will be brought under irrigation. Here 89 irrigation projects, which were languishing for a long time, will be fast-tracked. According to the government plans, a dedicated Long Term Irrigation Fund will be created in National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) with an initial corpus of about Rs 20,000 crore. Another programme for sustainable management of ground water resources will be given an estimated cost of Rs 6,000 crore and will be implemented through multilateral funding. Additional 5 lakh farm ponds and dug wells in rain fed areas and 10 lakh compost pits for production of organic manure will be taken up under MGNREGA. There has been a spate of farmer suicides because of two consecutive years of drought. Bank loans, the only respite for farmers who need them to buy seeds and fertilizers, aren't enough. Hence, acquiring irrigation equipment, increasing the irrigation cover, introducing more such sustainable micro-irrigation schemes and pushing for rainwater harvesting and storage practices became the only bulwark against drought.