Schemes for agriculture & farmers remained in the file.
Approval of the schemes at the end of the financial year, farmers unable to fetch the benefits:
In the financial year 2021-22, more than dozens of the schemes made for agriculture and the development of the farmers remained kept in the files. Kisan Samridhi yojana schemes for protecting vegetables, fruits, and flowers after plucking, distribution of agriculture equipment, and other many schemes were included. The provisions were made in the budget and at the end days of the financial year (25-31 March) the schemes were approved and a work order was issued. Money was released from the treasury, but the schemes were not implemented. Due to this, the farmers were unable to fetch the benefits of the schemes.
Money was deposited in the PL account:
In the financial year 2021-22, the department of agriculture animal husbandry co-operative formed a scheme known as ‘Post harvesting and preservation infrastructure development’. Under this scheme, budget provisions were made for 30 crores. However, later the budget narrowed down to 11 crores, and the schemes remained in the files. The objectives of this scheme were to maintain the produced vegetables, fruits, and flowers and protect them from getting destroyed at the time of supply. However, the process of approval of these schemes started at the end days of the financial year. At the time of preparing the budget, the framework of the scheme was not prepared. Therefore, till the approval of the scheme, many changes were made. Later on, it was decided that under this scheme, within the range of 300 village markets, 10 farmers will be provided with one cycle & karats for bringing vegetables, fruits & flowers to the market center. It was estimated that the expenditure would be around 2.10 crore. At the cost of one crore, 250 veg cart tricycle and the cost of two crores, bed carte rickshaw will be distributed. It was also decided to establish one solar cold room in 10 village market. The agriculture producers’ marketing committee will also establish 10 cold rooms at the estimated cost of 3.24 crores. This scheme of 11 crores was sent to the authorized committee for approval. However, the authorized committee return this proposal by saying that this large amount of scheme can only be approved at the level of the planning department. After it, at the level of the department, this scheme was approved. At the end days of March, the money was withdrawn from the treasury and deposited in the PL account.
The whole of the year was spent on planning and corrections:
In the financial year 2021-22, the planning was done on developing agriculture in the town areas. For it, the budget provisions were made of 2 crores. Firstly, it was decided that with this amount of budget “rooftop farming” will be done. There will be a total of 375 units of rooftop farming. Thereafter discussion was done on which farm farmers and the facility of rooftop farming will be provided. After four months of vigorous research, it was decided that under this scheme flowers will be planted on the premises of the govt. officials, MLAs, and Ministers. Schemes were approved. But there was some mistake in the released order of the approval of the scheme. By mistake, in place of flower plants in the order letter of the scheme, it was mentioned trees and vegetables were. The process was started to correct this. The time consumed in the correction of the mistake, the financial year ended, and nothing was planted.
Money was withdrawn from the treasury; schemes were not implemented:
The status of schemes in the year 2021-22:
| S/N | Details of the scheme | achievement |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Support to the farmers for crop loss | 0 |
| 2 | Distribution of dolomite to 1000 farmers | 0 |
| 3 | Distribution of solar-powered equipment to 600-800 farmers | 0 |
| 4 | Benefits to 25000-30000 farmers under the National agriculture development scheme | 0 |
| 5 | Integrated agriculture and value addition in 1500 Hectare of land | 0 |
| 6 | Training to 5054 farmers | 0 |
| 7 | Distribution of 18000 pump-set, 849 mini tractors & power tillers | 0 |
| 8 | Establishment of 100 agriculture equipment bank | 0 |
| 9 | Distribution of 1000 honey box | 0 |
| 10 | Formation of Jharkhand Horticulture Society | 0 |
| 11 | Distribution of couple bulls to 150 beneficiaries | 0 |
Files went on moving but Kisan samridhi yojana was not started:
The Kisan samridhi yojana was announced in the financial year 2021-22. The objective was to improve the income of the farmers and reduce the expenses on diesel used in irrigation and reduce pollution. There was a provision of INR 45.83 crores. Under this scheme, the solar power pump-set was to be distributed to the farmers. From the big pump-set, 50-60 acres, and from the small pump-set,30-35 acres of land was planned to be irrigated. The files related to the Kisan samridhi yojana were moving to the agriculture and energy department and the whole year ended. The schemes were not implemented.
(Sources : Prabhat Khabar, Ranchi, Jharkhand dated 19.04.2022)