Cabinet nod to central irrigation plan, national common agri market

The Union Cabinet has cleared the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchaee Yojana (PMKSY), which, with an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore spread over a period of five years starting from 2015-16, aims to provide irrigation to every village by converging the various ongoing irrigation schemes.

A sum of Rs 5,300 crore has been allocated in the current financial year for the programme. That apart, officials said another proposal from the department of agriculture to create a national common agriculture market, by digitally integrating more than 580 regulated mandis or wholesale markets across the country by 2017-18 with an allocation of Rs 200 crore has also been okayed.

"Both the proposals have been cleared by the union cabinet, but a formal announcement would be made on Thursday," a senior official told Business Standard.

News agency PTI said that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had also extended by a year the ban on holding of onion stock beyond the prescribed limit. The order empowering states to impose stock limits on traders for holding onion and ban hoarding beyond the set limit, expires on July 2.

Under the national agriculture market scheme, the central government will identify 50 mandis across five states in the first phase, who will granted an allocation of Rs 30 lakh for setting up of hardware and infrastructure for digital integration. The funding will not be available for private mandis, but they will have access to the e-platform. After the rollout in 50 mandis, the implementation would be handed over by Small Farmers' Agribusiness Consortium, an arm of the department of agriculture, to another agency.

GREENER PASTURES

• Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana with an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore for five years cleared
   
• Scheme to rely on decentralised planning and encourage states to draw up district and state irrigation plans
   
• The plans will focus on three main components which is water sources, distribution network and water use application
   
• In total, 75%of the grant will be given from central government, while states have to bear the remaining 25%
   
• The scheme aims to club investments under several other irrigation programmes under one roof at the field level
   
• The national agriculture market scheme plans to integrate 580 regulated mandis via a common platform in three yrs, with an allocation of Rs 200 crore