Rice prod jumps 11% above normal in East India in 2011-12: Govt

Central govt has embarked on a major programme to boost foodgrain production in seven eastern Indian states

The government initiative to usher in Green Revolution in eastern India seems to have borne fruit with rice production increasing by almost 11% than the normal output in 2011-12 in the seven major eastern Indian states.

According to a recent statement laid in Parliament, the maximum impact has been in Bihar, where rice production in 2011-12 is almost 70% more than the normal at 7.20 million tonnes. In West Bengal, rice production in 2011-12 is almost 45% more than normal at 14.85 million tonnes.

“Out of the total rice production of 104.32 million tonnes, the seven eastern Indian states contributed more than half at 55.34 million tonnes,” the statement said.

The central government has embarked on a major programme to boost foodgrain production in seven eastern Indian states. The programme is aimed at reducing the pressure of grain production on northern states of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.

The seven states which have been identified for the programme are Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh.

In Odisha, though, the programme has not achieved much progress till now and as per government data, rice production in the region was almost 6.7% less than normal in 2011-12 at 5.81 million tonnes.

In the 2011-12, Budget, government launched the ambitious programme called ‘Bringing Green Revolution in Eastern India’ (BGREI) with an initial budget of Rs 400 crore. The allocation was raised to Rs 1,000 in the subsequent budget of 2012-13.

“Considering the over exploitation of limited natural resources of north western region due to rice cultivation. Government is giving emphasis on increasing rice production in the resource rich eastern region of the country,” minister of state for agriculture Tariq Anwar said while giving a written reply in Parliament.