Cabinet okays ₹1,600 cr sub-scheme under PMKSY for piped water to farms

The sub-scheme will run on a pilot basis across 78 sites covering almost 80,000 farmers

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a ₹1,600 crore sub-scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) for the 2025–26 period in a bid to strengthen micro-irrigation infrastructure. The decision will help deliver water from established sources directly to farm gates for fields up to 1 hectare, according to an official statement.

 

The sub-scheme — the Modernisation of Command Area Development and Water Management (M-CADWM) — will run on a pilot basis across 78 sites covering almost 80,000 farmers. This will use underground pressurised piped system to connect irrigation sources with farmland as a last-mile connectivity between water sources and farms.

 

The scheme also aims to modernise the irrigation water-supply network, directing water from existing canals or other sources to designated clusters.

 

The statement said the projects would be made sustainable through irrigation management transfer (IMT) to the water User Society (WUS) for the management of irrigation assets.

 

The water-user societies will be given handholding support by linking them with existing economic entities, such as farmer producer organisations or primary agricultural credit societies, for five years. Youngsters will also be encouraged to take up farming and adopt modern methods of irrigation, the statement said.

 

The initial approval is for taking up pilot projects across various agro-climatic zones in the country by challenge funding the states.

 

Based on the learnings in the design and structuring of these projects, the National Plan for Command Area Development and Water Management will be launched in April 2026 for the 16th Finance Commission period, the statement said.

Doubling of Tirupati-Pakala-Katpadi rly section in Andhra, Tamil Nadu gets nod 

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the doubling of the 104 km-long Tirupati–Pakala–Katpadi single railway line section in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with a total cost of ₹1,332 crore, the government said on Wednesday. The CCEA also okayed two infrastructure projects related to the transport sector that are aimed at removing congestion and enhancing integrated transport development, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.