 "World Bank")
Madhya Pradesh government has sought financial assistance of Rs 1,200 crore from World Bank to revive barren lands of Chambal which were once infested with dreaded dacoits.
Sprawling across three states; Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan the ravines have a larger area - 70,000 hectares (approximately), in Madhya Pradesh.
The state department of Agriculture will be nodal agency to implement the revival of ambitious Ravine Reclamation project, which started in the 1970s. The Food and Agriculture Organisations of United Nations have also come forward to create a base for the project, albeit, separately.
Once cleared, the funding pattern of the project will be in 80:20 ratio in which state will chip in Rs 240 crore and the rest Rs 960 crore will be funded by World Bank. "We have forwarded a proposal to the Union government for World Bank assistance for a sum of Rs 1200 crore. The project will be implemented by various line departments like department of farmer welfare and agriculture department, horticulture department, forest department and veterinary department," said Amit Rathore, secretary state finance department.
The new ravine revival plan has already been mentioned in "Madhya Pradesh Vision Document 2018" of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government and has been re-scripted as "Integrated Approach for the Reclamation of Ravines in the Chambal Region of Madhya Pradesh."
The state government eyes the ravines mostly along the rivers Chambal, Sindh, Betwa and Kwari as well as the tributaries of Yamuna Chambal is Yamuna's tributary).
According to a study quoted in the ravine reclamation concept note, about 3.97 million hectares of land in India form ravines of which Madhya Pradesh has approximately 70,000 hectares. The states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat account for 2.7 million hectares, or 70%, of the country's ravines, it adds.
"Studies in ravine formation have revealed its expansion is at 9.5% per annum and rate of soil loss is 65 tonne per hectare per year. Thus, every year nearly 8,000 hectares of land is claimed by ravines," reads the note prepared by the state's farmer welfare and agriculture development department.
"If a timely action is not taken the ravines will be converted into the desert and will pose a threat to the nearby fertile area," said V R Khare, retired principal chief conservator of the forest who knows the area and had made some efforts to revive the ravines.
Meanwhile, FAO has readied a blueprint for two districts, Bhind and Morena, that have the large area of ravines under its 'Green-Agriculture: Transforming Indian Agriculture for Global Environmental Benefits and the Conservation of Critical Biodiversity in Different Landscapes' plan. The FAO has picked tentative locations in five states; Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttrakhand and Mizoram with a GEF (Global Environment Facility) fund of 36.9 million and co- financing of 400 million US dollar. The project aims at inducing farmers to adopt such agriculture practices which will only enhance augmented livelihood but will minimise the ill effects of agriculture on the conservation of natural resources deforestation and land degradation etc.
The FAO has observed that ravines are expanding fast, have sparse vegetation cover, human-wildlife conflict and has limited community initiative on ravine management.
"By stabilising ravine ecosystem with help of local community we not only can create a potential for agriculture but will also be able to save the climate. We have plans to take up two districts Bhind and Morena and we hope the outcome of our project would help improve the ravine as planned under ravine reclamation project," said Shyam Khadka, FAO representative in India.
Madhya Pradesh has given its 'in-principle' clearance to FAO plan and the state agriculture department will join hands in the initiatives. "We are ready to support the FAO project for stabilising and improving the ravines in Bhind and Morena area," Mohanlal Meena, director state Farmer Welfare and Agriculture development department said, "however ravine reclamation require the support of various other departments like horticulture, forests etc."
"The investment in the project will not be more than Rs 50 crore," said Khadka. The FAO project is a seven-year project in which five states of the country have agreed to participate. "The focal area of the project is biodiversity, land degradation, climate change, sustainable forest management with a view to catalysing transforming change in India's agriculture sector," the official said.
