The farmer of Gujarat is hardworking all over the country, govt. failed the Narmada project

Gandhinagar, 29 July 2021

The role model of BJP for Gujarat is projected across the country. If Gujarat has any biggest project then it is the canals of Narmada dam and Kalpasar project in Gulf of Khambhat. BJP has been working on both these schemes for the last 26 years.

The Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi could not make a Kalpsar plan to take Gujarat to the upper age. Narmada Dam was built but Narendra Modi and Vijay Rupani could not build Narmada canals. Narmada dam was successful for drinking water but completely failed to bring water to the fields.

10 lakh farmers were to irrigate 18 lakh hectares through Narmada canal. But in 3 lakh hectares, 1.50 lakh farmers hardly get water. Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam, along with farm numbers and farmers’ names, villages and mobile phone numbers, along with the entire past, should be kept on the web site to see in which fields the water of Narmada canal is going. The corporation has all the information.

It should be published on its website along with the survey number. But since the Narmada project has failed in irrigation, it cannot be declared. Farmers are facing such a challenge.

Narmada scheme failed

The irrigation potential of the canal was 18.13 lakh hectare out of which 11.39 lakh hectare is mentioned in the government books. But in Vastar all 220 dams and lakes of 8 lakh hectares were irrigated. It literally means that the Narmada canal irrigates 3 to 4 lakh hectares. Which actually should have been done from 18 lakh hectares.

In Gujarat in 2006, 7.90 lakh hectares were irrigated through 527 canals spanning 9100 km. According to the government book, after 12 years in 2018, 11.39 hectares of canal will be irrigated. However, the government claims that the dams have the potential to irrigate 18 lakh hectares, of which only 11 lakh hectares are irrigated. But canal water actually reaches only 5 lakh hectares in farmers’ fields. In this way, even after spending one lakh crore rupees, the Narmada project has proved to be a complete failure. The government should disclose the details of irrigation with taluka and farmer survey number. The Narmada project has been so successful in the 26 years of BJP rule. It can be realized. But the government cannot reveal the names of farmers along with the survey numbers of every farm to hide its failure.

Farmer’s labor

Gujarat has the highest net cultivated area in the managed area. A total of 98.3% of agriculture is done in Gujarat. Which shows that the farmer of Gujarat is more hardworking than other parts of the country. Of the cultivable area, 95.5 percent is in Madhya Pradesh, 95.1 percent in Karnataka, 94.4 percent in Uttar Pradesh, 94.3 percent in West Bengal, 87.6 percent in Maharashtra and 85.7 percent in Rajasthan.

Government laziness

The total irrigated area in the country was 45.7 percent in 2010-11. Of that, 48.7 percent grew in 5 years. By then the Narmada project, which irrigated 18 lakh hectares in Gujarat, had been completed. 96.57 lakh hectare of land increased to 98.12 lakh hectare in 5 years. Irrigation increased to 53 lakh hectares on 40 lakh hectares of land. In which the rate of irrigation from wells and boreholes was higher than that of canals. Gujarat had less irrigation than Rajasthan. Only 54.2 percent of the total irrigated area is irrigated. In Uttar Pradesh, 83.2 percent of the country’s land was irrigated. West Bengal irrigated 68.2 percent, Tamil Nadu 62.2 percent, Bihar 61.6 percent, Madhya Pradesh 56.3 percent, Andhra Pradesh 48.9 percent, Gujarat 54.2 percent and Rajasthan 43.4 percent.

Women farmers

85.15 lakh hectares were in the name of 41.90 lakh males and 13.05 lakh hectares in the name of 6.90 lakh females. The total land was 88.78 lakh hectares. Only 4.3 percent of the land in Gujarat was in the name of women. Andhra Pradesh has the highest number of women farmers at 12.6% in the country. After this comes Maharashtra. The country ranks 10th in the country in terms of women farmers. The progress of the farming community of Gujarat is not visible. It is clear that injustice is being done to women in agriculture.