Khattar govt's new scheme will discourage farmers from cultivating paddy: Cong

Opposition Congress on Sunday hit out at the recently announced crop diversification scheme by the M L Khattar government, saying there was a conspiracy to eventually stop the procurement of paddy at Minimum Support Price (MSP) by discouraging a large number of farmers from cultivating the crop. "Under the new autocratic order and scheme brought out by Khattar government, they now want farmers in eight different blocks which have been identified and 19 blocks in total to not cultivate paddy at all and punish the farmers by denying them MSP for paddy in case they still choose to grow this crop," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

"They also want to deny farmers in 26 other blocks the right to grow paddy on Panchayati land. This is despite the fact that state government's another (crop diversification scheme) 'Jal hi Jeevan Hai' scheme, launched last year, was surreptitiously closed and put under the table," he added. Surjewala addressed a joint press conference with Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja through video conferencing. The Haryana government had on Wednesday announced Rs 7,000 per acre incentive to farmers for switching from water-guzzling paddy to other crops and said permission to sow paddy will not be given in panchayat areas where the ground water depth is more than 35 metres.

The Congress leader asked if "punishing the farmers" by denying them MSP for paddy in case they continue to grow it in these blocks was the way forward. "By doing so, aren't the farmers lives and livelihood being endangered by this government… What is the guarantee of success of this new scheme when their 'Jal Hi Jeevan Hai' scheme failed?" both Surjewala and Selja asked.

Surjewala said under the 'Jal Hi Jeevan Hai' scheme, seven blocks in the state including Assandh, Pundri, Radaur and Ganaur were identified in which crop pattern over 1.37 lakh acres was to be shifted from paddy to other crops including maize. He said farmers were promised incentive of Rs 2,000 per acre, free hybrid seeds and payment of crop insurance premium, but the scheme failed and peasants were left high and dry.

"Now, with this latest scheme, the government is again experimenting with the lives and livelihood of farmers in 19 new blocks, two of which fall in Kaithal district, four in Kurukshetra and one each in Fatehabad and Sirsa. Besides, there are 11 more blocks whose names have not been announced so far," he said. "In addition, there are 26 blocks, largely of northern Haryana, where farmers do their cultivation on Panchayat land by taking it on lease have been prohibited from cultivating paddy. All this points out to a complete and inept government solely directing its schemes at eventually stopping the procurement of paddy at MSP, that is the main conspiracy behind it," he claimed.

He said Congress is not saying that crop diversification should not be done, "but how can farmers be deprived of right to till their land to sow the crop of choice". Under the 'Mera Pani Meri Virasat' scheme, the farmers have to diversify at least 50 per cent of their cultivated paddy area by growing alternate crops like maize, cotton, bajra and pulses in those 19 blocks where ground water level has depleted to 40 meters.

For these blocks, farmers will not be permitted to cultivate paddy in any new areas where paddy was grown during last year and they will be given incentive of Rs 7,000 per acre to switch over to other crops. Besides, in agriculture lands of Gram Panchayats in 26 blocks where ground water level has depleted to 35 meters, the Panchayat will not permit paddy growing in their lands.

Surjewala said that with these orders, farmers will not be able to sow paddy in the 19 blocks spread across 2.30 lakh acres of land. He said that the previous Congress government had constructed Rs 400 crore Dadupur Nalvi canal, which would have proved to be a boon, especially to northern parts of Haryana by helping in water recharging, but the BJP led dispensation scrapped the project.

"On one hand this government gives plea of water conservation, on the other hand they take decisions like scrapping the canal project which was to help raise water level," Surjewala said. "Secondly, they have adopted stoic silence on SYL canal issue and despite court ruling in Haryana's favour, no effort is being made by the government to ensure the state gets its due share," said Surjewala..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)