Arun Jaitley dispels deficient monsoon fears, Rural Ministry revamps MNREGA

Even as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley played down the concerns over deficient monsoon this year saying the forecast was misplaced and distress was far-fetched, the Rural Development Ministry went on war footing to ramp up flagship rural jobs scheme to generate income for affected families.

Jaitley said that the timing and spread of the June-September rainy season suggested the effect won't be as dire, adding that the distribution pattern of rain forecast was such that any impact on farm output will be limited.

The Finance Minister also said that there was "abundance of foodgrain" and in any case, the forecast signalled less pain than last year.

India's Meteorological Department (IMD) revised its forecast of average rainfall in the June-September monsoon to 88% from 93%, fuelling fears of a drought.
Farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, etc are already distressed due to unseasonal rainfall.

Meanwhile, the Rural Development Ministry is revamping the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) and checking de-silting of water bodies, building check dams, percolation tanks and farm ponds to brace against a possible drought and build assets for future.

"We will use satellite mapping to identify areas where the work needs to be taken up. Once the regular monsoon sets in, such construction cannot be done so we have to get into action immediately," a senior rural development ministry official told Economic Times.
As per the data for 22 states, 93,000 water-harvesting structures have been built to provide irrigation to 1.2 lakh hectares of land.

"Most of the work in rural areas in permitted under (the jobs programme) and since it is an open-ended scheme with no financial limitation, it is advantageous to take up work under this scheme," the official told ET.

The ministry is also going to expedite its watershed management programmes.

As per Economic Times, only 40% of agriculture area receives assured irrigation in the country.

Jaitley said only the North-West is forecast to get slightly inadequate rainfall. “A large part of the northwest has substantial irrigation facility", Jaitley said.

Sufficient foodgrain

The Food Corporation of India (FCI), in the beginning, had more than 51 million tonnes of rice and wheat in the central pool itself.

"The rainfall was less last year than what is predicted now and it came even later. Even then we did not let prices rise. We have more than sufficient food stock. Taking them to the market is one of the tools the government has,” said Jaitley.

(Image: Indiatimes)