A renewed focus on Tamil Nadu’s rural economy and water sector has been a striking feature of the DMK regime, which is completing one year in office on Friday.
The decision to present a separate budget for agriculture, the move to accord prominence to “gram sabha” meetings besides increasing the frequency, and ensuring the participation of farmers in the execution of silt removal from water courses in the Cauvery delta, are among the measures that the DMK government has taken.
“With long-term planning, the government is providing encouragement to organic farming and it is commendable that it has named a wing at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University after a prominent proponent of the type of farming, Nammazhvar, to improve organic farming and research,” says P.R. Pandian, a Mannargudi-based farmer-leader. That is not the only action of the government to honour farmers. For the purpose of preserving, producing and distributing the medicinally valued traditional paddy varieties to farmers, a mission has been launched in the name of another activist, “Nel” Jayaraman.
Pointing out that the areas of rural development and panchayat raj has gained importance in the last one year, G. Palanithurai, veteran academician, says the participation of high profile personalities such as Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and Chief Secretary V. Irai Anbu at “gram sabha” meetings had sent out the message that the government is keen on having “deliberative democracy” at the grassroots level. It is commendable that the presence of rural local bodies’ representatives in school management committees has become more perceptible in the recent months.
Making use of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), around 95,000 works were taken up to rejuvenate waterbodies at a cost of ₹5,467.39 crore. Another key activity that spurs the rural economy is the government’s plan to build about 2.9 lakh houses at ₹8,017.40 crore for the year 2021-22, of which the construction of around 1.04 lakh houses had begun.
In the Cauvery delta, the Water Resources Department (WRD) took up the project of silt removal, covering about 4,215 km of rivers, canals, channels, branch canals and supply channels, at a cost of around ₹67 crore last year. Village-level committees, comprising farmers’ representatives and officials of the departments of Agriculture, Revenue and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, were in place to monitor the progress “on a real-time basis and through technology,” says a senior official of the WRD.
Conscious of the criticism that works were executed in some stretches last year when the water supply for irrigation was to begin from the Mettur dam, this time, works began well in advance, the official adds. According to the Agriculture department, the project of silt removal did generate a positive impact as paddy, during the Kuruvai cultivation season, was raised over an extent of 4.9 lakh acres, the highest in 46 years. The government had provided a package of about ₹61 crore for the season, benefitting 2.87 lakh farmers.
The WRD, which commenced the works of silt removal covering nearly 4,300 km at a cost of ₹71.5 crore on April 21, has planned to cover the channels “A” by this month end and channels “B” by June 12, the scheduled date for the opening of the dam. Roughly, the two types of channels run for a distance of 27,000 km in the region.
Challenges ahead
There are several challenges that the government is going to have. Observing that women constitute over 50% of village panchayats’ chiefs, Prof. Palanithurai says continuous and rigorous training programmes are required for the presidents of the village panchayats, who will have to develop a deep sense of responsibility for all matters and issues concerning their local bodies.
Likewise, a focussed programme may be drawn up for presidents belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC). Mr Pandian expects the government to fulfil the ruling party’s electoral promise of raising the minimum support price of ₹2,500 per quintal for paddy and suggests that authorities enter into marketing agreements with farmers for all the crops. People of the State are also eagerly expecting the government to implement measures and schemes to permanently resolve the problem of floods.
