NEW DELHI: In an apparent admission that measures taken to deal with farm residue burning aren’t yielding desired results, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has asked the NITI Aayog to devise mechanism to deploy the resources available under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for remedial actions.
“In the course of a meeting of the sub-group of chief ministers to discuss methods for convergence of MGNREGS and agriculture, the MP CM proposed that the rural flagship scheme could be utilised for dealing with the issue of burning of farm residues. The NITI Aayog will hold wider consultations in the coming weeks to brainstorm over the mechanism,” said an official of the think-tank panel.
Incidentally, the farm residue burning by farmers has defied the punitive actions of the state governments. “In the absence of mechanised harvesting on a large scale, farmers resort to burn the farm residue on the farm field itself to clear the areas for the sowing season. The Centre and state governments have tried to incentivise the farmers through various measures, but there hasn’t been desired result,” added the official.
The CM, in the meeting held at NITI Aayog on Thursday, suggested that the MGNREGS resources could be deployed to build storage for the farm residue for their eventual treatment for their further usage in agriculture and elsewhere.
“The chief ministers have been unanimous that the spirit of the MGNREGS shouldn’t be disturbed, and it should be used only to create durable assets. Thus, creating storage and procuring machineries for finding solution to the recurring issue of farm residue burning will be within the ambit of the rural flagship scheme,” said the official. Incidentally, the MGNREGS has a 60:40 labour and material component ratio.