NREGA a boon for water, crops: Study

The Telegraph , Saturday, May 04, 2013
Correspondent : BASANT KUMAR MOHANTY
The rural job guarantee programme has improved the levels of groundwater, crop production and organic carbon in soil at several places, a first-of-its-kind study has shown.

The study on the possible environmental benefits of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was carried out by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in collaboration with the rural development ministry and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammernarbeit (GIZ), a German government agency for international cooperation.

It was conducted in the districts of Medak in Andhra Pradesh, Chitradurga in Karnataka, Dhar in Madhya Pradesh and Bhilwara in Rajasthan. The number of beneficiary households covered was 2,057.

One of the findings was that the check dam, percolation tank and desilting projects done under the programme have improved groundwater levels in the villages studied. Measured in 2012, the levels were found to have either increased or remained the same as the pre-scheme period (before 2006) despite continued extraction.

Water-harvesting projects have helped increase the irrigated area, leading to an increase in crop yields that ranged from seven per cent in Bhilwara to 100 per cent in Dhar. Households reported higher water consumption thanks to the rise in the number of water bodies.

Soil organic carbon, crucial for improving crop yields, has increased in 72 per cent of 899 beneficiary sample plots. Land development projects such land levelling, contour and graded bunding, pasture development and silt application had been carried out in these fields.

Projects such as check dams and land-terracing have contributed to reduced soil erosion in 82 per cent of sample plots. Afforestation and horticulture development have led to an increase in the yields of fruits such as guavas and lemons.

Increased tree plantation seems to have led to carbon sequestration in the biomass and the soil, potentially contributing to a mitigation of climate change.

National Advisory Council member N.C. Saxena said the study’s findings were encouraging but cautioned against premature conclusions. “You need to conduct similar studies more often to find out whether these benefits are sustained,” Saxena said.

T. Haque, director of the NGO Council of Social Development, said the programme’s apparent failure to create assets had drawn criticism from various quarters. “Now it is clear that in these districts, the scheme is at least creating durable assets contributing to the rural economy.”

The study has painted a rosy picture around the job programme at a time the comptroller and auditor general has highlighted problems such as delayed payment, denial of unemployment allowance, commission of projects not permitted under the scheme, and poor awareness.

 
SOURCE : http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130504/jsp/nation/story_16857616.jsp#.UYSxykoi4wo
 


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