The government’s plan of ushering in a green revolution in eastern states doesn’t seem to have taken off in the country’s biggest paddy (de-husked) rice producing state of West Bengal. Till January 20, only 50 per cent of the total funds allocated for the state were released by the Centre.
Officials said a reason for the low funds was the lack of fresh proposals from the state.
According to an official statement, the central government had allocated Rs 72.2 crore for the current financial year to West Bengal, under the ‘Bringing Green Revolution in Eastern India’ programme. Of this, just Rs 36.1 crore was released till January 20. In 2010-2011, Rs 100 crore was allocated to the state under the programme.
Apart from West Bengal, another state that had failed to utilise the total allocation was Chhattisgarh, another prominent rice-growing state. Officials said of the total allocation of Rs 55.2 crore in 2011-2012, around 49 per cent was released to the state till January.
In the other states where this programme was initiated, the entire allocated amount for the year was released, as these had sent proper proposals to implement the programme, said a senior agriculture ministry official. The programme is aimed at developing eastern states as the new grain bowl of the country. The programme largely hinges on a significant jump in annual paddy production in these states and the subsequent contribution to the central pool.
West Bengal produces almost 15 million tonnes of paddy annually. However, its contribution to the central pool has seldom been more than 10 per cent. The bulk of the grain contribution to the central pool comes from the northern states of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.
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“Eastern India, with two-three times more rainfall than northwestern parts, and vast resources of social capital, has an advantage for the sustainable production of rice, banana, sugarcane and aquaculture,” officials said.
Overall, the central government had allocated Rs 400 crore for the programme to usher in a green revolution in eastern India in the Budget for 2011-12, of which Rs 332.9 crore was released till January 20. The allocation was scheduled for West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and eastern Uttar Pradesh.