हिंदी
Haryana is much ahead of Punjab with regard to agriculture-related government schemes
Haryana’s agricultural growth is three times that of Punjab
Chandigarh, September 3- The farmers of Haryana and Punjab have always been instrumental in making the country ‘Atmanirbhar’ with regard to food grains, but in the last few years due to the agricultural policies adopted by Haryana Government along with the hard work of its farmers, the State despite having a small geographical spread, has moved ahead of its ‘elder brother’ Punjab.
Agriculture experts believe that the agricultural policies adopted by the State government have played a pivotal role in the progress made by the state in Agriculture. The state of Punjab undoubtedly has a wider spread than Haryana in terms of total area and cultivable land, however, the bold decisions taken by the present government under the dynamic leadership of the Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal in the last seven years to increase the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of 21 fruits and vegetables and 11 crops and then to procure them has paid off, in comparison to which Punjab stands nowhere close to the State with regard to Agriculture. Not only this, beneficial schemes starting from incentive scheme launched to promote crop diversification to schemes like Fasal Bima Yojana implemented to give compensation to the farmers for crop loss have definitely infused fresh energy among the farmers of the State.
Agriculture is considered to be the economic backbone of this country. According to the agricultural luminaries, Haryana has gone much ahead in the field of agriculture-business in the last 7 years.
Whatever be the reasons for the backwardness of Punjab in comparison to Haryana, the root cause of development in Haryana are the positive steps taken by the State Government in the interests of farmers in the last few years under the leadership of Chief Minister Sh. Manohar Lal.
As far as the achievements in the agriculture sector in Haryana are concerned, Punjab does not stand anywhere close to Haryana. While the total geographical area of Haryana is 44,212 square kilometer, the state of Punjab is spread across 50,362 square kilometer. Similarly, the cultivable land in Haryana is 37.41 lakh hectare and that of Punjab is 42 lakh hectare.
In terms of agricultural growth also, Haryana’s rate is 6.3 per cent and Punjab’s rate is one-third of Haryana’s that is only 2.1 percent. For sugarcane growing farmers, the State Government has set up 11 sugar mills in the State, on the other hand, the total number of sugar mills in Punjab is 15, but only 9 mills are in working condition and the remaining 6 mills are lying closed.
Haryana is far ahead of its ‘elder brother’ Punjab with regard to giving farmers a genuine price for their crops and procuring them at the Minimum Support Price. In Haryana, 11 crops including, wheat, barley, gram, sunflower, mustard, paddy, moong, maize, millet, cotton and groundnut, are purchased at the Minimum Support Price, while in Punjab only three crops namely wheat, paddy and sunflower are procured at Minimum Support Price.
The ‘Bhavantar Bharpayee Yojana’, which has been started in Haryana to reserve the price of 21 types of fruits and vegetables, is being discussed among the farmers of the whole country. There is no scheme like Bhavantar Bharpayee Yojana in Punjab. Not only this the farmer friendly approach of Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal was evident when he launched the ‘Mukhyamantri Bagwani Bima Yojana’ for the fruits and vegetables cultivators, the farmers of the neighbouring states were also curious and wished that such a scheme should be started in their State as well. No such scheme has been started in Punjab till date.
Haryana Government has connected 81 mandis of the State with the e-NAM portal for the farmers who want to sell their crops at the inter-state level after seeing the demand and good prices, while only 37 mandis of Punjab have been connected with the said portal. In the last few years, 76 water and soil testing laboratories have been set up in the State by spreading awareness among the farmers while in Punjab only 61 such laboratories are said to have been started. In order to guide the farmers regarding crop sowing, the State Government is opening water and soil testing laboratories and making ‘Soil Health Cards’ for the farmers so that they can sow the crop according to the fertility of the land and are able to get a good produce.
Haryana is probably the only state in the country where the farmers visiting the mandis and the arhtiyas working there are provided with an insurance of Rs 10 lakh while there is no such scheme in Punjab.
At the time of crop procurement, the Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal fostered care to the poor labourers who reached the mandis and opened a canteen for them so that they can get food at pocket-friendly price of Rs 10 while no such facility has been started in Punjab.
In order to increase the additional income of the farmers of Haryana along with agriculture, the State Government, while promoting animal husbandry, started ‘Pashudhan Credit Card Scheme’ on the lines of ‘Kisan Credit Card’ and till date about 58,000 cards have been issued in the State while Punjab is yet to start this Scheme.
The State Government has also done remarkable work in the direction of conserving water for the future generations, which has been highly appreciated at the national level. While encouraging the farmers of the State to ensure more yield while consuming less water, Haryana government started Drip-Irrigation Scheme and for this a record 85 per cent subsidy is being given while in Punjab, provision has been made to give grant only up to 80 per cent.
In the last 7 years, the inclination of the farmers towards ‘Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’ has increased. Due to the awareness campaigns conducted by the State Government at regular intervals, a large number of farmers started getting their crops insured. The farmers were benefitted by it as whenever there was any natural calamity, the financial condition of farmers became stable due to timely compensation for their losses. According to government data, about 17 lakh farmers got about Rs 4,000 crore as crop insurance. Besides this, an amount of Rs 7,000 crore was also given to more than 34 lakh farmers in lieu of compensation for other losses to the farmers while for the farmers of Punjab, the government there has not started any crop-insurance scheme.
