Hon. Speaker Sir, for the last two days, the issue of drought and drinking
water is being deliberated upon. Hon. Members have put forth their
suggestions as well as the problems. The Government will positively act
upon them. Water has been a concern ever since the beginning of this
universe. Be it in India or abroad, the situation is catastrophic as the
underground water is being exploited indiscriminately. The level of
water has gone down in several States. Most of the dams have either
dried up or there is little water left in them. The Government has
launched the100 Prime Minister
Irrigation Scheme which would be very beneficial for the farmers.
The Prime Minister has also called for launching120 the interlinking of rivers. I would like to say that our
department is working ceaselessly to materialize the dream of hon.
Prime Minister and we intend to work expeditiously on this project.
We have identified 30 links, out of which 14 relate to Himalaya region
and 16 are peninsular. Restoration, renewal, and desilting of old
dams will be carried out. We shall accept the suggestions forwarded by the State
Governments and we will also provide the necessary assistance in this200 regard. The role and
responsibilities of Central Government as well as State Governments have
been very clearly defined in the drought management manual. The role of the
Central Government is to monitor and review and provide additional funds to the240 State Governments as per their requirements. Several
agencies at the Centre and State level are engaged in monitoring,
declaration, relief and mitigation of drought. The money is already
available with the States in State Disaster Relief Fund in which 75 per
cent contribution comes from the Centre and 25 per cent comes from the
State Government. Our Government has300 also changed the norms for providing relief under National Disaster
Response Force. Now the compensation is provided when the loss of
crop is in more than one hectare. In case of death due to calamity, the
amount of compensation has been increased from Rs. 1.5 lakh to Rs. 4
lakhs by the present Government. The Government has also360 declared that farmers will be provided full support price even for
that crop whose quality has suffered due to calamity. Earlier, an amount of Rs.
4500 per hectare used to be provided for rain-irrigated land and this400 Government has increased that amount up to one and half times of
that. A significant increase has been made in the funds being
provided under National Disaster Response Force to the States. The Government
also provides subsidy on seeds and it has been proposed that 50 per cent
more subsidy will be provided in respect of Kharif crop as and when drought
strikes. This has been done with a view to providing seeds to the
farmers easily.
Sir, as far480 as interest subvention is
concerned, the farmers are given loan at the rate of seven per cent out of
which500 three per cent
subvention is borne by the Government of India while the rest 4 per cent by the
farmers. We have yet to make available water for every field despite 68 years
of Independence. If we want to make the villages of India prosperous,
then watering of every field is important. Presently, 89 manor projects have
been pending for years and there is a target to complete 40 such projects in
the next two years by working in a mission mode. The Ministry is
primarily looking after the micro-irrigation schemes. Micro-irrigation
is being used in sugarcane cultivation600 in one of the States where up to 1.5 to two lakh hectares area is
being irrigated under the micro irrigation. This is being mentioned to
underline the fact that water is life and to save water is paramount as
every Member has mentioned. That is why hon. Prime Minister has also
been talking about 'per drop more crop' and he has not only given slogan
but has also accelerated the pace of implementation. I would like to
request and urge all the Members that we should collectively fight this crisis
of drought and not only do we700
show a combat against it but also emerge victorious.
India is a country with a vast potential for tourism development720 even though we have failed to fully exploit this potential. It is a matter of regret that we are able to bring less than one per cent of the total world tourists into our country. Still, tourism contributes 7 per cent to the GDP of the country and also provides direct and indirect employment to the tune of 12 per cent of the employed force in the country. It is a dream of the hon. Prime Minister that tourism should800 not only become a major foreign exchange earner for the country but should also become a vehicle for employment generation and women empowerment. India has also registered an increase in the ratio of foreign tourists’ arrivals to the world average840 in this regard. The Hon. Prime Minister has always given due importance to the potential of tourism in India. We are marching ahead in order to fulfill this dream of the hon. Prime Minister. We have a dream to establish India on the global tourism map and increase the dignity and respect of the country and make tourism as one900 of the cornerstones of an economically vibrant India. I would like to urge my media friends, fellow parliamentarians including the hon. Members of this august House that they have to work as true cultural ambassadors of India in order to propagate the cultural strengths of the country all across the world. Sometimes apprehensions are raised that India is not a960 clean and safe country. I think we should discard such notions through our deeds. We are of the firm opinion that ours is a safe and vast country with the might of 125 crore people behind us.999
