ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE & FARMERS WELFARE
(SHRIMATI KRISHNA RAJ)
(a) Yes, Madam. In an effort to make the villages Open Defecation Free (ODF) and improving the lives of villagers, the Finance Minister in his Budget Speech 2018-19 has announced the launch of Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan (GOBAR-DHAN) Scheme.
This GOBAR-DHAN scheme will be focused on developing villages to be self-reliant through generation of wealth and energy from waste and will be a crucial component of the ODF Plus strategy of MDWS. The overarching objective is to positively impact the Gram Panchayats with regard to 3Es, which are as following:
i) Energy: Self-reliance with respect to energy through utilization of agricultural and animal waste to generate bio-energy through bio-gas plants. Solar power may also be tapped wherever the community is willing to adopt and implement it.
ii) Empowerment: Engaging women self-help groups in management and day to day operations of biogas plants.
iii) Employment: Generating jobs among the rural youth and women for collection of waste, transportation to treatment plants, management of treatment plant, sale and distribution of biogas generated, etc.
The scheme is intended to manage and convert cattle dung and solid waste in farms to compost, bio-slurry, bio-gas and bio-CNG. This initiative will support biodegradable waste recovery and conversion of waste into resources. This will provide economic benefits to farmers and rural households; simultaneously creating clean villages which is the objective of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin). The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation is implementing this programme in two phases, by selecting 350 villages in first phase and the remaining in second phase.
(b) & (c) In his Budget Speech 2018-19, Hon’ble Finance Minister has also announced setting up of Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FAIDF) for fisheries sector and Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) for financing infrastructure requirements of animal husbandry and fisheries sector with total Corpus of Rs.10,000 crore.
(d) The Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) launched on 2nd October, 2014 aims at attaining Swachh Bharat by 2nd October 2019. The focus of the scheme is on behavioural change and usage of toilets. Under Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), there is a provision of an incentive of Rs. 12,000/ for the construction of Individual household latrine (IHHL) to all Below Poverty Line (BPL) households and identified Above Poverty Line (APL) households (all SCs /STs, small and marginal farmers, landless labourers with homestead, physically handicapped and women-headed households. Funds for Solid and Liquid Waste Management activities with cap of Rs. 7/12/15/20 lakh are available for Gram Panchayats having upto 150/300/500/ more than 500 households. Under SBM(G), the following steps have been taken for making villages open defecation free for improving the life of the villages:-
i. Focus on behavior change: Community based collective behavior change has been mentioned as the preferred approach, although the States are free to choose the approach best suited to them. Focus is also on creation of complete open defecation free (ODF) villages, rather than only on construction of individual toilets. This entails triggering the entire village into changing their behavior.
ii. The programme provides flexibility to the States in the implementation. This is essential, given the vast socio-economic-cultural diversity of India, and also from the point of view of promoting innovations.
iii. There is a greater emphasis on capacity building, especially in community approaches and programme management. Lack of adequate capacities is a major challenge in scaling up the programme. Therefore, various initiatives are being taken to reach out to all the stakeholders. From the Government of India side, the States and select organizations (called Key Resource Centres) are being trained.
iv. The programme is being run as a janandolan with cooperation of all sections of the society including the NGOs, Corporate, youth etc. The Panchayats are being actively involved.
v. Sanitation is being prioritized amongst the overall development agenda. The Government has taken a decision to prioritise all Centrally Sponsored Schemes in ODF villages. Various other development schemes are being converged with the sanitation outcomes.
(e) For welfare of farmers, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is implementing various schemes such as Soil Health Card Scheme (SHC), Neem Coated Urea, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), National Agriculture Market Scheme (e-NAM), Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana(PMFBY) etc. Similarly, for conservation and development of indigenous breeds and development of dairy & fisheries sector, National Dairy Plan, National Programme for Dairy Development, Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme, Rastriya Gukul Mission, National Programme for Bovine Breeding, National Mission on Bovine Productivity, National Livestock Mission, Livestock Health and Disease Control and Blue Revolution: Integrated Development and management of Fisheries are being implemented.
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