Page 54 - Putting Farmers First

WATER AND ELECTRICITY

Water and electricity are two intertwined
needs of farmers. The demand for availability
of electricity by a farmer is actually the
demand for availability of water. They need
water to irrigate their fields and electricity to
pump water to their fields. This understanding
of the linkage between electricity and water,
for a farmer, is a special insight that Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has brought from his
immensely successful Chief Ministerial days.

Water is a precious resource which must
be used carefully and sustainably, for the
long-term welfare of farmers. To ensure
this, micro-irrigation through drips and
sprinklers has been emphasised.

With the mantra of ‘Per Drop More
Crop’, more land has been brought
under micro-irrigation during 2014-19
than was done in the five years before it.

As for electricity, the Modi government has
not only managed to take electricity to all
villages of India but has also worked to make
farmers sustainably self-reliant through
the advent of solar pumps. Even unusable
and barren lands of farmers are being
used to produce solar power and create an
additional source of income to farmers.

47 | Putting Farmers First