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National News
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NREGA can pave the way for second Green Revolution
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Posted online: Friday, October 30, 2009 at 8:44:34 PM
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New Delhi, Oct 30 : The Government is hopeful that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and its work in the areas of water management and crop enhancement would lead the country to a second Green Revolution.
While inaugurating a conference on 'NREGA for Water Management' at Observer Research Foundation here on Friday, Secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development Dr. Rita Sharma said: "It may be a wild thought now but the first Green Revolution came about as a result of very high water guzzling cropping systems from the irrigated regions of the country. But the NREGA holds the trigger for a second Green Revolution from the rain-fed areas, but using water conserving technologies and working with the smaller and poorer farmers while the first Revolution came from the big farmers."
Explaining the role and scope of NREGA in water management, Dr. Sharma said the SRI (System of Rice Intensification) technique, being popularized by NREGA, would help in crop enhancement by cutting the usage of water by one-third.RI technique is being used in the cultivation of wheat and other crops as well by the farmers themselves and the significant productivity increases could be stimulated, leading to another food revolution, Dr. Sharma informed.
She said the Government provides highest priority to water conservation in the choice of works under NREGA and the nature of works undertaken is such that it leads to creation of 'green jobs'.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development revealed that the expenditure on the NREGA is estimated to go up to Rs. 50,000 crore in 2009-10, giving employment to 5.5 crore rural people out of which 52 per cent are women.
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