Kisan Suryoday Yojana: Key Facts

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to launch Kisan Suryoday Yojana in Gujarat. The scheme aims to provide day time power supply for irrigation.

Highlights

Under the scheme, the farmers are to be availed with power supply between 5 AM and 9 PM. In order to implement the scheme, the State Government of Gujarat has allocated budget of Rs 3,500 crores. These funds will install transmission infrastructure by 2023. Around 234 transmission lines are to be installed under the scheme. Each line is to carry power of 66 KW. They are to be erected to a total length of 3,490 km. Also, additional 220 KV substations are to be installed.

Along with Kisan Suryoday Project, PM Modi will also launch two other projects. He will inaugurate a ropeway at the Girnar in Junagadh district. Also, he will inaugurate the UN Mehta Heart Research Institute. In all the PM is to inaugurate three projects in Gujarat.

How Electricity can help Irrigation?

Majority of the Indian economy is dependent on agriculture. Between 1990 and 2000, the growth rate agriculture was stagnant. Later as the aggregation and dissemination of innovative farming techniques improved growth rate of agriculture also increased. This was mainly due to supply of electricity. Groundwater irrigation is currently completely driven by electricity.

According to the union power ministry a village is said to be electrified if

• It has the basic infrastructure such as Distribution Transformers and distribution lines
• Electricity is provided to public places
• At least 1 and percentage of village should be electrified.

Drip irrigation

Even today there are several places that use of flood irrigation as a drip irrigation requires electricity. On the other hand, drip irrigation saves 45% age of electricity consumption. Today drip irrigation is widely implemented in the state of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Thus, the Kisan Suryoday scheme is highly important as it has the potential to bring in innovative practices in agriculture

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2020