Long Term Irrigation Fund

To address the problems associated with perennial irrigation water crisis in rural India, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has signed an agreement with NABARD to operationalise the Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF). LTIF has instituted in NABARD as a part of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY).

Genesis of LTIF

LTIF was announced in the Union Budget 2016-17 with an initial corpus of Rs 20,000 crore for funding and fast tracking the implementation of incomplete major and medium irrigation projects.

Objectives

It aims to bridge the resources gap and facilitate completion of 99 prioritized irrigation projects as part of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) during 2016-2020. While 54 projects have been identified to be completed  by 2017-2018, remaining 45 projects have been identified to be completed by 2019-2020. About 76.03 lakh hectares of land is estimated to be brought under irrigation under this initiative.

LTIF Corpus

The project which will be implemented in a period of four years between 2016-2020 will have an estimated allocation of Rs 77,595 crore with Central and State Government’s share of Rs 31,342 crore and Rs 46,253 crore respectively. The fund corpus is expected to be raised through budgetary resources from Government of India and market borrowings by NABARD.

Implementation

Under this scheme 99 projects have been identified in 18 states, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.

To implement the projects, the state governments can borrow directly from NABARD under LTIF to meet the state share in the projects or they can also deploy their own resources. For implementing central projects, National Water Development Agency (NWDA) would borrow funds from LTIF. NWDA is a society registered under Societies Registration Act 1860 functioning under the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR).

The Loans would be sanctioned by NABARD to NWDA and state governments on a program mode based on the appraisal of individual projects by the Central Water Commission (CWC), recommended by Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). Apart from that these projects are also required to get statutory clearances such as environment, forest, etc. On fulfilling all of the above conditions, the projects will be granted approval by MoWR to NABARD for sanctioning of the loans.

The physical progress and appraisal of the projects under LTIF at the ground level shall be done jointly by CWC and state governments. In addition, regional offices of CWC will also monitor the physical progress of these projects once in every six months.

The projects under LTIF will be completed in a mission mode by the following entities for decision making and project approval:

• High Level Empowered Committee: For projects costing above Rs. 2000 crore, approval has to be obtained from this committee comprising of Finance Minister, Minister of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Minister of Agriculture, Co-operation and farmer Welfare, Minister of Rural Development, Deputy Chairman, NITI Aayog.
• Council: For projects costing between Rs 1000 crore and Rs 2000 crore, approval has to be obtained from the council comprising of CEO, NITI Aayog, Secretary (WR, RD & GR), Secretary (A&C0), Secretary (RD), Secretary (Finance) and Chairman, NABARD.
• Mission: For projects upto Rs 1000 crore Additional Secretary/Special Secretary in MoWR is the Mission Director.

Progress made under LTIF

NABARD has sanctioned 50 projects in 11 states Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana. For the execution of these projects NWDA has released central share to the state governments for carrying out the works under sanctioned projects.

Significance

It will help in bridging the gap between irrigation potential created and irrigation potential utilized. Further, it would help in creating additional irrigation potential. Thus it will help in government’s vision of doubling the farmers income by 2022 as assured irrigation is a significant prerequisite for achieving the target.

Challenge

Implementation of the project in a time bound manner is likely to be a challenge. Speedy implementation holds the key for bringing in additional hectares under irrigation.