Chhattisgarh

• 22 Mar 2023

The Chief Minister Inaugurated the State Government's Ambitious 'Mukhyamantri Vriksha Sampada Yojana'

Why in News?

On 21 March 2023, on the occasion of World Forestry Day, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel virtually launched the state government's ambitious 'Mukhya Mantri Vriksha Sampada Yojana' in 42 places of all 33 districts of the state from his office room in the assembly premises. This scheme has been launched with the aim of increasing the income of farmers by promoting commercial plantation in rural areas.

Key Points

• On this occasion, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel inaugurated the mobile-based FRA tool to make forest resource rights accessible to the people and launched the National Transit Pass System (NTPS) in Chhattisgarh to speed up the forest produce-based economy and facilitate the traders.
• Along with this, he transferred a total amount of Rs 22 crore online to the accounts of 1458 beneficiaries under Shaheed Mahendra Karma Social Security Scheme.
• The Chief Minister said that this scheme is a unique scheme in the country, in which private individuals, institutions or companies can earn maximum profit by planting trees of commercial species. It is not just a scheme of tree plantation but also shows our participation and commitment towards climate change in the country.
• ‘Commercial tree plantation will be done in the fallow land of interested farmers of all classes under 'Mukhyamantri Vriksha Sampada Yojana'. Under the scheme, plantation will be done in 36 thousand 230 acres by 23 thousand 600 farmers of 33 districts. Farmers will get an annual income of 15 to 50 thousand rupees per acre from the scheme. Apart from this, farmers will also get additional income through carbon credits.
• Forest and Environment Minister Mohammad Akbar said that Chhattisgarh is a very rich state in terms of forest wealth. Through 'Mukhyamantri Vriksha Sampada Yojana', tree plantation will be done in 1 lakh 80 thousand acres in the next 5 years.
• Along with increasing the income of the beneficiaries, this scheme is also an important scheme from the point of view of environmental balance. In the scheme, a provision has been made to give 100 percent subsidy to the beneficiaries who do commercial tree plantation in 5 acres and 50 percent subsidy to the beneficiaries who plant trees on more than 5 acres of land.
• Farmers, interested landowners, government, semi-government and autonomous institutions of the government, private educational institutions, private trusts, panchayats and land contract holders can take advantage of the 'Mukhyamantri Vriksha Sampada Yojana'
• Under the scheme in Chhattisgarh, 12 types of trees will be planted this year. In these, plants of Clonal Eucalyptus, Root Shoot Teak, Tissue Culture, Sandalwood, Melia Dubia, Normal Bamboo, Tissue Culture Bamboo, Rakta Chandan, Amla, Khamar, Shisham and Mahaneem etc. will be planted.
• Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel also inaugurated a mobile app during the program to track the process of issuing community forest resource rights.
  • With the use of this mobile app, the entire process of obtaining Community Forest Resource Rights will be simplified.
  • There is a 12-level process from applying for Community Forest Resource Rights to obtaining rights and information is filled in 18 forms.
  • Monitoring of the process of obtaining rights can also be done through the mobile app.
• In the programme, the Chief Minister launched the National Transit Pass System (NTPS) prepared by the Forest Department for transportation of forest produce.
  • Under this facility, applicants can apply for transit permits online and the Forest Department will issue online transit permits. New TP in the interstate border will not be required.
  • Chhattisgarh has become the fourth state to implement the NTPS scheme after Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir.
• In the programme, the Chief Minister launched the Sakri River Rejuvenation Program through tree plantation with the aim of conserving the Sakri river in Kawardha district and bringing the river flow to its full potential.
  • Under this, riverbank plantation work in forest and revenue land, plantation in private land under Mukhyamantri Vriksha Sampada Yojana, water and soil conservation work under Campa head in forest areas under Narva Yojana and plantation and construction of structures under MNREGA will go in revenue area.
  • With this integrated project, sufficient water will be available to farmers in Karvadha district for domestic use and irrigation for agriculture.

Agriculture University Raipur First Place in Folk Dance Competition

Why in News?

According to the information provided by the Chhattisgarh Public Relations Department on 21 March 2023, the students of Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur participated in the folk-dance competition at the 21st All India Inter-Agricultural University Youth Cultural Festival (Agri Unifest) organised by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in Bangalore won gold medal by securing first position.

Key Points

• A 31-member contingent of students at Indira Gandhi Agricultural University participated in the 21st All India Inter-Agricultural University Youth Cultural Festival.
• The students at Indira Gandhi Agricultural University presented the popular traditional 'Panthi dance' of Chhattisgarh in the folk-dance competition.
• In this youth cultural festival, about 20 different competitions were organised in dance, singing, art, literature and drama.
• The university team also got the fourth position in the skit competition organised in the youth cultural festival under the drama genre. Similarly, Vaidehi Dewangan, a student at Agriculture College, Bilaspur, got the fourth position in the poster making competition under art stream.
• It is noteworthy that this year the 21st All India Inter-Agricultural University Youth Cultural Festival was organised by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore from 13 to 17 March 2023, in which teams from 65 agricultural universities across the country participated.