State PCS - Rajasthan (RAS)

• 21 Apr 2025

Soil and Manure Swaraj Campaign

Why in News? 

Important initiatives are being taken towards improving soil health through “Soil and Manure Swaraj Abhiyan” in the southern region of Rajasthan, especially in the tribal dominated areas. 

Key Points: 

•  About the campaign: 
  • It aims to improve soil health, promote  organic farming and empower rural women in farming and leadership. 
  •  The campaign will cover six tribal-dominated districts located at the tri-junction of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh . 
  • It is being mainly implemented in Banswara and surrounding areas of southern Rajasthan. 
  • This campaign involves upgrading cow dung and farmyard manure using scientific methods and increasing soil fertility by using rock phosphate and bio-fertilizers. 
  • The women will be trained in the following tasks: 
    • Soil Testing 
    • Organic fertilizer production 
    • Formation and management of co-operative societies 
  • The campaign coordinates with programmes like the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and Soil Health Card Scheme. 
• Under this campaign: 
  • Agricultural productivity will be increased through pit construction, material distribution and organizing community events. 
  • Farmers' dependence on chemical fertilizers will decrease and input costs will come down by 15-20%. 
  • It is possible to increase crop production by 20-30% . 

 Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission ( DAY-NRLM):  

• It is a centrally sponsored programme launched by the Ministry of Rural Development in the year 2011 . 
• It aims to eliminate rural poverty by promoting a variety of livelihoods and improved access to financial services for rural poor households across the country . 
• This involves working with community institutions through community professionals in a spirit of self-help, which is a unique proposition of DAY-NRLM. 
• It affects livelihoods, such as:  
  • Organising rural households into SHGs. 
  • To organise one female member from every rural poor family into self-help groups. 
  • Assist in training and capacity building of SHG members . 
  • Providing access to financial resources from its own institutions and banks. 

Soil Health Card Scheme 

• On February 19, 2015, the nationwide 'National Soil Health Card' scheme was launched at Suratgarh in Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan . 
• The main objective of this scheme is to assist the states in providing soil health cards to farmers across the country. 
• The theme of this scheme is: Healthy Earth, Green Fields. 
• Under this scheme, rural youth and farmers up to 40 years of age can establish soil testing laboratory and do sample testing. 
• It costs up to 5 lakh rupees to set up a laboratory, 75 percent of which is borne by the central and state governments. The same provision exists for self-help groups, farmers' cooperatives, farmers' groups or farmers' producer organizations. 
• Under the scheme, soil status is regularly assessed by the State Governments every 2 years so that nutrient deficiencies can be identified and corrections can be implemented.