‘Rally for Rivers’ movement applauds Chhattisgarh’s ‘Mukhyamantri Vriksha Sampada Yojana’

Raipur: The ‘Rally for Rivers’ movement has praised the ‘Mukhyamantri Vriksh Sampada Yojana’, initiated by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in Chhattisgarh, with the objective of boosting farmers’ income and improving the environment. 

‘Rally for Rivers’ is a movement launched by Sadhguru Shri Jaggi Vasudev of Isha Foundation to raise public awareness about the dire condition of India’s rivers and garner support for changing government policies to protect them.

The ‘Rally for Rivers’ movement has congratulated and extended best wishes to the Chhattisgarh government for starting the ‘Mukhyamantri Vriksha Sampada Yojana’. Taking to Twitter, the Sadhguru-led movement has congratulated the Chhattisgarh Government and farmers, saying, “Congratulations to the government & the farmers of #Chhattisgarh for this wonderful initiative of large-scale commercial plantation on farmlands – a major shift in policies for increasing farmers’ income.” They have also attached an advertisement based on the scheme with the Tweet.

Meanwhile, the ‘Mukhyamantri Vriksha Sampada Yojana’, launched in Chhattisgarh, is the first-of-its-kind major campaign at the national level to promote commercial tree plantation on a large scale. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel launched this scheme on March 21, on the occasion of the International Day of Forests. Under this scheme, a target has been set of planting 15 crore trees of identified species in 1.80 lakh acres of private land in five years.

So far, 23,600 farmers in the state have registered for commercial plantation on 36,230 acres of land. Through this scheme, farmers are expected to earn an annual income of Rs 15,000 to 50,000 per acre. Apart from this, farmers will also receive income through carbon credits. The scheme provides a 100 per cent subsidy to beneficiaries who do commercial plantation on five acres and a 50 per cent subsidy to beneficiaries who do plantation on more than five acres.

Under the scheme, for the first time, a guarantee has been given for the purchase of trees of identified species at the minimum support price. Farmers, interested landowners, government, semi-government and autonomous institutions, private educational institutions, private trusts, panchayats, and land leaseholders can take advantage of the scheme. Twelve types of trees will be planted this year under the scheme, including Clonal Eucalyptus, Rootshoot Teak, Tissue Culture, Sandalwood, Melia Dubia, Normal Bamboo, Tissue Culture Bamboo, Red Sandalwood, Amla, Khamar, Shisham, and Mahaneem. This scheme will also prove to be important from the point of view of environmental protection and soil health. This scheme will also give a boost to wood-based industries.