A small help from MNREGA has given us a new path to progress: Farmer Birsai

Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, not only employment is being provided to registered workers, but new means and facilities of livelihood are also being provided. Farmer Birsai’s agricultural land became fertile due to MNREGA, due to which he is increasing his income by cultivating vegetables.

    The land owned by Mr. Birsai, a registered worker living in Gram Panchayat Lai of Manendragarh-Bharatpur-Chirmiri district, was very uneven or completely unsuitable for farming. He applied to the Gram Panchayat for leveling of his land. His application was approved by the District Panchayat Korea after the resolution of the Gram Sabha convened in the Gram Panchayat was passed. Gram Panchayat Lai was given the responsibility of the agency for this land improvement work costing a total of 95 thousand rupees. Here Mr. Birsai himself, along with other workers of his village, made his uneven land suitable for agriculture and got it fenced. He also got employment for 100 days from this work, the wages of which were directly deposited in his account.

    After the land became cultivable, he took advantage of mulching farming along with the drip irrigation scheme provided by the government for vegetable production. He started vegetable farming by making a system in his fields that could be done with very little water. After that, with his hard work, Mr. Birsai is earning an income of 10 to 15 thousand rupees every month by growing different vegetables in every season, due to which the financial condition of his family has started to strengthen. Happy with his success, Birsai says that after getting the benefit of land reform from MNREGA and drip irrigation from the Agriculture Department, his problem of employment has ended forever. Now every week he earns a good income from vegetables and the worry of money has also ended. In some fields, he produces vegetables and in the remaining fields, he has started earning extra by growing traditional paddy and wheat crops. With a small work like land leveling, the condition and direction of a hardworking labourer’s family changed.