A visible transformation has come in the socio-economic condition of poor farmers owing to the Kapildhara wells constructed under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA). Now the Kapildhara wells have become the strength of these poor farmers. With proper arrangement of water for irrigation, the farmers can now have harvest thrice a year which has increased their income manifold. With the construction of Kapildhara wells and availability of water for irrigation on their private land, poor farmers of the state are now reaping benefits and producing crops thrice a year besides using water for gardening and vegetables. Abundant crop production has also helped double their income. Farmers who had been struggling to survive are now leading a better life.
More than 3 lakh 57 thousand and 522 Kapildhara wells have so far been constructed on the unirrigated land of poor farmers under MNREGA Yojana in Madhya Pradesh. With this nearly 4 lakh 74 thousand and 425 hectare unirrigated area has turned into irrigated area. With the construction of Kapildhara wells, land which was unfertile till now is producing different kinds of food grains, fruits and vegetables.
MNREGA’s Kapildhara Yojana is playing a significant role in alleviating poverty and bringing prosperity in the lives of the poor farmers. Farmers of the state who had their own land but no means of irrigating it could only produce crops in monsoon with which they could not manage all year-long. Consequently, these farmers had to work as labourers to fend for themselves but thanks to MNREGA this problem has been solved permanently. Under Kapildhara Yojana of MNREGA, the wells were constructed to help them irrigate their land. This benefitted them in two ways; first of all during the well construction, they got work and second is the permanent arrangement of water for irrigation.
It may be noted that a target of constructing 2.5 lakh Kapildhara wells in the next five years has been set to make irrigation facilities available to the poor and needy farmers.