Even ‘gobar banks,’ or small collections of cow dung, in the villages can earn money for the tribals and others, feels Chief Minister Raghubar Das who said that agriculture alone cannot meet the target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to double the income of the villagers by 2022.
The Chief Minister suggested the idea to the hundreds of tribal youths and members of the groups formed in Jharkhand to engage them into some form of economic activities who had gathered on the occasion of the ‘World Tribal Day’ organised by Jharkhand Tribal Development Society on Thursday. The JTDC is running ‘Jharkhand Tribal Empowerment and livelihood Project’ in the State for making the youths self-dependent.
“Tribal youth groups should work on constructing Gobar Bank at one place in every village and pursue people to dump the cow dung generated there only. Along with maintaining cleanliness, it can generate income in the form of organic manure which can be sold at good price. The income generated through this can be distributed among the villagers,” said Das in the presence of Welfare Minister louis Marandi, his Principal Secretary Sunil Kumar Barnwal and Welfare Secretary Himani Pandey.
Underlining the growing demand of organically grown vegetables all over particularly in western countries, the CM added that the Government was in talks with a firm interested in trading such produces. “A foreign company few days ago had contacted us. It wants to provide training to our farmers and export our organic vegetables to the European nations from here via Kolkata. There is great demand of such products which can also become a source of greater income for our farmers,” said the CM.
At the same time he encouraged the youths of the community to adopt poultry, dairy, honeybee keeping, goatery and piggery so that their income was raised sufficiently. “The Prime Minister had given us a target to double farmers’ income by 2022. This cannot be done merely through traditional farming. Allied activities like this are necessary. There is no dearth of fund for this. The Government is ready to help you people in every manner possible,” said the CM.
He there made an announcement to provide Rs 25,000 to each 669 youth groups of the STs formed into 14 districts of the State for engaging them into various income generation activities. The CM on the occasion also talked about politics done in the name of tribal development since independence and claimed that the present dispensation was above all this.
“August 9 is the day when Mahatma Gandhi had given the ‘do or die’ call. Our tribal leaders from Jharkhand had also contributed in making the country free. But you should look back and think what have been given for you in the last 70 yearsij You have been reduced to just a vote bank of some political parties who want you to remain backward. They promote superstition in the name of tradition whereas fill their own coffers. We do not engage in the politics like that but do the politics of service. I believe that tribal society has become aware enough to demand their legitimate rights and is rearing to use their energy constructively,” said the CM. He also referred to his efforts made before the visiting 15th Finance Commission team in seeking more fund for the section.