Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
trees. We have assumed that the farmer must have an annual surplus of
at least, or similar to, their current average earnings of Rs. 74,988.
We are considering two variants of the mango-guava-pomegranate
fruit tree crop model – organically grown and inorganically grown. In
the case of the inorganic fruit model, the total quantum of government
support required for a farmer will be Rs. 75,000, Rs. 74,000, and
Rs. 15,000 over the first three years, respectively.
For the organic fruit model, the total quantum of support required
for a farmer will be Rs. 75,000 and Rs. 55,000 in the first and second
year, respectively (Refer Table 9 and Table 13). This investment could be
made as a subsidy or as a long-term loan to the farmer. Either way, this
government investment seems highly desirable given the significant
payback in terms of saving our rivers, substantially reducing carbon
footprint, ensuring major forest cover gains, large-scale promotion of
personal health, and even as a financial investment for society with a
strong internal rate of return.
COSTS OF THE MULTI-FRUIT CROP MODEL
The economics of the model is based on incurring a cost of Rs. 1.23
lakh initially in the first year. Subsequently in the second and third years,
the maintenance cost would be Rs. 18,000 per annum and this would go
up after three years to Rs. 35,000 per annum. Details are shown in Table 6.
It is assumed that in line with the current government practice,
all the establishment costs are to be funded by the government. The
ongoing maintenance costs can be funded by the farmer himself.
163