Namami Gange Yojana - Uttarakhand

What is Namami Gange Yojana in Uttarakhand?

Namami Gange Yojana, as it operates in Uttarakhand's agriculture sector, is a scheme implemented by the Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board under the Department of Agriculture, Government of Uttarakhand. The scheme promotes sustainable and organic farming among farmers living in villages on the banks of the Ganga and its tributaries, and it does so by forming those farmers into clusters.

The Uttarakhand Department of Agriculture describes it on its organic farming page as the Cleanliness Action Plan "Namami Gange Clean Campaign". Its main objective, in the department's words, is to encourage organic agriculture under PGS certification in the gram panchayats located on the Ganga basin, selected on the basis of a cluster approach. The scheme is funded on a 90 per cent central share and 10 per cent state share basis.

Under the scheme the department organises farmer training on organic farming and exposure tour programmes, and provides financial assistance for PGS certification, distribution of organic inputs, marketing of organic products, brand building, fairs, exhibitions, publicity and participation in local fairs and national fairs.

The Uttarakhand government's official compendium "Meri Yojana; Rajya Sarkar" (second edition) lists the scheme under the Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board at page 165. It records the benefit as assistance provided to farmers to practise organic farming in the form of clusters, the beneficiary group as farmers of villages along the Ganga and its tributary rivers in the state, and the application route as submission of the prescribed form at the Organic Commodity Board office at Kisan Bhawan, Dehradun. In Hindi the scheme is written as नमामि गंगे योजना.

The logic behind the scheme

• Chemical fertiliser and pesticide run-off from farmland in the Ganga basin ends up in the river. Converting that farmland to organic practice cuts the agricultural load on the river at source.
• A cluster, rather than an individual plot, is used because organic conversion only works if neighbouring fields stop spraying too.
• PGS-India certification is used because it is peer-based and affordable for small holdings, which is what most of Uttarakhand's Ganga-basin farms are.

Who is eligible for Namami Gange organic farming assistance?

You are eligible if:

• You are a farmer residing in a village located along the bank of the Ganga or one of its tributaries in Uttarakhand. This is the single defining eligibility condition in the published entry.
• Your gram panchayat has been selected on the cluster approach for the scheme.
• You are willing to farm organically under the PGS-India standard and to be part of a peer group that certifies itself.
• You can produce land records for the area you are bringing into the cluster.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• Your village is not in the Ganga basin as defined for the scheme. Farmers elsewhere in Uttarakhand are covered instead by Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana, which the department runs in 3,900 clusters, by the RKVY-Raftaar third-party certification project, or by the National Mission on Natural Farming.
• Your gram panchayat has not been selected for a cluster in the current phase. Selection is made panchayat by panchayat.
• You want to enrol as an individual farmer outside a cluster. The scheme is built on the cluster approach and there is no solo route.
• You are not willing to give up chemical inputs, since PGS certification depends on compliance by every member of the group.
• You are looking for a fixed per-farmer cash grant. The published entry does not put a rupee figure against the individual farmer; assistance flows to the cluster in the form of certification, inputs, training and marketing support.

What documents are required?

The official entry records the documents simply as those required "as per the guidelines of the Council", so the operative list is the one the Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board hands over with the application form.

How to apply for Namami Gange Yojana in Uttarakhand

1. Check whether your village is in scope. The scheme is confined to gram panchayats in the Ganga basin, selected on a cluster basis. Your block agriculture officer or the gram panchayat can confirm this quickly.
2. Visit the nearest agriculture office. The Department of Agriculture's own published advice for its organic and natural farming programmes is to visit your nearby agriculture office, and this is where a cluster is usually first discussed.
3. Get the prescribed application form and fill it with your land details, the area you want to convert, and your bank and Aadhaar particulars.
4. Submit the completed form at the Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board office, Kisan Bhawan, 2nd Floor, Mussoorie Bypass, Ring Road, Nehrugram, Dehradun 248001, or hand it to the block agriculture office for onward transmission.
5. Join the cluster and the PGS group. Organic conversion under this scheme is a group activity, so you will be enrolled with the other farmers of the cluster.
6. Attend the training and the exposure visit. Farmer training on organic farming and exposure tours are part of the assistance and are usually the first thing that reaches a new cluster.
7. Follow the PGS standard through the conversion period so that the group's certification is not put at risk by one member's non-compliance.

What the farmer actually receives

The scheme's assistance is delivered in kind and in services more than in cash:

• PGS certification for the cluster, financed by the scheme.
• Organic inputs distributed to member farmers.
• Training on organic farming methods.
• Exposure visits to organic farms and institutions.
• Marketing support for the organic produce, including brand building.
• Fairs and exhibitions, including participation in local and national fairs, publicity and promotion.

For a sense of scale, the sister scheme Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana in Uttarakhand provides Rs 31,500 per hectare over three years, of which Rs 15,000 per hectare goes to the farmer by DBT for organic inputs. The published material for the Namami Gange agriculture component does not carry an equivalent per-hectare figure, so a farmer should ask the block agriculture office for the current year's rate rather than assume the PKVY numbers apply.

Why applications fail, and what to do

• The village is outside the Ganga basin selection. Ask about PKVY or the natural farming mission instead — the department runs both, and they cover the rest of the state.
• No cluster is being formed in the panchayat this phase. Register interest with the block agriculture office so the panchayat is considered when the next cluster round opens.
• Land records do not match the applicant. Get the khasra or khatauni corrected at the tehsil before applying.
• The farmer wants to keep using chemical inputs on part of the holding. That conflicts with PGS group certification and will be raised at verification.
• Application submitted to the wrong office. The form goes to the Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board or through the block agriculture office; other offices will simply forward it, losing time.

Where to ask questions and raise a grievance

• Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board, Kisan Bhawan, 2nd Floor, Mussoorie Bypass, Ring Road, Nehrugram, Dehradun 248001. The office named in the official application route.
• Block or district agriculture office, which is the department's own recommended first stop for its organic programmes.
• Department of Agriculture, Uttarakhand: agriculture.uk.gov.in, whose organic and natural farming page carries the scheme description.
• Citizens' call centre / Kisan helpline: 18001801551.
• CM Helpline at cmhelpline.uk.gov.in for a formal grievance if a departmental query goes unanswered.

No fee is payable to enrol in an organic cluster under this scheme, and no agent can add a farmer's name to a cluster list.