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Govt readies 7-point action plan to tackle drought

The government on Wednesday unveiled a four-fold preliminary package including extension of Calamity Relief Fund to all farmers of the drought-hit regions to mitigate their plight.

Announcing the package after a four-hour meeting with agriculture and relief ministers of 12 drought-hit states, Union Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh said the sugar mills have been asked to pay the outstanding Rs 10 billion to cane growers, while NABARD has been directed to postpone debt recovery.

He said assistance under CRF, which is normally available to farmers having at least two hectares of land, would be provided to all farmers in the drought-affected areas.

"The worst drought in the last 10-12 years has gripped the country. About 320 of 524 districts have been hit by dry spell", Singh said.

Under drought mitigation measures, states would firm up arrangements for allocation of free foodgrains for additional employment generation for which the initial estimated demand is 4.1 million tonnes.

The meeting also decided that agricultural input subsidy, available to small and marginal farmers in the event of crop damage, would be given to others too.

Similarly, subsidy admissible for certified seeds would be available for "truthfully" labelled seeds during the current season in the affected areas.

It was felt that while erratic monsoon causes concern, given the contingent measures by states and Centre, "there is no need for alarm", official sources said.

It was decided at the meeting that states would mobilise resources to meet the cash component for employment generation from their own resources to make up shortfalls, if any, of relief funds.

There would be immediate updating of contingency plans and these would be put into operation if not already done.

Ajit Singh assured the affected states of availability of inputs like seeds and fertilisers as also other assistance needed by them.

The minister said that among the worst affected states are Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Punjab and parts of Tamil Nadu. Some areas have even recorded 80-90 per cent deficient rainfall while Rajasthan had zero rainfall in the last few days, he said.

Expressing concern over bleak crop prospects due to erratic behaviour of the southwest monsoon, he said substantial damage has already been done to bajra, pulses and oilseeds, while paddy would also be affected to some extent.

"If rainfall takes place in the affected areas in the next five-ten days, there may be some recovery but it will not be enough to improve farmers' plight", he said.

The present situation indicates loss in productivity in many areas though the actual magnitude would be known only in the second half of August as considerable retrieval may be possible if rains occur.

The meeting was attended by ministers from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Punjab, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, besides top officials of the Centre and state governments.

Singh said the assistance decided at the meeting was only preliminary and elaborate relief and financial assistance would be finalised by officials later after thorough assessment of ground situation and statistics.

He said the last date of July 31 for making claims under Crop Insurance Scheme would also be extended on a case-by-case basis.

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