As many taluks in the state are facing a drought-like situation, Agriculture Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy hoped that rain over the next few days can to some extent help jowar, ragi crops and also paddy crops in catchment areas of dams. The cabinet sub-committee meeting on September 4 will take a decision on declaring over 100 taluks as drought-prone as the state witnessed dry spell whole of August, the minister told TNSE staff during an interaction. Excerpts....
The government has completed 100 days. How is it going?
The Congress government came to power by promising five guarantees, and we have implemented four of them. Initially, the opposition and the media were sceptical of implementation of the guarantees and how we would pool the resources, and attacked the government. This led to confusion among people. People, especially the rural population, realised how helpful the ‘Anna Bhagya’ scheme was during the pandemic. In general, people were fed up with the price rise. As we don’t have powers to control the prices of fuel or other commodities, we decided to help people by giving some financial relief and that’s why we came up with the guarantee schemes. Now, the guarantees are reaching almost every household in rural areas and each home is getting a benefit of around Rs 5,000-6,000. It has come as a major relief for poor families, especially farmers. Recently, the ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ scheme was launched and 1.11 crore women got Rs 2,000 in their bank accounts at once, which is historic.
What are the initiatives you took after becoming the agriculture minister?
We should see agriculture as an industry, only then farmers can prosper. Currently, we are encouraging farmers to go for byproducts and to take up natural farming, besides granting subsidies for millets. Also, we have reintroduced ‘Krishi Bhagya’ that was dropped by the previous government. To address the concerns of farmers and to guide them, we have upgraded the call centre and set up a centralised call centre (toll-free - 18004 253553), which can handle up to 30 calls at once. Top officials will be reviewing the calls. We have taken the approval from the finance department to release Rs 223 crore to farmers of 4-5 districts of North Karnataka who have suffered losses as their crops were hit by wilt. Around 16 lakh farmers (of the total 75 lakh) have been covered under crop insurance, for which farmers will have to pay only 2 per cent and the rest is borne by the state and Central governments. Under this, 52,000 farmers of eight districts who have suffered crop loss will be paid Rs 47 crore soon. In Chitradurga, groundnut farmers, who are in distress, will be given 25 per cent compensation as a midterm action and the remaining will be given based on the yield.
What is the percentage of sowing in the state?
It’s about 82 per cent in the state. In districts like Chitradurga and Haveri, it is about 92 per cent and 85 per cent, respectively. Mandya, where ragi and paddy are sown, has seen 100 per cent coverage. Though monsoon started soon after our government came to power, there have been no complaints of shortage of supply of seeds and fertilisers or about substandard seeds. We held several rounds of meetings with senior officers and also with the staff of Raitha Samparka Kendras to ensure that there is no shortage of seeds. We also intensified vigilance to ensure that substandard seeds don’t enter the market. Instructions have been given to continue the supply of seeds wherever there is demand for a week more, as the monsoon seeding period has ended.
What is the impact of repealing the amendment to APMC (Agricultural Produce & Market Committee) Act as farmers cannot sell their produce wherever they want, but have to bring it to APMC?
We will not restrict farmers, while the Act restricts middlemen. Farmers from elsewhere bring their produce to Bengaluru and sell them at whichever place they want. But big farmers who bring their produce in huge volumes cannot sell locally. Because of farmers’ opposition to new farm laws, it has been withdrawn. They are happy as they feel it’s advantageous to them. The amendments to the APMC Act were repealed on their demand. There are small problems with APMCs and the minister and officials concerned will have to resolve them while ensuring that it will not affect farmers.
How is the drought situation? Would rain now be able to salvage the situation?
To some extent it will help, as in some districts the jowar and ragi crops can sustain. It will also help paddy crops in catchment areas of dams. It will help us as we have a scarcity of 4 lakh metric tonnes of paddy. There have been instances of the state receiving late monsoon rain at September-end and if it rains, it will help overall. We are holding a cabinet sub-committee meeting on September 4 on drought-related issues. Deputy commissioners concerned will submit consolidated ground reports on the situation across the state. Based on that, we are expected to declare about 100-odd taluks as severely drought-hit, as entire August we witnessed a dry spell.
What is next after the September 4 meeting?
We will continue to hold meetings once every week or ten days as there will be demand from other taluks. Additionally, we have been clearing insurance for crops and an average of seven years is taken to release compensation. We have to tackle these issues as there are instances where farmers are not covered under insurance. In Chitradurga, a woman farmer— a widow, had not paid the insurance and I paid Rs 25,000 to her.
How much funds have you kept aside for drought relief?
When it comes to tackling drought, there will be no restriction as we utilise the funds of the state and also whatever support the Centre gives. The CM has instructed the RDPR (Rural Development and Panchayat Raj) department that there should be no scarcity of funds to tackle drinking water problems. New borewells should be drilled and water supplied through tankers to the people.
You wrote to the Centre to relax the NDRF (National Disaster Response Fund) norms. Have they replied?
They have not replied and we can assume that they will not. Otherwise by now, they would have replied. Our officials will follow it up with the Centre. But we have been compensating farmers for damaged crops under different slabs for rain-fed and irrigated crops.
Is there a friction between the state and Centre?
Even when BJP was in power in the state, the central government did not support it completely like they backed Gujarat. They neglected the state during the floods. They also did not give us the GST compensation adequately, nor returned half of the state’s tax that goes to the Centre. But in the federal system, we cannot give up our demands. We have to fight it out. They have not relaxed the norms with regard to the issue of drought. On minimum support price for copra, the Centre should relax norms by allowing its procurement round the year. Now, it is done for only two months, but then copra is not a seasonal crop. The cabinet subcommittee on MSP, for which I am the chairman, discussed the issue and decided to write to the Centre, asking for directions to procure copra round the year, as and when prices crash below MSP.
Former CM Basavaraj Bommai recently said that around 50 farmers have committed suicide and the government should rush to their rescue?
Incidents of suicides were reported, but not as much as the opposition parties are saying. They are under control, comparatively. But we cannot take even a single death lightly. Sitting in the opposition they do politics, but they also have to cooperate with us on this issue. The government has been disbursing farm loans of up to Rs 5 lakh at zero per cent interest through cooperative societies. If a farmer goes to a money-lender and takes a loan, he has to pay an interest of 2% per month which amounts to Rs 1.25 lakh. He will save that money if he gets the loan at zero per cent interest in societies. The five guarantees will also help check suicides as it will work as security for farmers.
There were 4,257 farmer deaths from 2018 to 2022 and 3,442 families have been compensated. What is the status of the backlog?
Whenever such incidents are reported, we try to clear the compensation within a week. No such cases will be kept pending for more than six months. One or two families would have experienced a delay due to document-related issues and those cases too will be cleared. There will be a delay only if the forensic report is pending.
The Cauvery dispute is back, and farmers are protesting. The Opposition is accusing the Congress government of not being able to take a firm stand because of its equation with DMK in Tamil Nadu, which is a Congress ally in I.N.D.I.A bloc…
The Opposition says whatever it wants. The release of water is as per orders of a tribunal set up by the Government of India. The Cauvery Water Management Authority was set up for that purpose based on a Supreme Court verdict. Strictly speaking, we do not have the authority to decide on this. We have filed an affidavit explaining the practical situation. The 26 BJP MPs representing the state should have met Union ministers and the Prime Minister and prevailed upon them. They (BJP leaders) are politicising the issue. It has been almost five years since the NDA-2 came to power and so far, they have not come up with a distress formula to release Cauvery water. The water should be released for April, May, June and August, and Tamil Nadu goes to court if not released. Had the Centre come up with a distress formula, we would not have faced this situation.
Water levels in dams are going down. Farmers are protesting. What do you have to say?
Farmers are absolutely right in holding protests. What they are saying is practical. We have held an all-party meeting, which was chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. He has sought time with the PM to lead a delegation to seek a distress formula, apart from making him realise why the state will not be in a position to release water. Without a distress formula, it will be very difficult to release water. The state legal team too wants us to release water to avoid legal issues.
There are reports that Congress leaders are in touch with MLAs from BJP and JDS and even you are said to be in the forefront to bring them to Congress. How many MLAs are jumping ship?
We do not need MLAs from other parties to keep the government stable. We already have 136 MLAs, besides the support of two Independents. BJP’s present condition is no secret. For the first time in Karnataka’s history, there was no Opposition Leader in the session. There were talks that some JDS leaders may join BJP and then the opposition leader would be appointed. Even that didn’t happen. The party has isolated Yediyurappa. The uncertainty in BJP has frustrated its leaders and that is why they are planning to look for greener pastures. Former MLAs, leaders and some MLAs are keen on joining Congress. Similarly, JDS was expecting a fractured verdict and was confident of forming a coalition government. But their numbers have reduced to 19 and they are unable to digest it. The present situation is not like how it was in the past. If an MLA is not from the ruling party, he may face a lot of struggle during the next election. Some wonder what happens to the 19 MLAs in the future. Many are in touch with us. The party will welcome those who want to join us.
Last time you indirectly helped Sumalatha win the Mandya Parliament seat. What is the strategy now, and how confident are you about Congress candidates winning the LS polls?
This time, we will win over 20 seats. The situation and candidates will determine the results. We are sure of winning Mandya.