Drought norms should be more farmer-friendly: CM Siddaramaiah
BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said flaws in the norms in the Union Government’s Manual for Drought Management 2020 are the reason for the delay in declaring drought in the state and unless the norms are changed, it would not be difficult to immediately take up work to provide relief to people in drought-hit areas.
Siddaramaiah said that the Centre had not responded to his letter seeking amendments to the manual. The changes in the norms will help all states, not just Karnataka.
“Instead of putting pressure on the Centre to change the norms, the BJP leaders in the state are making baseless allegations against the state government with an ulterior motive to gain political mileage from the drought situation, “ the Chief Minister said in a statement.
Siddaramaiah said the drought management guidelines should be more farmer-friendly. Karnataka has 14 different agro-climatic zones, with each having its own challenges. Current guidelines are common for all the zones and there is a need for specific guidelines for declaring drought in zones, the CM said.
“The India Meteorological Department declares even a 10% rainfall deficit across the country as a drought year. However, according to the criteria, if the states have to declare drought, the rainfall variation index should be more than 60%. We have to take into account the gap between the two. Although the rainfall variation index ranges from 20% to 59%, it should be considered as a necessary trigger factor for drought declaration,” he said.
Another important benchmark in the manual that leads to delays in drought declaration is that the state government has to submit a mandatory certificate to the Centre that ‘no further sowing activity’ will take place.
This is in contrast to the concept of input subsidy. The concept of input subsidy is that economic activity should be resumed by providing immediate relief. However, due to the central regulations, it will not be possible for the state government to immediately proceed with drought relief after declaring drought, he stated. The disbursement of input subsidy should be considered as proof by the insurance companies for providing insurance compensation in respect of crop damage, he stated.