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India Faces A Severe Drought

By Radha Viswanath

03 August, 2004
Asia Tribune

All hopes of a normal or near normal rainfall have receded. With barely a month to go before the monsoon takes its formal bow, as many as 28 of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions in India have recorded 'below average'rainfall and the nation is staring straight into a drought year.

Weathermen, who have been talking of a possible monsoon revival in different parts of the country, have stopped holding out such a hope. For, even if some of the 276 (out of a total of 524) districts in the country, where precipitation was deficient or scanty till now, receive good rainfall in the coming weeks, it will be of little help to the farming community. For the agriculturists, the kharif crop is as good as lost. In fact, there is a view in the agriculture ministry that drought 2004 could be worse than what the country experienced two years ago.

This is bad news for the Manmohan Singh government, which assumed office less than three months back. Drought now would mean that the targets set for various sectors of the economy in the budget presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the first half of July would not be achieved. The projected GDP growth will not happen and employment generation would suffer. GDP growth, projected at over seven per cent in the 2004-05 budget, may not even touch six per cent. Worse, the depleted purchasing power of farmers and rural artisans is not good news for the corporate world. For, the strong agriculture growth orientation of the first UPA government budget had raised hopes of increased rural demand for white goods.

In most parts of the country, farmers have lost the seed they planted to deficient rainfall. This means that even in the unlikely event of the monsoon reviving to near normal levels in the coming weeks, the damage done to crops cannot be reversed. This prospect has made agricultural experts espouse the creation of seed, feed and fodder reserves as a buffer stock. They recommend that the government write off the kharif season and start preparations to make gains in the rabi season to offset the crop loss now.

The Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government has paid heed to expert advice and has launched action to mitigate human suffering on account of drought. Expert teams are being readied to visit various regions where rainfall has been deficient to assess the situation and make plans to provide timely and adequate relief to the affected population. Emphasis is also on minimizing
deaths of livestock. With its long experience in managing drought in certain pockets of the country even during "good" monsoon years, there is a well-oiled machinery to cope with the situation.

However, the job on hand - particularly with regard to providing drinking water - is bound to prove ticklish for the authorities, given the sinking levels of ground water in most parts of the country. It is in this context that a proposal to establish a National Water Mission is receiving active consideration from the government. The Mission is expected to take an integrated look at the problem and chalk out coordinated strategies to ensure that there is equitable distribution of this scarce natural resource.





 

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