Haryana cries drought, Centre disagrees

While Haryana is the first state to declare a drought this year, senior officials in the Union Agriculture Ministry aren't convinced the situation is critical

Ahead of the Assembly elections in Haryana, differences have cropped up between the state and the Centre over whether or not the state is in the grip of a drought.

While Haryana is the first state to declare a drought this year, officials in the Union agriculture ministry aren’t convinced the situation is critical. They feel the state should have waited for a few more days before making an announcement in this regard. The officials said the state’s move came at a time when the area under paddy was just only 28,000 hectares, less than in the year-ago period. This, they said, gave the impression that the announcement was made with an eye on the coming Assembly polls.

“No doubt, rainfall has been scanty in Haryana. So far, the cumulative deficit is about 64 per cent and we are ready to provide all help to farmers. But we feel, as of now, the situation does not look like there’s a drought,” said an agriculture ministry official.

A state is considered drought-hit only when it notifies a drought in its official gazette, followed by similar notifications by the district collectors of the divisions affected. “Till Wednesday, no such measures had been taken,” the official said. He added in 2012, too, Haryana claimed it was hit by a drought but this wasn’t notified in the state gazette.

The previous time Haryana had notified a drought in the gazette was in 2002.

Earlier this week, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had declared the state “drought-affected” and ordered a special survey to assess the loss caused by the dry spell. He added compensation of Rs 4,000/acre would be provided in case more than half the standing crop was damaged.

“Any assistance under the National Disaster Relief Fund or State Disaster Relief Fund can only be given if more than 50 per cent of the crop is damaged, which can be judged only after a thorough assessment,” said the official quoted earlier. He added withdrawal of the southwest monsoon had been delayed by at least a week, which meant the situation could still be salvaged.

“Unless the current bout of rains disappears by the first or second week of September, widespread damage to the standing crop cannot be claimed with certainty,” he said.

Earlier, Haryana had sent a memorandum to the Centre on the possibility of a drought, but this didn’t specify the areas hit, as well as the extent of the damage. The state had demanded about Rs 4,500 crore for disaster relief.

“The demand is mostly related to additional power, and crop damage. The agriculture ministry has little role to play in this. The state government has to first conduct a proper assessment of the damage. As of now, it is slightly early for that,” the official said, adding diesel subsidy could be provided according to certain norms prescribed in 2009. These norms cap the subsidy at Rs 60 a litre and 70 litres a hectare.

Nationally, the southwest monsoon has shown signs of a revival in September, and this has delayed its withdrawal by at least a week. The overall cumulative deficit has narrowed to 15 per cent from about 40 per cent in mid-July. “If rainfall deficit falls below 10 per cent, 2014 will not be declared a drought year,” the official said.

He, however, added there was concern about crop yields and drinking water supplies in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra’s Marathwada region.
DRY SPELL?

• Centre waits for formal notification from Haryana on drought
• Feels situation on ground, though worrisome, is not alarming
• Assistance under National Disaster Relief only if 50% crop damaged
• Centre says it had already announced steps to counter impact of low rains