Give info on welfare schemes in drought-hit states: SC to govt

The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to apprise it of the current status of welfare schemes like MGNREGA, National Food Security and mid-day meal in 12 drought-hit states across the country.
A bench of Justices M B Lokur and R K Agrawal also asked the authorities to specify the criteria for declaration of the drought and sought information about rainfall in these states.
It also asked the affected states to provide the requisite information on the welfare schemes to the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare which, in turn, would collate the data and file them before it on January 22, the next date of hearing.

The bench was hearing a PIL which alleged that parts of states like Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Haryana and Chattisgarh have been hit by drought and the authorities were not providing adequate relief.
During the brief hearing, the bench asked Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Centre, to give information about implementation of schemes under MGNREGA, Food Security Act and the mid-day meal schemes as to whether those affected were being provided the minimum required employment and food or not.
The Solicitor General said that affected states have been provided financial aid from the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) and the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF).

Funds to the tune of over Rs 1,500 crore, Rs 1,276 crore, Rs 2,032 crore, Rs 3,044 crores have been made available to Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharshtra respectively, he said, adding that for 2015-20, a total fund of Rs 61,291 crore has been earmarked to provide relief to the states which may be hit by disasters.

The PIL, filed by NGO Swaraj Abhiyan run by persons like psephologist Yogendra Yadav, has sought implementation of the National Food Security Act which guarantees 5 kg of food grain per person per month. It has also sought a direction to the authorities that affected families be also given pulses and edible oils.

Earlier, the apex court had asked the Centre and the
affected states to file their response on actions taken by them for drought relief and management.
Prior to this, the court had issued notice on December 16 on the PIL.
Besides the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, the court had sought responses from various states.
The plea has also sought adequate and timely compensation for crop loss and input subsidy for the next crop to the farmers affected by drought and subsidised cattle fodder for animals.
The PIL, filed through Prashant Bhushan, alleged that the Centre and states "have been highly negligent in performing their obligations, causing enormous damage to the lives of the people due to their inaction, which is in contravention of the rights guaranteed under Articles 21 and 14 of the Constitution of India".

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Swaraj Abhiyan, had said, "Unfortunately, most states have not yet implemented this. Except Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, the states have stuck to the previous Public Distribution System schemes that fall short of the NFSA obligations".
"Research shows that the APL/BPL distinction used by most of the states is useless and that the implementation of NFSA has had positive outcomes for these two states," he had said.
The petition submitted that the drought has led to severe decline in farm employment available to the rural poor.