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		<img align="" alt="SC asks central govt to set up special force to tackle drought" class="imgCont" height="464" src="http://bsmedia.business-standard.com/_media/bs/img/article/2015-06/01/full/1433174659-2118.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #DDD; margin-right: 10px; padding: 1px; float: left; z-index: 0;" title="SC asks central govt to set up special force to tackle drought" width="620" />
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			The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Central government to create a disaster mitigation fund to tackle drought-like situation and directed the Agriculture Ministry to hold a meeting within a week with affected states like Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana to assess the conditions.</div>
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			The court added that farmer suicides, stress and migration factors should be taken into account while declaring drought in any state.</div>
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			A bench headed by Justice M B Lokur directed the Centre to also implement the provisions of Disaster Management Act and fix a time limit for declaration of drought on scientific grounds.</div>
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			It also asked the Centre to revise the drought management manual to provide effective relief to calamity-hit farmers and prepare a national plan to tackle the crisis.</div>
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			&quot;Agriculture Ministry is directed to hold a meeting within a week with Chief Secretaries of drought-hit Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana to assess the situation,&quot; the bench also comprising Justice N V Ramana said.</div>
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			The court also directed that the National Disaster Response Force should be trained and equipped to tackle the drought-like situation.</div>
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			Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha had on April 26 told the bench that Centre is alive to the situation prevailing in the drought-hit areas and states are working hard to provide every possible relief to the farmers in such natural calamity hit areas.</div>
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			Earlier, the apex court questioned the Centre whether it was not its responsibility to warn the states about the drought-like situation likely to prevail in the near future.</div>
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			The court had expressed its concern over low compensation paid to calamity-hit farmers and observed that it was leading some of them to commit suicide.</div>
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			The petitioner NGO, Swaraj Abhiyan, in its revised prayer, had sought a direction to Centre to abide by the provisions of MNREGA Act and use it for employment generation in drought-affected areas.</div>
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			The PIL filed by the NGO had alleged that parts of 12 states of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Haryana and Chattisgarh were hit by drought and the authorities were not providing adequate relief.</div>
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			The situation has put severe stress on the agricultural sector, which employs close to 70% of India&#39;s labour force, drying up traditional sources of drinking water, and pushing up food inflation.&nbsp;</div>
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			Earlier this week, Rural Development Minister Birender Singh told Parliament that up to a quarter of the country, including 313 districts, 1,58,205 villages and 4,44,280 dwellings, have been hit by drought.</div>
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			Maharashtra, one of the worst hit states, is set to declare 29,000 villages as suffering from drought; the state&#39;s chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, has requested as much as Rs 10,000 crore from the central government for drought relief measures.&nbsp;</div>
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			Other states, too, have requested financial support from the Centre to help with drought alleviation measures. Chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, as well as Fadnavis last week met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apprise him of the drought and drinking water situation in their states. The three states have asked for Rs 27,000 crore in relief. UP CM Akhilesh Yadav has asked for Rs 11,000 crore, along with 10,000 water tankers and 5,000 tube wells, while Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah sought an additional Rs 12,272 crore.&nbsp;</div>
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			The Centre has already released Rs 9,367 crore to drought-hit states under MGNREGA in 2016-17, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh told Parliament last week. In addition, it has relaxed norms under MGNREGA to provide additional employment of 50 days per household over and above the 100 days in areas affected by natural calamities during 2015-16.</div>
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Says farmer suicides, stress and migration factors should be taken into account while declaring drought in any state

SC asks central govt to set up special force to tackle drought

SC asks central govt to set up special force to tackle drought

Says farmer suicides, stress and migration factors should be taken into account while declaring drought in any state

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