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Spectre of drought rubs salt on wounds of farmers in Karnataka

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August 13, 2015 After slump in prices and harassment from moneylenders, the farming community now faces another hardship � failure of kharif crops owing to severe drought.

About 26 per cent of the sown area has withered owing to scanty rainfall in more than 20 districts of the State. Already nearly 200 farmers committed suicides owing to indebtedness and other reasons in the last four months in the State.

The South-West monsoon being 27 per cent deficit up to now (June 1 to August 11) in the State, nearly 12 lakh hectares of sown area had been adversely affected, according to official sources in the Government.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the State had witnessed severe drought this year after a gap of 43 years, the last major drought was in 1972. The Chief Minister is expected to lead a delegation to the Centre this week to apprise Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the drought situation.

Deficient rainfall has adversely affected the sowing operations in more than 100 taluks in the State. Monsoon continued to be weak since June and the cumulative rainfall till August 11 was 404 mm against a normal 558 mm.

Though the pre-monsoon showers had set early in the fag end of April bringing cheer to farmers, deficit rainfall during June, July and August has brought about a tardy progress in the sowings of paddy (39%), ragi (33%), bajra (36 per cent), minor millets (44 per cent), horsegram (14per cent), avare (26per cent), groundnut (46 per cent), sunflower (37per cent).

Coverage of commercial crops - sugarcane was 100 per cent, cotton 67 per cent of the targeted area.

Scanty rainfall has not only created shortage of fodder for over a crore milch animals in the State but also severe drinking water shortage in thousands of villages.

�Centre discriminated against Karnataka�

Senior Congress MLA Basavaraja Rayareddy has alleged that the Narendra Modi government has discriminated against the State in allocation of funds under the State Disaster Response Fund in 2015-16.

The Centre had allocated Rs. 207 crore to the State in 2015-16 against Rs. 330 crore to Andhra Pradesh, Rs. 528.75 crore to Gujarat, Rs. 231 crore to Haryana, Rs. 657.75 crore to Madhya Pradesh, Rs. 1,112.25 crrore to Maharashtra, Rs. 292.50 crore to Punjab, Rs. 827.25 crore to Rajasthan and Rs. 509.25 crore to Tamil Nadu.

The Centre, which has issued a notification on release of funds to states under the 14 finance commission till 2020, has also discriminated against the State granting funds under the National Disaster Response Fund.

While irrigated area in Karnataka was just 29 per cent, it was 52 per cent in Andhra Pradesh, 65 per cent in TN, 92 per cent in Punjab, and 42 per cent in Maharashtra, he said.

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