Drought-hit Karnataka sees rise in calls for weather info
Reeling from three consecutive years of drought, farmers in Karnataka increasingly called up the state’s helpline for information on monsoon and updates in 2017.
The Varuna Mitra helpline got a record 4.44 lakh calls in the first half of the year, as against 2.89 lakh received over the corresponding period last year.
“The rise in calls is surprising considering that this is not a tollfree service,” said GS Srinivas Reddy, director of Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre.
Reddy attributed the surge in calls to the anxiety farmers faced over the performance of the southwest monsoon, which arrived in the state on June 8.
In June, the helpline received 1.51 lakh calls, the highest for a single month in its history.
Reddy said the rise in calls Tumkur Chikkaballapur Chitradurga Chikmagalur Hassan could also be because the distribution of the monsoon has not been even so far.
While the rains have been deficient by 9% in the state overall, this masks a wide variance in distribution.
The northern parts of the state have received 4% excess rainfall, when compared to normal, while the south interior parts of the state, where the Cauvery river flows, has seen a deficit of 39%.
The coastal districts have seen a deficit of 3%, whereas districts located in the Western Ghats have a deficit of 21%.
According to Sunil Gavaskar, a researcher at the state natural disaster monitoring centre, the onset of the monsoon has been good. “But the monsoon trough over the western coast has been weak,” he said.
Reddy said deficient rainfall in Kerala’s Wayanad , from where water flows into Karnataka’s Kabini reservoir, was a worry.
Gokul Prasad, assistant statistical officer at the agriculture department, said the monsoon performance over the southern districts was worrying.
According to the Karnataka Agricultural Prices Commission, sowing was down in the state by around 40%. The Karnataka government has announced a partial waiver of farmer loans up to Rs 50,000 taken from cooperative banks.