SC asks Centre for drought data
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to furnish data of social welfare schemes in the 12 drought- hit states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh Haryana and Orissa.
A bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and R. K. Agrawal made it clear to the Centre that it will have to collect data from these states on rainfall received, availability of dal and edible oil, status of implementation of the National Food Security Act, mid- day meals and food- for- work schemes.
The bench passed this order on a public interest writ petition filed by Swaraj Abhiyan for a direction to provide necessary relief and compensation to farmers and other classes of citizens suffering from the harsh effects of second consecutive drought year in 12 states. The PIL sought the court’s intervention to deal with drought, which is snowballing and resulting in a severe livelihood crisis, mass migrations, severe malnutrition, starvation deaths, fodder crisis for cattle, increasing debt- burden on farmers leading to intensification in farmer suicides.
The petitioner said the country experienced another drought ( 14 per cent deficit rainfall) this monsoon which further aggravated the situation caused by last year’s drought ( 12 per cent deficit rainfall) and the extensive damage to the rabi crop early this year. This was only the third time in the last century when the country experienced consecutive droughts. The drought this year affected 39 per cent of the area of the country. Rainfall continued to be deficient after the monsoon, with 29 out of 36 sub- divisions reporting scant or deficient rainfall up to December 12, 2015, which affected sowing of the next crop.
The PIL said the fact of drought is admitted by the Union of India and various states. Eight states of the Union have already officially declared a state of drought. The Union government has confirmed to Parliament that it has information from seven states about drought affecting 1.9 crore hectares of land.
The petitioner organisation wrote letters to the chief ministers of various states to request urgent action on drought relief.
While some of the respective governments have admitted there is a drought, they have failed to redress the misery of this vast population and have even failed to properly implement existing schemes that could have provided support.