We don’t want people to suffer due to drought or failed monsoon, says Jairam Ramesh.
The rural development ministry has sanctioned a relief package as a cover for the shortage of food grains in certain districts of Karnataka due to a delay in the monsoon. Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh disclosed this on Saturday, after a meeting with chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda.
Ramesh and Gowda earlier reviewed the near-drought situation in those districts. “Karnataka had asked for additional allocation of food grains. Around 30,000 tonnes of rice and 30,000 tonnes of wheat have been allocated to the state immediately as calamity relief,” said Ramesh.
India’s annual monsoon rains this year revived after falling short in the first 15 days of its arrival, brightening prospects of higher farm output by aiding farmers to plant summer-sown crops such as rice, soybean and cotton on time. The monsoon hit the Kerala coast on June 5, four days after its predicted arrival, as a cyclone on the west coast had stalled the rains.
The monsoon rains were 50% below average in the week to June 13. “We are concerned about the delayed monsoon. We don’t want people to suffer because of drought or failed monsoon,” Ramesh said.
The rains the country receives during June-September are vital for agriculture and economic growth, as irrigation covers only 45% of the farmland. India’s agriculture sector accounts for about 15% of the country’s nearly 2 trillion-dollar economy.
Commenting on rural sanitation, Ramesh said his ministry plans to spend more for construction of toilets under ‘Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan’, a programme to boost the country’s ailing sanitation system, especially in interior towns and villages.
He noted that solid waste management is not only an urban issue but also one affecting rural areas. “The CM and I have agreed that sanitation programme must get increased emphasis. Today, only about 20% of gram panchayats in the state are Nirmal Gram Panchayat (free from open defecation). In the next five years, all the gram panchayats should become Nirmal Gram Panchayat,” said Ramesh. (With inputs from ANI)
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