The Centre has asked States to be prepared for a possible failure of the South-West Monsoon and to review their ability to deal with deficient rainfall during the coming cropping season.
Even as many southern States reel under water scarcity due to the deficient rains last year, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, in a letter written to the Chief Ministers of the States and Union Territories, asked them to take stock of their preparedness to meet challenges arising out of a drought-like condition, should the monsoon fail.
Management centres The Minister also directed the States to establish and activate drought management centres to monitor the situation.
The India Meteorological Department, in its first stage forecast issued in April, predicted a near normal monsoon this year with 96 per cent average rainfall.
Even though many States received bountiful rains during the last monsoon season, leading to bumper production of cereals, pulses and oilseeds, some, particularly in the South, witnessed severe drought due to aberrant weather conditions.
A review of the state of preparedness can help reduce the impact of a sub-normal monsoon, Singh said. He also directed the States to set aside 25 per cent of funds received under centrally-sponsored schemes as flexi-funds to mitigate the adverse impact of natural calamities.
The States have also been asked to take stock of measures required to fight drought conditions down to the district level.
Apart from checking the availability of drought-resistant seeds, they were asked to review the progress in implementing district irrigation plans as well as water conservation and harvesting projects undertaken as part of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
A ‘cautionary’ move However, highly-placed sources in the Ministry of Earth Sciences told BusinessLine that conditions for a favourable monsoon have improved since the April forecast and that the Agricultural ministry missive could at best be a ‘cautionary’ one.
“From our past experience, it has been seen that even during a normal monsoon, rains are not evenly distributed across the country and a few States experienced deficient rainfall,” one of the sources said.