The Karnataka government has taken up ground-truthing exercise to know if the situation provides for declaration of drought in about 120 taluks that are facing shortage of rainfall.
A decision was taken on Tuesday at a meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee that looks into recommendation to the State Cabinet on drought.
Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who heads the Cabinet sub-committee, told The Hindu that the ground-level assessment began on Tuesday. He said the Deputy Commissioners had been asked to take up the exercise of assessment of condition of crops in different villages as per the requirement.
The government would get reports from them within 10 days, he said, while pointing out that a decision on declaration of drought would be taken based on the reports. “The Cabinet sub-committee will meet again after getting the reports and take a call on recommending to the Cabinet on declaration of drought in areas that conform to the prescribed norms,” Mr. Byre Gowda said.
Conditions in drought manual
The drought manual specifies various conditions including three consecutive weeks of dry spell, less than 75% of crop coverage in the targeted area, and more than 50% of crop loss to get qualified to be declared as drought-hit, he explained.
Incidentally, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently urged the Union government to bring changes to the Manual for Drought Management 2016 (updated in 2020) for declaration of drought by States, arguing that it is necessary to have different parameters to declare drought in 14 agro-climatic zones in Karnataka in the light of dire situation caused by erratic weather conditions.
One more assessment
Mr. Byre Gowda said that the government had decided to take up this exercise of ground-level assessment again after 10 to 15 days as more number of taluks are expected to face dry spell then going by the present indications.
The Agriculture Department had indicated that the crops were in the beginning stage of deterioration. If the dry spell continues for one more week, the sustenance of standing crops would be difficult, the Minister said.
