Decision on drought this week, says Karnataka Agriculture Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy

Agriculture Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy on Monday said the decision on declaring drought in rain-deficit areas will be taken this week after a meeting of the Cabinet Sub-committee, which is empowered to make recommendations.

Replying to a question, raised by BJP member Hemalath Naik in the Legislative Council during a calling attention motion, the minister said, "The Cabinet Sub-committee, headed by the revenue minister, has already met once and will be meeting again this week. We will initiate necessary measures to declare areas that have received less than the normal rainfall as drought hit and the decision will be taken after the meeting."

Chaluvarayaswamy told the House that Kalyana Karnataka districts have received less than the normal rainfall and that depending on rainfall over the next week, the Cabinet Sub-committee will take a decision.

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He even stated that there has been a 36 per cent deficit of rainfall and the monsoon was delayed.

"Compared to the previous year, the sowing has come down by 10 per cent. Just about 23-25 per cent sowing has taken place this year as against 50 per cent last year,” he said.

According to data, tabled by the Council by the minister, the state has received an average rainfall of 166 mm as against the last year's 257 mm by July 7.

"In some districts of North Karnataka, against 124 mm of average rainfall, actual rainfall has been 76 mm - resulting in a deficit of 39 per cent," Chaluvarayaswamy said.

This year, the government's cultivation target for various crops is 82.35 lakh hectares. Sowing has been completed on 26.82 lakh hectares.

In North Karnataka, the target for sowing in this Kharif season is 37.67 lakh hectares in rain-fed areas and 18.54 lakh hectares in irrigated areas. Against this, sowing has taken place on 20.60 lakh hectares.

Earlier during the session, in a written reply, Chaluvarayaswamy stated that the government is considering making a decision on announcing drought by the end of July or in the first week of August.

"As per the existing Union government guidelines, taluks can be declared as drought-hit two months after the start of the monsoon," he stated.