Managing drought
The Centre has woken up to the reality of drought-like conditions perhaps a little too late.
Drought is like pregnancy; you cannot hide it for long. The Centre has woken up to the reality of drought-like conditions perhaps a little too late — after the southwest monsoon has crossed the half way mark. Over 70 per cent of the country’s farmlands are parched and thirsting for water and about a quarter of the total number of districts have already been declared drought-hit. Precious time has been lost in implementing any contingency plan or initiating relief measures simply because the Centre has been hoping against hope that the rains would not fail. The Meteorological Department forecasts have gone completely awry this season. Now that damage is staring the nation in the face, the Prime Minister has stepped in. Customary noises about sufficient foodgrain stocks, market intervention to contain price rise and crackdown against black-marketing have been made. Beyond that, there is no indication of a coherent and comprehensive action plan to augment availability of essential commodities, strengthen supply of foodgrains and other essentials through the public distribution system, curb speculative tendencies in the market and generally mitigate the negative effects of smaller harvest.
In some sense, the onus of fighting the drought has been passed on to the States many of which have neither the will nor the wherewithal to undertake effective relief work. While de-hoarding operations at the State level must continue, it is important that the Centre makes food product imports and movement smoother. For instance, greater coordination among agencies such as ports, customs and plant quarantine would help clear imports of pulses, sugar and edible oil faster. Movement of essential foods should be expedited by making railway rakes available on priority. It is important that the government does not send out panic messages of large-scale imports; they do nothing except propelling international prices up. Open market sale of rice and wheat must commence soon in a regionally-differentiated strategic manner intended to meet consumer needs.
For the aam aadmi, this festival season may not be as bright as he would have expected. It is absolutely essential that the rigours of the drought, especially affecting the poor, are mitigated as much as possible. This is possible only if the Government demonstrates through policy action enough commitment to advancing the welfare of the poor. If there is a fortuitous extension of the monsoon beyond September into the first two weeks of October, sub-soil moisture would improve, boosting the prospects for the rabi crop. That is a hope. Even after six decades of planned development if we have failed to make the economy substantially drought-proof, it is a sad commentary on our policies and administration.
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