More than one-fourth of India’s population is affected by drought, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Tuesday highlighting the gravity of the situation facing more than 33 crore population across 254 of the total 676 districts in the country.
The details came in response to the court’s query on a PIl filed by NGO Swaraj Abhiyan to ascertain the extent of drought in the country. Armed with data of drought-affected districts supplied by 10 States during the period 2015-16, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) PS Narasimha submitted a compilation to the court giving the number of affected districts and villages and estimated population affected by drought.
The highest toll of drought was experienced by Uttar Pradesh with 50 out of its 75 districts with an estimated population of 9.88 crore population reeling under severe drought in the past year. Incidentally, the PIl argued by advocate Prashant Bhushan had pointed to severe drought conditions in Bundelkhand region in UP where people were forced to eat grass for want of food or water.
The effect of drought was widespread in central India extending to Odisha in the east and Karnataka in the south. The other affected states and the corresponding number of districts is as follows: Madhya Pradesh (46), Odisha (27), Karnataka (27), Chhattisgarh (25), Jharkhand (22), Maharashtra (21), Rajasthan (19), Andhra Pradesh (10), and Telangana (7). In all, 254 districts reeled under drought affecting approximately 33 crore population.
The bench of Justices Madan B lokur and NV Ramana wondered how the list excluded Gujarat. The bench reminded the Gujarat Government of its note submitted to Court a week back where it was stated that the State had declared drought in three districts as recently as on April 1, 2016 based on the survey conducted in October-November 2015. The bench said, “Just because you are Gujarat doesn’t mean you can do whatever you like.” The State agreed to supply the information of affected districts and population by Thursday.
The Court also asked Centre on what mechanism was in place to warn States in advance about a possible drought situation. “It is the responsibility of the Centre to inform and warn that these (drought-affected) states will receive less rainfall,” the bench said, adding this was possible by way of advanced satellite data. The court directed the Centre to apprise it how many households in drought-hit areas got 150 days employment under MNREGA and asked it to submit a compilation of advisories on drought on the next date of hearing.
On the issue of restructuring of crop loans to farmers, the ASG told the court that agriculturists in drought-hit areas are entitled to get their loans restructured and reschedule their payment. “I have clear instructions that banks may restructure loans given to farmers. But frankly speaking, not everybody is willing to restructure their loans. Anybody (farmer) who is not a defaulter in any bank and practices farming in the area declared to be under the spell of drought will be entitled to restructuring of loans,” ASG said.
The PIl filed by the NGO has alleged that parts of 12 states of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Haryana and Chhattisgarh were hit by drought and the authorities were not providing adequate relief.