Even as inclement weather wreaked havoc on crops in several parts of the country, leading to an upsurge in farmer suicides, majority of the State Governments have still not apprised the Centre about the quantum of financial help needed to alleviate their miseries. Unseasonal rain and hailstorm have hit about a dozen States in February and March this year, but only three have responded to the Central Government’s letter, asking the respective Governments to submit a memorandum on whether they need additional financial assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to provide compensation to the farmers.
The States were also told to use contingency fund available with them in case their State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) is exhausted. The Centre had also asked the States to provide relief to farmers under various programmes of the Central government such as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY). Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, and West Bengal were the states severely impacted by untimely rainfall. But only UP, Rajasthan and Haryana have responded to Centre’s queries, said an official of the Union Agriculture Ministry.
Since State Governments are empowered to undertake relief measures in case of natural calamities like drought, hailstorm, pest attack, cold wave/frost etc., from the SDRF which is readily available with them, they were requested by Agriculture Ministry on March 19 to take immediate steps to address the crisis by utilising the SDRF funds available with them. However, a month after this communication, only three States have submitted the memorandum, said the official saying the pace of response from other States has not been impressive.
Based on response from these states, Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) have been constituted for Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan which will visit the affected areas, assess the ground situation and recommend financial assistance. As for Haryana, the balance SDRF available with it is Rs1,791.06 crore while the State has demanded Rs1,135.91 crore from NDRF. Official said that since the amount sought by Haryana is already available under SDRF, it has been asked to utilize this fund first.
Meanwhile, Secretary (A&C) Siraj Hussain has written to Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance highlighting difficulties faced by the farmers in repayment of crop loans in the wake of crop failure, and requested him to issue directions to banks for restructuring of loans for them.