A proposal to waive loans of farmers hit by drought is under active consideration of the Centre, which has taken up the issue with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and is expected to reveal its decision to the Supreme Court within a week.
The disclosure was made by the Government during the hearing on a PIl by NGO Swaraj Abhiyan on the drought situation facing the country. As the court felt that the Government response to a drought is often slow, unregulated by any legislation, and lacking in urgency to reach immediate relief to affected persons, the Bench mooted the idea of declaring drought as a “national disaster or calamity”. By doing so, funds under the National Disaster Management Act could be disbursed by the Centre to the affected States or districts, thus enabling quick relief.
Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) PS Narasimha pointed out that the biggest legal flaw lies in the declaration of drought. Till date, there is no law under which drought can be declared. “The decision to declare a drought does not depend on any statute. It is purely a sovereign function carried out by the concerned State Government in its executive capacity. The Centre has only an “advisory” role.”
Insisting that the Central Government was not running away from its responsibility, he said that the Ministry of Home Affairs, the nodal Ministry for handling disaster management, was is in talks with the RBI on steps to be taken to “restructure” loans given to farmers in drought-affected areas.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the petitioner NGO, pointed out that under the RBI Guidelines restructuring of loans by banks was possible, but it should be made mandatory in drought situations. ASG Narasimha said that a decision in this regard will be taken by Tuesday, the next date of hearing.
But the court felt that the initial threshold of declaring a drought has to be first crossed. The Bench directed the Centre to supply a list of drought-affected districts and population in the country, and sought details of funds released under Disaster Response Fund by the Centre and the States to the drought -affected areas. At present, drought has been declared in 10 States.
The court also felt that the Government was slow in releasing funds under MGNREGA to drought-hit States. The Bench felt that the money should be released in advance so that the work under MGNREGA does not suffer.
Bhushan requested the court to consider appointment of a Court Commissioner to seek a ground report on implementation of Guidelines provided by Centre under its Drought Manual. This suggestion was opposed to by the Centre, which said that a democratically elected Government in a State deals with people in villages and is capable to assess ground situation. Having a Commissioner will create a parallel system that will violate the federal structure of governance.