Thursday, Nov 21, 2002
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By Our Special Correspondent
A.B.Vajpayee
Intervening in a debate in the Lok Sabha on the Congress-sponsored adjournment motion on drought, Mr. Vajpayee said resources and political will would not be lacking for such a massive problem. What was needed was spending the money in a proper manner. In the end, the Government received an endorsement to its proposal when as an addenda to her speech on the motion, the Opposition leader, Sonia Gandhi, said, "...and I forgot to mention, we welcome the Government's proposal for linking of river waters.'' Minutes before, Mr. Vajpayee had said he would soon convene an all-party meeting to seek consensus for the scheme. The Prime Minister asserted that there was no political discrimination in providing drought relief. He said the Centre would provide Rs.10,000 crores to the drought-hit States under the food-for-work programme, of which Rs. 5000 crores would be a cash component for employment schemes. Seeking cooperation of the States, he said the situation should not be politicised. "We have inherited a system which has weaknesses.'' On the conclusion of the eight-hour debate, the motion was defeated by voice vote with the Opposition not pressing for a division. Earlier Ms. Gandhi sought a Drought Management Code, loan and interest waiver for the drought-affected States, an all-party meeting to galvanise implementation, a special meeting of the National Development Council to discuss drought, expansion of "Antodaya Anna Yojna" and food-for-work schemes and revamping of the Public Distribution System.
Sonia Gandhi She also sought objectivity and transparency in the disbursement of funds from the National Calamity Contingency Fund. She said in raising the drought issue her party's intention was not to politicise the situation but to raise the "weaknesses and inadequacies'' in the management of the calamity. She said the Government should take their criticism as "constructive criticism.'' She had not spoken for the Congress-ruled States alone but for all affected by drought. Ms. Gandhi said, "this debate had placed a major responsibility on the Government. We will play our part but a major responsibility is of the Centre.'' She however, continued her defence of the Congress-ruled States of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan from where starvation deaths had been reported and sought to know from the Government how much of the funding provided under the Centrally-sponsored schemes had been in relation to drought. She charged the Centre with shifting responsibility for mismanagement of drought on the States. She said the reported starvation deaths in the two Congress-ruled States had been from malnutrition and illness. In his reply, the Agriculture Minister, Ajit Singh, asserted there was no discrimination in the distribution of drought relief. He admitted there was pressure from the States for a larger share of relief and funds but the disbursement was in accordance with the norms laid by the 11th Finance Commission with the consent of the State Chief Ministers. He said contrary to "propaganda,'' the Special Task Force on drought had met six times since it was constituted in July. The Task Force had agreed to the recommendation of the Inter-Ministerial Group in toto in releasing Rs. 2000 crores to the drought-affected States. He urged the States to tone up implementation of central schemes and drought relief as "the Centre has no machinery for implementation which must be done by States.'' He said in this context he had suggested formation of a district level committee for implementation and monitoring but not many States had done that. Earlier, the Food Minister, Sharad Yadav, and the Rural Development Minister, Shanta Kumar, intervened to provide statistics on various Central Government schemes and provision of foodgrains to point out non-utilisation of funds by States and poor lifting by even drought-hit States such as Rajasthan respectively. The debate saw members take up a lot of regional drought issues and at times the discussion slipped into sparring between members on opposite sides on Cauvery, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh starvation deaths and Andhra Pradesh rice scam.
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