The Hindu : Treat water as national resource: Ajit Singh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 23, 2002

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Treat water as national resource: Ajit Singh

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI NOV. 22. The Centre today asserted there was no intention on its part to discriminate against any State in providing drought relief and described this year's drought as serious, with July being the "driest" month since 1875.

The Union Agriculture Minister, Ajit Singh, told the Rajya Sabha, that relief was being dispersed as per the guidelines and procedures laid down by the 11th Finance Commission and urged that water be treated as a national resource, as a measure to tackle the situation on a long-term basis.

Replying to a short-duration discussion on the subject, the Minister furnished statistics to dispute the charge made by many members that the Centre was discriminating in providing succour to drought-hit people.

He said while the shortage of rainfall was recorded at 21 per cent, the figures did not indicate the damage caused by lack of rains during July, which was an important month for crops. As a result, during the kharif season, crops in about 160 lakh hectares of 900 lakh hectares had suffered 50 per cent loss.

He said the severity of the drought was felt most in Rajasthan, which recorded 75 per cent crop damage, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 53 per cent and Haryana with 48 per cent. This had led to 25 per cent loss in oilseeds and 16 per cent in paddy.

Refuting charges of inaction, Mr.Singh said many States had not spent the money released under the Calamity Relief Fund or had not completed the relevant formalities.

He urged members to persuade their state governments to fulfil obligations.

Echoing the view of the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, Mr. Singh said drought was a national calamity and required all round cooperation for it to be tackled effectively.

He said the collapse of the public distribution system had posed problems. In the case of tribal areas, stocks did not reach them.

While the Centre had foodgrain stocks, it did not have an implementing or monitoring agency. It was for the States to utilise the foodgrains and it was unfair to hold the Centre responsible for lapses.

Mr. Singh and the Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Sharad Yadav, who intervened during the reply, said complaints about the quality of foodgrains would be attended to.

They said that the stocks were released only after quality control inspectors of States agreed to it.

Regarding change of cropping pattern, Mr. Singh said the ICAR was going into different climatic zones and under the micro-management scheme the States were given the choice on it.

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