BackUP declares 44 districts as hit by drought, seeks Rs6,061 crore relief
State to stop revenue collection in drought-hit areas till 31 Mar; banks not to use any coercive measures on farmers
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New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh has become the second state after Haryana to declare a drought. On Tuesday, the state government declared 44 of the 75 districts which had received less than 50% of the average rainfall as drought-affected and asked for a ₹ 6,061 crore relief package from the centre.
The state government will stop all revenue collection—land revenue and irrigation charges—in drought-hit areas till 31 March and banks will not use any coercive measures on farmers to repay farm loans, an official statement said.
The state government asked for a special assistance from the centre under various heads— ₹ 685 crore towards farm investment subsidy, ₹ 991 crore for the agriculture department, ₹ 639 crore for the livestock department, ₹ 1,498 crore for irrigation, ₹ 415 crore for supply of drinking water in rural areas, ₹ 1,162 crore for the electricity department, ₹ 258 crore for minor irrigation and ₹ 109 crore for the forest department.
The state government said it will set up relief camps in drought-affected districts, supply fodder for livestock, construct more tubewells for irrigation, and provide additional food relief to poor families.
In the ongoing June-September monsoon season, Uttar Pradesh has recorded the worst rain deficit in the country even as the overall monsoon deficit for the country narrowed to 12% of the long-period average as of 17 September (from a high of 43% in June and 21% in July). Western Uttar Pradesh recorded a rainfall deficit of 54%, and in eastern Uttar Pradesh the seasonal rain deficit was 41%.
Rainfall, worryingly deficient during the first half of the monsoon, recovered in many states during the second half.
“In most states, such as Maharashtra and Rajasthan, the monsoon has radically turned around. But Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab still suffered. There is no forecast of withdrawal of rainfall yet, so we can still expect rainfall in peninsular and coastal India. There will be more rain in these areas when the monsoon retreats," said N. Chattopadhyay, deputy director general, agricultural meteorology division, India Meteorological Department, Pune. “However, at this stage, heavy rainfall is not good for any crop. Medium rainfall spread out over days is adequate for standing crops."
On 2 September, Haryana became the first state to notify a drought in all 21 districts and asked for a central relief assistance of ₹ 4,830 crore. Last month, Punjab sought ₹ 2,330 crore as drought relief from the centre but did not notify a drought. Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh are the bread baskets of India.
To make up for the rain deficit, farmers in Uttar Pradesh had to incur additional costs for running diesel pump sets to irrigate their sugar cane and paddy crops. Their situation was further worsened due to the cane arrears—sugar mills in the state owe sugar cane farmers ₹ 4,557 crore from the sale of cane from last year.
Severely indebted, several farmers resorted to suicide in the agriculturally prosperous western Uttar Pradesh districts of Baghpat, Bijnor and Shahjahanpur. The situation is worse in the rain-fed Bundelkhand districts, which are witnessing distress migration and farm suicides—in Banda, Hamirpur, Jhansi and Mahoba districts.
The drought may also impact repayment of crop loans. “Once a district is declared drought-hit, recovery cannot be done by banks there. We will have to restructure the crop loan till at least the end of the next cropping season," said an executive at a Delhi-based bank who didn’t want to be named.
“The decision to declare a drought came late—the damage is already done and kharif yields will suffer. To provide relief to the farmer, the government should reschedule farm loans taken on Kisan Credit Cards and provide input subsidies for the upcoming rabi crop," said Sudhir Panwar, president of the farmers forum Kisan Jagriti Union and a professor at the University of Lucknow.
On Wednesday, the Indian Sugar Mills Association said sugar production in Uttar Pradesh, the largest grower of sugar cane in the country, is expected to drop to six million tonnes (mt) from 6.5 mt last year. The decline is due to the deficit monsoon and an 8% drop in cane-growing areas in the state, it said.
Remya Nair contributed to this story.
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