As many as 128 of the total 175 taluks in Karnataka are reeling under drought. As the mercury level has shot up, nearly two-third taluks in the state are facing severe drought situation. 
 
Even though some showers in April and early part of May have brought some respite in temperature, most areas are still facing severe drinking water and fodder shortages. As against the state average of 27 mm rainfall for April, 32 mm rainfall was recorded during the period. According to the Drought Monitoring Cell authorities, all districts have received "Vaadike Male" (seasonal rainfall) during April.

It's not the first time that drought has hit the state.

Barring 2005, which was a good rainfall year, since 2001 the state has been continuously experiencing drought. "If we analyse the data for the last 15 years, even during a good rainfall as many as 35-40 taluks in the state experience shortage of rainfall", Director of Drought Monitoring Cell Prakash says.
The prevailing drought situation has already hit the foodgrain production in the state.
According to sources in the Agriculture Department the production would decline by more than 25 per cent. As against the target of production of 114 lakh metric tonnes of foodgrains, the production would be 80-85 lakh metric tonnes.

All along, the government has reiterated that there is no shortage of funds for tackling the prevailing drought in the state, a claim which is strongly disputed by the opposition.

According to government sources so far Rs 256 crore has been released for tacking the drought. Further Rs 65 crore has been provided exclusively for tackling the drinking water problem.Following poor availability of fodder for cattle, the government had directed the district authorities to open goshalas wherever necessary.  So far 30 goshalas have been opened in Chitradurga, Koppal, Gadag and Dharwad districts.

The government has directed the deputy commissioners to buy the fodder at Rs 1500 per tonne and make it available to farmers to feed their livestock.

For monitoring the implementation of drought relief works, the government has constituted a team of officers headed by principal secretaries. Each team has been put in charge of three-four districts.

But the Opposition is highly critical of the relief measures taken by the government. They contend that in most districts, the task force committees headed by legislators have not been constituted and in some cases, wherever they are constituted, the committees have not submitted the action plans.

Moreover the Opposition also alleges that the government has not utilised most part of the Rs 1103 crore released by the Centre for tackling the drought.

But a highly placed source in the government tried to play down the non-submission of action plans by the task force committees. "Wherever the reports are not available, the deputy commissioners have been directed to take up the works which they think are important for providing succour to the people", the source commented.