Govt not releasing sufficient funds to tackle drought: Oppn

 Members in Rajya Sabha today expressed serious concern over the acute drinking water crisis and rising number of farmers' suicides in 11 drought-hit states including Maharashtra, with the Opposition accusing the government of not releasing adequate funds to these states.

Maintaining that drinking water problem has been severe this time, the members asked the government to complete 312 pending irrigation projects across the country in a timely manner to boost water supply for drinking purposes and agriculture.

They also asked the government to consider if more funds could be released to drought-hit states, saying the current allocation rate was less than half of what the states had demanded for 2015-16 to tide over the situation.

"Right now, 11 states are facing drought-like conditions. Whether in states or at the Centre, where there are different political parties, we must face the situation. We must rise above political lines and face the situation together," former Agriculture Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar said during a short debate on drought in the Upper House.

Among 11 states, Uttar Pradesh is worst affected followed by Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Telangana, Rajasthan and Gujarat, he said and emphasised the need to provide immediate relief.
While there is no shortage of foodgrains in the country this year, the drinking water crisis is "serious", he said.

"We have to give full attention to drinking water. Why do we have this problem? We have to think of short and long term policy and serious solutions to address this issue," he said, and suggested that the government focus on water conservation and rainwater harvesting to boost groundwater level.

He also asked the government to complete 312 pending irrigation projects in India, of which 240 projects are in five states including Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

Urging the Centre to be considerate towards the states facing drought, Pawar said "every state expects the government at the centre to help them out. In 2015-16, the states made their demand for relief package. Was it met?"

"The actual release was less than 50 per cent. I think there should be some improvement (in giving funds)," he said, and asked the government to ensure that states use relief funds for water conservation.

Against the demand of Rs 3,830 crore drought relief fund, Karnataka was sanctioned only Rs 1,540 crore for losses incurred due to drought during the 2015-16 kharif season. Similarly, Chhattisgarh was given Rs 855 crore against Rs 6,093 crore, while Madhya Pradesh was given Rs 1,875 crore against requirement of Rs 4,884 crore, he said.

Narrating the severity of drinking water crisis at a village in Nashik, Pawar said people there get one water tanker in 30 days and have to wait 25 days for the next one. One tanker of water meets only 33 per cent of the requirement of this village.
"The situation is such that people gherao the tankers and ... Section 144 is imposed to prohibit assembly of more people. People's efforts are just to collect and store water," the veteran NCP leader said.

Pawar also attacked Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh for his statement yesterday that states like Maharasthra have irrigation to supply water to sugar mills.
"I don't know how the Agriculture Minister has come to this conclusion. It is true that sugarcane requires lot of water. ...The minister has impression that all water was used for cane," he said while sharing a research report on cultivating sugarcane crop in tropical areas with less water.

Stating that the drought situation was "grave and very serious", Pawar said, "in my public life, I have made attempts to mitigate impact of drought when I worked in the state and also at the Centre for 10 years. But the situation that we are witnessing today is more serious, particularly looking at the media reports."

Before the debate commenced, Opposition members including those from Congress and JD(U) took strong objection to the absence of the Agriculture Minister and Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti.

"Half of the country's population is facing water crisis. The drought issue is very serious. The concerned minister should be here. It is a very deep crisis," JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav said.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, "We cannot have debate without the minister concerned. You adjourn the House. Let's start the debate when he is here."

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien tried to convince members that the subject was a serious one and the government "works on a joint responsibility. Even if concerned minister is not here, we can continue the debate."

The debate, however, started after the arrival of the concerned ministers.
Initiating the debate, A U Singh Deo (BJD) expressed concern over meagre allocation of funds and the delay in its release to drought-hit states, especially Odisha.

He also said there was a huge difference in state's and the Centre's assessment of losses due to drought, because of which states do not get full relief funds.

"Total allocation for State Disaster Relief Fund is Rs 61,000 crore for all states. Rs 20,000 crore was estimated loss for kharif season of 2015-16. Where will the money come from? Centre should provide more help," Singh Deo said, adding Odisha should not be ignored as it is the poorest state.

Blaming the government for not taking serious note of the Met Department's monsoon forecast, he said a new department should be established to look into drought, floods and other natural calamities and take mitigation measures.

Expressing concern over the serious drought situation in Maharasthra, Rajani Patil (Cong) said the NDA government should stop blaming the previous regimes for the water crisis.

"You have been in the office for two years. It is not proper to shift the responsibility. You give up this attitude fast and show results," she said.

Patil also demanded more work days under MGNREGA in drought-hit states.
Observing how transporation of water tankers to Latur was being politicised, she said "lotus adorns the tankers carrying water. There is politics in this also. Stop doing this."

To address the water crisis, she sought desilting operations in check-dams, lakes and ponds on an urgent basis and easing norms for speedy implementation of this work.

Sharing severe drought crisis in Maharasthra, she said "I come from Marathwada. We don't call Marathwada now, we call tankerwada." She also narrated a story of a farmer who committed suicide recently due to lack of funds for his daughter's marriage scheduled today.

"We collected funds for his daughter's marriage which happened today. In another taluk, a 10 year-old child who went to fetch water fell into the well and died. This is the plight of Marathwada," she said.

Sharing the data of rising farmers' suicides in Maharashtra, Patil blamed the Centre and the state government for lack of sensitivity towards people's suffering, saying there were over 2500 farmers' suicides in the state in 2015 and such cases were being reported this year as well.

Ajay Sancheti (BJP) said the Ministries of Water Resources, Agriculture, Rural Development should work together and make a long term policy to deal with the issues of drought and floods.

Criticising successive governments, Naresh Agrawal (SP) said that India does not have an effective long term policy to deal with such natural calamities and added that the current drought across the country has led to drinking water problems both for the people and the livestock.

Observing that the government's efforts in tackling drought were not enough, Sharad Yadav (JD-U) said that government should work on bringing water under the Union list so that disputes relating to rivers can be tackled and effective policies for water conservation evolved.

"Water has become a big issue of dispute today and if we do not take adequate steps to check it, the time is not far that we will have a civil war inside the country over water," the senior JD(U) leader warned.

Rajpal Singh Saini (BSP) said the Centre's work to mitigate drought relief in Bundelkhand was not enough. Farmers are distressed and are forced to commit suicide. In the last few years around 3,023 farmers have committed suicide in Bundelkhand, he added.

Raising the controversy over IPL matches in Maharashtra, Saini said such issues bring to fore the stark differences between the lives of the people "living in India and Bharat".

Tapan Kumar Sen (CPI-M) said the "deep crisis" due to drought has impacted around 33 crore people across 11 states in more that 33 districts. Delayed action has further exacerbated the situation of the people and the livestock in the affected areas.

Attacking the government over the implementation of the MGNREGA, Sen suggested that the scheme should be properly utilised as it can help alleviate some difficulties of the people. He said urban areas were also severely impacted by the drought situation.

Maintaining that the government should work to provide drinking water for the people and cattle, D Raja (CPI) attacked the Centre for failing to anticipate the severity of the drought situation in the country and its preparedness to mitigate the impact.

He said the public sector banks have distanced themselves from giving loans to the farmers forcing them to turn towards private moneylenders, which is further affecting their living condition. Raja suggested steps to strengthen MGNREGA, PDS and Food Security scheme to tackle the drought situation.

Rajiv Chandrasekhar (Ind) said "We are a mute spectator to this annual tragedy. We need to move beyond the rhetoric and politics of drought."

He suggested developing short as well as medium to long term policies to tackle drought and create a National Water Management Strategy.

Mohd Ali Khan (INC) drew the attention of the House towards the severe drought condition in Telangana, saying it has impacted 370 mandals in the state and attacked the Centre for not giving the full assistance amount as sought by the state government.

Basawaraj Patil (BJP) referred to the rising heat wave conditions in the country and said the government should address the issue as heat wave will rise in May and June which may lead to loss of human life. He suggested schemes to save river water that goes into the sea.

Chandrapal Singh Yadav (SP) said Bundelkhand was facing severe drought like situation and wanted de-silting of old ponds in the region for water conservation, provision of alternate livelihood for farmers in case of drought and flood and availability of good quality seeds.

Bhupender Yadav (BJP) said policies need to be made for conservation of above ground water resources and rejuvenation of underground aquifers.

He also suggested that the government make disaster relief norms based on different regions and not for the entire nation as a single entity.

Vishambhar Prasad Nishad (SP) said that Bundelkhand has been severely impacted by the drought and the government needs to address the issue at the earliest.

Ahmed Patel (Cong) compared the drought situation to cancer which spreads slowly but is fatal. He expressed concern at the prevailing situation and said ICUs were not getting water and fights could break out over water shortage.

Taking a jibe at the Prime Minister for his 'Mann ki Baat' radio programme, he said there is need for his government to list the pain of the drought affected people.

Emphasising on the need for government to be aware of the grave situation, Patel said the findings of Central Water Commission indicating water crisis were not paid attention to. This issue is something beyond party politics, he added.

INLD member Ram Kumar Kashyap said that there were reports that drought had forced people in Maharashtra to marry twice, with one wife looking after family and other fetching water. He emphasised on the importance of planting more trees.

Dr Sanjay Singh (Cong) spoke for creating a special ministry which could draw up long term plans and conduct research to deal with global warming and climate change.

K C Tyagi (JD-U) sought that loans extended to farmers be waived and said that "sensibilities have weakened" as people had the urge to watch IPL at such a time.

Balwinder Singh Bhunder (SAD) sought subsidy for farmers to install sprinklers and drip irrigation systems. Vijay Darda (Cong) and Sanjiv Kumar (JMM) also spoke about the problems being faced by people in Maharshtra and Jharkhand. A V Swamy (Ind) also spoke on the subject.