Take drastic steps to tackle drought

The deadly dry spell of severe drought continues to dog Karnataka for the fifth consecutive year. If reports of the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre regarding the failure of the north-east monsoon are anything to by, 2016-17 could turn out to be the worst rainfall year in over 40 years. In the early part of the season, even as the India Meteorological Centre had predicted a ‘normal monsoon’, Karnataka seemed to be among three states in the country which went under the radar and the south-west monsoon had played truant. The Cauvery basin was one of the worst hit, and the state faced a harrowing time before the Supreme Court for failing to release the committed amount of the Cauvery river water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu. The expectations of improvement in the situation during north-east monsoon have all but been dashed to the ground. From October 1 to late-November, the rainfall deficiency has been as much as 85% in south interior Karnataka, 81% in north interior Karnataka, 76% in Malnad region and 56% in the coastal belt. In Bengaluru city, this November month has been unusually dry, receiving a mere 1.5 mm rainfall as against 294 mm recorded last year. The authorities say that the prospects of receiving any more rains before next April are rather bleak and contingency plans have to be drawn up immediately.

The state government has already declared 139 taluks as drought-hit and more taluks may be added to the list. Speaking at the ongoing legislature session at Belagavi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the total loss due to drought during kharif season had been estimated at Rs 17,193 crore and the state had submitted its second memorandum to the Centre seeking Rs 4,702 crore for relief works. Considering that the Centre had sanctioned only Rs 1,540 crore in May when the first memorandum had sought Rs 15,635 crore, one suspects that there is a clear mismatch in estimates and calculations between the Centre and the states – which is not unique to Karnataka – and there’s a need to reconcile them to reality.

The depleting rains have direct relation to the receding forests and the earlier the Siddaramaiah government realises this natural phenomenon, the state will be better served. When the pristine Western Ghats are already under severe stress due to mindless deforestation, the state government has taken up two suicidal missions. Besides a proposal to hand over 70,000 acres of forests in Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu districts for monoculture plantations, it has announced its intention to build a new road between Chikkamagaluru and Dakshina Kannada, which could destroy some 30,000 trees. Given the gravity of the situation, the government should immediately abandon both the schemes.