With the monsoon playing truant, the ministries of agriculture, food and rural development have all started putting in place contingency measures.
Though most officials said the weather situation had not turned critical and a drought-like situation was still far-fetched, they conceded that caution was warranted.
As the agricultural sector bears the largest brunt in case of uneven rain, the ministry has started devising contingency plans with a focus on traditionally low-rain districts, to ensure the damage to crops is the least.
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A senior official said the plans were initiated during the annual kharif conference in March itself, when the first signs came from global weather forecasters that the southwest monsoon over the Indian subcontinent could be uneven.
“We had then only told states’ officials to devise measures to deal with low rainfall, which should include district-wise action like making available short-duration and water-stress-resistant seed varieties and fertilizer, and continuous monitoring of water levels in the 80-odd reservoirs across the country,” the official said.
The officials are in continuous touch with the weather department and with counterparts in states to keep a tab on the sowing of kharif crops and progress of the monsoon. “Much of the work has to be done by states but, nevertheless, we are closely monitoring the situation and have kept the middle of July as the cut-off date before initiating crisis redemption measures,” the official said.
The southwest monsoon has had a rather uneven run since it entered the country on June 5, after a delay of four days. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), monsoon rains from June 1 to June 27 have been 23 per cent below normal, compared with a 10.7 per cent surplus over June 1-29 last year.
About 55 per cent of the total arable land does not have irrigation facilities. The farm sector accounts for about 15 per cent of a nearly $2 trillion economy. The latest data from the agriculture ministry shows sowing of major kharif crops has suffered because of the delayed onset of monsoon and its slow progress in June.
The ministry of rural development has assured all states that adequate funds would be allocated under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). “In case, the demand for employment rises (under MGNREGS) because of low monsoon in some parts of the country, (we) will provide all necessary help to the states, by altering the labour budget under the programme to take added requirement,” minister Jairam Ramesh promised in a letter written to all chief ministers.
In 2009, too, when the country faced one of its worst droughts in three decades, the rural development ministry had made changes in the MGNREGS to include drought-relief works.
On similar lines, the department of food is taking a cautious approach on export of wheat and rice, particularly from the central pool. “The weather scenario has changed in the last few weeks and we now have to take a view on allowing unrestricted export of grain because a sudden need (at home) might arise anytime,” a senior food ministry official said.
He said export proposals already cleared by a high-powered committee headed by the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council chairman, C Rangarajan, won’t be impacted, future export needed to be carefully considered. Food officials have had a series of meetings with their counterparts in agriculture and the weather department in recent weeks.
