The missing EGoM

As the country suffers a rough patch in the southwest monsoons, all departments and ministries concerned have started gearing up to face possible crisis. But, a critical Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on drought, earlier headed by former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, has not met ever since the reports of uneven rains started coming in. The EGoM also comprises Sharad Pawar, P Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Jaipal Reddy, Kamal Nath, Pawan Bansal, Mukul Roy, K V Thomas and Montek Singh Ahluwalia. It was set up on August 11, 2009 (the year India faced its worst drought in more than 30 years) and was reconstituted in February 2011. It was reconstituted again in July that year and also in 2012. The main goals were to assess and monitor the situation arising out of deficit rainfall, to take decisions on policy issues and to examine the government’s existing schemes.