Mathihalli Madan Mohan, Senior Journalist and Columnist
Tel No. 0836- 2374872; Mobile
Mishandling of drought
HUBLI, Apr 27th, 2012
Drought has been an integral part of
the life of Karnataka, with more than 70% of the area depending on rain fed
agriculture, and the vagaries of the nature being what it is.
Over the years as the track record
of the state shows, Karnataka has been living with one or the other kind of
natural calamities, and suffer from either the excess or the shortfall of the rains, which has been
affecting the agricultural production one way or the other.
However this should not make us to jump
to the conclusion that tryst with drought has helped the state to evolve an
effective drought management system with a view to mitigating the sufferings of
the people afflicted. Far from it. Its
policy continues to be tentative and adhoc even after years of grappling with
the situation.
The reaction of the government is
the same whether it is flood or the drought.
The only difference between the two is the former comes unexpected while
the latter is not. It comes with due warning and it cannot be faulted if those
who are in charge of it fail to take cognisance of the developing situation. And
what is wrought by the nature in case of drought is compounded by the man made
failures and mishandling at different levels.
The state government continues to
bumble every time it faces either of the natural calamities and the run up goes
on the expected lines. The flurry of
activities starts only when furore is raised. The government tries to get into
the act, with the Chief Minister talking to the officials, “giving strict
instructions” on tackling the phenomenon, the ministers are despatched to the
districts in a show of misplaced earnestness to “study the situation”. There is
the usual talk of leading an all party delegation to the Centre seeking more
funds for tackling the situation. And the party in power at the Centre is
invariably accused of being unsympathetic and step motherly in it attitude towards
Karnataka. The opposition brays for the blood of the ruling party. And the
blame game fills the columns of the media.
In Karnataka, it has been a practice
to utilise drought situation to get more money from the Centre. It with this in
view that the district administrations prepare the report which is wetted at
the state government to paint an exaggerated picture of the problems faced.
Quite aware of the propensities of the state governments in such a situation
the Centre has also learnt the art of scaling down the claims. (That the yardsticks
used by the Centre and the state in assessing the situation lacks uniformity,
is another reason for the divergence in the assessment made by the two).
And nobody bothers when once the money is
released and works undertaken. What works are executed and what kind of relief
was given to the affected remains in the realm of speculation, since nobody
bothers once the aim of getting
assistance from the Cente is achieved.
Incidentally, the Centre coming to
the rescue of the state to tackle the natural calamities in the states, has
undergone a see change over the years. Earlier the Central assistance used to
come in favour of advance plan assistance, with the amount given being adjusted
in the plan assistance given next year. This was later changed and led to the
formation of the Calamity Relief Fund, with the state governments getting fixed
share of assistance every year. In addition the Centre set up a Natural
Calamity Contingency Fund, with sizeable corpus to meet the states needs. For
purposes of better handling of the funds, the districts receive assistance from
both the sources under a suitably single head from this year by the state
government.
What is happening at the moment in
Karnataka where the State Government has officially stated that 121 of the 174 taluks
are drought affected runs on familiar lines. And the matter is complicated by
the callous negligence on the part of state
government, in keeping tab on the developing situation casual manner in which the opposition failed
to discharge its primary objective of keeping vigil on the activities of the
government and plight of the people in distress.
The problems faced in the affected
taluks are essentially two fold – of, the scarcity of drinking water and of
migration of people from the select taluks in search of work. Had somebody in
the government been able to keep a tag, the government would not have been
caught napping as it has been so now.
The situation has its essential
origin in performanance in the rabi
season. The deficiency in the rainfall has resulted in the agricultural workers
being deprived of their quota of work, as a consequence of which they were
forced to migrate to other districts in search of work and scarcity of fodder
for the animals. The government has
started talking about them, at a time,
when the migrated workers are scheduled to return to take up the agricultural
operations. And the unseasonal rains which are normal around the holi
celebration has aggravated the drinking water.
With the political busy in fighting
for the chair, a comatose government had hardly any time to spare for the
mundane issues like the failure of the rain, the migration of the workers and
the increasing crisis developing on the drinking water front especially in the
rural areas and not but not least the acute shortage of fodder for the cattle.
The state government was unable to
keep a vigil. But should it also fail to take cognisance of others who had
studied the situation? This is the worst that has happened and highlights the
lack of proper governance. A couple of months ago, a Central team happened to
visit Karnataka for study and based on the symptoms of the developing
situation, had reportedly recommended for an assistance of around Rs. 600
crores. The state did not bother to follow up the matter. Even to this day, it
has been dillydallying on the matter of submitting a memorandum seeking further
assistance. When the state government does show any seriousness, how cans one
otherwise expect Karnataka’s MPs to act, who have acquired a dubious
distinction of inaction in parliament.
Besides another moot point is that
there are enough avenues to meet the situation on its own without waiting for
the Central governments assistance too. The twin needs of the present situation
namely providing water and employment, besides the shortage of fodder come
within the ambit of the rural development where enough funds are
available. But the government has not
been doing this also.
One cannot help but recall similar
situation faced by the Urs government in seventies. The seniors recall how a
team of three ministers coming of the Revenue, Rural Development and Finance
jointly toured the districts conducted meeting and sorted out the problem of
utilisation of the available funds. But nothing
of such coordinated work is taking place now and uncoordinated tours by the
ministers singly or severally is certainly not going to bring about any
qualitative relief to the affected people.
But the time the snail paced approach reaches fruition, the next
monsoons will start rendering the whole exercise infructuous.
If the ruling party has faltered,
the opposition parties have not covered with any glory either in highlighting
the problems. The opposition has to be blamed for the lackadaisical approach of
the go, creating public opinion and forcing the government to tackle the
situation effectively and meaningfully.
In the eighties, when a serious
drought had occurred in the state under the rule of Janata Dal, one active
opposition MLC, ( Mr H K Patil, who was
on his first term as MLC) toured the districts, took the pressmen with him for on
spot study of the situation and pointed out the gaps between what government
professed and practiced. The sum total of the effort was that the Central
Government took notice of the same and amended the drought policy to include
for the first time the concept of the cattle camps at a the time of severe
shortage of cattle with a view to effectively prevent distress sale of cattle.
Not even one single Congress/JDS legislator is bothered in finding what is
happening in their respective constituencies. The party of course is supremely oblivious
to the developing situation dreaming of the prospects of being returned to
power rather than worry about the plight of the people.
Even the media, which should have
taken a proactive line in moulding the public opinion is supine in its approach
and has confined itself to doing the routine stories in a routine manner. Some
of the placed in the district and really concerned about the developing
situation find themselves helpless in the absence of credible information and
limitations of travelling the interiors. The officials would not part with
information, the legislators do not know what is happening in their own
constituency. “We wish we had a legislator like H K Patil to create awareness” rued a senior
journalist of Northern Karnataka , who had just
begun his career when H K Patil went on with his bold programme way back in
eighties.
This is how the situation remains in
Karnataka.-a government and opposition in comatose condition, and media which
has no time for the human sufferings. One can imagine what relief the people in
distress can expect under circumstances.
Eom 10.27 hrs.
27.04.2012
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