Govt in tizzy over delayed monsoon, holds emergency meet

New Delhi: What should the government do to tackle a possible failure of monsoon? Agriculture Secretaries of states that have not received rainfall met Union Agriculture Secretary T Nanda Kumar on Thursday to search for answers.

Kumar is holding discussions with Agriculture Secretaries of states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh on how to deal with the situation that could send the economy into a downward spiral.

The meeting started at 1130 hrs IST in the morning and is expected to continue till late in the evening on Thursday. The meeting will review the preparedness of the states in case there is a further delay in monsoons.

However, the meeting will not focus at the possibility of a drought yet. State specific status checks will be done and contingency plans will be discussed.

Crucially, the worst affected northern states are not part of the meeting, and neither is Uttar Pradesh. This is because this meeting was called before the revised monsoon estimates came in.

On Thursday evening Nanda Kumar will forward a note to the Cabinet Secretary detailing the measures that need to be taken.

About 60 per cent of the total cultivable area of 140 million hectare is rain fed, while the rest is irrigated. Southwest monsoon, which had brought cheer to the farming community due to its early onset on May 23, had stopped in its tracks over Konkan region of Maharashtra on June 7.

On June 20, the Committee of Secretaries (CoS), headed by Union Cabinet Secretary, took stock of the situation arising out of delay in monsoon and its impact on Kharif crops.

The CoS had decided that the Agriculture Ministry on June 25 will call a meeting of agriculture secretaries of those states which have so far not received rainfall. These states have been also asked to come up with contingency plans in case the monsoon gets further delayed.

However, Nanda Kumar had said that "at this point of time there is no cause of worry". He would brief the cabinet secretary about the outcome of the meet on June 26.

Nanda Kumar also expressed hope in the forecast of well spaced rainfall coming true.

"At this point we are confident that we will be able to handle the situation if forecast of 93 per cent rainfall for July and 101 per cent rainfall for August happens with proper spacing in terms of geographical regions and in terms of time," he said.

The agriculture sector supports the livelihood of about 60 per cent of the country's population.