MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
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(a) to (c): The State Governments are primarily responsible for taking necessary relief measures in the wake of natural calamities including drought. For undertaking relief measures, funds are available with the State Governments in the form of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). In addition to SDRF, National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) has been constituted to deal with natural calamities of severe nature and Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) are deputed, wherever necessary, in response to the Memoranda received from the States, for assessment of the drought situation and requirement of financial assistance. Assistance under SDRF/NDRF provided is for immediate relief and not by way of compensation for the loss suffered. Assistance approved from NDRF during the last two years to the State Governments for drought relief is at Annexure-I.
Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), has prepared detailed crop Contingency Plans for 614 districts in the country. States have been advised for preparing/ updating/fine-tuning Contingency Plans for each district in consultation with CRIDA and the State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) and to prepare location specific remedial measures based on these contingency plans in the event of
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late arrival of Monsoon/long dry spells/scanty rainfall/drought conditions e.g. tying up availability of seeds and other inputs for implementing the Contingency Plans.
The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) was launched on 1st July, 2015 with the motto of ‘Har Khet Ko Paani’ for providing end-to end solutions in irrigation supply chain, viz. water sources, distribution network and farm level applications. PMKSY not only focuses on creating sources for assured irrigation, but also creating protective irrigation by harnessing rain water at micro level through ‘Jal Sanchay’ and ‘Jal Sinchan’. Micro irrigation will be popularised to ensure ‘Per drop-More crop’. PMKSY adopts State level planning and projectised execution that allows States to draw up their own irrigation development based on District Irrigation Plans and State Irrigation Plans. During the financial year 2015-16, a total of Rs. 1556.23 crore has been released by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW) to States for approved activities. Total area brought under Micro-irrigation during 2015-16 was 5.7 lakh hectares under ‘Per Drop More Crop’ Component. District Irrigation Plans (DIPs) shall be the cornerstone for planning and implementation of PMKSY. So far, 494 nos. of DIPs have been prepared.
(d) & (e): To reduce the adverse impact of drought situation in the country, following works related to Natural Resource Management permissible under Schedule-I, 4(1) of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) are taken up in the country by
the Department of Rural Development:
I. Category A: Public works relating to natural resources management which include
(i) Water conservation and water harvesting structures to augment and improve groundwater;
(ii) Watershed management works;
(iii) Micro and minor irrigation works and creation, renovation and maintenance of irrigation canals and drains;
(iv) Renovation of traditional water bodies including desilting of irrigation tanks and other water bodies;
(v) Afforestation, tree plantation and horticulture in common and forest lands, road margins, canal bunds, tank foreshores and coastal belts duly providing right to usufruct to the households; and
(vi) Land development works in common land.
II. Category B: Community assets or individual assets for vulnerable sections:
(i) Improving productivity of lands of household’s land development and by providing suitable infrastructure for irrigation including dug wells, farm ponds and other water harvesting structures;
The Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR, RD & GR) has initiated various short-term, medium-term and long-term measures to mitigate and drought-like situation. These include periodic monitoring of 91 major reservoirs in the country, launching of Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP), formulation of a National Perspective Plan (NPP) envisaging inter-basin transfer of water, launching of Jal Kranti Abhiyan from 2015-16 in order to consolidate water conservation and management in the country and preparation of a conceptual “Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Ground Water in India”, in the year 2013, which was circulated to all the State Governments for implementation.
A number of other Ministries/Departments in the Government of India are also implementing various schemes/programmes towards mitigation of drought. These include Ministries of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Power, Women & Child Development, the Departments of Food & Public Distribution, Land Resources, School Education & Literacy and NITI Aayog, etc.
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