The declaration in Maharashtra came after the national weather department forecast India would end its annual monsoon season with a rainfall deficit, threatening farmers’ livelihoods.
A stronger-than-usual El Nino climate phenomenon, which typically brings drier conditions to South Asia, has also led to abnormal rain patterns, the weather department has said.
Mumbai/New Delhi: Drought has hit three-quarters of India’s richest state of Maharashtra, the government said on Saturday, after prolonged low rainfall in the region home to the megacity of Mumbai.
The declaration in Maharashtra came after the national weather department forecast India would end its annual monsoon season with a rainfall deficit, threatening farmers’ livelihoods.
A stronger-than-usual El Nino climate phenomenon, which typically brings drier conditions to South Asia, has also led to abnormal rain patterns, the weather department has said.
The government of Maharashtra, a huge western state whose capital Mumbai is India’s financial and commercial centre, said drought was present across 74 percent of the territory.
Drought has hit three-quarters of India’s richest state of Maharashtra, the government said on Saturday, after prolonged low rainfall in the region home to the megacity of Mumbai.
The declaration in Maharashtra came after the national weather department forecast India would end its annual monsoon season with a rainfall deficit, threatening farmers’ livelihoods.
A stronger-than-usual El Nino climate phenomenon, which typically brings drier conditions to South Asia, has also led to abnormal rain patterns, the weather department has said.
The Maharashtra government on Saturday declared 265 of the state’s 358 talukas drought-affected, announcing a slew of relief measures, including crop loan restructuring, land revenue concessions, and power bill subsidies.
According to a government resolution issued late on Friday, the drought covers 74 per cent of the state. Most of these talukas are in Solapur, Ahilyanagar, Nashik, Latur, Beed, Buldhana, Amravati, Yavatmal, Nagpur and Chandrapur.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has directed district collectors to initiate crop-damage assessments immediately and assured that farmers remain the centre of the government’s relief efforts in the drought situation.
The government will assess crop damage and “ensure that farmers, farm labourers and rural families receive the necessary assistance in a timely manner”, his office said.
Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal said the government must act on a “war footing” and immediately deposit Rs 1 lakh per hectare into farmers’ bank accounts as compensation, while NCP(SP) general secretary Mahesh Tapase sought to know the timeframe within which the financial assistance would be provided to the affected cultivators.
He said the government should also provide special financial assistance for the rabi season and waive crop loans, as farmers faced uncertainty over their livelihood and their children’s education.
Sapkal claimed that the present drought was more severe than the one in 1972, and said the government should formulate a comprehensive plan to deal with the situation.
Citing the employment guarantee scheme introduced after the 1972 drought and horticulture schemes introduced during Sharad Pawar’s tenure as chief minister, he said the government needed to come up with a similar policy response.
Hundreds of millions of people in India depend on the June-to-September monsoon to bring vital rains that sustain agriculture and industry.
Maharashtra has a population of 130 million and is a major agricultural state that produces cotton, soybeans, sugarcane and pulses.
Many farmers depend on rain for irrigation and are highly vulnerable to crop failures, which can push whole families into financial crisis.
The impact of low rainfall is also being felt in southern India, where Karnataka state has also announced aid for farmers in drought-hit areas.
El Nino is a naturally occurring climate pattern associated with warmer ocean temperatures in the Pacific that can change wind and rainfall patterns around the world.
Scientists say human-caused climate change can amplify its effects by making more energy and moisture available to fuel extreme weather.