India

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah Urges PM Modi For ₹18,177.44 Crore Drought Relief

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, accompanied by Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 19, seeking ₹18,177.44 crore in central assistance for drought relief efforts in the state. The State Government outlined a comprehensive memorandum, specifying allocations for input subsidy, gratuitous relief, drinking water, and animal husbandry intervention.

Siddaramaiah underscored the severity of the drought, with 223 out of 236 taluks declared affected, 196 severely. Agricultural and horticultural losses across 48.19 lakh hectares ranged from 33% to 100%, disproportionately impacting small and marginal farmers who cultivate 83% of the affected land. Karnataka sought a ₹4,663.12 crore input subsidy from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).

Also Read: Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s Meeting With JP Nadda Fuels Speculation On His Role In Anticipation Of 2024 Polls

Highlighting the importance of the Farmer Registration & Unified Beneficiary Identification System (FRUITS), an Aadhaar-enabled database, Siddaramaiah defended the claim for input subsidy. He urged consideration of the FRUITS database, indicating 83% of land under small and marginal holdings, over the Agriculture Census’s 43.94%.

Siddaramaiah emphasized the decline in average land holdings, from 3.2 Ha in 1970-71 to 1.35 Ha in 2015-16, with a likely further decrease in the last eight years. He argued against relying on outdated 2015-16 data and urged the Prime Minister to direct the High-Level Committee to consider the FRUITS database for determining relief.

Also Read: Hate Crime Tragedy: Two Arrested For Killing Sister And Dumping Body In Ghaziabad Canal

The Chief Minister expressed concern over the delayed response, noting the submission of the first relief memorandum on September 22, 2023, and the subsequent visit by an Inter-Ministerial Central Team during October 4-9. He stressed the urgent need to disburse the ₹4,860.13 crore relief to farmers to alleviate their distress.

In addition to the drought relief, Karnataka appealed to the Centre to increase MGNREGA employment days from 100 to 150 per job card for taluks facing drought conditions. The state’s plea focused on providing timely assistance to mitigate the hardship faced by farmers grappling with failed crops.

Priyanka Rai

Recent Posts

SC Seeks Responses In Mathura Krishna Janmabhoomi-Idgah Dispute, Grants Two Weeks To All Parties

The Supreme Court has also paused the Allahabad High Court’s order for a survey of…

6 mins ago

Yogi Government Launches Massive Green Initiative For Maha Kumbh 2025

The Yogi Adityanath administration has launched a tree-planting campaign to make Prayagraj environmentally sustainable for…

24 mins ago

BJP MLA Rajeshwar Singh Calls On Akhilesh Yadav To Act As Positive Opposition In UP DGP Debate

Singh noted that, over seven years, police encounters have killed 197 criminals and injured 6,329.…

34 mins ago

Election Commission Appoints Sanjay Kumar Verma As New DGP For Maharashtra

The Election Commission of India endorsed the appointment of Sanjay Kumar Verma as the new…

1 hour ago

Devotees Mistakenly Collect AC Condensation As ‘Charan Amrit’ At Mathura Temple

Devotees at Mathura's Banke Bihari temple gathered to collect water dripping from a sculpted elephant,…

1 hour ago

State Cannot Claim Private Property Under Article 39(b): Supreme Court

A nine-judge SC bench ruled that the State cannot indiscriminately seize private property for redistribution…

2 hours ago