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).

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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 He argued against relying on outdated 2015-16 data and urged the Prime Minister to direct the High-Level Committee to consider the FRUITS database for determining relief.

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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.