Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on December 19 and sought ₹18,177.44 crore as assistance from the Central government for undertaking drought relief work in the State. He was accompanied by Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda.
In a memorandum to the Prime Minister, the State Government sought input subsidy of ₹4,663.12 crore, gratuitous relief of ₹12,577.86 crore, ₹566.78 crore for drinking water, and ₹363.68 crore for animal husbandry intervention, totaling ₹18,177.44 crore.
Mr Siddaramaiah said, “A large part of Karnataka is facing severe drought. Out of the 236 taluks in the State, 223 have been declared as drought affected, as per the procedure laid down in the Drought Manual of 2020. Out of the 223 drought-affected taluks, 196 are severely drought affected”.
Providing details on the extent of drought, Karnataka Chief Minister said, “Around 48.19 lakh hectares of agriculture and horticulture crops have suffered losses ranging from 33% to 100%, with majority of area reporting loss of more than 80%. Small and marginal farmers are most affected, as about 83% of the land under cultivation is covered by small and marginal farm holdings. Karnataka has assessed the damage to the crops and sought an input subsidy of ₹4663.12 crore from NDRF.”
Consider FRUITS data
Defending the State’s claim for input subsidy, Mr Siddaramaiah said, “The land area under cultivation falling under small and marginal farm holdings (SMF) is very important to determine the input subsidy payable to the State. Karnataka has a robust digital database of farmers under the system called FRUITS (Farmer Registration & Unified Beneficiary Identification System), which is Aadhaar-enabled and reliable. The PMKISAN is using FRUITS identification numbers for making DBT payment in Karnataka. Our request is to consider the area under SMF holdings as per the Aadhaar-enabled FRUITS digital database.”
The Chief Minister said the Centre may follow the Agriculture Census of 2015-16, which indicates that 43.94% of land area in Karnataka is covered by SMF holdings. However, as per the FRUITS database of Karnataka, 83% of land is covered by holdings which are small and marginal. He, therefore, requested the Prime Minister to direct the High-Level Committee under Home Minister to consider the number of and area under SMF holdings as per the FRUITS database of Karnataka.
Size of land holdings
Mr Siddaramaiah said the average size of operational holding in Karnataka has decreased from 3.2 Ha in 1970-71 to 1.35 Ha in 2015-16. The average size would have further decreased in the last eight years since 2015-16. Therefore, relying on 2015-16 data would cause great injustice to Karnataka.
The first memorandum seeking relief of ₹4,860.13 crore was submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture on September 22, 2023. This was followed by a visit to the State by an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) during October 4-9.
Mr Siddaramaiah said, “It is nearly three months since we submitted our first memorandum and two months since the IMCT made its field visits. The farmers of Karnataka are in deep distress. Since crops have failed, it is necessary that we pay the input subsidy to the farmers soon so as to alleviate their hardship and suffering,” he said.
Karnataka has also urged the Centre that, under MGNREGA, for the taluks where drought has been declared, the number of days of employment should be increased from 100 days per job card to 150 days per job card.
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