Karnataka seeks Rs 22 400 cr drought relief from Centre urges early release

    Bengaluru, Nov 3 (PTI) Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara has sought Rs 22,400.58 crore in drought relief from the Centre, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and two union ministers to expedite the release of funds to farmers affected by crop losses across the state.

    In separate letters dated November 2, he wrote to Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, seeking urgent appointments to present the state's revised memorandum and explain the extent of the drought-related losses.

    According to the memorandum, 226 taluks have been affected by drought, with crops spread across 57.93 lakh hectares suffering damage.

    The estimated economic losses have been pegged at Rs 62,481.88 crore, it said.

    The state's cumulative drought-relief requirement has been revised upwards from Rs 20,585.73 crore to Rs 22,400.58 crore following the Centre's revision of assistance norms under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for 2026-27 to 2030-31.

    The revised norms, notified by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on October 26, have increased Karnataka's crop-loss input subsidy requirement from Rs 6,128.70 crore to Rs 7,943.55 crore, an increase of Rs 1,814.85 crore. The other components of the state's earlier memorandum remain unchanged.

    While acknowledging the revision of the assistance norms, Parameshwara, who also holds the Revenue portfolio, said the enhanced rates continued to fall short of farmers' actual cultivation expenses.

    The revised assistance rates stand at Rs 11,000 per hectare for rainfed crops, Rs 22,000 for irrigated crops and Rs 30,000 for perennial crops.

    "Our farmers cannot be expected to confront the economic realities of 2026 with a relief framework that does not adequately recognise the true cost of cultivation and the magnitude of their losses," he said in his letters, according to a press release.

    He said the assistance framework should take into account expenditure on seeds, fertilisers, agricultural labour, irrigation and other essential inputs.

    The deputy CM raised concerns over the continued reliance on the Agriculture Census 2015-16 to determine eligibility for disaster assistance.

    He said decade-old landholding data might not reflect current agricultural realities and could result in eligible small and marginal farmers being excluded from relief.

    He urged the Centre to consider Karnataka's FRUITS (Farmer Registration and Unified Beneficiary Information System) database, which provides updated and verified information to identify beneficiaries.

    Calling for a comprehensive review of the existing disaster-relief framework, Parameshwara sought realistic assessments of cultivation costs, updated land records and assistance linked to the increasing intensity of climate-related disasters.

    Referring to India's ambition of becoming a developed nation by 2047, he said, "A Viksit Bharat (developed India) cannot be built upon an agricultural economy in which one failed monsoon can wipe away years of hard work, exhaust a family's savings and push a generation of cultivators into uncertainty."

    He urged the PM and the union ministers to take cognisance of Karnataka's revised requirement, facilitate an early appraisal of the claim and ensure the approval and release of admissible financial assistance.

    He stressed the need for coordination between the Centre and the state government, saying farmers' welfare should remain above political and administrative considerations.

    "The true measure of our nation's progress is not merely how much our farmers produce in a good year, but how firmly we stand beside them in a year of adversity," he said.

    Parameshwara said farmers affected by drought needed timely financial assistance and a relief mechanism that adequately reflected their losses and economic circumstances.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)