The Karnataka government has started the ground-truthing exercise to evaluate whether it can declare drought in about 120 taluks of the state that are facing shortfall of rain. A decision was taken on Tuesday at a meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee to start the drought measuring exercise.

According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), Karnataka is facing 18 percent rainfall deficit but some districts such as Chitradurga, Kodagu, Chikballapur and Ramnagara are facing up to 50% rainfall deficit. Most of the districts facing high deficiency is in southern Karnataka bordering Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Revenue minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who heads the Cabinet sub-committee, said the ground-level assessment has started and the deputy commissioners had been asked to take up the exercise of assessment of condition of crops in different villages as per the guidelines.

The government will get reports from districts within 10 days, he said. On the basis of these reports, a decision on declaration of drought would be taken. “The Cabinet sub-committee will meet again after getting the reports and take a call on recommending to the Cabinet on declaration of drought in areas that conform to the prescribed norms,” the minister said.

Gowda added that the government had decided to take up ground truthing exercise again after 10 to 15 days as more taluks are expected to face dry spell then going by the present indications of the monsoon entering the dry spell. The IMD has predicted lesser rainfall for southern peninsula in the remaining period of the monsoon due to El Nino impact caused by abnormal warning of the Pacific Ocean. 

The agriculture department had indicated that the crops were in the beginning stage of deterioration. If the dry spell continues for one more week, the sustenance of standing crops would be difficult, the minister said.

The drought manual specifies various conditions including three consecutive weeks of dry spell, less than 75% of crop coverage in the targeted area, and more than 50% of crop loss to get qualified to be declared as drought-hit, he said.

There has been a demand to change the manual for declaring drought by the states considering the haphazard rainfall pattern due to climate change. Chief minister Siddaramaiah supported the view and urged the Central government to bring changes to the Manual for Drought Management 2016 for declaration of drought by States, arguing that it is necessary to have different parameters to declare drought in 14 agro-climatic zones in Karnataka in the light of dire situation caused by erratic weather conditions.

Source - https://www.hindustantimes.com