Grappling with the aftermath of a miserly monsoon that crippled farming sector across the State, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to declare all districts drought-hit, and announced a slew of measures to lessen the strain on  farmers, including waiver of land tax, rescheduling short-term loans mid-term, disaster relief assistance and crop insurance. A detailed memorandum will be submitted to the Centre seeking financial assistance to protect people of the State, which has been hit by a severe drought, Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said here on Tuesday. This was decided at a high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Minister late on Monday at the Secretariat, wherein reports filed by committees, comprising senior ministers and IAS officers, after studying the crop loss in all districts, were discussed. With the number of farmer deaths steadily climbing, the Chief Minister said Rs 3 lakh will be provided to the families of 17 of them who committed suicide in the last two months, though the reasons were varied. Also, district Collectors have been directed to submit detailed reports on the other deaths reported so far, many of them ostensibly due to drought and resultant crop loss. According to the disaster relief guidelines, farmers who faced a yield loss above 33 percent would get relief assistance. For paddy and other irrigated crops, Rs 5,465 per acre would be given, while Rs 3,000 would be given to rain-fed and mulberry crops. Similarly, for long-term crops, Rs 7,287 would be given per acre. Since farmers who had insured their crops could claim insurance, crop cutting experiment to estimate crop yield rates would be completed soon. Since relief alone is possible as per the disaster guidelines, the State government had already insured the crops and had paid Rs 410 crore towards premium for crop insurance during the current year, a statement said. Farmers who had incurred 100 percent crop loss in paddy cultivation would receive compensation ranging from Rs 21,500 to Rs 26,000 per acre from insurance companies depending on the district. For delta districts, Rs 25,000 could be claimed for 100 percent loss of crops; Rs  20,000 for 80 per cent crop loss; Rs 15,000 for 60 per cent crop loss; and Rs 8,250 for 33 per cent crop loss.  For other districts, compensation would be paid to those farmers who had incurred above 33 percent crop loss. Similarly, farmers in each district would get the insurance claim specified for the respective districts. The claims differ from crop to crop – Rs 50,000 for turmeric, Rs 45,000 for sugarcane, Rs 20,000 for maize and Rs 12,000 for pulses per acre would be given. To provide employment opportunities to agricultural labourers who have been affected by drought, the number of working days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme would be increased from 100 days to 150 days. Besides, works like desilting lakes, ponds and canals would be undertaken at a cost of Rs 3,400 crore. The Chief Minister said to mitigate the scarcity of fodder for cattle stock caused by drought, programmes at a cost of Rs 78 crore would be implemented to provide fodder. Further, works worth Rs 160 crore would be implemented to augment drinking water supply in urban areas. Similar measures would be implemented in rural areas at a cost of Rs 350 crore. To augment water availability to forest areas to cater to the needs of wild animals, Rs 5 crore would be allocated. Through the Public Works Department, water resources would be improved at a cost of Rs 25 crore. Source - http://www.newindianexpress.com