88.6% of the area in Karnataka now reeling under drought

Newsroom, Dec 27: The Karnataka government has declared 156 out of the 176 taluks of the state drought hit in the wake of a failed northeast monsoon. In other words, as much as 88.6% of the area in the state has now been declared drought-hit.

This has added to the growing call for the speedy implementation of the farm loan waiver to mitigate the deepening agrarian distress.

As many as 100 taluks that received deficit rain in the southwest monsoon, affecting kharif cultivation, had been declared drought-hit months ago. Yesterday, a Cabinet sub-committee decided to declare 56 more taluks drought-hit, with the State recording a deficit of -49% rainfall in the northeast monsoon.

Of the 156 officially drought-hit taluks, 95 are “severely hit” while the remaining 61 are “moderately hit”. In 2016-2017, as many as 164 taluks were declared drought-hit.

“The State has suffered an estimated loss of ₹20,000 crore owing to drought in the kharif season. A joint survey will now be undertaken to estimate losses in the rabi season. The net result of floods and the failure of the southwest and northeast monsoons will have a severe impact on the Gross State Domestic Product,” Revenue Minister R.V. Deshpande told presspersons here on Wednesday. Sowing did not take place in about 7 lakh hectares of 73 lakh hectares during the kharif season owing to deficit rain.

Explaining the extent of impact on agricultural activities in the State, he said: “Of the 31.80 lakh hectares that come under rabi cultivation, sowing has taken place on only 26.03 lakh hectares. In the corresponding period last year, the total area under cultivation in the rabi season was 29.09 lakh hectares.”