SPEECH

Speech by Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha) on November 20, 2002 on the Adjournment Motion regarding the unprecedented drought situation in the country
Sonia Gandhi calls for Collective Effort to Fight Drought

Sonia Gandhi Turns 56 New Delhi : The Congress President, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, celebrated her birthday on 9th December in a simple manner owing to drought situation in the country and communal tension in Gujarat. The AICC treasurer, Shri Motilal Vora, distributed blankets to the poor and needy on the occasion.

Mr. Speaker Sir,

I thank you for giving us this opportunity to raise an issue which has been causing severe and extensive distress to crores of men, women, children and animals in large parts of our country.

I was going through the reply to a starred question in the House on Monday and looking at the dimensions of the tragedy: 22 districts in Andhra Pradesh, all 16 districts in Chattisgarh, all 19 districts in Haryana, all 12 districts in Himachal Pradesh, all 22 in Jharkhand, 24 districts in Karnataka, 32 districts in Madhya Pradesh, 33 out of 35 districts in Maharashtra, 30 in Orissa, all 17 districts in Punjab, all 32 districts in Rajasthan, 19 districts in Tamil Nadu, although formal declaration has not yet been made all 70 districts in Uttar Pradesh, all 13 districts in Uttaranchal, 3 districts in West Bengal and a report adding that 13 districts in Gujarat. Yes Sir, even Gujarat is reeling from drought and the repercussions have been severe because it has come on the back of a terrible and massive earthquake disaster. Yet neither the BJP nor the VHP do not seem agitated about the drought and its effects in that State while they carry on with their divisive, hate-filled propaganda.

It seems that this is clearly the worst wide-spread droughts we have had in a long, long time. Substantial portions of the kharif crop have been lost and according to the government’s own advance estimate, the shortfall in kharif foodgrain production this year may well be close to 19%. Sowing has been far less than normal and even on the sown area, the crop has withered.

Mr. Speaker Sir, The signals of the impending drought were visible many months ago to all of us and surely to the Government also. A weak monsoon had been forecast. These were reported on TV and newspapers. Its impact could have definitely been anticipated. Even after the kharif crop was lost there was time to take action to protect the rabi crop. This too was not done.

I have seen the drought-induced misery in various parts of our country, as many of you who come from the parts of the country that have been affected by the drought have also done. I do not wish to make this a political issue, since the lives of so many kisans and so many khet mazdoors are involved. But, I am compelled to say that the central government has not treated or tackled this national calamity with the sense of urgency required as was done during the drought of 1987-88. I regret to say that the Central government has responded in an extremely and most lethargic and insensitive manner and did not take serious notice of the gravity of the situation that prevailed in so many States.

I have held a number of meetings with chief ministers of Congress governed States. We have collectively met and drawn up certain suggestions, action points and that were taken up with the Prime Minister. When we met the Prime Minister way back on August 5th I had made a number of points.

We had suggested that an All-Party committee be set up to galvanise the implementation of relief packages. This has not been done. We had suggested that a special meeting of the NDC be convened to discuss the drought situation and short and long-term plans to deal with such an emergency. We requested for immediate dispatch of assessment teams from the central government to the affected areas. This was done, but after a quite a bit delay.

We have suggested that the corpus of the National Calamity Relief Fund be increased to at least Rs. 10,000 crore. We were told that the National Calamity Relief Fund has no monetary limit. Yet most states have received a tiny-fraction of the relief assistance they have sought from the Centre.

I had also asked that interest on short and medium term loans extended by cooperative and commercial banks to farmers in drought-hit areas be waived. Waiver has not been announced. What the Government has done is simply deferment by a year. I want to ask the question, are we not adding to the burden of farmers for next year.

I had suggested changes to improve the effectiveness of the national crop insurance scheme. I suggested emergency seed production plans to make good the loss in seed production during the kharif season. This too has not materialised.

Sir, there were many other suggestions from the CMs at that meeting which was also attended by the Agriculture Minister. The government has now announced a package of relief measures. It appears that the same package is being announced from time to time perhaps to give the impression that a lot is being done. But I am afraid that the truth is otherwise. The package is obviously inadequate. And it has come too late. We are told that the reports of the central teams are still being process for further releases in future.

Mr. Speaker Sir, we are in November now. The kharif crop is already lost. The rabi sowing has started now. When is the government going to act? This is what all of us through you Sir, would like to ask the Government and also get a reply.

We know there are a large number of districts that are chronically drought-prone. Why did Government not show greater preparedness to meet any contingency especially in these regions? It seems to us that this attitude is quite incomprehensible. The time has come for a comprehensive review of all long-running schemes like the Drought-Prone Areas Programme and the Desert Development Programme so as to make them effective because today they simply are not effective.

Mr. Speaker Sir, drought management must be a cooperative endeavour. There is no room for confrontation between the Centre and the states here. We all must recognise the severe fiscal problems that are faced by all state governments. Many states are actually taking bold measures to raise revenues and manage their expenditures well. Therefore, the Centre must help these states. It must be more flexible in the implementation of relief and rehabilitation programmes without adding to their fiscal burden.

Mr. Speaker Sir, there was a time when our country had a Famine Code. Now, we have successfully abolished mass famine. That was a huge hurdle and was successfully overcome due to the laudable efforts of Smt Indira Gandhi. Not more than 40% of the cultivated area would still be rainfed. Thus, vulnerability to the vagaries of the monsoon simply cannot be avoided. I would suggest that the time is ripe for the country to think of a Drought Management Code in the form of appropriate legislation that would codify a detailed action plan which would automatically come into force when the rains fail. This code should also cover relief measures, food and drinking water supply, alternative cropping systems, grain, seed and water banks in villages. There should be special focus on the really vulnerable sections of our society who inevitably face acute distress during times of drought and who always suffer the most and these are the dalits, the tribals, landless labourers, women-headed households, the old, the aged and the infirm, pregnant and nursing mothers and all those who cannot avail of a food-for-work programme.

Mr. Speaker Sir, I would like to make yet another suggestion which would strengthen our drought management efforts. The system for allocating resources in times of calamities like drought must not only be fair and equitable to all the affected states but also must be seen to be fair, equitable and transparent. And here again, there seems to be a standard refrain of the Centre that they have been allocating foodgrains but the states are not lifting. The government has all the figures. And I too checked up with Chief Ministers of Congress governed states on some of these figures. The picture that emerges is quite the contrary.

For instance, Madhya Pradesh was allotted 1 lakh metric tonnes of grains for drought in the current financial year. This was to be lifted by 30th November. The state has already lifted 75% of this. The rest will be lifted by 21st November. They have asked for another 5 lakh metric tonnes that has not been given so far.

Chhatisgarh was allotted only 50,000 metric tonnes for drought this year. This allotment was made on the last day of September. By October end the state had lifted the entire amount. They have also utilized the entire amount. They too have (again) asked for another 5 lakh metric tonnes which is still to be cleared.

Karnataka asked for 6 lakh metric tonnes. They were allotted only 2 lakh tonnes. They have lifted 1.65 lakh tonnes. They have not been able to lift the rest because of movement problems of the FCI. The state has been requesting to have this sorted out. In the meantime they have asked for another 2 lakh tonnes immediately. Again, this is yet to be given.

In the case of Rajasthan which is most distressed at the moment because of 4 successive years of severe drought, is the most amazing and distressing. The state asked for 56 lakh metric tonnes against which it was given just a paltry 2 lakh tonnes. The state has lifted the entire amount and has been desperately asking for more. I am told that only yesterday a further allocation has been made, and that too of only 5 lakh tonnes.

So, Mr. Speaker Sir, does this not show, sir, that the Centre’s stance has been to pass the buck rather than acknowledge its own shortcomings and adopt a more serious attitude towards this major calamity?

What we need is objective criteria to determine the nature and quantum of central assistance. It is actually no use for the centre to shift the responsibility to the states as it has repeatedly done on so many occasions. Afterall, there are limits to what the states can do on their own without adequate support from the central government under such circumstances. Sir, here, I am not speaking of only Congress-ruled states. I am speaking of all the states that have been so badly impacted, irrespective of the party in power.

Today, Mr. Speaker, Sir the country is facing the dichotomy of overflowing godowns and empty stomachs. Starvation deaths at any time are a blot on our society and more so when we have such huge levels of foodgrain stocks. Today our stocks of foodgrains are 4 times more than the 16.8 million tonnes requested for ensuring food security. For over a year, my Party colleagues and myself, have been requesting the Prime Minister to start large scale food-for-work and food-for-nutrition programmes across the country, particularly in those traditionally vulnerable regions and we have been asking for an increase in the coverage and allocation under the Antyoday programme. Yet, very little has been done and the Centre has not yet addressed the very genuine demand of the states regarding the transportation costs of the foodgrains that are allotted to them.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, this government has been particularly privileged in presiding over the largest foodgrain stocks in the history of our nation. And we again recall Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s name because it was possible under her leadership. Yet, it has failed miserably in providing basic and essential food security when and were it is most needed. It has failed to use the surplus to alleviate endemic malnutrition.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the real underlying tragedy, of endemic malnutrition is often overlooked. It is only to be expected. I am sure that all of us understand, that the nutrition situation deteriorates further during acute drought years. Ironically, for two years prior to the drought, the opportunity offered by the surplus foodstock to prevent acute distress among poor people was frittered away. While the central food stocks were steadily rising, the off-take of foodgrains under the public distribution system was declining. And why did this happen? We want the Government to answer. This happened due to the government’s own distorted policies which reduced PDS off-take at a time when they should have aimed at increasing it.

Well, this is not the occasion to score debating points. There have been some unfortunate attempts to reap political capital out of the recent tragic deaths in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, without going objectively into the facts it is most unfortunate that these deaths have occurred.

On my request the Chief Minister of Rajasthan had set up a high level inquiry to see if any administrative lapses occurred in the Baran district. I have seen the inquiry report. It acknowledges the unprecedented famine in the entire district. It also acknowledges that since failure of monsoons is not very common in the Baran district, the people there are less equipped to handle the distress. The report clearly establishes, however, that the immediate cause of deaths in both those villages was due to specific illnesses.

The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh has given a detailed report about the deaths in Shivpuri district. Most of the affected families are owners of land. And according to that report, most of them had stocks of foodgrains in their homes at the time the deaths occurred.

Therefore, I believe, we need to carefully analyze the cause of such deaths and learn from experience rather than make accusations at a time when the drought is already causing sufficient distress.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I do hope that we will mount a collective response to mitigate the impact of drought in the years to come. I believe that we have the knowledge, we have the technology, we have the skills and we have the resources. What we need desperately is the will and the commitment. This is an issue on which there can be no division in the House. I am sure that all members from all sections of the House will be united on the need for vigorous and timely action. The Centre, and this is most important, has to provide the leadership. It is still not too late. There is much that can still be done but that requires a sincerity of purpose and a sense of urgency. And I hope, Mr. Speaker Sir, that this will be reflected after the conclusion of the debate.

Thank you