New Delhi:
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is the latest in the list of Chief Ministers who have sought financial assistance from the Centre to deal with the drought-like situation in the state. Mr Hooda has asked for a Rs 4050 crore financial assistance even as Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has already announced Rs 230 crore for drinking water and watershed management.
But rainfall deficit means very different things for areas that have irrigation facilities and those that do not. The biggest burden facing states like Punjab and Haryana, that have the maximum area under irrigation in the country, is supplying additional power to farmers so that they can use diesel pumps and generators to irrigate their fields. In states that are rain-fed and depend on the monsoon for the bulk of its farming, like Maharashtra, which has just 19 per cent area under irrigation, a deficient monsoon means re-sowing for some and losing an entire crop for others.
The situation in Gujarat is still worrisome. The state has 46 per cent area under irrigation but in Saurashtra and Kutch, the rainfall deficit till now is -81 per cent. In Karnataka, both north interior Karnataka and south interior Karnataka face a rainfall deficit of over 30 per cent but the rainfall situation has been improving in Karnataka over the last few days with steady rainfall. In fact, south interior Karnataka has received excess rainfall in the last 24 hours.
Here's how the irrigation measures up against the rainfall deficit in the country:
| STATES | IRRIGATION | RAINFALL DEFICIT
(1 June- 8 August) | CATEGORY |
| Punjab | 98% | -69% | Scanty |
| Haryana | 85% | -67% (includes Delhi) | Scanty |
| Gujarat | 46% | -81% (Saurashtra, Kutch)
-59% (Gujarat Region) | Scanty
Deficit |
| Maharashtra | 19% | -24% (Madhya Maharashtra
-35% (Marathwada)
-2% (Vidarbha) | Deficit
Deficit
Normal |
| Karnataka | 32% | -15% (Coastal Karnataka)
-34% (North Int. Karnataka)
-33% (South Int. Karnataka) | Normal
Deficit
Deficit |
| Rajasthan | 35% | -60% (West Rajasthan)
-32% (East Rajasthan) | Scanty
Deficit
|
| Orissa | 35% | -7% | Normal |
| Assam | 4% | 1% (Assam and Meghalaya) | Normal |
| Jharkhand | 10% | -17% | Normal |
| Chhattisgarh | 27% | 6% | Normal |
| Andhra Pradesh | 49% | 10% (Coastal Andhra)
3% (Telangana)
-6% (Rayalseema)
| Normal
Normal
Normal |
| Kerala | 17% | -40% | Deficit |
| Uttar Pradesh | 76% | -13% (East UP)
-33% (West UP) | Normal
Deficit |
| Bihar | 61% | -23% | Deficit |
| Madhya Pradesh | 33% | 17% (West MP)
0% (East MP)
| Normal
Normal |