New Delhi:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday met 13th Finance Commission Chairman Vijay Kelkar and Planning Commission Secretary Sudha Pillai and is believed to have discussed the drought situation in different parts of the country.
The meeting assumes significance as the government is planning to provide more resources to states to battle the impact of poor monsoon on kharif (summer crop) and spiraling prices of essential food items.
Singh in his recent meeting on Saturday with the chief secretaries had advised the state governments to seek more assistance from the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) to deal with the drought situation.
"In case the Contingency Relief Fund available with the states is not sufficient, they should quickly prepare a detailed memorandum for assistance under NCCF", he had said.
According to recent assessment, 141 districts out of total of about 600, have been declared drought affected.
While the Planning Commission is involved in allocation of resources towards Plan schemes, the Finance Commission, which is a constitutional body, deals with distribution of taxes, collected by the Centre, among states.
The Finance Commission is expected to submit its report to the government by October end for the five-year period beginning April 1, 2010.