Jharkhand: 226 of 260 Blocks Drought-Hit; State to Seek Financial Assistance from Centre

The Jharkhand government declared 226 of the state's 260 blocks as drought-affected on Saturday and decided to provide a cash relief of Rs 3,500 to each affected farmer family, according to Chief Minister Hemant Soren. The decisions were made at a State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) meeting presided over by the chief minister.

"It was decided in the review meeting of Jharkhand State Disaster Management Authority regarding drought to declare 226 blocks of 22 districts of the state as drought-hit," Soren wrote on Twitter. The SDMA meeting focused on the agriculture department's drought report. According to the report, 154 blocks are severely drought-affected, while 72 are moderately affected.

"The state government will provide Rs 3,500 in advance relief to every affected farmer family in the blocks," the chief minister tweeted. The initiative will cost the state exchequer approximately Rs 1,200 crore. The state government will apply to the Centre for drought relief funds.

"The disaster management department will submit a detailed proposal for seeking financial assistance from the Centre after receiving proposals from all departments concerned, including agriculture and health," as per Agriculture Director Nisha Oraon Singhmar.

The Centre is likely to send a team to Jharkhand for ground verification after reviewing the state's proposal, she said. "Based on its verification, it will provide assistance." As a result, the state has decided to provide farmers with immediate relief," she informed.

In the state, approximately 30 lakh farmers are registered. "To date, 22.5 lakh farmers have undergone e-KYC under the PM Kisan scheme." The chief minister has directed us to expedite farmer e-KYC and extend drought relief to 30 lakh farmers. We expect the number to rise by the time the financial assistance proposal is presented to the cabinet in 15-20 days," Singhmar said.

Following a survey, "we discovered 154 blocks severely drought affected, while 72 are moderately affected in 22 of the state's 24 districts," she said. Even though overall monsoon rain in Jharkhand was near normal, with a 20% deficit through September 30, it was scarce during the first two months, which were critical for Kharif sowing.

The state's overall rainfall deficit was 49 percent during the first two months of monsoon. According to the Meteorological Centre, Ranchi, Jharkhand received 258.7 mm of rainfall from June 1 to July 31, compared to the normal rainfall of 508.2mm, the highest shortfall since 2014.

According to the agriculture department, overall kharif crop sowing in Jharkhand was only 24.64 percent as of July 31 this year, compared to 56.19 percent in July 2021. Till July 31, paddy sowing coverage was 15.78%, which should be close to 100% by then.