Monsoon plays truant; Govt preparing plan of action

What should the government do to tackle a possible failure of monsoon? Agriculture Secretaries of states that have not received rainfall will meet Union Agriculture Secretary on Thursday and search for answers. He will hold discussions with agriculture secretaries of many states on how to deal with the situation that could send the economy into a downward spiral.

What should the government do to tackle a possible failure of monsoon? Agriculture Secretaries of states that have not received rainfall will meet Union Agriculture Secretary on Thursday and search for answers.

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About 60 per cent of the total cultivable area of 140 million hectare is rain fed, while the rest is irrigated.

Southwest monsoon, which had brought cheer to the farming community due to its early onset on May 23, had stopped in its tracks over Konkan region of Maharashtra on June 7.

Union Agriculture Secretary T Nanda Kumar will hold discussions with agriculture secretaries of states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh on how to deal with the situation that could send the economy into a downward spiral.

On June 20, the Committee of Secretaries (CoS), headed by Union Cabinet Secretary, took stock of the situation arising out of delay in monsoon and its impact on Kharif crops.

The CoS had decided that the Agriculture Ministry on June 25 will call a meeting of agriculture secretaries of those states which have so far not received rainfall. These states have been also asked to come up with contingency plans in case the monsoon gets further delayed.

However, Nanda Kumar had said that “at this point of time there is no cause of worry”. He would brief the cabinet secretary about the outcome of the meet on June 26.