14.1. In accordance with the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW) is mandated to coordinate relief measures necessitated by drought, hailstorm, pest attack and cold wave/frost. Spatial distribution and quantum of rainfall during South West Monsoon (June- September) mainly determines the incidence of drought in the country, as South West Monsoon (SWM) accounts for more than 70% of annual rainfall. DAC&FW closely monitors progress of SWM in the country, in close coordination with India Meteorological Department (IMD), and keeps a watch over deficient/large deficient rainfall conditions.
14.2 DAC&FW has reviewed and updated the Crisis Management Plan (CMP) for Drought (National) during the current year i.e. 2017. The Plan defines the roles and responsibilities of various agencies involved in crisis management including media management during drought.
CMP 2017 (National) was circulated to State/
Union Territory Governments for preparing their own CMPs.
14.3 State Governments initiate necessary relief measures in the wake of natural calamities, including drought, from State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), which is readily available with them. Contribution to SDRF is made by Central and State Governments in the ratio of 3:1 for General Category States (18 out of 29, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar
Pradesh and West Bengal) and in the ratio of 9:1 for Special Category States (11 out of 29, namely, 8 North Eastern States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura and 3 hilly States of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu
& Kashmir and Uttarakhand). Government of India supplements the efforts of the State Governments by providing requisite financial and logistic support in the wake of natural calamities. Additional financial assistance, over and above SDRF, is considered from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), for natural calamities of severe nature, as per established procedure and extant items and norms for assistance from SDRF/NDRF.
Allocation under SDRF has been made on the basis of recommendations of 14th Finance Commission, for a period of 5 years from 2015- 16 to 2019-20 and allocation under SDRF is for State Governments only.
14.4 During the year 2017-18, as per information available till date, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan had declared drought and submitted Memorandum seeking financial assistance from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). Inter- Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) constituted for Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have visited these States to assess the loss/damage to crops etc. and recommend appropriate financial assistance from NDRF. The Sub Committee of National Executive Committee (SC-NEC) considered both the reports and recommendations of SC-NEC have been forwarded to Ministry of Home Affairs for placing them before the High Level Committee
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received from the State Government of Rajasthan and Maharashtra for drought during Kharif 2017 and pest attack, respectively, are under consideration.
14.5 Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), has developed detailed District-wise contingency plans to provide a broad advisory to farmers at the district level, prescribing alternate strategies in the event of climate variability, by factoring in crops/livestock/aquaculture practices/
pattern, soil characteristics, infrastructural facilities, etc. These plans have been developed based on certain simulated models for different weather conditions like occurrence of flood, drought, cyclone, cold wave/frost, etc. CRIDA has so far prepared Contingency Plans for 623 districts in the country.
14.6 A Manual for Drought Management was published in the year 2009 by the Department.
This Manual for Drought Management suggested a system for drought management policy and programmes to be followed by the Government of India and State Governments.
It focused on the general / common elements of drought management at the national level, while allowing the States to include their specific schemes and interventions, and incorporated drought forecasting, monitoring, response and mitigation as continuum of activities. The objective of this Manual was to serve as a handbook for all the decision- makers and administrators. The Manual provided relevant guidelines so that States benefit from them and pursue the most efficient and practical course of action. Since the publication of this Manual in 2009, several new developments had taken place and further to promote use of modern technology, the Manual for Drought Management was revised in 2016 through a consultative process, involving the concerned Central Ministries/
Departments, State Governments, Scientific, Technical and Research Organizations.
14.7 The various indices and parameters appropriate for declaration of drought were revisited and new indices like Standardised Precipitation Index, Vegetation Condition Index, Percentage Available Soil Moisture, Hydrology Indices like Reservoir Storage Index, Stream-Flow Drought Index and Ground Water Drought Index have been added. Rainfall related indices have been recommended as the first trigger in the assessment of drought.
In the event of rainfall inadequacy of a certain magnitude, the first trigger is set-off which would then obligate State Governments to consider other impact indicators related to agriculture (crop sowing coverage), remote sensing, soil moisture and hydrology. The level of severity of drought will be based on the recorded values against the impact indicators and, accordingly, the second drought trigger is set-off. In the event of the second drought trigger set-off, the Manual prescribes field level verification of ground truthing of crop damage through sample field survey in 10% of the villages in the affected area. The drought and the intensity of the calamity will be declared on the basis of findings from the field survey.
Time-lines have been indicated for declaration of drought, namely, 30 October for Kharif and 31 March for Rabi. The Memorandum for Financial Assistance will be submitted not later than one week from the date of declaration of drought, if the drought was found to be of a severe nature.
DAC&FW will thereafter dispatch an Inter- Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) within a week of receipt of the Memorandum from the State Government and the report will be submitted by the Team within seven days of all relevant information having been provided by the State Government. A decision will be taken on the quantum of assistance from the NDRF within a month of the IMCT report and disbursement of agriculture subsidy to affected farmers to be
concluded by the State Government within a month of receipt of central assistance.
14.8 Guideline on Constitution and Administration of SDRF/NDRF has been partly modified by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 03.04.2017, requiring all the States/UTs to implement mandatorily the guidelines of ‘Manual for Drought Management, 2016’, prepared and circulated by DAC&FW, while determining /declaring drought in their States.
14.9 A National Drought Management Plan (NDMP), as required under the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, has
been prepared. This Plan has been prepared in consultation with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), keeping in view the theme of National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR) to achieve the “Disaster Risk Reduction for Sustainable Development: Making India Resilient by 2030”.
This NDMP will be updated, from time to time, taking into account various factors.
14.10 DAC&FW is also in the process of preparing a “Drought Proofing Plan” for selected districts in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan, in association with CRIDA under ICAR.
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15.1 The mandate of International Cooperation is to foster mutually beneficial partnerships with other countries of the world in a multilateral as well as bilateral format. Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare is the Nodal contact point in Government of India for Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations. Bilateral Agreement, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Protocols and Work Plans with the countries of strategic interest are signed and implemented for furthering