Jharkhand CM Shri Raghubar Das Meets Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on Drought Issue; Seeks Rs. 400 cr for MGNREGA

New Delhi 16th May 2016: Jharkhand Chief Minister Shri Raghubir Das held a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some of his cabinet colleagues to apprise them of the drought situation in Jharkhand and sought Rs. 400 crore from the Centre under MNREGA to provide work support to farmers reeling under the drought crisis.
The meeting was also attended by Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh, Minister for Agricultural Shri Radhamohan Singh and Union Minister of State for PMO, Shri Jitendra Singh. The Chief Minister was accompanied by his team of top bureaucrats from the state including Chief Secretary Rajbala Verma, and Additional Chief Secretary Amit Khare.
During the meeting Shri Das informed the Prime Minister and his cabinet colleagues that the situation in Jharkhand was no different from any other drought affected state in the country. He underlined that Jharkhand had been in the grip of drought for 10 out of 15 years of its formation, with below average and untimely rainfall badly affecting both irrigation for crops and availability of drinking water.
Shri Das sought Rs. 400 crore from the Centre under the MNREGA scheme to provide alternative employment to farmers who needed work support in the wake of crop failure. Shri Das also raised the need for a doppler radar system in his state to equip the Meteorological department for correct weather prediction.

\"We declared drought in the entire state after a thorough review on December 1, 2015 and accordingly certain steps have been taken which include earmarking 13% of the total plan budget worth Rs. 4845.72 Cr for agriculture,\" Shri Das said.
The CM also laid emphasis on the need of the state to act upon the policy of ?village water to be in village and farm water to be in farm? which includes plans of conserving water and doubling its irrigated area within two years by building 600,000 farm ponds.
The Prime Minister?s Office assured the Chief Minister of all possible help to deal with the situation including the allocation of money for MNREGA.

Prime Minister Shri Modi expressed satisfaction over the water conservation efforts initiated by the Jharkhand government, stating that water conservation must be made a mass movement. He also laid emphasis on improving irrigation facilities in the state so as to reduce farm dependence on rainfall and prevent severe drought like conditions in the future.

Referring to the state government?s initiatives for repair, restoration and renovation of water resources in Jharkhand, Shri Modi said such created assets should be identified with a Unique Number; the Chief Minister informed that GPS location and photography of the created assets was going on presently.

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh also assured the Jharkhand government of making seeds of pulses and oilseeds available through National Seed Corporation well within time for the benefit of farmers.

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