A Dry Spell For Policy Planning The Summer Of Discontent

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The summer of discontent has just begun. More than 13 years after the worst-ever drought of the century had left its nightmarish shadows in 1986-87, India is once again faced with a severe drought engulfing the traditionally rainfed regions. That the drought should strike at a time when the country has had 12 consecutive years of a bountiful monsoon, leaves behind a tale of misplaced priorities and the collapse of the policy planning. It is early summer. By the time the monsoons arrive in the last week of June (or get delayed further), the drought-affected regions in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh may well be on the path to a very distinct possibility of crippling hunger and death. Although saddled with a comfortable foodgrain reserves of 26 million tonne --- 11 million tonne more than the public distribution requirements - the Government may still be unable to reach food and fodder to the areas where it is needed most. And yet, notwithstanding the appeal by the Prime Minister, the Government has instead kept up its pressure on providing more sops to the information technology industry. It has announced a series of tax concessions and tax holidays for the IT sector, somehow giving the impression that the solutions to human suffering in the drought-affected areas lie in Pentium technology. Such is the official apathy that drought and food scarcities have found little space for intellectual discussions and strategic planning. In Andhra Pradesh, one of the worst drought affected areas, the Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu, refuses to acknowledge that the devastation caused by the delay in the rain spell has been accentuated by the failure of the State to adequately plan and prepare for such eventualities. With his priorities fixed on converting AP into a cyber-State, agriculture, rural development and water management are low down in the Government's plan of action. For several years now, drought and prolonged dry spell had continued to afflict the inhospitable and harsh environs of the dryland regions, constituting nearly 70 per cent of the country's cultivable lands. Despite the monsoons being 'normal', failure of rains in certain pockets and the continuing dry spell had simply gone unreported. With traditional forms of water storage and harvesting having vanished, rural irrigation being completely taken over by an inefficient government machinery, available ground water was left to be exploited indiscriminately. Water shortage, in any case, is likely to emerge as the major environmental crisis for India in the new millennium. And yet, despite the dismal aspect of the irrigation policy, the fascination of the planners for costly projects has not diminished. They have continued to overlook simple and effective methods like a series of small water storage tanks, recharging of village wells, whose water percolates into the ground, replenishes the underground reservoir for drinking and irrigation purposes. But then, traditional water harvesting and rainwater collection practices do not find favour with the policy makers and planners for the simple reason that these time-tested technologies do not need much investment and budget allocations. At the same time, a serious drought enables the affected State government to cry for more central relief funds. It has happened in the past, and is sure to happen in the present. As and when the furore and dust over the drought and resulting food insecurity dies down, planners will find the relief and rehabilitation allocations handy enough. Devinder Sharma is a food and agriculture policy analyst. His recent works includes the book In the Famine Trap

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