Maha Cabinet panel on drought to table report today

The Cabinet sub-committee, set up to frame changes in the century-old norms of assessing field crop yield in Maharashtra, will be taken up in the weekly Cabinet meeting today, State Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse said. The committee will put forth its report and recommendations in the cabinet meeting tomorrow and final decision on declaring scarcity in drought-hit talukas in the state will be taken soon, Khadse told reporters here. He said some of the recommendations of the cabinet sub-committee include, declaring 'scarcity' if rainfall is less than 50 per cent (in a taluka), consider factors like rainfall, weather and moisture to assess crop yield, use satellite technology to measure agriculture productivity.

The minister said all district collectors have been directed to file report on the current crop situation on account of fresh spate of showers over the weekend. District collectors are expected to submit their report in next five days. "After the report is tabled in the cabinet, a decision on the number of talukas to be declared 'scarcity- hit' would be taken," he added.

Khadse said cloud seeding (weather modification technology) is being done in the water reservoir areas of Pune district, he said. The state government had recently decided to amend the century-old norm of assessing field crop yield in drought affected regions so that farmers get enhanced compensation. It wanted modern satellite technology to be used to draw up new guidelines.

For the purpose, a cabinet sub-committee was formed under Khadse. The committee was given a fortnight's time to submit its report to the government.