New Delhi: Honourable Supreme Court of India today, on Wednesday asked the Centre to create a disaster mitigation fund for tackling drought- like situation and also the Agriculture Ministry was directed to hold a meeting within a week with the government of the affected States such as Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana for assessing the conditions.
The decision was taken by the Apex Court’s concerned bench presided by the Justice- M. B. Lokur who also directed the Central Government to the effect that it should implement the Disaster Management Act’s provisions and also fix a ‘time limit’ for declaring the drought on scientific grounds.
For providing the effective relief to the farmers who are generally hit by the calamity, the Court has also asked the Central Government to revise its drought management manual and also asked it to prepare a national plan for tackling the disaster. The bench of the top court also comprising of the justice- N. V. Ramana also found stated that the Agricultural Ministry directed to conduct a meeting with the Chief Secretaries of the states like Bihar and Gujarat and also Haryana “for assessing the situation.”
Moreover, in its various other guidance, the Top Court also found directing to the effect that the National Disaster Response Force- NDRF should also be trained and also equipped with the power to tackle the situations which are drought- like. Also, earlier on the said issues of droughts in the states, the Top Court asked the Centre that ‘was it not its responsibility to warn the States about the drought like situations likely to prevail in the near future?
Moreover, the court also shown its concerns on the payment of the low rate of compensations to the farmers who were hit by the calamity and also it found stated that the said situations are leading some of such farmers to commit suicide. It is notable here that the Swaraj Abhiyan being Non- Governmental Organisation filed a petition earlier. And claimed in such petition that there are twelve states in the country largely affected by drought and the authorities therein are not providing required relief.
