Drought: Did Singh fail in timely action?

No matter how many times Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh may be tweeting, the govt’s failure to gauge the situation of drought is writ large.

Taking the matter into his own hands a concerned Prime Minister Narendra Modi began to deliberate on the issue and met several chief ministers including Devendra Fadnavis and Akhilesh Singh Yadav last week.

Singh and his junior Mohanbhai Kundariya, however, tried their best to answer queries both in the House and outside. Singh also unleashed a barrage of tweets such as “Use of drip and sprinkler irrigation and better water management – the need of the hour etc.”

In another tweet he says “Efforts should also be made to conserve and recharge water during the upcoming monsoon.”

Radha Mohan was quick to retweet one of the many tweets Indian Cooperative does. It was on a story “ We are keeping a close watch on drought: Sing”. In this Sigh had claimed that immediately after the IMD’s monsoon forecasts in April, 2015 Government of India, in collaboration with State Governments, responded rapidly with a multi-pronged approach to mitigating the effects of the drought.

But experts differ. They argue that the govt seriousness on the issue has been noticed much later and in fact only last week.

The situation of drought became clear since the last October and the govt could have taken necessary steps in advance, they forcefully argue. They were referring to water trains to Latur and Bundelkhand.

Modi has meanwhile has said center , states, local bodies, NGOs and citizens must work together to resolve problems posed by drought in various parts of the country.

Meeting Devendra Fadnavis and senior officials, Modi said the authorities must focus on medium and long-term solutions to tackle drought. He also stressed the importance of using water efficiently through drip irrigation and sprinklers in agriculture, stating that drip irrigation in sugarcane increases the quality of sugar.