Political analysts are asking whether the cabinet’s drought tour will provide any relief to distressed farmers.
After the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented pro-farmer budget, the entire cabinet of Fadnavis government will undertake a tour of drought hit areas in Maharashtra from 4 to 6 March. The state government had organised ambitious ‘Make in India’ programme for attracting investors but it received flak for ignoring the interests of farmers. Earlier, the opposition had questioned the government’s intention to organise this event at a time when farmers were committing suicide due to crop failure. Modi government had introduced a farmer friendly budget to lure voters in the hinterland ahead of assembly election in states like West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Assam.
Taking a leaf out of the central government’s move the state government too is keen to reach out to the farming community. However, political analysts are asking whether the government’s drought tour will provide any relief to distressed farmers. According to them, such tours are politically motivated and are considered as PR exercise to improve the image of the state government as no results are visible on ground. Last year too the cabinet had undertaken a tour of the drought hit states. They also submitted a report to the state government about the steps to be taken to address the problems faced by farmers but no action has been taken yet. Even Shiv Sena had undertaken a tour of drought hit regions of the state last year. It had attacked the BJP for its inability to provide financial assistance to farmers. Even though the state government had announced relief package for farmers but many of them did not derive any benefit from it.
Last year more than 1,100 farmer suicides have been reported in Maharashtra and this year already 139 farmers have ended their lives within two months.
A spokesperson from Fadnavis government said, “Several parts of the Maharashtra is witnessing severe drought and Marathwada region is the worst affected. The region has seen three successive droughts from 2013 onwards. Therefore the entire cabinet will visit this region for taking stock of the drought situation.”
A senior bureaucrat said the entire cabinet is touring the Marathwada region for understanding the problems faced by distressed farmers and reasons behind why they end their lives. The ministers would be accompanied by officials from various relevant departments such as agriculture, water resources, revenue, disaster management, health and education.
More than 14, 700 villages has been declared drought hit in October 2015 by the state government. The state has allocated more than Rs.8,000 crore and the centre has sanctioned drought relief of a little more than Rs.3,000 crore, though the state had sought Rs.4,000 crore.
On the other hand, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil has left for a five day tour in the drought hit districts of Osmanabad, Latur, Beed, Dhule, Jalgaon, Akola and Washim. He will take stock of the situation prevailing in these areas like farmers suicide, irrigation facilities, fodder stock. He also said that the government has failed to offer loan waiver to farmers.
