By M Rama Rao
New Delhi, 15 August, (Asiantribune.com): Drought is not official as yet in India. But that has not prevented the governments in Delhi and states to try to come to grips with the problem of crop failure and consequent low purchasing capacity in villages in at least 200 of the 600 districts.
Chief Ministers are meeting here on Monday to tell the Prime Minister of the ground reality and to hear from him the plans to tackle the situation that has affected nearly one fourth of the country. Only on Thursday, Manmohan Singh had set up an Empowered Group of Ministers, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to come up with new and innovative schemes. This group will decide in about a week on selling cheap wheat and rice in the open market.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, Power Minister Sushil Shinde, Rural Development Minister C P Joshi, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia are among those included on the panel which has been asked to tweak existing rural welfare schemes if necessary.
One time tested measure in times of scarcity is a drive against hoarders and black marketers. This time around too, the Centre will insist on such a drive though opinion is divided on its utility.
Another tool in government's hands is public distribution system, which, after nearly four decades of existence, is in shambles. But Prime Minister Singh considers the PDS as an important safety net to help the poor cushion against price rise.
The government is concerned that India is about to slip up on growth indicators when the world particularly the Western countries are emerging out of the meltdown blues. The IMF will provide India the equivalent of about $4.78 billion as its share of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) worth $250 billion to provide liquidity to the recession hit global economic system.
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