Home Minister and Kalaburagi district in-charge Minister Priyank Kharge urged the Union government to relax the norms governing drought declarations, arguing that the existing National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) guidelines were preventing States from responding swiftly to genuine drought situations.

Speaking to press persons in Kalaburagi city on Tuesday, Mr. Kharge said the norms revised by the Centre in 2020 should be reconsidered and the earlier criteria restored. He said States should be given greater autonomy to declare drought based on ground-level conditions, particularly in the interest of farmers.

“The present NDRF norms make it difficult for States to declare drought promptly, even when there is a genuine drought-like situation. The Centre should immediately review the 2020 norms and restore the earlier provisions,” he said.

Rainfall remained significantly deficient across all the taluks of Kalaburagi district in August, with the rainfall deficit ranging from 57% in Kamalapur to 74% in Jewargi. Afzalpur recorded a 65% deficit, Aland 66%, Chincholi 61%, Kalaburagi 68%, Yadrami 69%, and Shahabad 62%.

Mr. Kharge said eligible taluks would be declared drought-affected in accordance with the prescribed norms very soon.

Meanwhile, the district administration has submitted a proposal to the State government seeking ₹18 crore in interim crop insurance compensation for green gram, black gram, and soybean crops affected by deficient rainfall during this kharif season. The compensation is expected to be released shortly and would benefit 37,051 farmers in the district, he added.

‘Padayatra lacks clarity’

Referring to the BJP’s Ballari padayatra, Mr. Kharge questioned the objective of the Opposition’s campaign and alleged that the BJP had so far failed to produce substantive evidence against B. Nagendra, who resigned from his post as Planning and Statistics Minister.

“If there has been any wrongdoing, it could have been discussed in the Assembly. But the BJP has not produced adequate documents against Mr. Nagendra so far,” he said.

Mr. Kharge further alleged that there was confusion even within the BJP over the purpose of the Ballari padayatra, and claimed that information had surfaced about people being brought to the programme by paying them daily wages.

MLCs Thippannappa Kamaknoor and Jagdev Guttedar were present.