AURANGABAD: Even as the divisional administration demanded around Rs 300 crore to deal with drought situation in Aurangabad division, the state government has released just over half of the require

Vadodara:The Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) has demanded that Gujarat be declared drought affected and has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit the drought-affected areas of Gujarat

Distribution of compensation to farmers in non-delta areas of the district for crop losses suffered by them owing to the monsoon failure began on Saturday.

About 37,745 farmers will get relief ranging from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 5,000 an acre in the district. The State government has allotted Rs.16.96 crore for the purpose. Farmers who had raised paddy and suffered losses will be get Rs. 5,000 an acre.

The Central Government would provide relief only to those farmers, who were affected by drought, and not compensation for crop loss, clarified Pravesh Sharma, Team leader of the Central Drought Tea

Team visits delta regions in Tiruchi, Thanjavur, and Tiruvarur districts

Farmers representatives sought to impress upon the Central team that toured the delta districts on Tuesday the need for sanctioning relief quickly to all farmers as the drought has had a severe impact. Several farmers also insisted that the Centre sanction the full quantum of compensation sought by the State (which has sought about Rs.19,665 crore as drought relief).

An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on drought, headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, on Wednesday approved . 511-crore assistance for Rajasthan, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh – the states affected by floods and droughts in 2012. Further, an additional grant of . 256 crore was given to Maharashtra for rejuvenation of orchards.

However, the high-level committee didn’t take a decision on extending the duty-free import of oil cakes for next six months, which is vital for steady availability and stable prices of fodder. The finance ministry is expected to assess the demand and supply situation of oil cakes in the country.

Pune: The drought-hit Kamkhera village in Beed taluka is all set to try rainwater harvesting, hoping it would end the dry spell. Half the wells in this village have dried up and villagers here have now invited Pune-based Paranjya to help set up two rainwater harvesting plants.

Paranjya, that has introduced several residential societies in Pune to rainwater harvesting as an effective technique to conserve water, will travel to Beed on May 13 to educate villagers on its benefits.

PUNE: The rising temperature and shrinking water stocks in Marathwada region has forced the authorities to increase water supply by tankers.

As many as 1,875 tankers are supplying drinking water to 1,646 villages and 749 hamlets in Marathwada. A week back, 1,413 villages and 743 hamlets were receiving drinking water from 1,733 tankers. Now 142 additional tankers have been deployed for supplying drinking water to 1,646 villages and 749 hamlets, stated the report of the Marathwada divisional commissionerate.

The Centre on Friday revised its foodgrains production estimate upwards by 5.22 million tonnes for 2012-13 over earlier expectation on account of higher output of rice, wheat and coarse cereals.

The total foodgrains output is now estimated at 255.36 million tonnes with wheat production pegged at 93.62 million tonnes and rice at 104.22 million tonnes.