‘Farmers received some justice’: CM thanks SC for orders to release drought relief assistance

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 27 (ANI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah thanked the Supreme Court on Friday for ordering the release of over Rs 34 lakh drought relief assistance from the Union government for the 2023 Karnataka drought and said that farmers have finally received some justice.
The Karnataka Chief Minister took to his social media handle X to express appreciation to the apex court and said that it was perhaps the first time in the history of India that a state was driven to the Supreme Court to get its rights enforced.
"After persistent efforts and an appeal to the Supreme Court, we've secured Rs 3,498.82 crore in drought relief from the Union Government. I wish to thank the Supreme Court. This is perhaps the first time in the history of India that a state was driven to the Supreme Court to get its rights enforced," Siddaramaiah posted on X.
The Karnataka Chief Minister also said that it was "regrettable" that the state had to wait since September 2023 for a response and expressed dissatisfaction with the monetary assistance.
"It's regrettable that we had to wait since Sept 2023 for a response. @HMOIndia finally woke up after the Supreme Court rang the bell. Finally, some justice has been done to our farmers. However, the sanction is woefully inadequate. We had asked for Rs 18,000 crores and we have got 3498.98 crores!" the post added.
The Ministry of Finance on Friday approved the release of monetary assistance towards relief assistance for the 2023 Karnataka drought.
Earlier, the Karnataka government, in the plea filed through advocate DL Chidananda, urged the Supreme Court to direct the Centre to forthwith take a final decision and release the financial assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the state.
The plea said that Karnataka is reeling under a severe drought, affecting the lives of its citizens.
The plea also sought to declare that the action of the government in not releasing the financial assistance for drought arrangement as per the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) is exfacie violative of the fundamental rights of the people of the State of Karnataka guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
In the plea, the Karnataka Government said that agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for a large section of the State, hence present drought situation has damaged crops, and affected livestock, leading to lower yields, reduced income for farmers, increased food prices and increased shortage of water in urban and rural areas.
After strictly adhering to the procedure outlined in the Manual for Drought Management-2020, Karnataka notified 223 out of 236 taluks as drought-affected. Cumulatively for the Kharif 2023 season, the agriculture and horticulture crop loss have been reported in more than 48 lakh hectares with the estimated loss (cost of cultivation) of Rs 35,162 crore, the plea said. (ANI)