EGoM on Drought to Meet Review Monsoon Situation

New Delhi: The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on drought will meet on Tuesday to review the monsoon situation, with the sowing of kharif crops, particularly coarse cereals, affected by a deficiency in rains. “I have planned EGoM on drought on coming Tuesday,” Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who was recently made head of the EGoM on drought, told reporters. The EGoM is authorised to review the situation and take ”quick and timely decisions” on policy and other matters for effective management of drought. Pawar, who joined office on Thursday after issues related to a week-long stand-off between the Congress and his party, the Nationalist Congress Party, were sorted out, said the ministry is collecting details from states on the impact of poor rains. Earlier in the day, Pawar held discussions with Food Minister K V Thomas and Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General L S Rathore to review the monsoon situation. The EGoM was earlier headed by Pranab Mukherjee, the then Finance Minister. Home Minister P Chidambaram, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy, Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath and Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal are members of the EGoM. Other members are Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, Railway Minister Mukul Roy, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Food Minister K V Thomas and Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena. “We discussed the monsoon situation and also about futures trading in agri commodities,” Food minister K V Thomas said after meeting Pawar. Meanwhile, IMD said it expects monsoon deficiency to narrow down in the coming days with improvement in rains in the eastern, central and Indo-Gangetic parts. Monsoon rains have been deficient by 22 per cent so far this year across the country and the situation is worrisome in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The sowing of major kharif (summer) crops like rice, cotton, coarse cereals, oilseeds and pulses has been hit. Although the monsoon is not active, it is not sluggish either, the IMD chief said, adding that the eastern coast, central India and north east are getting fairly good rains. Even Maharashtra and parts of peninsula are having rain. ”The only concern is north west India and interior peninsula,” Rathore said. India had produced a record 252.56 million tonnes of foodgrains in 2011-12 crop year (July-June) on good monsoon last year. Monsoon rains are crucial for the agriculture sector, which contributes about 15 per cent to the country's GDP, as only 40 per cent of the total cultivable area is under irrigation.