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Sonia Gandhi slams Centre on drought situation

Congress party president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday made a scathing attack on the National Democratic Alliance government's handling of the drought situation in the country charging it with failure to provide food security and demanded immediate formulation of a drought management code to tackle such calamities.

Despite the government being privileged to have the largest foodgrain stocks in the history of the nation, it 'failed miserably to provide basic and essential food security where it was needed most', Gandhi said, moving an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha on the issue.

The Leader of the Opposition regretted that the Centre, despite acknowledging its own shortcomings in the matter, sought to shift responsibility on the states repeatedly.

"There are limits to what the states can do without adequate support from the Centre. The drought has badly impacted the states irrespective of the party in power," she said.

Gandhi wanted formulation of a drought management code comprising appropriate legislation and codifying details of action plan to provide immediate relief to the affected people. She said the problem of starvation at a time when godowns were overflowing was a 'blot on society'.

Gandhi said the 'immediate cause' of the recent tragic deaths in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh was 'specific illness'. She said the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has informed her that the families where deaths occurred were 'owners of land having stocks of foodgrains'.

She said Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had ordered a high-level probe into deaths in Baran district.

BJP member Shivraj Singh Chauhan, who was the first to speak from the treasury benches, challenged Gandhi's statement that there were no starvation deaths in Madhya Pradesh.

His party colleagues from Rajasthan were heard insisting that the desert state had witnessed starvation deaths.

Amid protests from some Congress members, including Laxman Singh, Chauhan said he had himself visited concerned villages in Madhya Pradesh and was certain the deaths were due to starvation.

Chauhan said he was ready to renounce politics if proved otherwise. Laxman Singh, brother of Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, said allegations of starvation deaths were false and he was willing to quit his Lok Sabha seat if the charges were proved correct.

Making it clear that she does not want to make drought a political issue, Gandhi alleged the Centre did not show the sense of urgency in tackling severe scarcity conditions as was done in 1987-88.

Gandhi regretted that the Centre's response was 'most lethargic and insensitive' despite signals of widespread drought visible for several months.

She said the system of allocating resources by the Centre at the time of drought should not only be fair and equitable, but should also be seen to be fair, equitable and transparent.

Sonia sought to deny claims of the Centre that the states were not lifting foodgrains allocated to them.

She slammed the Centre's 'distorted' policy on Public Distribution System alleging that the allocation has been reduced.

She made a strong plea for a comprehensive review of several schemes like the Drought Prone Areas Programme and Desert Area Development Programme.

Stating there was no room for confrontation between the Centre and states over tackling of drought, she said the Centre must help states by providing flexibility in relief and rehabilitation programmes and without adding to their fiscal burden.

At one stage, Congress and ruling party members indulged in heated exchanges with each accusing the other of not doing enough for those suffering from drought. Perturbed over this, Speaker Manohar Joshi said, "This is an important issue. Let there be no allegations and counter allegations."

He said drought-hit farmers were watching the handling of the issue by the members whose approach should be focused on how to ameliorate their condition.

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