Politics over drought relief hurts

There is nothing worse than a searing summer which leaves you drenched to the skin - in sweat - and that seems to be increasingly happening in the IT City, Bengaluru, once known for its cool weather and its cloudy skies through the day.

On Sunday, the mercury breached the 38 degree Celsius mark and one wonders if it is set for new records in the days to come before the first rains hit in June.

Elsewhere in the state, the temperature is already hovering around the 40 degree mark leaving farmers and rural folk in dire straits as their wells dry up and their crops wither in the sweltering heat.

Amidst this, the Karnataka government is engaged in a bitter duel with the BJP led NDA government at the Centre for funds to fight the drought which has ravaged the lush green fields of the state.

Karnataka, according to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has received a mere 3454 crores from the Centre when it should be actually paid Rs 18,171 crores.

Even this meagre amount has been released, according to the chief minister, after the state approached the Supreme Court and pleaded about the drought situation amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

The released amount accounts for only 20 per cent of the funds sought by the state based on actual reports on damage suffered on account of loss of crops, fodder, cattle, poultry and other agricultural resources on which people of rural areas are so dependent on.

The Centre’s reluctance obviously points to a subtle attempt to draw political capital from the woes of Karnataka - A Congress-ruled state - and reap the dividends in the ongoing elections.

To see the country as a whole putting aside political differences and to rush to the rescue of states and regions fighting a natural calamity is what statesman with sagacity and far-sighted vision would do.

Karnataka is a state which contributes lakhs of crores in foreign exchange in the form of exports from IT products and services to global markets. It also contributed Rs 2.5 lakh crore in Goods and Services Tax (GST) to the central kitty in 2023-24.

And therefore to expect its rightful share of drought aid cannot in any way be considered overtly ambitious.

As Siddaramaiah himself said a couple of months ago, the state contributes a total tax component of Rs 4.3 lakh crore every year to the Centre and sadly, gets back only Rs 13 for every Rs 100 it gives away.

This is no doubt unfair and more so when it has to go begging for drought relief in times of need and has to return with only a miniscule proportion of the demanded amount.

Karnataka has leaders like Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from the state and should have lent a sympathetic ear to the pleas of the state for more aid.

All that one needs to do is to make a trip through the parched fields in north Karnataka to realise how dire the situation is.

With a significant number of states ruled by regional parties which are not part of the BJP fold, it is in the best interests of the country for those in power at the Centre to set aside whatever political bias they may have and rush aid to the people who are crying for succour.

It would also be apt to remind them of the Mahatma’s quote which has reverberated through the decades. That ‘the real India lives in its villages’.

And when the villages are in the grip of despair and want, there is nothing more hurtful than this for any Indian who love his country most.