Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Court drought rap on Maharashtra

Court drought rap on Maharashtra

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Oct 6, 2016   modified Modified on Oct 6, 2016
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today pulled up the Maharashtra government for "not taking any interest" although hundreds of children had died of malnutrition in the state's drought-affected regions.

"You don't bother when people die of malnutrition because you think it is a small figure in a country with a large population," a bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and N.V. Ramana told a lawyer who appeared for the BJP-led state government.

Over 500 children have reportedly died over the past two years in the state's drought-hit regions.

The bench gave vent to its anger after the lawyer sought time to file an affidavit. "When children are dying, the state is not taking any interest, you (the counsel) are also not taking any instructions from the government," Justice Lokur, who was heading the bench, told the counsel. "Do you think we are wasting our time? You should have come out with instructions."

The court was dealing with a plea filed by an NGO, Swaraj Abhiyan, that sought adequate steps to provide succour to 115 districts across the country that are facing drought conditions.

The PIL had come in the backdrop of a declaration of drought in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana and Bihar. Prashant Bhushan, the counsel for the NGO, alleged that drought conditions in these 115 districts were as bad as last year, but remedial measures were not being taken by the states concerned.

The bench then asked a rural development ministry official, who was present in the court, for details of steps the Centre has taken to tackle the situation. The official said the Centre had come out with an advisory in August on 50 per cent deficit rainfall. "Subsequently, during September-end, we gave another advisory to the states to take a decision for declaring the rainfall-deficit districts as drought hit."

The official, however, said sowing acreage in the country had increased by 35 lakh hectares over the last 10 years and the likely rise in production would help in gradually overcoming the situation.

Bhushan said the states must be told to take a decision to declare a district as drought hit by October-end. The ministry official said the Centre had fixed certain parameters for declaring a district drought affected but state governments would have to take the final decision.

Additional solicitor general P.S. Narasimha said the Centre would come up with a new drought manual by December. The court adjourned the matter till October 24.

The Telegraph, 6 October, 2016, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1161006/jsp/nation/story_112241.jsp#.V_W6mPT3_N4


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close