New Delhi, Aug 06: A long-term central initiative to tackle the drought situation is likely to be finalised after August 15 when the final picture about the extent of damage caused by the current dry spell will be known. Both finance minister Jaswant Singh and deputy chairman, Planning Commission, K C Pant, today agreed that they would finalise a contingency strategy only after a final assessment is made by the meteorological department.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Singh, Pant said the Commission would wait until August 15 to assess the impact of the drought on the first year of the tenth five year plan.

"We are awaiting the assessment of the impact of the rainfall pattern from the meteorological department representative who was present in the meeting called by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on August one," he said. The commission in its approach paper to the 10th plan had forecast a four per cent growth from the agriculture sector and laid special emphasis on the growth in the sector to attain an eight per cent GDP growth target.
Bureau Report