Odisha Drought Update- Aug 1- 15, 2009

No 1
Aug 1-15, 2009
Odisha Drought Update
A Civil Society Initiative on behalf of
Odisha Water Forum &
Odisha State Center, Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India

This
We also initiative
bring in is an attempt to provide periodical updates on Drought
Flood Situations
Updates;and For related events/news with respect to Drought in Odisha.
past Issues, please
followNews from Odia and English (Bhubaneswar internet editions)
the links news papers
are put together at one place to provide an appreciation of Drought in CONTENTS
1. Flood Update 1
2. Flood Update 2 Orissa periodically. 1.News (Headlines) from
Odisha Media during Aug 1-
3. Flood Update 3
15 2009.....1
4. Flood
Thisupdates
Drought4 Update is being circulated among media, decision makers – a.Drought Situation in the
5. Flood update 5 State.............................1
6. Floodlegislatures,
update 6
bureaucrats etc. with an aim to catalyze informed and
b.Drought Affected Areas.. . .2
7. Flood update7 expeditious decisions and actions. c.Impact on Agriculture......2
8. FloodWeupdate
request8 to all recipients and their civil society contacts/friends to d.Impact on Economy.........2
9. Flood update 9 e.Response of the
kindly mail (baitarani@gmail.com) /phone (Subhendu: 9937577428/0674- State/Central Govt............2
10. Flood update 10
6450323)
11. Flood us such
update 11 events/developments related to Drought in your areas for
2.Selected News from Local
English Media (1-15 Aug). . .2
12. Flood update
adding
12 value and meaning to this Civil Society Initiative.
a.Tribals steal water to usher
13. FloodNeedless
update 13
to say that all such news will be acknowledged with source in rain...........................2
14. Flood Alert 14 b.Drought set to dampen
Nuakhai .........................3
c.Fear of drought looms large
...................................3
d.IFFCO- TOKIO Insurance collected premium of 440 lakh in 2009 from Orissa ...............................................4

- Compiled by
Pranab R Choudhury, Subhendu Acharya & Priyabrata Satapathy
Odisha State Center, Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India & Odisha Water Forum
Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India
baitarani@gmail.com

1.News (Headlines) from Odisha Media during Aug 1-15 2009

1

a. Drought Situation in the State

o Fear of drought looms large (The New Indian Express -6/8/09)
o Possibility of drought in state (Samaj-7/8/09)
o Monsoon on hang, drought bell ringing (Samaj-8/8/09)

1
The Samaj, The Sambad, The Dharitri, The Pragatibadi, The Khabar & The New Indian Express; all
Bhubaneswar Edition
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 Odisha Drought Update- Aug 1- 15, 2009

b. Drought Affected Areas

o Drought specter haunts Balasore (The New Indian Express -8/8/09)

c. Impact on Agriculture
o Erratic monsoon delays kharif cultivation (The New Indian Express -5/8/09)
o Both farming and farmers in danger (Sambad - 7/8/09)
o Disturbed Monsoon; Kharif cultivation in trouble (Sambad - 6/ 8/09)
o Lack of rain leads to agricultural loss in 478 villages (Sambad -6/8/09)
o Oh……… Rain! Looming danger for agriculture (Sambad -6/8/09))
o North directed monsoon; agricultural activities will be affected (Sambad -
o 4/8/09
o Lack of rain causes 50% fall in Rabi cultivation (Samaj-8/8/09)
o About 67% land remains unirrigated in state during Kharif (Samaj-4/8/09)
o 4 Dists face Agri. loss due to lack of rain (Samaj- 6/8/09)
o No water in canal; Agri land cracked (Dharitri-3/8/09)
o One lack hectare agriculture land in Keonjhar face drought (Pragatibadi-10/8/09)

d. Impact on Economy
o The problem of less and more; Drought? Next fortnight will decide, Price remains sky high (The
New Indian Express -6/8/09)

e. Response of the State/Central Govt

o Chief Secys’ meet; State demands aid on farm credit (The New Indian Express -10/8/09)
o Drought control; Special attention will be given to Orissa, Sarat Power (Sambad -
o 10/8/09)
o Drought like situation in Orissa; state prepared, centre should help; Chief Secy (Sambad -
9/8/09)
o Drought like situation prevails; Prime Minister, No citizen will remain in empty stomach
(Sambad - 9/8/09)
o No rain; farmers in 4 dists will get compensation (Dharitri-6/8/09)

2.Selected News from Local English Media (1-15 Aug) 2

a. Tribals steal water to usher in rain

Naresh Chandra Pattanayak, TNN 13 August 2009, 11:22pm IST

KEONJHAR: As the rains play spoilsport this year, most people in villages have resorted to traditional
means of pleasing the rain god. They
2
Bhubaneswar Editions of The Pioneer, The Times of India & The New Indian Express

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 Odisha Drought Update- Aug 1- 15, 2009

believe pleasing the deity is the only way they can get back on the good books of fate and ensure a
comfortable living for their family.

One of the most popular rituals is worshipping Indra'. Tribal women in Telkoi block have adopted quite
an unusual technique to make the deity happy. They keep day-long fasts and steal water from another
district hoping to find favour with, what they believe is the supernatural source of rain.

"There are many who believe in this ritual blindly and will continue with it till the showers arrive. Not
just tribal women but other villagers too have begun to keep fasts. It is a 50-year-old tradition and is
a matter of faith for locals," said a villager.

Low rainfall in the last one month has created almost a drought-like situation in Telkoi block. Many
believe the gods are upset and they must do everything within their means to please them.

As part of the puja they bring out colourful processions to other districts before stealing water from
there. "No man is allowed to participate in the procession. They eat the first morsel only after
returning and worshipping local deities," said Radha Ranjit, a tribal woman from Madhyapur village.

One such procession was brought out by the residents of Madhyapur and Deuladiha on Saturday. They
walked for 10 km to a river in Angul district's Magarmuhan village.

Locals from Karangadihi, Deulidiha, Jenadar, Udayagiri and Pancha Mundia have already completed
the puja.

"This practise has been followed for the last 50 years. The villagers also collect paddy and other grains
to offer the local deity and rain gods," said Tankadhara Pradhan, a senior citizen.

b. Drought set to dampen Nuakhai

Express News Service

First Published : 14 Aug 2009 04:14:00 AM IST

SAMBALPUR: With Nuakhai, the popular festival of western Orissa, barely a fortnight away, the hectic
activity, noticed much ahead of the festival, is clearly missing with the threat of drought looming
large.

During Nuakhai, the agrarian mass festival of Western Orissa, each farmer customarily offers the first
grain of the harvest to the Almighty and then partakes it. But with the monsoon playing truant and the
farmers spending their saving to save their crop, Nuakhai is all set to become a dull affair this time.
With no sight of rain and agricultural land developing cracks, there is no work for the peasants and
the landless. In fact the landless labourers and peasants migrate to distant land in search of greener
pasture after Nuakhai but this year with no work around in villages, many have reportedly migrated.
Although the festival will be celebrated, it will be low key affair and the entire festivity will only be
confined to worshipping and thanking the God in rural areas, said many. Pradeep Patel who has lost his
entire sapling sowed over marginal land holding said that besides pumping in all his saving, he has also
availed loan from private money lender as his last ditch effort to last bid effort to save the crop. Now
, with hardly any money left he gears up to leave for Hyderabad to work in brick kiln only to return
before the next monsoon praying for good rain.

c. Fear of drought looms large

Express News Service
First Published : 06 Aug 2009 10:42:24 AM IST

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 Odisha Drought Update- Aug 1- 15, 2009

SAMBALPUR: Is Sambalpur heading for a drought? Well, if it does not rain for another week the farmers
fears might just turn out to be true. While delayed monsoon has led to cultivation on only about 60
per cent land till now, those who dared to go ahead with cultivation await rains -- which seem to have
changed its path.

‘’It would not be an exaggeration if we say that drought stalks the district and if it does not rain
within a week, there will be no chance of the crop sown for paddy surviving,’’ said a visibly frightened
farmer.
In Sambalpur district, the total cultivable area is 1,93,674 hectares of which 62,368 hectares is
irrigated. Out of the total cultivable land, paddy is cultivated over 1,04,520 hectares. However, due
to late rain and delay in releasing water into the canal system, only 65,178 hectares have been
cultivated, about 38 per cent short of the target set for cultivation. Normally, transplantation of
paddy saplings is over by July 31 but with insufficient and erratic rainfall, transplantation process
continues till date. Usually, it rains when paddy seeds are sown to grow saplings. However, delayed
rain forced the farmers to postpone the sowing of seeds. Although it rained heavily thereafter, with
the paddy saplings not attaining the required height, transplantation work was also affected and had
to be postponed.
The normal rainfall in June is 221 mm but this year only 81.2 mm has been recorded in June only on
two days. Similarly the normal rainfall for July is 429.5 mm against which only 635.5 mm was
recorded. It could have helped in the cultivation process if it had rained evenly over the entire month
but many days going dry, the farmers failed to reap any benefit from the downpour. Cracks have
already developed on agricultural lands due to lack of water and farmers are worried about the
consequences. While the situation is bad in rainfed areas, the condition is little better in command
areas. Moreover, erratic rainfall has taken its toll on Jamankira block of the district which is already
at the door of drought. The fact that Jamankira block received just 25.4 mm rain in June and 478 mm
in July speaks about the pattern of rainfall which is not conducive to agriculture. However, Deputy
Director Agriculture, DC Pal said the condition was still under control excepting rain shadow area of
Jamankira block. Paddy as a crop has strong immune system, he said and was hopeful of rain.

d. IFFCO- TOKIO Insurance collected premium of 440 lakh in 2009 from Orissa
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Report by Orissadiary correspondent; Bhubaneswar : IFFCO- TOKIO Insurance company has collected
premium of 440 lakh during this current year against the last years collection of 364 lakh. This is
about 21 % increase of transaction than last year. The company started Sankat Haran Insurance
scheme from 2001,September 30.Up to the end of June 2009 51.33 crore has been paid to the eligible
claimants of 8,500 of the country . In this scheme 7.14 laks has been given to 22 claimants of Orissa.
Again the IFFICO - TOKIO company has started Barish Insurance scheme since 2004-2005.Till now total
44950 policy holders has been paid 11.78 crore and total 196783 farmers have been involved with the
scheme. This Barish scheme has been introduced in Cuttack, Ganjam,Khurda, and Nayagarh district of
Orissa since June 2009. To help the farmers mitigate the loss on account of flood, drought and disease
in animals, Iffco-Tokio General Insurance, the private general insurer, plans to start a pilot project on
cattle insurance in Orissa.

The project will use an innovative micro-chip induced claim handling system which can reduce
manipulations in claims. It will be launched in September this year in Khurda district in association
with a reputed non-government organisation (NGO). The insurance premium for the scheme will be
about 2 to 4 percent of the value of the animal which is affordable given the high claims ratio in the
cattle insurance, Inaugurating the Orissa state office in Bhubaneswar , Director (marketing) of
Iffco-Tokio General Insurance Company N K Kedia, said here.

Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID) tagging system will be leveraged to identify the cattle
and mitigate loss. Stating that the claims ratio is very high in cattle insurance due to manipulations,
he said, the company intends to use a micro-chip induced claim handling system to avoid
manipulations in the process. Though brass tags or polythenes are used to identify the cattle at
present, it is not tamper proof, which is resulting in adverse claim ratio and high premium. As a way
out, an innovative and unique micro-chip has been developed by the company which will be
embedded to the animal. This chip is capable of wireless transmission of the identity of an object and
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use of it can help track the animal. The persons managing cattle will be trained under the project, he
said. While the inputs from the Orissa project are expected in December, the company intends to
launch similar pilot projects in states like Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujrat.

However, the partnering organisations could be NGOs, dairy or co-operatives, Kedia added. The cattle
insurance scheme can ensure individual cattle management, exact identification of animal and ability
to scan the RFID tags to utilise artificial insemination data and pregnancy of cows among others. It
may be noted, the company is working on weather insurance where loss of farmers on account of
climate variation can be taken care of. It has already launched pilot projects based on Normalised
Difference Vegetable Index (NDVI) in three locations namely Ambikapur (Madhya Pradesh), Cudappah
and Nizamabad in (Andhra Pradesh). Iffco-Tokio General Insurance aims to sell about 30 lakh policies
by the end of the current fiscal.