FOOD GRAINS ALLOCATION FOR DROUGHT AFFECTED STATES

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The Task Force on Drought Management headed by the Deputy Prime Minister Shri L.K. Advani at its meeting here today reviewed the situation in some of the drought affected States and allocated 19.39 lakh tonnes of food grains for employment generation programmes for the next three months i.e. from April to June, 2003. The Agriculture Minister and Member of the Task Force Shri Ajit Singh later announced the State-wise allocation of food grains which is as follows:

S.No. State Allocation(lakh tonnes)

1. Orissa 4.44

2. Tamil Nadu 3.50

3. Andhra Pradesh 3.15

4. Madhya Pradesh 2.67

5. Karnataka 1.65

6. Gujarat 1.48

7. Maharashtra 1.15

8. Chattisgarh 0.93

9. Kerala 0.42

Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Shri K.C. Pant, Finance Minister Shri Jaswant Singh, Railway Minister Shri Nitish Kumar, Minister of Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Shri Sharad Yadav, Rural Development Minister Shri Shanta Kumar and Secretaries and senior officials of various Departments attended the Task Force Meeting.

Shri Ajit Singh said that Committee of Secretaries will soon consider revision of norms for allocation of food grains for the drought affected States and will submit their report for the consideration of the Task Force at its meeting on 23^rd March, 2003.