THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-January 13, 2017- Topic 1
Surviving
the drought
Tamil
Nadu’s move to declare a drought, ironically on the eve of the harvest festival of
Pongal, is an important step to address the agrarian distress that is sweeping
the State following poor rainfall during the northeast monsoon. Even with relatively
better governance structures, desperation among farmers has resulted in a spate
of suicides, particularly in the Cauvery delta rice belt that has received
little water from Karnataka in recent times.
An official declaration of drought brings relief: postponement of loan recovery, waiver of land tax and alternative employment through schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The challenge now is to infuse confidence among farmers that the government is fully behind them. As agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan has pointed out, there is a need to look ahead and institute reforms in drought management for effective distress mitigation. These should be founded on a participatory approach, one that intensively engages the farm community year-round.
A monsoon management centre drawing upon the
expertise of multiple departments would, for instance, help use scarce
resources conservatively during a drought, and maximise their potential in good
times. It is also crucial to preserve the health of cattle and other livestock,
as they tend to suffer irreparable harm during drought, with cascading effects
on their future productivity. The Centre should provide all support to achieve
this under the National Disaster Response Fund and the Prime Minister’s crop
insurance scheme.
An official declaration of drought brings relief: postponement of loan recovery, waiver of land tax and alternative employment through schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The challenge now is to infuse confidence among farmers that the government is fully behind them. As agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan has pointed out, there is a need to look ahead and institute reforms in drought management for effective distress mitigation. These should be founded on a participatory approach, one that intensively engages the farm community year-round.
The
importance of welfare support for small and marginal farmers cannot be
overstated, given the vagaries of the monsoon. More than a decade ago, the
National Commission on Farmers pointed out that successive droughts, illness,
high expenditure on social obligations and asset loss push farmers to the
brink. Yet, not much has changed in the management of drought from the
low-budget practices of the colonial era, as the Swaraj Abhiyan case in the Supreme Court last year revealed. No more time
can be lost in making the administrative system for agriculture responsive to
today’s needs. The Centre has to ensure that the Drought Management Manual is
updated to reflect farmers’ concerns, chiefly, giving weightage to the amount
of rainfall deficit and declaring a drought without delay. In Tamil Nadu,
excessive reliance on water-intensive rice cultivation, and lower priority for
hardy millets have raised the risk for many farmers. Active recharging of
groundwater and harvesting of surface water are vital to meet the challenges.
Vocabulary
Harvest: the process or
period of gathering in crops.
Example: Helping with the
harvest
Synonyms: harvesting, reaping, picking, collecting
Desperation: a state of
despair, typically one that results in rash or extreme behavior.
Example: She wrote to him
in desperation
Synonyms: hopelessness, despair, distress, anguish, agony
Spate: a large number of
similar things or events appearing or occurring in quick succession.
Example: A spate of attacks
on travelers
Synonyms: series, succession, run, cluster, string
Infuse: fill
Example: Her work is
infused with an anger born of pain and oppression
Synonyms: fill, suffuse, imbue, inspire, charge
Mitigation: the action of
reducing the severity, seriousness, or painfulness of something.
Example: The emphasis is on
the identification and mitigation of pollution
Scarce: insufficient for
the demand.
Example: As raw materials
became scarce, synthetics were developed
Synonyms: in
short supply, scant, scanty, meager, sparse
Preserve: food made with
fruit preserved in sugar, such as jam or marmalade.
Example: Home-made
preserves
Synonyms: jam, jelly, marmalade, conserve, fruit
spread
Irreparable: impossible
to rectify or repair.
Example: They were doing
irreparable damage to my heart and lungs
Synonyms: irreversible, irrevocable, irrecoverable
Reliance: dependence on or
trust in someone or something.
Example: The farmer's
reliance on pesticides
Synonyms: dependence, dependency; trust, confidence