Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara has sought Rs 22,400.58 crore in drought relief from the Centre after crop losses across 226 taluks, urging the Union government to expedite the appraisal and release of assistance to affected farmers.
In separate letters dated November 2 to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Parameshwara requested urgent appointments to present the state’s revised memorandum and explain the scale of the losses. He also holds Karnataka’s Revenue portfolio.
According to the memorandum, drought has affected crops spread across 57.93 lakh hectares in the state. The estimated economic loss has been placed at Rs 62,481.88 crore. Karnataka’s cumulative relief requirement has been revised upwards from Rs 20,585.73 crore after the Centre changed assistance norms under the State Disaster Response Fund and National Disaster Response Fund for 2026-27 to 2030-31.
The revised norms, notified by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on October 26, increased Karnataka’s crop-loss input subsidy requirement from Rs 6,128.70 crore to Rs 7,943.55 crore. This represents an increase of Rs 1,814.85 crore, while the other components of the state’s earlier memorandum remain unchanged.
The revised assistance rates are Rs 11,000 per hectare for rainfed crops, Rs 22,000 for irrigated crops and Rs 30,000 for perennial crops. Parameshwara acknowledged the change in the norms but said the enhanced rates remained below farmers’ actual cultivation expenses, including the costs of seeds, fertilisers, agricultural labour, irrigation and other essential inputs.
“Our farmers cannot be expected to confront the economic realities of 2026 with a relief framework that does not adequately recognise the true cost of cultivation and the magnitude of their losses,” Parameshwara said in his letters, according to a press release.
The deputy chief minister also questioned the continued use of Agriculture Census 2015-16 data to determine eligibility for disaster assistance. He said decade-old landholding records might not reflect current agricultural conditions and could exclude eligible small and marginal farmers from relief.
Karnataka has asked the Centre to consider its FRUITS, or Farmer Registration and Unified Beneficiary Information System, database for identifying beneficiaries. The state said the system contains updated and verified farmer information.
Parameshwara also called for a wider review of the disaster-relief framework, including more realistic cultivation-cost assessments, updated land records and assistance linked to the increasing intensity of climate-related disasters. He urged the Union government to facilitate an early appraisal of Karnataka’s revised claim and release the admissible financial assistance.
He said coordination between the Centre and the state government was necessary to ensure timely support for drought-affected farmers. The next steps sought by Karnataka are an appraisal of the revised memorandum, approval of eligible assistance and the release of funds by the Union government.
