Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara has sought Rs 22,400.58 crore in drought relief from the Centre, citing crop losses across 226 taluks and damage to agricultural crops spread over 57.93 lakh hectares.
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 urged the Centre to expedite the release of assistance and grant him appointments to present the state’s revised memorandum.
According to the memorandum, the estimated economic loss from the drought has reached Rs 62,481.88 crore. Karnataka’s cumulative drought-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. The increase of Rs 1,814.85 crore accounts for the rise in the state’s overall relief demand, while other components of the earlier memorandum remain unchanged.
Parameshwara, who also holds the Revenue portfolio, acknowledged the revision but said the enhanced assistance rates still did not reflect farmers’ actual cultivation expenses. The revised rates are Rs 11,000 per hectare for rainfed crops, Rs 22,000 for irrigated crops and Rs 30,000 for perennial crops.
“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,” he said in the letters, according to a press release.
He said the assistance framework should account for expenditure on seeds, fertilisers, agricultural labour, irrigation and other essential inputs. The state government has also raised concerns about the continued use of Agriculture Census 2015-16 data to determine eligibility for disaster assistance.
Parameshwara said decade-old landholding information might not reflect current agricultural conditions and could exclude eligible small and marginal farmers from relief. He urged the Centre to use Karnataka’s FRUITS, or Farmer Registration and Unified Beneficiary Information System, database, which contains updated and verified beneficiary information.
The deputy chief minister also called for a broader review of the disaster-relief framework, including more realistic assessments of cultivation costs, updated land records and assistance linked to the increasing intensity of climate-related disasters.
He urged the Centre to take cognisance of Karnataka’s revised requirement, facilitate an early appraisal of the claim and approve and release admissible financial assistance. He also called for coordination between the Union and state governments, saying farmers affected by drought needed timely support and a relief mechanism that reflected their losses and economic circumstances.
