The Centre has provided relief worth Rs 11,157 crore (Rs 111.57 billion) to 17 drought-hit states since last year. This includes Rs 3,240 crore (Rs 32.40 billion) in cash and Rs 7,917 crore (Rs 79.17 billion) worth of foodgrains.

The cash component of the assistance comprised Rs 1,362.87 crore (Rs 13.63 billion) disbursed from the Calamity Relief Fund and Rs 1,877.32 crore (Rs 18.77 billion) released from the National Calamity Contingency Fund.

Agriculture Minister Rajnath Singh announced this at a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday. He said the high-level task force on drought, headed by Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, would meet on June 30 to review the situation.

It would also consider the demand of some states, notably Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, for more assistance to continue drought relief operations.

Singh said though the drought, which was a fallout of 49 per cent less rain in July 2002, had originally affected 17 states, only nine states were still being treated as drought-ravaged.

The states are Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

He said rainfall due to the south-west monsoon had now improved despite some deficiencies in the last two weeks.

"If the rainfall remains normal during the entire monsoon season, the country will this year harvest more foodgrains than the 212 million tonnes harvested in 2001-02," he said.

Singh said one of the measures included in the government's strategy to cope with drought was the arrangement of adequate supplies of farm inputs.

The other measures involved the supply of cash assistance and foodgrains and promotion of water conservation measures.

He asserted that there was no shortage of certified and quality seeds for crop planting in the current kharif season.

While the total demand for such seeds was 4.45 million quintals, the actual supplies were over 6.06 million quintals.

Arhar (pigeon pea) and groundnut were the only two crops for which the estimated demand exceeded supplies.

The shortage of arhar seed was estimated to be around 1,842 quintals and 51,509 quintals for groundnut. For all other kharif crops, the seed availability was in excess of the anticipated requirement.

Elaborating on the drought relief measures, the agriculture minister said the eight states, which had been excluded from the original list of 17 drought-affected states, had also received Central assistance of Rs 912 crore (Rs 9.12 billion) in cash and Rs 377 crore (Rs 3.77 billion) as foodgrains.

Denying allegations of discrimination by the Centre against the non-NDA ruled states in the disbursement of drought aid, Singh said Rajasthan (a Congress-ruled state) alone had got 41 per cent of the total assistance released from the NCCF.

This state also accounted for 37.5 per cent of the total foodgrains given to all the drought-hit states.