A month after the Supreme Court gave a historic order drawing deadlines for the Centre and State governments to take drought-relief measures, it’s “business as usual” and ‘wilful disobedience” on all fronts, said various people’s movements that are monitoring the situation.

“One month has passed, but what we have seen so far is maximum paper compliance to give a report to the Supreme Court. There has been complete absence of compassion and urgency from the Centre and the States, which is leading to mass exodus from various districts as well as large-scale cattle deaths,”’ said Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj Abhiyan, which had filed the PIL on drought.

Terming the Centre’s role as “tragic”, PV Rajagopal of Ekta Parishad said people’s hearings across drought-hit districts revealed disturbing trends.

For one, water has become a business, tankers are booming, deeper digging of borewells is taking place under the nose of local administrations, mass migration continues after distress asset/land sales, leaving behind the elderly and cattle to fend for themselves.

“The maximum impact is on the vulnerable sections, such as Scheduled Caste/Tribes and women, most of them landless,” he added.

Rajagopal said another trend that was seen was of contractor-driven developmental activity rather than community-driven.

Nikhil Dey of Right to Food Campaign said “the sabotage of MNREGA by non-release of funds in time continues despite scathing observations by the Court; delayed payments and under-performance in meeting targets continue even in times of drought.”

Also, universal access to foodgrains in affected areas is not in place anywhere and “no State is anywhere close to implementing this critical directive”.

The ground assessments have brought to light the sad truth that the historic verdict of the highest court of the land is being disobeyed in more than one respect, said the organisations, such as Swaraj Abhiyan, Ekta Parishad, Jal Biradari, Right to Food Campaign among others at a press conference here on Thursday.

They said they would monitor the ground situation across all 13 drought-hit States and present a report to the Supreme Court when the case comes up for hearing on August 1.

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