Digvijay acts on cattle deaths

Reacting to reports in the The Indian Express of large-scale cattle deaths due to drought in Sheopur and the shortcomings in relief work highlighted by Jean Dreze of Delhi University and also reported in The Indian Express, the state government has taken a number of measures after senior officials confirmed the scale of the problem.

After a tour of Sheopur and Shivpuri by Satyananad Mishra, Principal Secretary (Revenue and Relief Work) and K.T. Chacko, Principal Secretary (Rural Development), confirmed the facts as they were reported, a meeting of the commissioners and collectors concerned was held in Gwalior on Friday.

The government has now ordered officials to target relief work at the Sahariyas, one of three primitive tribes in the state, who have been hit by the drought in the absence of agriculture work which sustains them through this period.

More grain has been released for the affected districts and since the Sahariyas will not have the means to sustain themselves till the next harvest, relief work will continue past the onset of the monsoons. Medical camps to check the extent of malnutrition in these areas has also been ordered to be stepped up.