Overview
- The Maharashtra government issued a resolution on Saturday declaring 265 of the state’s 358 talukas drought-affected, covering about 74% of talukas.
- Officials have directed district collectors to begin panchnamas and ground-level crop assessments that include photographs and GPS coordinates and to send reports through the Agriculture Commissioner.
- The state announced immediate relief measures such as land revenue concessions, loan restructuring and moratoriums, electricity bill concessions for farm pumps, tanker water supply and relaxed work norms under the rural employment scheme.
- Authorities tied formal financial assistance for confirmed crop losses to the completed verification process, saying specific crop-loss payouts will be declared only after the prescribed surveys are submitted.
- State data show an 18.8% statewide rainfall shortfall for the June 1–September 18 Kharif season with some divisions and districts reporting 27–50% deficits, a pattern the government links to current El Niño conditions and that has driven farmer protests over failed crops and fodder and water shortages.