The government machinery has failed to learn from past mistakes - delayed action costs more resources and has less impact.
The biggest hurdle in providing much needed drought relief (employment generation, fodder distribution, drinking water, and desertification) is corruption in the
government machinery itself. The state governments accept that there are huge leakages in its drought relief works and officials admit that at least 30-40 per cent of the money never reaches the people. Out of the money reserved for wages, only a fraction actually goes to the poor worker, the rest is illegal income for bureaucracy, contractors and politicians.
In some districts, the public distribution system (PDS) has collapsed. Food grain meant for drought-hit people was being diverted to the black market.
Drought becomes an annual disaster when efforts are not made to drought-proof the area - that is to provide long-term relief against drought. This can be only be done by regenerating the natural resource base in villages by good management of land, water and forest resources so that there is a buffer for times when rains are below normal.
The focus of the Rural Works Program is employment generation. Besides, people’s participation is essential to make the programs sustainable. It takes 10-15 years for the village to regenerate its ecology and to insulate itself from drought. Local government
institutions (such as panchayats at the village level) must be given the responsibility for employment generation and maintenance of the resources created.
The district bureaucracy’s stranglehold over the programs must be loosened. The employment guarantee schemes have failed because they did not directly involve the stakeholders in the creation of wealth. The priority of these programs is only on the construction of roads, rather than productive assets like soil and water conservation bodies.
The availability of water in villages is directly proportional to the number of years put into water conservation and the presence of village level institutions to manage these resources. Community institutions to manage the water also help in checking migration and in recharging groundwater.
An analysis of the government’s failure in carrying out its drought relief programs shows that the most important thing is to put in place decentralized, village-level institutions to manage drought relief. The involvement of the village assembly should be made mandatory. Water harvesting structures lead to agriculture development in poor areas, creating jobs on a permanent basis.