BANGALORE: A central team would visit Karnataka on December 14 and 15 to assess the situation in the drought-hit areas of the state.Agriculture Minister Umesh V Katti announced this during a discussion on drought and relief measures in the Assembly on Friday. Karnataka has declared 99 taluks out of the total 176 as drought-hit. Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah cited a news magazine report which he said put the number of farmers who have committed suicide in Karnataka at more than 6,000 in the last three years (2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11). He said the magazine secured the information through RTI from the crime records bureau at the state and national levels.Siddaramaiah added that the state’s revenue and agriculture departments would dispute the figure as it takes into account only those farmers who owned land and took loans, and not those who raised money through other sources. Government’s initiatives were not reaching the farmers and agricultural labourers and not helping grow rural economy, he alleged. The method adopted by the government in assessing the impact of drought was not scientific, he charged.
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