The Hindu Business Line : No populism in drought work, warns Jaswant

THE Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, has warned against `populism' and `competitive politicisation' in dealing with the prevailing drought situation in significant areas of the country.

Addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry here on Wednesday, Mr Singh advocated a pragmatic, `solution-oriented' approach for tackling the drought, while stating that a comprehensive assessment of the situation would be done in a couple of days.

The exact impact of the deficient south-west monsoon rains on the country's gross domestic product would be known only by end-October, he added.

The Minister endorsed the view of writing-off bank dues of small farmers in areas which have faced successive natural calamities in the last 3-4 years. He also said that the coverage of rural employment schemes would be looked into afresh to meet the emerging scenario.

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