Karnataka lists 217 of 240 talukas as drought-hit and seeks ₹7,143 crore

Karnataka has now listed 217 of its 240 talukas as drought-affected, after the state government added 40 names to the tally. That is about 90 percent of the state's sub-districts. The government puts crop losses at about ₹46,000 crore, in line with an earlier working figure of ₹46,324.50 crore. It has asked the Centre for ₹7,142.64 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund. An earlier request was for ₹3,705.30 crore. The ask has nearly doubled as the taluka list has grown.

Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said that if farmers suffer, everything comes to a standstill, and that the Centre should help the state's farmers. A central inter-ministerial team began a three-day ground assessment on 3 October and is due to finish on 6 October. The team collects district data and files a report before any NDRF release. The state's number and the Centre's number do not have to match. They rarely do on the first pass.

The rainfall record behind the list is stark. By late September the state had received about 530 millimetres against a normal 816, a deficit of about 35 percent, according to figures given by state officials in September. Home minister G. Parameshwara said the deficiency was 42 percent in June, 29 percent in July and 23 percent in August, then widened to 58 percent in the September window he was describing. He called this the worst drought since systematic records began in 1875, worse than 2023, which had been described as the worst in 124 years at a 25 percent deficit. Vijayanagara was the driest district in that briefing, at a 63 percent deficit. All 31 districts were affected. Twenty-seven talukas were in severe deficiency.

Sowing has already shown the gap. Farmers had covered 68.7 lakh hectares against a target of 84.1 lakh hectares. In 11 districts, sowing sat below 75 percent of plan. Horticulture area for crops such as potato, beans, carrot and tomato fell from about 4.4 lakh hectares to about 3.8 lakh hectares. A joint survey in 101 talukas already declared drought-hit found crop damage above 33 percent on 19.5 lakh hectares, of which 17.8 lakh were agricultural and 1.7 lakh horticulture, plantation and perennial. That slice alone was priced at ₹18,748.2 crore. The newer ₹46,000 crore figure covers the wider 217-taluka map, including areas still being assessed when Parameshwara spoke.

Drinking water has a separate ledger. The state has released ₹306 crore for water measures since April and drawn up plans for 6,774 works, of which 5,072 were reported complete in the September briefing. Those works keep taps running. They do not replace a failed kharif crop. The NDRF request is the crop ledger. The ₹306 crore is the water ledger. Mixing them produces a number nobody has approved.

The political clock is the inter-ministerial visit ending on 6 October. If the team accepts a large share of the 217 talukas, a release can follow under NDRF norms, usually below the state's ask. If it marks fewer talukas as eligible, Bengaluru will have a ₹46,000 crore loss figure and a smaller cheque. Farmers in Vijayanagara and the other severe-deficit talukas will see the same failed fields either way. The difference is whether compensation arrives before the next sowing window or after it.

Rabi sowing is the deadline that does not wait for the file to close. A farmer who could not plant the full kharif target of 84.1 lakh hectares has less residue and less cash for the winter crop. The ₹7,142.64 crore request is the state's attempt to put a number on that gap under NDRF rules, which pay for crop loss above a threshold, not for the whole ₹46,000 crore. The gap between those two figures is the part no central team will fund. It is also the part the taluka list cannot shrink.