Andhra Pradesh Government on Saturday declared 456 Mandals in 15 districts of the state as drought affected. The State Cabinet has decided this at the meeting held in Hyderabad on Saturday evening. Briefing media about the cabinet decisions, State Information and Public Relations Minister D K Aruna said these 456 Mandals were affected due to rainfall deficit.Earlier, the officials of Agriculture department preliminarily estimated that the crops in nearly 16 lakh hectares in these Mandals were affected. According to them, over 2100 crore rupees crop losses were estimated during the present Kharif agriculture season due to rainfall deficit.The State Cabinet also decided to provide reservations to the Creamy Layer in the Backward Castes in the Local Body Elections for Municipal Corporations. The State cabinet has decided to amend the existing laws enabling to provide reservations to the creamy layer in the Backward Castes in the upcoming elections for Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam municipal Corporations. The state had earlier provided reservations to these sections during the elections for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.