The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to create a disaster mitigation fund to tackle drought- like situation. A bench headed by Justice M B Lokur directed the Centre to also implement the provisions of Disaster Management Act and fix a time limit for declaration of drought on scientific grounds. It also asked the Centre to revise the drought management manual to provide effective relief to calamity-hit farmers and prepare a national plan to tackle the crisis.<br/><br/>The court directed Agriculture Ministry to hold a meeting within a week with Chief Secretaries of Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana to assess drought situation. The court also directed that the National Disaster Response Force should be trained and equipped to tackle the drought-like situation.<br/><br/>Earlier, the apex court had asked the Centre whether it was not its responsibility to warn the states about the drought like situation likely to prevail in the near future. The court had expressed its concern over low compensation paid to calamity-hit farmers and observed that it was leading some of them to commit suicide. The petitioner NGO, Swaraj Abhiyan, had sought a direction to Centre to abide by the provisions of MNREGA Act and use it for employment generation in drought-affected areas.