The Centre is ready with a contingency plan for 450 districts across the country to deal with any sort of drought situation. This was informed by Minister of State for Agriculture and Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat in New Delhi.

Rawat said the plan had been set up by the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture in consultation with the state governments and the district agriculture departments. The Minister further said the Government had also been playing an important role in assessing the situation. He said Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had already directed the ministries and departments to be vigilant in case of a deficient monsoon.