India's PM Singh: Country Faces "Severe" Drought; Pledges Grain Stocks Enough For Shortfalls - AFP

India faces a "severe" drought but the country's ample food grain stock will ensure no one goes hungry, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday. Monsoon rains, the lifeline for farms that support more that half of India's 1.1 billion population, have been scant and about 40 percent of India's districts have declared a drought.

"No one has control over drought. It's a severe drought," said Singh during a trip to the arid western state of Rajasthan to inaugurate a giant new oilfield, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

India's Meteorological Department (IMD) said Saturday the country faced a 24-percent annual rainfall deficiency, but patchy rains are expected during the end of the monsoon season. "The last few sporadic showers could help the winter crop that is sown around October-November," director of the IMD, B.P.Yadav, told AFP.

Singh said there were sufficient food grain stocks to support the Public Distribution System, a government network that manages food distribution and the supply of grains to poor households at subsidised levels.

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