India to set up drought relief

The Indian government has set up a taskforce to carry out drought relief for parts of the country suffering a severe shortage of rain.

Announcing the measures to parliament, the Indian finance minister, Jaswant Singh, said the shortage of rain was alarming -- and that the relief work would be carried out on "war footing".

The situation is said to be particularly bad in the fertile areas of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

A BBC correspondent says although the crops conditions are not yet catastrophic, if rain doesn't arrive in the next few days -- government relief work is likely to be implemented.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service