Ranchi, Sep 25 (IANS) The Central government on Wednesday declared 10 districts of Jharkhand as drought affected, an official said.

"The Central government has announced 10 districts of Jharkhand as drought affected. This will help around 12 lakh farmers of the state" state Agriculture secretary Pooja Singhal said here.

She said that the "Jharkhand government had requested the Central government to declare the 10 districts as drought affected".

The Central government has declared the 10 districts -- Chatra, Deoghar, Garwah, Giridih, Godda, Hazaribagh, Jamtatra, Koderma and Pakur -- as drought affected. A Central team had visited these district in the first week of August.

Jharkhand has witnessed a rain deficit of 34 per cent till end of August.

IANS
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