Telangana declares 365 mandals drought-hit for Vanakalam 2026: rain 17% short, paddy down by 12 lakh acres

The Telangana government has declared 365 mandals across 31 districts drought-affected for the Vanakalam 2026 season. The notification, issued on 24 October, classes 111 mandals as severely affected and 254 as moderately affected, and remains in force for six months. Mandals left out for now stay under the watch of the State Drought Monitoring Cell and can be added through a supplementary notification.

The numbers behind the declaration are stark. Between 1 June and 30 September the state received 615.5 mm of rain against a normal of 740.6 mm, a shortfall of 17%. The southwest monsoon was weakened by El Niño, the low-pressure systems in the Bay of Bengal were feeble and dry spells ran long.

Fields left empty

Farmers planted less as the rain failed. The Vanakalam crop area fell in 18 of the state’s 33 districts, and across Telangana it dropped from 139.28 lakh acres to 126.06 lakh acres. Paddy took the biggest hit, down 18% from 69.19 lakh acres to 57 lakh acres. Water for the coming Yasangi season is also short: live storage in major and medium reservoirs stands at 179.63 tmcft against a capacity of 585 tmcft.

What the state wants from the Centre

The declaration opens the door to central drought relief. The Legislative Assembly, in a resolution passed on 18 September, asked the Centre to send a team to assess the drought, release its share of the State Disaster Response Fund and help with crop losses, input subsidies, drinking water, fodder and groundwater. It also sought 50 more days of work under the VB-G RAM G rural employment scheme, fully paid for by the Centre, extra fertiliser, 1,500 MW of additional power and a relief package of Rs 20,000 crore. The resolution further asks that the state’s borrowing limit for 2026-27 be raised from 3% to 3.5% of its gross state domestic product.