Indian states, reeling from one of the worst droughts in a century, stepped up relief efforts yesterday as officials denied reports of the first deaths of people in a situation where livestock has already been badly hit and 50 million people are affected.
The government in the western coastal state of Gujarat - one of the worst-hit regions - said reports of a father and his seven-year-old daughter dying of starvation on Tuesday were false. "There have been no drought-related deaths in Gujarat so far," the state chief minister, Mr Keshubhai Patel, said.
However, the Times of India newspaper reported yesterday the widow of the dead man as saying the family had been surviving on half a piece of bread a day for more than a month.
The central government announced on Wednesday it was sending an Indian navy vessel to Gujarat with 8 million litres of drinking water.
The head of India's central bank, Mr Bimal Jalan, said yesterday that short-term production loans in drought-affected areas should be converted to medium-term loans. Mr Jalan also proposed the postponement of existing loan term instalments, "need-based crop loans" and working capital.
Relief efforts were also being stepped up in the western desert state of Rajasthan, as well as in the eastern state of Orissa and the southern province of Andhra Pradesh.
The Rajasthan relief minister, Mr Gulab Singh Shaktawat, said from the state capital, Jaipur, that trains carrying water would be sent to the worst affected regions.
"We will start this service in five days' time," he said. "We have provided employment for 418,000 people and set up camel camps for people wanting to provide their animals with food. Already there are 35,000 camels in the camps. We are giving their owners 10 rupees a day for their upkeep."
A Jaipur-based journalist, Rajender Bora, said the main Ramgarh dam reservoir near the city was drying up, as well as a famous lake in the town of Udaipur, whose star tourist attraction is a palace hotel surrounded by water. "You can now play football on parts of the lake," Mr Bora said.
Rajasthan, which is ruled by the main opposition Congress party, complained it had informed the Hindu nationalist-led coalition in November that 26 out of 32 districts faced drought conditions.
Mr Shaktawat said the warning had appeared to fall on deaf ears. Ms Christine van Nieuwenhuyse of the World Food Programme in Delhi agreed precious time had been lost in dealing with the situation. "We were already aware of the situation in November 1999. We responded by sending 1,500 tonnes of food grains, 150 tonnes of pulses and 50 tonnes of vegetable oil. It is sad that everybody just sits and waits for things to get worse."
Ms Van Nieuwenhuyse said a federal minister's statement that India had enough food stocks to feed its entire population was correct, but argued the problems relating to drought-affected people lay elsewhere.
"It is true that India has a surplus, but the problem is that the really needy don't have access to it," she said, adding that the government needed to have extra food stocks in chronically dry states and check an alarming fall in ground water levels everywhere.
Indian experts and the government of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, have conceded better management and preservation of rainwater is required in drought-prone areas.
With meteorologists predicting a late and insufficient summer monsoon, the central government has provided 9.5 billion rupees (£200 million) drought relief for the worst-hit states.
India released 21 Pakistani fishermen, who were captured in its territorial waters, from custody on Wednesday, a foreign ministry spokesman said yesterday. The fishermen have been allowed to inspect the sea-worthiness of their boats and could leave India at anytime, the spokesman added.