Odisha Government Announces Financial Relief and Rice for Families Affected by Cyclone Arnab

UPDATE - follow-up to Odisha CM announces special package for families affected by Cyclone Arnab: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi announced a special relief package on Sunday, November 2, 2026, for families hit by Cyclone Arnab and the heavy rain and floods in southern districts. Every affected family will receive 50 kilograms of rice and two thousand five hundred rupees in cash. The Chief Minister made this announcement after reviewing the flood situation in the evening, noting that districts like Ganjam, Gajapati, and Kandhamal suffered heavy damage. Thousands of acres of crops and multiple houses were destroyed, while assessment work is ongoing alongside relief and restoration tasks.

Relief and Compensation

Farmers facing crop losses of thirty-three percent and above will get financial support based on their land type. Small and marginal farmers with rain-fed areas will receive eight thousand five hundred rupees per hectare, while irrigated areas get seventeen thousand rupees per hectare. For perennial crops such as mango and cashew, the support is twenty-two thousand five hundred rupees per hectare, with a minimum subsidy of two thousand five hundred rupees for perennial crops and one thousand rupees for non-irrigated areas. The state will also give eighteen thousand rupees to farmers to remove sand and silt from fields, along with one lakh seventy-five thousand free mini kits. For housing, fully damaged homes in plains get one lakh twenty thousand rupees, and hilly areas get one lakh thirty thousand rupees, while partially damaged pucca and kutcha houses receive six thousand five hundred and four thousand rupees respectively.

Support for Businesses and Fisherfolk

Small shops, street vendors, and kiosks will get ten thousand rupees, while big shops and commercial establishments receive twenty-five thousand rupees. Fisherfolk will get twenty-two thousand five hundred rupees for buying boats and fifteen thousand rupees for nets, with fish farmers receiving financial help of up to seventy-five percent at a rate of one lakh twelve thousand rupees per hectare. Artisans in the handicrafts and handloom sectors will receive five thousand rupees for equipment and another five thousand rupees for raw material and finished goods losses. The Chief Minister stated that relief packages will be reviewed again after assessing damage from an upcoming cyclonic storm expected to hit the Andhra Pradesh coast, while expressing hope that normalcy will return in one or two days.

Context

Cyclonic storms regularly form in the Bay of Bengal during the post-monsoon season, often bringing heavy rainfall and floods to coastal Indian states like Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. Governments typically respond to such natural disasters by deploying administrative machinery for rescue operations and announcing financial packages for affected populations. These relief measures aim to help communities recover from losses in agriculture, housing, and small businesses.