The condition of decreased availability of water below the statistical requirements is termed as drought. The high temporal and spatial variations in rainfall and climatic conditions cause droughts almost every year in varying magnitudes A region is said to be in the grip of drought when the rainfall deficiency vary from −20 to −59 per cent (early warning), −60 to 99 per cent (drought) and −1005 of normal (severe drought) conditions. India’s 68 per cent area is drought-prone in varying degrees. Out of which 35 per cent of India’s region receiving rainfall between 750 and 1125 mm is considered drought prone whereas, 33 per cent region receiving less than 750 mm rainfall is severely drought prone.
Causes of Drought
The prime factor responsible for droughts in India is climate change like variability in the volume and rainfall pattern from the southwest monsoon. Another factor behind droughts in India is the El Niño phase of the Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
Factors like improper agricultural practice, land-use changes and drainage issues reduce the water retention capacity in the soil.
Degradation of natural resources, deforestation and poor water management have caused more severe drought occurrences and vulnerability.
Impact of Drought
The impacts of drought are of varying degrees at economic, environmental and social scale.
Droughts have caused agricultural losses to the farmers badly affecting their income and purchasing power resulting in unemployment of farmers. The drought in India in 2002, is considered one of the severest affecting the livelihoods of 300 million people and 150 million cattle in 18 states impacting 56 per cent of its geographical area.
Few other consequences of drought are shortage of drinking water supplies, food insecurity, malnutrition, starvation, fodder deficit, distress sale of animals, lowering of soil moisture and groundwater table, etc.
Typical examples of areas with drought-related deprivation are regions of Rajasthan, Bundelkhand, Karnataka and Odisha whereas improper agricultural practices and poor water management leads to drought in states like Punjab, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, etc.
Drought Management in India
India’s drought management strategies over the years have been fruitful towards overall development. Few examples are the drought of 1965–1967 encouraging ‘green revolution’ and the 1972 drought causing development of employment generation programmes for the rural poor.
Over the years, there has been a shift in India’s focus towards adopting a relief centric approach to the drought management strategy that includes institutional mechanisms, employment generation, community participation, operation of EWS and social welfare practices.
Institutional Mechanism
India has an institutional mechanism in place to ensure implementation of its scheme through coordinated action across ministries. The National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) have been constituted under the 2005 Disaster Management Act to provide immediate relief to the drought-affected people. The National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) in 1999 and Weatherbased Crop Insurance Scheme in 2007 were also introduced to combat the adverse financial impacts of drought.
For coordinating the efforts in dealing with drought in various states, the Drought Management Group was constituted. For monitoring the drought situation in different states, the National Disaster Management Cell was constituted and National Calamity Contingency Fund was constituted to deal with calamities of severe nature.
The government started the Drought Prone Area Development Programme and Desert Development Programme to mitigate drought effects through implementation of plans based on integrated estimation of resources from remote sensing data.
Some other institutes dedicated to drought management tasks include, the Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Indian Council of Forestry Research and Training etc.
Employment Generation and Social Welfare Practices
The Government of India has come up with several programmes to help build communities’ adaptability of communities against drought. The National Mission for Green India is launched with the objective of improving the quality of forest cover. Presently 2.14 billion dollar is allocated for a period of 2012–2017, to address 2.8 million hectares (mha) of degraded lands and enhance livelihoods of the people dependent on them.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is launched with focus largely on land, water and afforestation activities.
Similarly, the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) has been initiated with the objective of developing 75 million hectares of rainfed/degraded area during 2007–2027 in a phased manner.
India’s draft National Water Policy is launched with focus on issues such as the water scarcity, inequities in its distribution and the lack of planning, management and use of water resources.
The National Watershed Development Project for Rainfed Areas, National Horticulture Mission, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, National Food Security Mission, and National Mission on Micro Irrigation are the other programmes
Community participation
The effectiveness of government efforts could be enhanced through community participation approach. In this approach, the Gram Sabha or Panchayat recommend relief works and Districts and Block-level committees play the role of sanctioning and monitoring relief works and NGOs provide training and motivation.