Why in News?

  • The Maharashtra Government has declared drought conditions in 265 out of 358 talukas, covering nearly 74% of the state's landmass, due to deficient monsoon rainfall.
  • Similar drought-like conditions and water stress are being reported in Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan.
  • India supports nearly 18% of the global population with only 4% of the world's freshwater resources, making drought a serious risk to agriculture, food security, rural livelihoods and economic growth.

What is a Drought?

Drought is generally considered a deficiency in rainfall/precipitation over an extended period, resulting in a water shortage that causes adverse impacts on vegetation, animals, and people.

Drought Scenario in India

  • According to the Drought Atlas of India (1901–2020), nearly two-thirds of India is drought-prone.
  • During this period, about 56% of India's area experienced moderate to exceptional drought, affecting around 300 million people and 150 million cattle.
  • Crop losses caused an estimated USD 8.7 billion economic loss and reduced agricultural GDP by 3.1%.

Changing Face of Drought in India

  • Traditionally, drought was seen as a phenomenon of arid and semi-arid areas; however, high-rainfall regions now face severe scarcities.
  • Cherrapunji (Meghalaya), one of the world's highest rainfall areas, now faces drought for almost nine months of the year.
  • The western part of Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) records only around 9 cm of rainfall a year.

Classification of Drought

The Manual for Drought Management, 2009 (Union Ministry of Agriculture, prepared by NIDM) classifies drought into three categories:

  1. Meteorological Drought: Deficiency in precipitation compared with the long-term average over an extended period. It is the first stage of drought and can trigger other forms. A rainfall deficit of 26–50% is a moderate drought; a deficit of more than 50% is a severe drought.
  2. Hydrological Drought: Shortage of surface and groundwater resources for normal and specific uses. It may occur even when rainfall is normal if withdrawal exceeds available water reserves, causing declining river flows, reservoir levels and groundwater availability.
  3. Agricultural Drought: Inadequate soil moisture and rainfall for crop growth. In India, it is defined as:
  • 4 consecutive weeks of severe meteorological drought with >50% rainfall deficiency, or
  • Weekly rainfall ≤5 cm from mid-May to mid-October (Kharif season, when ~80% of India's crops are planted), or
  • 6 consecutive weeks during the rest of the year.

Drought Declaration Mechanism

  • Traditionally, District Collectors used the annewari/paisewari/girdawari system (post-harvest loss estimation).
  • The Manual for Drought Management, 2009 recommends four standard monitoring tools:
  • Rainfall Deficiency: Drought can be declared if June–September rainfall is less than 75% of the average, or June–July rainfall is less than 50%.
  • Area under Sowing: Sowing area less than 50% of total cultivable area by end of July/August.
  • Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI): Satellite-based vegetation density indicator (via NADAMS); drought may be declared when deviation from normal is 0.4 or less.
  • Moisture Adequacy Index (MAI): Weekly water balance (ratio of actual to potential evapotranspiration); MAI below 25 indicates severe agricultural drought.
  • The State Government is the final authority for declaring an area drought-affected.
  • Two key reference documents — Manual for Drought Management, 2009 (Ministry of Agriculture) and Guidelines for Management of Drought, 2010 (NDMA) — are non-binding, allowing states flexibility.

Financial and Institutional Framework

  • State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) provides initial financial assistance.
  • If SDRF funds are depleted, the Centre sends an Inter-Ministerial Central Team to assess losses, after which assistance is released from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
  • The Ministry of Home Affairs oversees relief for most natural calamities, but the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare is the nodal ministry for droughts, hailstorms and pest attacks.

Judicial Intervention: Swaraj Abhiyan vs Union of India (2016)

  • The Supreme Court held that drought qualifies as a "disaster" under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
  • The Court linked drought declaration with Article 21, observing that failure to declare drought can deprive vulnerable people of essential assistance required to live with dignity.

Causes of Drought in India

Meteorological and Climatic Causes

  • Erratic South-West Monsoon: India receives roughly 70–80% of annual rainfall in the four-month monsoon; delayed onset, prolonged "monsoon breaks" or early withdrawal trigger meteorological drought.
  • El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO): Warming of the equatorial Pacific disrupts the Walker Circulation, historically correlating with severe rainfall deficits and droughts in India.
  • Climate Change: Altered micro-climates cause short, intense rain bursts followed by prolonged dry spells, impacting the Moisture Adequacy Index.

Anthropogenic Causes

  • Skewed Cropping Patterns: MSP policies and free electricity encourage water-guzzling crops like sugarcane in Marathwada and paddy in Punjab/Haryana (semi-arid zones), causing massive "virtual water export" from water-stressed regions.
  • Over-exploitation of Groundwater: India is the world's largest extractor of groundwater; unregulated deep borewells have decoupled agriculture from annual recharge, triggering hydrological drought.
  • Ecological Degradation: Deforestation, wetland destruction and encroachment on traditional water bodies (Johads, Baolis, Eris) have reduced natural water-retention capacity.

Key Challenges in Drought Management

  • Non-binding guidelines: The 2009 Manual and 2010 NDMA Guidelines are advisory, leading to variations in timing and methodology of drought declaration across states.
  • Delayed declaration and relief: Reliance on post-harvest crop-cutting experiments (annewari/paisewari) instead of early-warning tools like NDVI delays relief from the SDRF.
  • Fragmented water governance: Water management is siloed between the Central Water Commission (surface water) and the Central Ground Water Board (groundwater), preventing a holistic, basin-level approach.
  • Relief over mitigation: Despite the Disaster Management Act, 2005 mandating proactive risk reduction, states largely engage in reactive crisis management (tankers, fodder).
  • Low micro-irrigation penetration: Drip and sprinkler adoption remains concentrated in a few states due to high initial capital costs for marginal farmers.

Measures Needed to Strengthen Drought Management

Agronomic Reforms

  • Agro-climatic zoning: Align cropping patterns strictly with regional water availability.
  • Crop diversification: Shift from paddy and sugarcane to drought-resistant crops like millets (Shree Anna), pulses and oilseeds through robust MSP and procurement support.

Technological and Scientific Interventions

  • Mandate use of satellite data from the National Agricultural Drought Assessment and Monitoring System (NADAMS) for objective, NDVI/MAI-based drought declarations.
  • Scale up the Per Drop More Crop component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY).

Institutional Restructuring

  • Implement the Mihir Shah Committee (2016) recommendation to create a unified National Water Commission for integrated surface and groundwater management.
  • Decentralized groundwater budgeting: Empower Gram Panchayats to audit and regulate village-level extraction, scaling up models like the Atal Bhujal Yojana.
  • Rejuvenate traditional water bodies: Leverage funds and the Jal Shakti Abhiyan to de-silt tanks, build check dams and construct rainwater harvesting structures.

Conclusion

Drought in India is a governance, agricultural and water-security challenge, not merely a rainfall deficit. India must shift from reactive drought relief to proactive drought-proofing through early-warning systems, climate-resilient crops, efficient irrigation and community-led water conservation — essential for livelihood security, food security and sustainable economic growth.

Previous Year Questions (UPSC CSE Mains)

  • Discuss the recent measures initiated in disaster management by the Government of India departing from the earlier reactive approach. (2020)
  • Drought has been recognized as a disaster in view of its spatial expanse, temporal duration, slow onset, and lasting effects on vulnerable sections. With a focus on the September 2010 guidelines from the NDMA, discuss the mechanisms for preparedness to deal with likely El Nino and La Nina fallouts in India. (2014)