Drought -A Natural Calamity

 Drought -A Natural Calamity 

"Coping with water shortage from failed monsoons is somewhat similar to coping with an economic crisis by a family where the breadwinners are laid off work. A family that practises saving money for a rainy day safety net. India is blessed with better rainfall than many other countries. However, over 95% of water received from rainfall is lost through run-off."

Drought -A Natural Calamity 

 Drought takes place as a result of failure of rains or inadequate rains. When the dry weather continues for a long time and there is no rain in a country, we call that state a drought. India is a vast country with different climatic conditions in different parts of the country. It is very hot in one part and it is very cold in another part at the same time. The rainfall is very heavy and causes flood in one part and there is no rainfall at all in another part. It causes a drought there. In some parts the climate is temperate. It is neither very hot nor very cold. In 1987, there was abundant rainfall in one part. At another part there was not a drop of rain. This led to a severe drought in some areas of the country while there were floods in some other parts.

 According to Indian Meteorological Department, drought is said to have occured over a region when rainfall received is less than 75% of the normal value of the region. This degree of deficit is termed as moderate drought. When rainfall received is only 50% of the normal, in that situation severe drought is said to have occurred. Thus rainfall deficiency of 28 to 50% from normal over a meteorological sub-division is termed as moderate drought and a deficiency of more than 50% of normal as severe drought. Drought has been classified as of several types like, meteorological drought, hydrological drought, agricultural drought etc. On the basis of IMD classification, the drought events, which have occurred due to rainfall variability over the twenty-nine Indian meteorological sub-divisions, have been studied. It depicts the frequency of drought occurrence over the twenty-nine meteorological sub-divisions. The frequency of occurrence of drought ranged from less than five to more than thirty times in the various regions. The six sub-divisions of Eastern India have experienced least number of drought events. On the other hand, the three extreme western sub-divisions of Western Rajasthan, Saurashtra-Kutch and Punjab have experienced the most number of drought occurrences and are of moderate intensity.

 As many as 99 districts, spread over 14 States, were identified by the Central Water Commission (CWC) as drought-prone in the country. Most of the drought-prone areas so identified are concentrated in the States of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Human factors thal influence drought include incurred demand of water through population growth and agricultural practices; modification of land use that directly influences storage conditions, and hydrological response of catchments and their vulnerability to drought. As pressures on water resources grow, so does vulnerability to meteorological/hydrological, agricultural drought. It may be noted that during the last 50 years, there was no occasion when the percentage area of the country affected by drought was more than 50. In 124 years, probability of occurrence of drought was found maximum in West Rajasthan and Gujarat (21%). (25%), Saurashtra and Kutch (23%), followed by Jammu and Kashmir (21%),

 Among some of the devastating famines and droughts of the recent history mention may be made of the Bengal famine of 1770, UP. Famine of 1836, the Orissa famine of 1865-66, the Peninsular famine of 1876-78, the Maharashtra drought of 1965-66, the Bihar drought of 1966-68 and the Orissa drought of 1996-97. About 10 million people died in the Bengal famine of 1770, 8 lakh in UP famine of 1836, 10 lakhs in the Orissa famine of 1865-66, and 55 lakhs in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu during the famines of 1876-78. Similarly Maharashtra suffered severe droughts during 1965-66 and Bihar during 1966-68. In 1996-97, Kalahandi areas of Orissa suffered severe drought conditions and the abnormal behaviour of monsoon led to the failure of cotton crops in Andhra Pradesh forcing some of the farmers to commit suicide. Studies of above description shows that even high to medium rainfall areas of the country are susceptible to famines and droughts due to erratic behaviour of the monsoon.

 Although, due to the expansion of the modern means of transport and communication and development of irrigational facilities the severity of these droughts has been minimised, but, these still have bearing on the economy and property of the people.

 The rainfall in India varies from place to place and year to year. The North-Eastern States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland etc. receive very heavy rainfall. In contrast, Rajasthan and some parts of Gujarat have very low precipitation. The average yearly rainfall in these areas is between 100 and 500 mm, between these extremes, there are low areas of moderately high and low rainfall ranging from 1000 to 2000 mm and 500 to 1000 mm. Thus, some parts of the country are flood. prone while others are drought-prone. Floods and droughts both create havoc. The frequent droughts, particularly in Rajasthan, Gujarat and some other parts of the country due to lack of rain make the people and animals suffer a lot. For example, in the year 2009, there was widespread distress and suffering due to drought in many parts of the country. The worst affected were the small and marginal farmers, labourers and villagers without proper means of living and sustenance. Consequently, they lost jobs and incomes. There was acute shortage of drinking water as a result of the declining water table.

 One of the important reason of recurrence of drought is the mismanagement of scarce water resources, or over use of available water resources etc. The sarcasm of reality is "Everyone loves a drought". Every politician, and every administrator except the real sufferer loves occurrence of drought is a bitter fact for the bonanza it offers them. So drought is here to stay because none is serious to keep it away.

 If the floods or drought be disappeared then how will the bureaucrat- politicians caucus could pocket a lion's share of the funds released to tackle these natural calamities, couldn't we find a durable solution to the problem of drought? Or isn't it the duty of the State to protect our poor from the vagaries of drought and flood? We have been hearing about the National Water Grid since 1970, to present government has also taken this point in their manifesto, to who the poor votes during the elections to be held in May, 2004, but the experience shows that no priority has ever accorded to tackle these problems How paradoxical it is that the amount of funds spent to fight floods and drought during the last three decades and the colossal loss to the exchequer during the period, could probably have built the National Water Grid at least five times?

 To alleviate the suffering caused by frequent droughts, the Government of India and the States began a Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP). Under this scheme these areas were divided into 615 blocks, spread over 91 districts of 13 States. This was done to achieve an integrated development of these zones through optimum use of land, water and livestock resources with a view to increase production, opportunities of employment and income of the people, The economies of these drought-prone areas was sought to be insulated from the effects of recurring droughts through diversification of agriculture, grassland development, soil management and conservation of resources of water. Similarly, there have been some very laudable attempts for integrated development of desert areas and arid zones of Rajasthan, Haryana and Gujarat. Some of the special achievements of the DPAP include the Indira Gandhi Canal Project, Sardar Sarovar Project (Narmada), launching of special projects for drought prone areas, promoting agricultural research on droughts through organization like Central Arid Zone Research Institute (Jodhpur) encouraging emergency food production program and putting emphasis on dry farming etc. 

Some of the supplementary programmes mitigating droughts may include judicious utilization of rain water and avoiding its wastage, introducing new crop pattern resistant to drought condition promoting minor and small irrigation projects, build in puckka or underground canals to minimise water loss, using drip or trickle irrigation, taking suitable steps for forming the National Water Grid, using new technology to dieseline and use sea water for irrigation, encouraging diversified agriculture, providing regular supply of drinking water, developing cottage and household industries and utilising alternate sources of energysolar, wind and bio-ga etc., in drought prone areas for domestic and industrial uses . The remote sensing applications of our life Indian Remote Sensing) satellites can now cover diverse fields like drought warning, flood control and damage assessment ete.

 No doubt, the administration and the governments have been quite sensitive to the sufferings of the people of these areas and yet there is much left to be done and achieved. To remove the poverty of these regions and to alleviate suffering, more efforts should be made towards drip-irrigation system, dry land farming, conservation of forests and grasslands, stabilization of sand dunes, wise use of water resources, exploitation of non-conventional sources of energy and development of agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry. There is no drinking water, no food during droughts and then there might be visitations of famine and epidemics, if proper remedial measures are not taken immediately. Had there been no droughts and floods, India would have been a very prosperous country, because it is mainly an agricultural indirectly country and more than 80% of its population depends on it, directly or indirectly.

 Unfortunately for India, droughts are a frequent feature, and so far we have not been able to tame our mighty rivers and solve this problem. 

During droughts, a huge amount of funds and money is required to initiate relief and rescue measures. Relief camps with facilities for food, drinking water and medicine, etc., are set up, liberal loans and subsidies are granted. To minimize the recurrence of droughts certain firm, effective and proven steps should be taken. These measures can be divided into long-term and short-term ones. Interlinking of rivers and waterways in the form of National Water Grid can prove effective measure to tackle floods and deluge. It would help in taking excess of water to the regions where there is scarcity of rain and water. Effective and positive steps are necessary at Central level to pursue the States to agree to build National Water Grid forgetting drought and the petty issues of regionalism and federalism for the overall good of the country.