Review and analysis of drought monitoring, declaration and management in India.

Abstract

Human and animal deaths, migration, economic losses and social effects were very common in Africa, Asia, America, Europe and Oceania during the twentieth century.Frequent droughts in Africa and Asia still result in misery, erode livelihoods, damage integrity of natural ecosystems and cause diseases or deaths due to poor-quality water and hunger.Ripple effects on secondary-or tertiarylevel economy, political upheavals, social conflicts and out-migration are also tremendous outcomes of failed development.Frequency of epidemics decreased whereas relative occurrence of droughts increased during the twentieth century.The analysis also demonstrates that for a given level of drought, disaster risks are variable depending on the overall physical and socioeconomic vulnerability.Data compiled from 107 countries revealed that, on a long-term average, 220 million persons are exposed to drought annually with maximum vulnerability in sub-Saharan Africa.The drought in 2002, one of the severest in the 130-year history of India affected 56% of the geographical area and the livelihoods of 300 million people in 18 states.About 150 million cattle were affected and the federal government allocated a financial relief of INR 200 billion (US$4.4 billion).The ITenabled process of drought monitoring and declaration is, therefore, important to enhance preparedness, quick response, relief, recovery, and mitigation and management systems.Current management strategies of India have evolved out of the experience of 17 major droughts, 5 severe droughts and internalization of technological advances since 1871.Initially, the administration evolved famine codes, manuals and response procedures to minimize deaths from starvation.The 19651966 drought induced restructuring of the Indian strategy through a public distribution system to ensure physical availability of food.The 1972 drought prioritized economic access to food through employment generation for the drought-affected population.The experience of monitoring the 1979 drought underpinned robustness, resilience and stability of farming systems and livelihood opportunities.The 1987 drought enabled watershed management for mitigating the adverse impacts on livelihood, cattle and the wealth of trees.Isolated droughts in 2000 in vulnerable areas like Rajasthan, etc., consolidated the institutional and capacity-building infrastructure.The 2002 drought was unique since rains failed in the very beginning of the rainy season (July), the rainfall deficit was 51 percent, crops could not be sown and the existing formalities of monitoring and declaration were relaxed, revised or waived off.The severity of the 2002 drought also called for the setting up of special task forces, additional monitoring systems and responses.Important features of drought monitoring, declaration and management are summarized below.India in 1900India in -2002. . Table 2. Occurrence, number of people affected and damages of droughts of