Droughts

Rationale: IMD defines a drought year when the seasonal (June-September) rainfall for the country as a whole is deficient by 10% or more, and when more than 20% of the geographical area of the country is affected. However, at a sub-divisional level, a rainfall deficiency of 19% or more is categorized as drought.

Rationale: Rajasthan, due to its arid and semi-arid terrain coupled with erratic monsoon rainfall and location in the western part of the country, has the largest geographical area classified as drought-prone.

Rationale: The DPAP was initiated as the Drought-Prone Area Works Programme in 1970-71 in chronically drought-affected areas and was renamed DPAP during the Fourth Five-Year Plan (1969-74) in 1973.

Rationale: El Niño, characterized by the warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, increases atmospheric pressure over the Indian Ocean, weakening monsoon winds and often causing droughts.

Rationale: The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) is designed to quantify precipitation deficits on multiple time scales, making it versatile for monitoring meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological droughts.

Rationale: Rayalaseema lies in the rainshadow zone of the Western Ghats, and Vidarbha is in the interior plateau region; both experience high variability in rainfall and poor irrigation cover, making them prime agricultural drought zones.

Rationale: Meteorological drought is the initial trigger, characterized by a lack of precipitation. This leads to a deficit in soil moisture (agricultural drought), followed by reduced river flows and groundwater depletion (hydrological drought).

Rationale: The Desert Development Programme (DDP) was launched in 1977-78 to mitigate the adverse effects of desertification and drought in hot desert areas of Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, and cold desert areas of Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

Rationale: Promoting water-intensive crops in arid tracts exacerbates drought vulnerability. Watershed management focuses on water conservation, soil protection, and sustainable cropping patterns.

Rationale: Areas receiving less than 750 mm of annual rainfall, with high variability (over 30%), are classified by the National Commission on Agriculture as chronically drought-prone.

Rationale: A positive IOD brings warmer sea surface temperatures to the western Indian Ocean, increasing moisture transport toward India and often acting as a buffer against negative monsoon impacts caused by El Niño.

Rationale: The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (specifically the Drought Management division) is the nodal agency at the central level for coordinating drought assessment, monitoring, and relief assistance.

Rationale: Karnataka features extensive interior districts (such as Kolar, Chitradurga, and Bellary) that lie in the rainshadow of the Western Ghats, giving it one of the largest semi-arid drought-prone areas in peninsular India.

Rationale: The Aridity Index is typically calculated as the ratio of precipitation (P) to potential evapotranspiration (PET). Lower values indicate higher aridity and drought susceptibility.

Rationale: NDVI is widely used in satellite remote sensing to monitor vegetation stress, density, and health, serving as a primary indicator for detecting agricultural drought conditions in near-real time.

Rationale: The Hanumantha Rao Committee (1994) reviewed the DPAP and DDP and recommended a decentralized watershed development approach managed by local communities for effective drought-proofing.

Rationale: Kutch and Saurashtra experience high inter-annual rainfall variability, high summer temperatures leading to rapid evaporation, and vulnerability to breaks in the monsoon current.

Rationale: Aridity is a permanent climatic feature characterized by low average rainfall, whereas drought is a temporary, recurring deviation from normal or average moisture conditions in any climatic zone.