Drought Management

WHY IN NEWS?

• A new study predicts an increase in the frequency of flash droughts in India towards the end of this century

BACKGROUND:

• Drought connotes a situation of water shortage for human, cattle and agriculture primarily on account of, though not limited to, significant shortfall in rainfall.
• Drought is a natural hazard that differs from other hazards since it has a slow onset, evolves over months or even years, affects a large spatial extent, and cause little structural damage.
• Its onset and end and severity are often difficult to determine
• Definition of India Meteorological Department (IMD):
  • All India Drought Year
    • When the rainfall deficiency is more than 10% and when 20 to 40% of the country is under drought conditions, then the year is termed as All India Drought Year
    • Now the nomenclature is changed to ‘Deficient Year’
  • All India Severe Drought Year
    • When the rainfall deficiency is more than 10% and when the spatial coverage of drought is more than 40% it is called as All India Severe Drought Year
    • Now the nomenclature is changed to ‘Large Deficient Year’

CLASSIFICATION OF DROUGHT

• The National Commission on Agriculture in India classified three types of drought:
  • Meteorological drought
    • It is defined as a situation when there is significant decrease from normal precipitation over an area (i.e. more than 10 %)
  • Agricultural drought:
    • It is a situation when soil moisture and rainfall are inadequate to support healthy crop growth
  • Hydrological drought:
    • It results from prolonged meteorological drought resulting in depletion of surface and sub-surface water resources.

THE WORLD SITUATION

• Drought conditions have been widespread in North Africa, the Mid-East, West Asian countries, India, China and are also known to occur in North Central, and South America
• The increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather conditions such as droughts during the last two decades, have been attributed to global warming.
• With more than 300 river basins in India, some being shared by two or more countries, drought conditions will continue to exacerbate international water conflicts
• In many nations, particularly those characterized by more complex economies, the impact of drought quickly radiates to other sectors

THE INDIAN SITUATION

• The traditional approach to drought as a phenomenon of arid and semi-arid areas is changing in India too.
• Now, even regions with high rainfall, often face severe water scarcities.
• For ex: Cherrapunji in Meghalaya, one of the world’s highest rainfall areas, now faces drought for almost nine months of the year.
• On the other hand, the western part of Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan, one of the driest parts of the country, is recording around 9 cm of rainfall in a year.
• The droughts in Odisha State, which has an average rainfall of 1100 mm, remain a matter for continuing concern.
• Conditions of water scarcity in the Himalayan region are also not uncommon.
• Thus, drought is just not the scarcity or lack of rainfall, but an issue related to water resource management.

STATISTICS:

• Over 68% of India’s land area is vulnerable to drought
• NITI Aayog, under the Composite Water Management Index report, highlighted that
  • About two lakh people die in India every year due to inadequate water and sanitation.
  • It also states that the 6% of GDP will be lost by 2050 due to water crisis.
• A 2020 study found that 10%-15% of rice and maize crop areas are affected by the flash droughts each year in India.
• 

CAUSES OF DROUGHTS:

• Global warming
  • The increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, heat/ cold waves, cyclones, delayed or early onset of rains, long dry spells, early withdrawal, during the last two decades has been attribute to global warming.
  • Greenhouse emissions will significantly increase the frequency of extreme hot and dry periods, which are the main drivers of flash droughts.
• Failed Monsoon:
  • For example in 2018 >> South-West monsoon that provides 80% of India's rainfall, fell short by 9.4% which brings drought like situations in India
• Uneven distribution of rainfall
  • Seasonal disparity:
    • In spite of a high average annual rainfall of around 1,150 mm there is a relatively short window of less than 100 days during the South-West Monsoon season (June to September) when about 73% of the total annual rainfall of the country is received.
  • Regional variations:
    • Uneven distribution of rainfall over different parts of the country in that some parts bear an inordinately high risk of shortfalls, while others tend to receive excessive rainfall.
• El Nino year:
  • El Nino makes Indian summers warmer and reduces rainfall.
• Over-exploitation:
  • Overexploitation of ground water and sub-optimum conservation of surface water leading to inadequate water availability for irrigation.
  • Traditional water harvesting systems have been largely abandoned.
• Unsustainable agricultural practices:
  • Growing crops that do not suit the agro-climatology of a particular region
    • For example, cultivation of sugarcane in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and Rice in Punjab region
    • Rice and sugarcane are water-intensive crops and growing them in an area where less water is available made the area prone to agricultural drought.
  • Excessive use of High Yielding Seeds (HYV) as these seeds requires more water and proper irrigation.
• Lack of water storage structures
  • Hence the rain water that falls during the monsoons just gets washed away to the ocean.
• Increasing urbanization
  • This has led to indiscriminate use of water by urban centres.
  • Over-populated urban centers require water to be pumped from hundreds of kilometers away leaving the sources dry and deficient in water.

IMPACTS:

• Economic:
  • Lower domestic production
    • In the industrial sector, agro-based industries are directly affected.
    • Lower domestic production of agriculture based inputs for agro-processing units reduces non-agricultural production and employment opportunities
  • Increase farm distress
    • As per recent report, a temperature increase of a single degree Celsius in one day corresponded to about 67 suicides, on average.
    • More than 12,000 farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra between 2015-2018 mainly due to drought related distress.
  • Fiscal implications
    • Droughts have important implications for government policies, as it reduces tax revenues through declines in income, employment and exports.
    • On the expenditure side, the government is faced with increased expenditure on relief, social welfare, health and water supplies, consumption-related subsidies on food distribution, and the logistical costs of drought related imports
    • Increased budgetary pressures, resulting from lower revenues and higher expenditure, are usually met by either external and internal borrowings, higher taxes or the imposition of new taxes
  • Unhealthy competition:
    • As water becomes scarce, competition among and within sectors usually increases >> which may lead to unfair business practices.
• Social:
  • Distress migration
    • People tend to migrate from drought prone area to water surplus areas >> this may create crowding of certain of places, social tensions due to sudden demographic changes etc.
  • Water conflicts:
    • Drought will further inflame water conflicts between states and between farms, cities and industries.
  • Micro level impact at village and household levels
    • Drought may result in a considerable intensification of household food insecurity, water related health risks and loss of livelihoods in the agricultural sector.
    • Availability of water for domestic consumption also diminishes due to drought >> This has implications for health and household activities, including substantial increase in the time spent on collecting water
  • Affects public order:
    • The law and order structure is put under greater pressure by a rise in crime, in turn associated with temporary unemployment, migration and increased destitution
• Environmental impacts:
  • Droughts can lead to low water levels in ground water and surface reservoirs, lakes and ponds, reduced flows rivers, loss of forest cover, migration of wildlife and sharpening man-animal conflicts and general stress on biodiversity
  • Reduced stream flow and loss of wetlands may affect levels of salinity.
  • Increased groundwater depletion rates, and reduced recharge may damage aquifers and adversely affect the quality of water (e.g., salt concentration, acidity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity) which in turn may lead to a permanent loss of biological productivity of soils.

CHALLENGES IN DROUGHT MANAGEMENT:

• Considered as a short term problem:
  • The problem of drought is compounded by the fact that drought invariably is handled as a ‘crisis situation’ and a short-term problem
• Issues in assessment and early Warning:
  • Forecasts are general in terms of space and time, timing does not match user needs, information received from different sources sometimes has conflicting messages etc.
• Lack of proper, reliable data on water:
  • Data in the water sector exists in silos, with very little horizontal and vertical data sharing across the value chain of water thereby reducing efficiency.
• Wrong perception among people:
  • At the household level, individuals perceive drought as a natural hazard, beyond human control.
• Challenge of flash floods
  • The rapid onset of drought and lack of early warning does not give enough time for preparation and drought mitigation and could lead to extensive damage.
  • Intraseasonal variability of the summer monsoon rainfall and anthropogenic warming have been found to amplify the risk of future flash droughts in India
• Higher burden on states:
  • The primary responsibility of managing drought (or any other natural disaster) is that of the State Governments
  • The role of Central Government is to supplement the efforts of the State Government in effective management of disasters and provide additional resources

INITIATIVES TAKEN:

• Legislative framework:
  • Disaster Management (DM) Act, 2005:
    • With the enactment of the Disaster Management Act in 2005, India has taken the initiative for a paradigm shift in disaster management, from erstwhile relief centric approach to a holistic proactive one, encompassing preparedness, prevention, mitigation and risk reduction.
    • The Act mandates that mandates that there shall be a National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) for the whole of India
    • While the national plan will pertain to the disaster management for the whole of the country, the hazard specific nodal ministries and departments notified by the Government of India will prepare detailed DM plans specific to the disaster assigned
    • Accordingly Government of India has given the mandate to Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare to manage Drought
  • NDMA Guidelines on management of drought:
    • The Guidelines have been prepared by NDMA to provide direction to the central ministries/departments, and state governments for preparing detailed action plans to handle drought as a part of an overall hazard Disaster Management plan. It includes
    • Institutional framework and financial arrangements:
      • Separate Drought Monitoring Cells (DMCs) will be created at the state level with adequate staff under the control of State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMA’s).
      • State DMCs will undertake the preparation of vulnerability maps for their respective States
      • Watershed development approach is an important facet of drought management initiatives, taken up through the programmes of the Government of India.
    • Assessment and Early Warning:
      • Integrate ground-based information with space-based information for comprehensive reporting.
      • Automatic weather stations will also include moisture sensors for obtaining information about the soil moisture levels under natural environment.
    • Prevention, Preparedness and Mitigation
      • Automatic weather station and rain-gauges will be put in place at appropriate spacing to enable micro level analysis and forecasting
      • Conduct of pilot studies in all categories of drought prone areas for suggesting long term mitigation measures.
      • Cloud-seeding as a possible measure of mitigation will be considered
      • Promote crop diversification and utilization of sprinklers/Drip irrigation systems.
      • Promote protective irrigation through micro irrigation systems through incentives.
    • Capacity Development
      • A national training and capacity building programme for drought management will be formulated and implemented.
    • Relief and Response
      • Agencies will be sensitized regarding their value in generating employment in the drought affected areas and building assets such as tanks and wells which reduce the impact of drought.
      • Provision of consumption loan will also be encouraged in drought prone areas and efforts will be made to bring agricultural labours into the net of social security.
  • Manual for Drought Management, 2016
    • A Manual for Drought Management was published by Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare 2009, which has been revised and updated in December 2016.
    • The various indices and parameters appropriate for declaration of drought revisited and new indices like Standardised Precipitation Index, Vegetation Condition Index were added
    • Manual for Drought Management is a guide for governments and agencies engaged in the prevention, mitigation and management of drought.
    • Provisions in this manual related to drought declaration have been made mandatory by the Ministry of Home Affairs for declaration of drought by the State governments
  • Crisis Management Plan (CMP)
    • The CMP is an actionable programme, which is pressed into action in the event of a drought, to minimize damage to life and property.
    • It delineates the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders, including central and state government and their agencies in managing the drought effectively.
    • It is updated every year before the monsoon sets in
• Institutional arrangements:
  • Central Drought Relief Commissioner (CDRC):
    • Additional Secretary Department of Agriculture serves as the CDRC and is assisted by the Disaster Management (DM) Division in the Department.
  • Drought Management Cell:
    • A Drought Management Cell in the DM Division is created to help collate information for diverse sources, monitor drought conditions, issue advisories, and coordinate with other Ministries, State Governments and relevant agencies to mitigate the effect of drought
  • Crop Weather Watch Group for Management of Drought:
    • It has been set up as an Inter-Ministerial mechanism, which should meet at least once a week during June to September period to monitor drought situation in the country.
  • Central Research Institute for Dry land Agriculture (CRIDA)
    • CRIDA under the aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has formulated District Agriculture Contingency Plans (DACPs) for 623 districts in the country to suggest contingency strategies to farmers to cope with major weather related aberrations; including delay in onset of south-west monsoon, dry spells etc.
  • Drought Monitoring Cells (DMCs) at State level
    • The NDMA guidelines for Management of drought 2010 recommend establishing separate DMCs with adequate staff under SDMA.
    • DMCs will undertake on a priority basis, the preparation of vulnerability maps for their respective states.
• International cooperation:
  • Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
    • Sendai Framework aims to achieve substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods, and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural, and environmental assets
    • The Drought Management Plan (DMP) of India has been aligned broadly with the goals and priorities set out in the Sendai Framework
• Preventive and Mitigation Measures:
  • Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)
    • The components of PMKSY are:
      • Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme(AIBP) with the focus on faster completion of ongoing Major and Medium Irrigation projects;
      • Har Khet Ko Pani (HKKP) which deals with Source augmentation, distribution, ground water development, lift irrigation, diversion of water from water plenty to water scarce areas, supplementing rain water harvesting, repair, restoration, renovation of traditional water bodies etc;
      • Per Drop More Crop which relates to Micro level storage structures, efficient water conveyance & application, precision irrigation systems etc.
      • Watershed development which focuses on Ridge area treatment, drainage line treatment, soil and moisture conservation, water harvesting structure, livelihood support activities and other watershed works in rain fed or degraded areas.
  • National Rainfed Area Programme
    • The objective of the programme is to increase agricultural productivity in rainfed areas in a sustainable manner by adopting appropriate farming system based approaches, minimize adverse impact of possible crop failure due to drought and other calamities through diversified and composite farming system etc.
  • Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS):
    • The need for drought proofing villages in water stressed blocks was being felt for many years.
    • Many State Governments have started excellent initiatives for water conservation in last few years using MGNREGA funds
    • ‘Jalyukt Shivar’ in Maharashtra, ‘Mission Kakatiya’ in Telangana are some of the recent initiatives.
    • Government has developed a framework to leverage the synergies between MGNREGA, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, IWMP and Command Area Development and Water Management programmes, given their common objectives.
  • Water Saving Technologies:
    • State Governments are encouraging adoption of water-saving technologies, such as sprinkler and drip irrigation systems, through provision of subsidies to the farmers on the purchase of these systems
  • Afforestation
    • It is well-known that the development of forests in areas, which are susceptible to periodic recurrence of drought, is indeed a very effective drought-resistant measure
    • Government is implementing three major schemes for development of forest areas i.e. National Afforestation Programme (NAP) scheme, National Mission for a Green India (GIM) and Forest Fire Prevention & Management Scheme (FFPM).
  • Crop insurance
    • Crop insurance schemes have been in existence at the national level since 1985 and have been modified from time to time
    • Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) which addresses all the shortcomings of the earlier schemes was introduced in 2016
• Community Participation in Drought Mitigation
  • Community participation is an essential feature of drought mitigation programmes
  • State governments involve communities/NGOs/PRIs in preparation of plans for drought mitigation.

BEST PRACTICE

• Integrated Basin Planning:
  • This concept is aimed at coordinating water resources plans throughout a river basin, the most important example of which is the Tennessee Valley Authority in the USA.
  • In India, the Damodar Valley Corporation covering the river Damodar and its tributaries in Bihar and West Bengal was modeled on the lines of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
• Community participation in Sukhomajri village of Haryana:
  • These communities used traditional water harvesting structures, such as village tanks and johads, which increased the groundwater table in the area, resulting in increased water storage and substantial increase in crop production and resultant income.
• Andhra Pradesh's online water dashboard.
  • Real-time data for groundwater management
• ‘Pani Panchayat programme’ in Odisha
  • The programme assigns various roles to the community and the local self-government in water management and is preparing community-based drought management plans
• Madhya Pradesh's 'Bhagirath Krishak Abhiyan'
  • It was began in 2006 in the Dewas district through the efforts of a local IAS officer
  • It is focused on the restoration of farm ponds to boost irrigation potential.

WAY FORWARD:

• Long-term Irrigation Management
  • A long-term strategy is required for managing water resources through irrigation projects in India
  • It consists of several measures which would expand the area under irrigation and reduce the incidence of drought. It includes:
    • Monitoring Reservoirs:
      • It is necessary for the State irrigation department to set up a monitoring system for water stored in reservoirs, exercise appropriate control on releases of water from these reservoirs and plan for judicious use of water resources.
    • Setting up Water Users Association:
      • State Governments should provide incentives for setting up Water Users Association (WUA) to involve communities in the management of irrigation resources.
    • Conjunctive Use of Surface and Groundwater:
      • This concept is very essential, especially in drought areas to increase the production per unit of water. It allows flexibility in cropping patterns and multi-cropping in the canal command
    • Prevention of Evaporation Losses from Reservoirs:
      • Shallow tanks having large surface areas located in the drought-affected regions lose nearly half the volume of stored water by evaporation during the summer months
      • A layer of chemicals like cetyl, steary and fatty alcohol emulsions when applied on the water surface can help reduce evaporation
    • Increasing Storages:
      • Water storage capacity in the States could be increased through expeditious completion of irrigation projects
    • Integrating Small Reservoirs with Major Reservoirs:
      • As large dams are difficult to construct due to high costs and large-scale displacement of people, there is an increased emphasis on creating small reservoirs.
      • A number of small reservoirs could be created to replace a single large reservoir
      • However, in many cases a group of small schemes may not provide the same benefits as a large project can.
      • It is, therefore, very important that minor schemes are integrated with the canal systems of major reservoirs.
    • Inter-basin Transfer of Water:
      • The permanent long-term solution to the drought problem may be found in the basic principles of transfer of power from surplus river basins to the areas of deficit.
      • It has been argued that a National Water Grid could be set up by linking resource abundant rivers such as the Brahmaputra and Ganga with other rivers
• Public Distribution System (PDS)
  • The Public Distribution supply chain and Fair Price Shops should be fully geared to ensure availability of food grains during the drought situation.
• Ensuring community participation:
  • State Governments need to encourage the formation of water user’s association (WUAs) for community based management of water delivery system
  • Organize Community-based Consultations through Gram Sabha
  • Strengthening women’s Self-help Groups will increases resilience of the households in responding to drought
• Empower Panchayati Raj Institutions:
  • Several drought relief and mitigation measures could be implemented through the PRIs more effectively.
  • The necessary budget allocations and implementation support should be provided to these institutions for launching programmes in drought-affected areas.
  • PRIs improve the delivery mechanism and reduce the impact of drought
• Linking Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction:
  • Adaptation to climate variability such as short-term cropping, inter-cropping, small-scale fodder cultivation, small-scale fish cultivation in mini-ponds must be integrated with drought management programme.
• Crop management practices
  • Cultivation of drought resistant crops and crop varieties followed by scientific management practices would lead to drought proofing over a period of time.
  • The State departments should ensure adequate availability of drought resistant seeds and encourage farmers to adopt better crop management practices from time to time
• Awareness and Capacity building
  • State governments should take steps to create awareness on drought mitigation methods and programmes to build the capacities of farmers and village level functionaries, which would be of immense help for efficient implementation of different measures of drought proofing.
  • People must be informed of the importance of water conservation and harvesting, optimal water use and the need for increasing forest cover.
• Monitoring of Drought Mitigation
  • The State Government may consider periodic review of the progress of drought mitigation activities of different departments.
• Decision Support System for Drought Management:
  • Development of a decision support system for drought management would streamline the implementation of the drought mitigation activities.
  • Establishing automated weather stations and rain gauges to improve the collection of information, promote the use of data related to soil, vegetation and water resource obtained through remote sensing technology and actively support research on climate and natural resource management are some of the initiatives to strengthen the drought mitigation endeavours
• Information Dissemination
  • Sharing information with print, electronic and social media is an important aspect of drought management.
  • The Central and State Governments and their agencies should collect and disseminate credible and verified information on relevant aspects of drought to the people and media.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. “Drought is acknowledged as a phenomenon characterized by a high degree of complexity and therefore the management of drought require careful planning and coordination on the part of the Central and State Governments”. Discuss