Information about effects of drought in india
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Impact of Droughts in India: Physical; Agriculture and Economic Impact!
Droughts have a wide range of effects on the masses in a developing country like India. The impact of droughts is specifically conspicuous in view of the tropical monsoon character of the country. Rainfall by the south-west monsoon is notorious for
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The impact of droughts in India can be summed up under the following headings:
(i) Physical Impact:
Meteorological drought adversely affects the recharge of soil moisture, surface runoff and ground water table. Soils dry up, surface runoff is reduced and ground water level is lowered. Rivers, lakes, ponds and reservoirs tend to dry up wells and tube-wells are rendered unserviceable due to lowering of the ground water table.
(ii) Impact on Agriculture:
Indian agriculture still largely depends upon monsoon rainfall where about two-thirds of the arable land lack irrigation facilities and is termed as rainfed. The effect is manifested in the shortfalls of agricultural production in drought years. History is replete with examples of serious shortfall in cultivated areas and drop in agricultural productivity.
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Severe shortage of food-grains had been felt and the country had to resort to import of food-grains to save the poor people from hunger and starvation. However, India has been able to build a buffer stock of food–grains and threat from droughts is not as serious as it used to be before the Green Revolution.
It is worth mentioning here that the shortfall in agricultural production may be the direct impact of meteorological droughts but the succeeding hydrological and agricultural droughts have a long range and far reaching impact on agriculture. This impact may be in the form of changes in the cropping patterns and impoverishment in cattle.
(iii) Social and Economic Impact:
Social and economic impact of a drought is more severe than the physical and agricultural impacts. A drought is almost invariably associated with famine which has its own social and economic consequences.
The impact of drought manifests itself in the following sequence:
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1. Decline in cultivated area and fall in agricultural production (including crops and milk).
2. Fall in employment in agricultural sector.
3. Fall in purchasing power.
4. Scarcity of drinking water, food-grains and fodder.
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5. Rise in inflation rate.
6. Distress sale of cattle and loss of cattle life.
7. Low intake of food and widespread malnutrition.
8. Ill health and spread of diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera and opthalmia caused by malnutrition, hunger and starvation.