Drought-hit districts in Uttar Pradesh

DROUGHTS ARE caused by lack of rain over a long period of time. If rain does occur, it usually isn't enough for the ground to absorb before it is evaporated again. Plants and animals need water to survive, so if there is not enough water they will eventually die from thirst and dehydration. In some parts of India, the failure of the monsoonsresult in water shortages, resulting in below-average crop yields.

Drought occurs mainly due to failure of south-west monsoon (June - September). Climate change is accelerating drought attacks In fact, drought and floods in India are a perennial phenomenon, recurring with regular consistency every few years. True these are natural disasters, yet it is also known that man has the capability to conquer and tame nature. The political system or government's ideology has a major role to play in these issues.

Droughts are, in fact, of three categories:

• Meteorological drought: This happens when the actual rainfall in an area is significantly less than the climatological mean of that area. The country as a whole may have a normal monsoon, but different meteorological districts and sub-divisions can have below normal rainfall. The rainfall categories for smaller areas are defined by their deviation from a meteorological area's normal rainfall -

Excess: 20 per cent or more above normal
Normal: 19 per cent above normal - 19 per cent below normal
Deficient: 20 per cent below normal - 59 per cent below normal
Scanty: 60 per cent or more below normal

• Hydrological drought: A marked depletion of surface water causing very low stream flow and drying of lakes, rivers and reservoirs

• Agricultural drought: Inadequate soil moisture resulting in acute crop stress and fall in agricultural productivity
  

India experienced 18 droughts during 1871-1990, of which 10 were severe and 5 were phenomenal. While the periods 1901-20 and 1961-80 had the highest frequency of drought. There were six droughts between 1900 and 1950 and 12 in the following 50 years. We have already faced three droughts between 2000 and 2009. There were six between 1900 and 1950 and 12 in the following 50 years. We have already faced three droughts between 2000 and 2009. During the drought of 2000-2001, a total of eight states have fallen foul of the rain gods. These included Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tehri Garhwal districts in Uttarakhand. Some states were in their second or third consecutive year of drought.
Let us now talk of the recent scenario in this context in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Uttar Pradesh has 71 districts. Scanty rainfall in almost the entire state except some districts has created drought-like situation.

Out of the 71 districts 20 districts have recently been announced as drought-hit; These are: Deoria, Ambedkar Nagar, Jaunpur, Mau, Unnao, Ballia, Sant Kabir Nagar, Basti, Hardoi, Sultanpur, Fatehpur, Rae Bareli, Kannauj, Farukhabad, Bareilly, Kanpur Dehat, and Kanshiram Nagar. A few days later another 27 districts have also been declared drought-hit. These are: Agra, Shahjahanpur, Saharanpur, Faizabad, Meerut, Mahoba, Aligarh, Jyotika Phule Nagar, Balrampur, Etah, Rampur, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budha Nagar, Banda, Mathura, Allahabad, Auraiyya, Jalaun, Kanpur City, Varanasi, Chandauli, Moradabad, Azamgarh, Sidharahnagar, Budaun, Sitapur, and Firozabad.

Thus, 47 districts have been declared drought-hit, but there are still many more districts where there has been little rainfall. According to a press release 'according tothe Government, districts where there was less than 40 per cent rain and sowing was less than 75 per cent or rain was between 40 to 60 per cent and sowing was less than 50 per cent had been declared as drought affected.'