Drought in India
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Drought in India has resulted in tens of millions of deaths over the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Indian agriculture is heavily dependent on the country's climate: a favorable southwest summer monsoon is critical to securing water for irrigating India's crops. In parts of India, failure of the monsoons causes water shortages, resulting in below-average crop yields.[1] This is particularly true of major drought-prone regions such as southern and eastern Maharashtra, northern Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Telangana, and Rajasthan.
History
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In the past, droughts have periodically led to major Indian famines, including the Bengal famine of 1770, in which up to one third of the population in affected areas died; the 1876–1877 famine, in which over five million people died; and the 1899 famine, in which over 4.5 million died.[2][3] 1972 Maharashtra drought affected 2.5 crore people. In simple words, drought has destroyed India on a large scale.
Impact of El Niño
All such episodes of severe drought correlate with El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events.[4][5] El Niño-related droughts have also been implicated in periodic declines in Indian agricultural output.[6] Nevertheless, ENSO events that have coincided with abnormally high sea surfaces temperatures in the Indian Ocean—in one instance during 1997 and 1998 by up to 3 °C (5 °F)—have resulted in increased oceanic evaporation, resulting in unusually wet weather across India. Such anomalies have occurred during a sustained warm spell that began in the 1990s.[7] A contrasting phenomenon is that, instead of the usual high pressure air mass over the southern Indian Ocean, an ENSO-related oceanic low pressure convergence center forms; it then continually pulls dry air from Central Asia, desiccating India during what should have been the humid summer monsoon season. This reversed air flow causes India's droughts.[8] The extent that an ENSO event raises sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific Ocean influences the degree of drought.[4] Around 43 per cent of El Niño events are followed by drought in India.[9]
See also
- Cleanest cities in India
- Climate of India
- Climate change in India
- Peak water
- Environment of India
- Kalpasar Project
- List of rivers by dissolved load
- Ground water in India
- Indian Rivers Inter-link
- Interstate River Water Disputes Act
- Irrigation in India
- List of drainage basins by area
- List of rivers of India by discharge
- List of rivers by discharge
- List of dams and reservoirs in India
- List of water supply and sanitation by country
- Polavaram Project
- Pollution of the Ganges
- National Water Policy
- Saemangeum Seawall
- Water scarcity in India
- Water supply and sanitation in India
- Water pollution in India
References
- Allaby, M (1998), Floods, Facts on File, ISBN 0-8160-3520-2.
- Allaby, M (2002), Encyclopedia of Weather and Climate, Facts on File, ISBN 0-8160-4071-0.
- Balfour, E (1976), Encyclopaedia Asiatica: Comprising Indian Subcontinent, Eastern and Southern Asia, Cosmo Publications, ISBN 81-7020-325-2.
- Burroughs, WJ (1999), The Climate Revealed, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-77081-5.
- Caviedes, C (2001), El Niño in History: Storming Through the Ages, University Press of Florida, ISBN 0-8130-2099-9.
- Chouhan, TS (1992), Desertification in the World and Its Control, Scientific Publishers, ISBN 81-7233-043-X.
- Collier, W; Webb, R (2002), Floods, Droughts and Climate Change, University of Arizona Press, ISBN 0-8165-2250-2.
- Heitzman, J; Worden, RL (1996), India: A Country Study, Library of Congress (Area Handbook Series), ISBN 0-8444-0833-6.
- Nash, JM (2002), El Niño: Unlocking the Secrets of the Master Weather Maker, Warner, ISBN 0-446-52481-6.
- Posey, CA (1994), The Living Earth Book of Wind and Weather, Reader's Digest Association, ISBN 0-89577-625-1.
- Singh, VP; Ojha, CSP; Sharma, N (2004), The Brahmaputra Basin Water Resources, Springer, ISBN 1-4020-1737-5.
Citations
- ^ Swain, S; et al. (2017). "Application of SPI, EDI and PNPI using MSWEP precipitation data over Marathwada, India". IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS). 2017: 5505–5507. doi:10.1109/IGARSS.2017.8128250. ISBN 978-1-5090-4951-6.
- ^ Nash 2002, pp. 22–23.
- ^ Collier & Webb 2002, p. 67.
- ^ a b Kumar KK; Rajagopalan B; Hoerling M.; Bates G; Cane M (2006), "Unraveling the Mystery of Indian Monsoon Failure During El Niño", Science, 314 (5796): 115–119, Bibcode:2006Sci...314..115K, doi:10.1126/science.1131152, PMID 16959975.
- ^ Caviedes 2001, p. 121
- ^ Caviedes 2001, p. 259.
- ^ Nash 2002, pp. 258–259.
- ^ Caviedes 2001, p. 117.
- ^ "Preparing for a poor monsoon". The Hindu. 26 April 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
Further reading
- Christopher de Bellaigue, "The River" (the Ganges; review of Sunil Amrith, Unruly Waters: How Rains, Rivers, Coasts, and Seas Have Shaped Asia's History; Sudipta Sen, Ganges: The Many Pasts of an Indian River; and Victor Mallet, River of Life, River of Death: The Ganges and India's Future), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXVI, no. 15 (10 October 2019), pp. 34–36. "[I]n 1951 the average Indian [inhabitant of India] had access annually to 5,200 cubic meters of water. The figure today is 1,400... and will probably fall below 1,000 cubic meters – the UN's definition of 'water scarcity' – at some point in the next few decades. Compounding the problem of lower summer rainfall... India's water table is in freefall [due] to an increase in the number of tube wells... Other contributors to India's seasonal dearth of water are canal leaks [and] the continued sowing of thirsty crops..." (p. 35.)
External links
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- General overview
- "Country Guide: India". BBC Weather.
- "India Water Portal".
- "India—Weather and Climate". High Commission of India, London.
- Drought hit areas in Karnataka, in pictures
- Maps, imagery, and statistics
- "India Meteorological Department". Government of India.
- "Weather Resource System for India". National Informatics Centre. Archived from the original on 2007-04-29.
- Forecasts