(News) Drought in Bundelkhand region are not a result of just climatic conditions, but also man-made

Drought in Bundelkhand region are not a result of just climatic conditions, but also man-made

Drought in Bundelkhand region of central India has been a matter of concern for decades. A new study by National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) now gives a composite map of the drought which explains the reason for the region witnessing drought year on year.

The study shows that droughts are not a result of just climatic conditions, but also man-made. "The composite map is aimed at giving an overall scenario for drought in the region. The policies have to consider all of them together, an effort which has not been made earlier," says Anil K Gupta, associate professor at NIDM and principal investigator of the study.

NIDM undertook the study jointly with Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) to understand the drought patterns and differential role of mitigation strategies in Bundelkhand in order to suggest strategies for future.

The research report—Vunerability Assessment and mitigation anlysis for drought in Bundelkhand region—threw up many more issues. It is to be noted that Bundelkhand comprises 13 districts—seven in Uttar Pradesh (Jhansi, Jalaun, Lalitpur, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Banda and Chitrakut) and six in Madhya Pradesh (Datia, Tikamgarh, Chattarpur, Damoh, Sagar and Panna). It covers an area of 7.08 million hectares (ha).

The report talks of three kinds of droughts—meteorological, agricultural and hydrological.

Gupta says the most important finding that has emerged from the study is about anomalies between different kinds of droughts. "The usual pattern is that first the meteorological drought—rainfall much below average—happens. It leads to agricultural drought in the same year because India depends on monsoons for agricultural production. If the meteorological drought continues for the second consecutive year, then the hydrological drought—below average water availability—occurs," says Gupta. "We have collected evidence that in Bundelkhand this pattern [cycle of drought] has been broken many times, indicating that there are lapses in the efforts made by the authorities to provide relief," says Gupta. For instance, reasons for lack of drinking water in 2011 were man-made as rainfall was ample.

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Courtesy : www.downtoearth.org.in