Limate crisis: India ow faces a drought

rought-like conditions are setting in over most parts of Gujarat, west Rajasthan and some districts of Odisha that have recorded signifit rain deficiency during the monsoon, according tandard Precipitation Index (SPI) data for August ntained by the India Meteorological Department. is an index used for monitoring droughts. This stantiates the recent report of the Drought Early rning System (DEWS) that said over a fifth of a’s land area (21.06%) is under different degrees rought. Last year, the corresponding figure for same period was 7.86%. DEWS is a real-time ught-monitoring platform. he warnings must induce effective policy respos. Unlike other natural hazards such as cyclones floods, droughts often develop gradually over a g period of time; they are “creeping disasters”. latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate nge report has warned that the South Asian nsoon has weakened in the second half of the h century, mainly on account of human activity, that rising temperatures could mean re droughts. dia needs to expand the farm insurance net and ure timely payouts, invest in greater adoption of ro-irrigation techniques, and introduce droughtstant crops. These steps are important because ughts could further intensify farm distress (50% he population is dependent on agriculture and re than 50% of the cultivable area rainfed), lead to r-extraction of groundwater, increase rural to an migration, and intensify water conflicts ween states and between farms, cities and ustries. Effective drought proofing, management