When you hear the word drought, words like dry land, crop failure, lack of rain, famine, etc. come to mind.
The collective condition of the symptoms is called "drought" when there is little rainfall, there is a severe shortage of water, there is no cultivation, there is a question of fodder for the animals.
The main and root cause of drought is deficient rainfall.
A region received much less rain than average, and when this is experienced for two or more years in a row, the effects of a drought can be devastating.
This situation causes many problems.
The process of declining rainfall is very slow.
Drought, therefore, can be considered a slow-moving, long-term outbreak.
There are many areas in India where drought is experienced from time to time.
Drought affects some areas of India every year.
Due to poor monsoon season, there are frequent droughts in many parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Droughts are common in western Odisha, Rayalaseema and Telangana regions of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Central Maharashtra, hinterland of Karnataka, West Bengal and some parts of Tamil Nadu.
Apart from this, some waters and sea areas of Haryana, Punjab, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh also experience occasional drought.
There are $191$ potential drought prone districts in India.
Deterioration of the environment:
The quality of the environment decreases during a drought.
This is called environmental degradation.
Increases tree felling activity.
The soil is eroded.
Surface water and groundwater have been used indiscriminately.
Biodiversity is destroyed.
Global temperatures rise.
Excessive rainfall also leads to drought conditions.
Excessive rainfall destroys crops.
An epidemic breaks out.
Extreme rainfall is called green drought.
Effects of drought:
The effects of drought are long lasting and affect all sectors of society.
Crop failure leads to shortage of fodder for grains and livestock and water scarcity in rural and urban areas.
The income of the farm laborers stops.
So that they have to turn to other sources of income.
Children suffer from malnutrition.
Drought Management:
The cause of the drought is ultimately water scarcity.
The impact of drought can be mitigated to some extent if water resources are used sparingly and modern technology is used.
Annual rainfall in Israel is only $53.7\ mm.$ Falls.
Yet they cultivate with a modern method.
Thus, despite the decline in rainfall, the agricultural sector has been able to achieve prosperity.
Trees regulate rainfall.
Due to the high forest cover in South Gujarat, there is no drought situation.