Urging the Union government to bring changes to the Manual for Drought Management 2016 (updated in 2020) for the declaration of drought by States, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said it is necessary to have different parameters to declare drought in 14 agro-climatic zones in Karnataka in the light of dire situation caused by erratic weather conditions propelled by climate change.
In the current southwest monsoon season, he said, Karnataka had received 234 mm of rainfall as against a normal 336 mm, registering 34% deficiency. This is in the backdrop of the delayed arrival of monsoon and a deficiency of 56% in June. “Throughout this season, rainfall distribution and intensity have been erratic. Despite drought-like conditions in several taluks, we have not been able to meet the existing parameters for declaring drought. This is resulting in leaving farmers without critical support such as input subsidy required in the event of failure to commence sowing operations/mid-season crop failure after sowing due to weak rains,” he said in a letter to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
He said while existing drought declaration parameters have served as important guidelines for assessing and responding to drought situations, there is a need to revise to reflect the diverse 14 agro-climatic conditions in the State, each facing distinct challenges. “The current one-size-fits-all approach to drought declaration is not capturing the variations in different regions. It is important to develop region-specific criteria that consider local ecological factors, water availability, and agricultural practices.”
Pointing out the current manual that integrates meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological drought, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the erratic distribution of monsoons should be factored in. “Though the meteorological drought is a mandatory indicator and precursor to the other two, rainfall deficiency in early monsoon can recover later to overcome meteorological drought. In such situations, scanty rainfall in the first half of the sowing season impact agriculture and triggers agriculture drought.” He also pointed out that while the IMD declares a deficiency of 10% rainfall over the country for the whole year as a drought year, the State can declare drought only if there is a rainfall deviation of more than 60%.
He also urged the Centre to redefine dry spells and consider factors such as type of soil, type of crop, temperature, and vegetative state, and that the time duration to declare dry spells should be reduced. He also said that the condition on sowing completion comes in the way of declaring early drought.
Mr. Siddaramaiah also said that the weightage given to impact indicators such as groundwater drought index, remote sensing indicators and soil moisture impact indicator needs to be reviewed. He also urged the Centre to align the norms in the manual with the SDRF/NDRF norms, and synchronise the timeline of crop insurance disbursement with input subsidy (relief assistance).
