{"id":372524,"date":"2026-09-25T14:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T08:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=372524"},"modified":"2026-09-25T14:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T08:56:10","slug":"drought-declaration-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/drought-declaration-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Drought Declaration in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Calls to declare drought are rising in Maharashtra as rain deficit and water scarcity affect agriculture and crop prospects.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\">About Drought Declaration in India<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_372571\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-372571\" style=\"width: 301px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-372571\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Source-NDTV-1.jpg?resize=301%2C401&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Drought Declaration in India\" width=\"301\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Source-NDTV-1.jpg?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Source-NDTV-1.jpg?w=658&amp;ssl=1 658w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 301px) 100vw, 301px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-372571\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; NDTV<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Drought<\/strong> is generally considered as a<strong> deficiency in rainfall<\/strong> over a <strong>period<\/strong>, causing <strong>water shortage and adverse impacts on vegetation, animals or people.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Governing Framework:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Disaster Management Act, 2005:<\/strong> It provides the <strong>legal framework<\/strong> for <strong>disaster management<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Manual for Drought Management, 2009:<\/strong> It provides <strong>indicators and procedures<\/strong> for drought <strong>monitoring, declaration and preparation<\/strong> of proposals for central assistance.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Guidelines for Management of Drought, 2010:<\/strong> They provide guidance on drought management and recommend early identification of drought through different indicators.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Non-binding nature:<\/strong> The Manual and Guidelines are not mandatory.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Classification of Drought<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table style=\"border-style: solid;\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"middle\"><strong>Types of drought<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" valign=\"middle\"><strong>Meaning \/ assessment parameters<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"middle\"><strong>Meteorological drought<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"middle\">\n<ul>\n<li>It occurs when precipitation remains below the expected or normal level for an extended period.<\/li>\n<li>In India, it occurs when seasonal rainfall is <strong>less than 75% of the long-term average.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>A 26\u201350% deficit is classified as <strong>moderate drought<\/strong>, while a <strong>deficit of more than 50% is severe drought.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"middle\"><strong>Agricultural drought<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"middle\">\n<ul>\n<li>It occurs when <strong>soil moisture and rainfall are inadequate<\/strong> during the crop-growing season, causing crop stress and wilting.<\/li>\n<li>In India, it is <strong>linked with four consecutive weeks of severe meteorological<\/strong> drought during the kharif season or <strong>six such weeks during the rest of the year.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"middle\"><strong>Hydrological drought<\/strong><\/td>\n<td valign=\"middle\">\n<ul>\n<li>It occurs when there are <strong>deficiencies in surface and sub-surface water supplies<\/strong>, resulting in inadequate water for normal and specific needs.<\/li>\n<li>It can occur <strong>even when rainfall is average or above average if increased water use reduces available reserves.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Drought declaration:<\/strong> India has <strong>no single legally accepted definition of drought.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The State Government is the <strong>final authority<\/strong> to <strong>declare drought in the State or its affected parts.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Drought declaration criteria:<\/strong> The <strong>2009 Manual identifies four standard monitoring tools<\/strong> for drought declaration:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>rainfall deficiency, area under sowing, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Moisture Adequacy Index (MAI). <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>These <strong>indicators can be used in combination,<\/strong> with <strong>at least three indicators<\/strong> or index values adverse for drought declaration.<\/li>\n<li>The State Government&#8217;s <strong>assessment should conform to parameters specified under NDRF norms.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Impact of Drought Declaration:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Relief measures:<\/strong> Relief and response measures begin after the drought notification is issued for the affected areas.<\/li>\n<li><strong>State-level assistance:<\/strong> Relief is <strong>initially provided through the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF)\/State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Central assistance:<\/strong> If State funds are inadequate, the <strong>State can submit a memorandum seeking assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Central assessment:<\/strong> A Central team visits the affected areas to assess the requirement for relief before Central assistance is released.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Supreme Court view:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Drought as a disaster:<\/strong> The Supreme Court held on 11 May 2016 that <strong>drought falls within the definition of \u201cdisaster\u201d<\/strong> under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Specific-area declaration:<\/strong> Drought need not be declared for an entire State or district.\n<ul>\n<li>It <strong>can be declared where a drought or drought-like situation exists in a village, taluka, tehsil or block.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Calls to declare drought are rising in Maharashtra as rain deficit and water scarcity affect agriculture and crop prospects. About Drought Declaration in India Drought is generally considered as a deficiency in rainfall over a period, causing water shortage and adverse impacts on vegetation, animals or people. Governing Framework: Disaster Management Act, 2005: It&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/drought-declaration-in-india\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Drought Declaration in India<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,12023,11209,12039],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-372524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-disaster-management-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","category-geography-in-news","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372524\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}