A college presentation slide dealing with a generalized concept of Drought and scenario in West Bengal. Thanks to my teachers Dr Swadesh Mishra, Dr Asitendu Roychowdhury and Mr Asutosh Goswami.

1. BY

2.  Drought is a serious natural hazard primarily
associated with one of the major needs of
man i.e. water. It indicates a meteorological
phenomena when there is a period of
abnormal dry weather, sufficiently prolonged
due to lack of rainfall leading to hydrological
dis-balance.

3.  Bali– Six days without rainfall.
 Middle East-Two consecutive years without rainfall.
 Egypt- The year when the Nile river does not cause flood.
 Britain—15 consecutive days without 0.01 inch of rainfall.

4.  Meteorological drought.
 Hydrological drought.
 Agricultural drought.

5.  IMD defines meteorological drought as a situation when the
mean annual rainfall is less than 75% of normal annual
rainfall.
 If the deficiency ranges from 25% to 50%, it is called
moderate drought.
 If the deficiency exceeds 50%, it is called severe drought.

6.  Late onset or early withdrawal of monsoon.
 Prolonged break in monsoon.
 Lean monsoon & absence of depressions over
India.
 Re-establishment of the southern branch of
the jet stream.

7. SCORCHING HEAT OF
THE SUN WITH NO
TRACE OF CLOUD IN
THE SKY
DEATH OF CATTLE

8.  Hydrological drought is associated with reduction
in water. Generally, it takes two successive
meteorological drought for the outbreak of a
hydrological drought. It is of two types:-
 Surface water drought.
 Groundwater drought.

9.  It is the joint consequence of meteorological
& hydrological drought. When the soil
moisture & rainfall is not adequate enough to
support the growth of healthy crop leading to
wilting of major crop area is called
Agricultural drought.
Thats all a farmer says at the end

14. PERIOD NUMBER OF DROUGHT YEARS
1901-1950 5.
1951-2000 11.
TOTAL 16.
SOMETIMES THE DROUGHT OCCURRED IN 2 CONSEQUTIVE YEARS, WHILE
AT TIMES IT IS SEPARATED BY A GAP OF 11-17YEARS.

15. REGION 1901-1950 1951-2000 TOTAL
Sub
Himalayas
4 8 12
Gangetic
West Bengal
7 12 19.

16. DISTRICT NORMAL ACTUAL DECLINE DECLINE PERCENT
Malda 732 510 222 30.32786885
Murshidabad 671 443 228 33.97913562
Nadia 680 362 318 46.76470588
Birbhum 708 469 239 33.75706215
Bankura 702 442 260 37.03703704
Purulia 714 341 373 52.24089636
Burdwan 658 416 242 36.7781155
Hugli 714 487 227 31.79271709
West Midnapur 763 503 260 34.07601573
North 24 PGS 775 479 296 38.19354839
South 24 PGS 913 628 285 31.21577218

17. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
DECLINE
PERCENT
DISTRICT

18.  Large scale migration of people from the drought affected
areas.
 Stiff competition for limited food & natural resources among
man as well as among plants & animals leading to
disappearance of the weaker section of the community.
 Some plants & animals may perish as they cannot withstand
extreme dry conditions.
 Mass starvation, famine, malnutrition leading to large scale
loss of life & property without proper intervention.
 Increased dependency on the developed nations for supply of
surplus food.
 Change in political scenario- Mr Khurshev of Russia had to
step down from power as he had borrowed food from
Western World.

19. DEATH OF LIVESTOCK DESERTIFICATION
MALNUTRITION DROUGHT AFFECTED PEOPLE MIGRATING
OUT FROM RELIEF CAMPS

20.  Identification of drought prone area & preparation of maps.
 Identification of period of occurrence.
 Rainwater harvesting techniques.
 Proper crop planning taking into consideration the weather
forecasts to avoid maximum loss.
 Drought Prone Area Programme to minimise the adverse
effects through integrated development of natural resources
& adoption of appropriate techniques.
 Twelve point programme of Trikal ( Akal, Jalkal & Tinka) i.e to
minimize the loss of food, water & fodder ( In India).

21. TALABS TANKAS
JOHADS.

23.  Hazards & disasters like drought are
inevitable. The measures suggested are much
cost involving. But it needs sincere
implementation both on the parts of the
Government & people that will bring down
the loss at least to 70% minimizing much loss
of life, property & agricultural production.