Essay on Drought

Drought

It’s meaning: Drought is a condition of no rains when the standing crops, mostly rain-fed, gets dried up and is destroyed.

While India is a country rich in natural resources and manpower, she is still far behind other developed countries of the world in matters of conquering the forces of nature.

The vagaries of the Indian climate are a veritable obstruction in the path of her property and well-being. She is often visited by long spells of drought or abundance of rains causing floods.

Causes: 

The situation of drought arises when there is long spell of severe water shortages. The causes of drought includes the followings:

Scarcity of rain-fall.

Lack of irrigation facilities to supplement the need for water during the period of inadequate monsoon.

Lack of properly developed Rain-water harvesting methods

Lack of proper planning to deal with the situation.

Widespread deforestation and cutting of trees has reduced the ability of soil to hold water. Lack of underground water is a major cause for droughts.

Evil effects of drought: Like floods, drought is a grave natural calamity that affects Indian life, its agriculture, industry, and economy.

Wells, tanks and canals get dried and even the cattle die without water. Farmers and daily wage-earners leave their homes and migrate into other parts of the country in search of employment.

Famine breaks out people face untold miseries and hardships. The cruelty of the angry rain-god, as most of the people in rural areas are prone to believe, makes them suffer from disease and starvation. Poverty and squalor become their inseparable companions.

Sometimes, their tales of sadness and sorrow grow beyond proportion when they find that sowing the seeds for growing Rabi crops becomes impossible due to drought condition. This results in famine conditions.

Industry suffers a setback due to the scarcity of raw materials produced by agriculture. Already there is a substantial shortfall in industrial production. This combined with the demand of increased wages by the workers, puts the industrialists on the horns of a dilemma and some industries face closure.

The impact of drought is even in the social field. Faced by hunger and frustrated by uncertain future, many of our people indulge into illegal practices creating law and order problem for the government.

Solution: To tackle the problem of drought in our country, the following solutions are suggested.

The water of most of the ponds, ditches and rivers are dried up during summer. After summer comes rainy season of monsoon and rains give a great relief from the unbearable heat. But if it does not rain for a longer period than usual – the condition is called drought.

The people of the villages who have to live on agriculture only are most affected. It brings disaster on their lives.



The soil of the fields become so dry that it is split in pieces and the agricultural land become unploughable. So no crops can be grown.

At present days even farmers have to depend on rain water for cultivation.

People of the villages face a great difficulty for having drinking water as the wells and ponds dry up. They are compelled to drink polluted water and as result diseases like cholera breakout and people die like animals.

The cattle have nothing to eat. They fall prey of hunger, thirst and different diseases.

Drought for a prolonged period brings famine and village people leave their homes in search of food.

It brings a lot of misery on the lives of rural people. So it is regarded as a curse.

The summer starts in India from the beginning of March and continues up to June. Up to February the rays of the sun are soothing and we like to bask in the sun. But in March the season changes. The sun-rays become hotter day by day and we begin to get perspiration. The entire earth becomes heated in this season.

Morning: In summer, the few hours of the morning are pleasant. In March the sun does not become too hot before noon. But by April the sun becomes hot by 10 a.m.

Afternoon: The sun becomes very hot by noon in May and June and scorching winds also begin to blow. People cannot come out of their homes and all work remains suspended till evening. They cannot work even inside their houses because of heat. Moreover, they do not feel energetic and a sort of dullness comes over them. They feel sleepy in the afternoon. They shut all doors and take rest in the coolest part of the building.

Evening and Night: People do not get relief even in the evening and at night. They cannot sleep comfortably at night on account of heat.



The hot wind causes much thirst, but people cannot get cool water. People become very tired and their throats get parched.
Rivers, streams and ponds dry up and cause scarcity of water. It adds to the difficulty of the people.
Even birds and beasts feel thirsty and run from place to place in search of water.
Many people, birds, and beasts die as a result of sunstroke.
Many fatal diseases, such as cholera, small-pox, etc. breaks out in the summer season.
The plants, herbs and shrub get dried up because of the scorching sun and hot winds.


All our efforts should be made to preserve rain waters in various ways and tap ground water sources to meet unexpected drought situations.
Improved rain-water harvesting methods should be deployed.
The people should be educated regarding the importance of water, so that they do-not misuse the stored water
New improved methods of irrigation should be introduced.
Deforestation should be discouraged to increase the ability of the soil to hold water.
Conclusion: It is high time that the government mobilized all its resources to provide succor to the people in this hour and fight the monster of drought with determination. It has not yet devised ways and means to face and fight natural calamities.