Drought in West Bengal

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. ACLIMATIC WOE IN INDIA BY SUHEL SEN ROLL 19

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. DROUGHT, A BASIC IDEA .

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. DIFFERENT CONCEPTS IN DIFFERENT REGIONS

4. Meteorological drought. Hydrological drought. Agricultural drought. MAJOR TYPES OF 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. METEOROLOGICAL DROUGHT. THIS IS WHAT THEY SAY

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. MAJOR CAUSES.

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. HYDROLOGICAL 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. AGRICULTURAL DROUGHT . Thats all a farmer says at the end

10. DROUGHT INDEX.

11. DROUGHT PRONE AREAS IN INDIA

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

13. COMPARISON- SUB HIMALAYAN REGION & GANGETIC WEST BENGAL REGION 1901-1950 1951-2000 TOTAL Sub Himalayas 4 8 12 Gangetic West Bengal 7 12 19.

14. 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

15. GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION

16. 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. CONSEQUENCES OF DROUGHT

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

18. 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). HOW TO COMBAT DROUGHT?

19. TALABS TANKAS JOHADS.

20. MITIGATION IN WEST BENGAL

21. 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. CONCLUSION