Revisiting Drought-Prone Districts in India

Indian agriculture continues to be a gamble with the monsoon as more than half of the sown area does not have any access to irrigation. The incidence of drought remains a threat to the country’s agricultural production at macro level and to the livelihoods of people d ependent on agriculture at micro level. The adverse impacts of the incidence of drought are particularly high where rain-fed agriculture is predominant and in the areas where the incidence of drought is more frequent. Equity and inclusive growth have always been the mantras of planning in India, either explicitly or implicitly. With a view to support farming in these areas, the Government of India (GoI) in 1973-74 launched a special programme called DroughtProne Areas Programme (DPAP), to address the special problems faced by dryland areas, which suffer frequent droughts. The b asic objectives of the programme are to minimise the adverse effects of droughts on the production of crops and livestock as well as to improve natural resources like land and water thereby leading to drought-proofiof the affected areas. This programme aims at promoting overall economic development and improving the socioeconomic conditions of the resourcepoor people inhabiting these areas, through creation, widening and equitable distribution of the resource base and increased employment opportunities. The objectives of the program me are being addressed by taking up deve lopment works through watershed approach for land development, water resource augmentation and afforestation/pasture development.