Disaster Management guidelines on drought

NEW DELHI - Vice Chairman National Disaster Management Authority General N. C. Vij on Friday released the ‘National Disaster Management Guidelines - Management of Drought’ here today.

Speaking on the occasion, he emphasized that drought is not merely a physical phenomenon characterised by conditions of soil, water and vegetation.

“It has a very deep implication on the social life and behaviour pattern of rural people,” he said.

Dr. Mohan Kanda, member NDMA highlighted the main aspects of the guidelines on management of drought and underlined the importance of the subject of drought and climate change for sustainable agriculture.

The guidelines for the management of drought have been formulated after a ‘nine step’ process fully taking on board various central ministries and departments and the States.

The process also included wide consultations with scientific and technical institutions, academics, technocrats and humanitarian organizations.

The draft guidelines documents were circulated to all the Ministries/Departments at the Centre and the States for their feedback.

The guidelines on management of drought describe in brief the phenomenon of drought, the efforts made so far to control them by diverse organizations and institutions and make several important and far-reaching recommendations on the measures to be taken by the Central and the State Governments and other selected agencies.

Based on the guidelines, the State/UT governments will prepare their drought management plans, implementation of which are expected to minimize drought hazards.

NDMA in its guidelines has identified many current challenges in drought management including; criteria followed for drought declaration and the time when the drought is declared differs across the states, indicators used and the methodology followed for drought intensity assessment and drought monitoring differ largely from state to state. (ANI)