Preface Drought is considered to be a normal feature of climate especially in tropical countries where occurrence of periods of dry weather during rainy season is common. Virtually droughts can occur in all climates and they can also be witnessed when the air temperatures are higher than the normal for a longer period that increases both evaporation and water deficit. It can be defined as a condition of abnormal dry weather that has serious impacts on hydrological balance, which in turn affect the agricultural productivity as well the water needs of both human and livestock. India being located in tropical region, it often experience droughts of different intensities  in one corner or in other part of the country. Over the last 140 years (1870-2010) the country was affected by seven phenomenal droughts that seriously affected  the lives of human as well the livestock population.   It is estimated that in India, a large chunk of arable land of around 90 m ha would continue to be dependent on rainfall even after achieving the fullest irrigation potential. Therefore, any deviation in rainfall over its mean during rainy season is bound to affect the nation’s food security. Many researchers over the years have contributed significantly in understanding various mechanisms viz., occurrence, impacts, monitoring, and management associated with droughts. However, no publication is available as of now by integrating various topics on droughts in relation to agriculture including livestock and fisheries production. Therefore, attempts have been made through this publication to review the state of the art of information on droughts available with different countries in minimizing its impact on agricultural food production and on natural resources. The material collected for this publication has been incorporated in to eight chapters.

1.1    General Circulation of the Atmosphere      1.2    World Climates      1.3    World Climate Classification by Köppen’s method      1.4    Climatic Classification over India      1.5    Asian Summer Monsoon and Rainfall Distribution      1.6    The Indian Monsoon     Features of monsoon     Monsoon circulation     Onset of monsoon     Withdrawal of monsoon     Southwest monsoon rainfall     Active phase of monsoon     Break monsoon conditions     Winter monsoon 1.7    Causes for Failure of Monsoon          Prediction of onset of monsoon rainfall 1.8    Spatial Distribution of Weather Parameters over India     Rainfall     Temperature     Humidity     Sunshine and Radiation     Wind speed 1.9    Famines in India      1.10    Historical Evidences of Droughts      1.11    Distribution of Drought Prone Regions over the Globe     1.11.1    Occurance of drought in different countries      1.12    Distribution of Drought Prone Regions in India      1.13    Weather Phenomena Associated with Droughts      1.14    Effect of Droughts on Natural Resources     1.14.1    Surface water resources     1.14.2    Groundwater sources      1.15    Impact of Latest Droughts on Crop Production in India      1.16    Economic Impacts of Droughts in India      1.17    Economic Impacts of Droughts in other Nations          References

2.1    Definition of Droughts      2.2    Types of Droughts     2.2.1    Meteorological Droughts     2.2.2    Agricultural Droughts     2.2.3    Hydrological Droughts     2.2.4    Socio-economic Droughts      2.3    Criteria for Classification of Droughts     Meteorological Droughts     Agricultural Droughts     Hydrological Droughts      2.4    Data requirements in Drought Analysis      2.5    Drought Indices     2.5.1    Rainfall-based Indices     2.5.2    Climate Derivate Based Indices     2.5.3    Remote Sensing Based Indices     2.5.4    Processes Based Indicators      2.6    Assessment of Drought Prone Regions in India      2.7    Indicators for Declaration of  Droughts in India     2.7.1     Rainfall Deficiency     2.7.2    Area Under Sowing     2.7.3    Normalized Difference Vegetation Index      2.8    Drought Management Procedures in India      2.9    Drought Code adopted by Local Governments      2.10    Spatial Variability of Droughts and their Frequency of Occurrence in India      2.11    Drought Vulnerability Assessment      2.12    Vulnerability of Society to Drought          References

3.1    Factors Contributing to Climate Change     3.1.1    Natural Causes to Climate Change     3.1.2    Human Causes to Climate Change      3.2    Climatic Trends     3.2.1    Global level     3.2.2    National level      3.3    Climate Projections     3.3.1    Global level Projections on Future Changes in Climate     3.3.2    Climate Projections at the National level     3.3.3    Climate Projections at the Regional level     3.3.4    Projections of Extremes in Rainfall and Temperature      3.4    Consequences of Climate Change on Droughts and Agriculture     3.4.1    Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture in some States of India      References

4.1    Approaches for Drought Monitoring      4.2    Weather Network System in Different Countries      4.3    Drought Monitoring using Climatological, Hydrological and Combination Approaches in Different Countries      4.4    International Cooperation in Drought Monitoring      4.5    Drought Monitoring Mechanism in India      4.6    Early Warning and Decision Support System     4.6.1    Software for Drought Detection, Monitoring and Early Warning     4.6.2    Decision Support System for Droughts Developed Outside India      4.7    GIS and Drought Monitoring          References

5.1    Global Food Production     5.1.1    Area Under Cultivation     5.1.2    World Food Production      5.2    Variability in Global and Indian Food Grain Production      5.3    Impact of Phenomenal Drought During 2009 on Food Grain Production in Different Countries      5.4    Impacts on Livestock and Fisheries     5.4.1    Livestock     5.4.2       Milk Production     5.4.3    Fisheries      5.5    Estimation of Food Grain Production in India using Rainfall indices     5.5.1    Trend in the annual food grain production     5.5.2    De-trended production index     5.5.3    Construction of rainfall indices (RI)     5.5.4    Development of model for estimation of production index     5.5.5    Verification of model performance     5.5.6    Estimation of Kharif Price Production      5.6    Forecasting of Agricultural Output Using Space, Agrometeorology and Land based Observation (FASAL)          References

6.1    Hydrological Cycle      6.2    Global Surface Waters      6.3    Surface Water over India      6.4    Ground Water Potentials in India      6.5    Influence of Drought on Water Resources, its Fauna and Flora     6.5.1    Effects on Fauna and Flora      6.6    Influence of Changing Climate on Droughts and Water Resources     6.6.1    Global warming and droughts at global scale     6.6.2    Global warming on water resources at global scale     6.6.3    Global warming and droughts at national scale in India     6.6.4    Global warming impacts on water resources at National scale          References

Good Practices for Drought Management     7.1    Drought Planning and Preparedness     7.1.1    Drought Planning in India     7.2    Global Experiences in Drought Planning     7.2.1    USA     7.2.2    South Africa     7.2.3    African Nations     7.2.4    Namibia     7.2.5    Ethiopia     7.2.6    Botswana Drought management plans in Europe     7.2.7    Spain     7.2.8    England and Wales     7.2.9    Portugal     7.2.10    Australia     7.2.11    China     7.2.12    Palestine     7.2.13    Global Initiatives     7.3    Drought Preparedness Action Plans in India     7.3.1    Drought Preparedness Checklist     7.4    Drought Preparedness Action Plans in Different Countries     7.4.1    Arizona State in USA     7.4.2    Texas State in USA     7.4.3    Italy     7.4.4    Mediterranean Region     7.4.5    Pakistan     7.4.6    Darfur in Sudan     7.4.7    Bangladesh     7.5    Indigenous Knowledge for Drought Management     7.5.1    Astro Meteorological Methods     7.5.2    Traditional Knowledge in Weather Prediction      7.5.3    Traditional wisdom in Drought Risk Region (DRR)         Rajasthan and Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh     7.5.4    Indigenous technologies for moisture conservation          in dry lands of semi-arid regions of India     7.6    Traditional Wisdom for Drought Management in a few selected countries     7.7    Role of Weather-based Agro-advisories     7.7.1    Strategies for dissemination of advisories     7.7.2    Role of ICAR and AICRPAM on Agromet Services     7.7.3    Agromet Advisory services through mobile phone     7.7.4    Status of Agromet Advisory Services in other Countries     7.8    Value Addition to Agromet Information     7.8.1    AICRP on Agrometeorology     7.8.2    Thumb rules for weather-pest/diseases     7.9    Contingency Crop Planning for Minimizing Risks     7.9.1    Contingency Crop Planning for Rainfed Regions of India     7.10    Drought Proofing Mechanisms     7.10.1    Watershed Development for Drought Management     7.10.2    Watershed Development in India     7.10.3    The Success Stories of Watershed as a Drought Proofing Mechanism     7.10.4    Watershed Policies and Recommendations     7.10.5    Farm Ponds for Drought Management     7.10.6    Success Stories of Farm Ponds     7.11    Rainfed Technologies for the Drought Management in different agro climatic region     7.12    Farmer’s Awareness on Climate Management     7.12.1    India     7.12.2    In other Countries     7.13    Role of ICT in Climate Risk Management through AAS     7.13.1    India     7.13.2    Application of ICT in Providing Advisories in other Countries     7.14    Integrated Drought Management Strategies through Farming Systems Approach     7.14.1    Drought Adaptation Strategies in Rajasthan and in Maharashtra     7.14.2    Improvement and Rural Livelihood     7.15    Drought Mitigation Measures     7.15.1    Drought Mitigation Plans     7.15.2    Soil water Conservation and Recharging of Ground water Methods     7.15.3    Traditional Water Harvesting and Conservation          Techniques         References

Review of the state of art of Drought on impact assessment, monitoring and management with special reference to agricultural production has revealed that Drought is still a complex natural disaster and difficult to forewarn in spite of advancements in atmospheric sciences and computational procedures. It is realized only after it is set in and is not known when it is likely to withdraw. A long way one has to travel to predict its occurrence, spread and its continuation to the next season over a region. The existing net work of observational set up in developing countries in Africa, Asia and in South America need to be strengthened further for effective monitoring of significant weather events at regional and micro regional level. With the rapid expansion of communication system over the past two decades, establishment of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) at as many locations as possible even in remote regions should be taken up on priority basis and funding may be provided by the respective governments or by the International Organizations where ever necessary. Nations with limited resources may also be convinced to strengthen their weather observational net work in view of the increased occurrences of climate extremes and changing climate. Drought vulnerability regions over the globe were delineated based on sparse historical weather data which do not match with real surface conditions. Now, with the availability of weather data from more number of stations both temporally and spatially, drought prone regions over the world may be re-delineated. This would help the planners to allocate funds rationally to the affected regions. Globally every year, some regions or others may be experiencing droughts and more so in drought prone regions.