{"id":125971,"date":"2026-09-24T11:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T06:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=125971"},"modified":"2026-09-24T11:50:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T06:20:52","slug":"maharashtra-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/maharashtra-drought\/","title":{"rendered":"Maharashtra Drought: Why Official Declaration Cannot Come Before October"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Maharashtra Drought Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Calls to declare a drought are rising in Maharashtra, as an <\/span><b>El Ni\u00f1o-driven rainfall deficit<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> hits the state&#8217;s agriculture-dependent economy hard. Water scarcity has compounded the crisis, setting back the kharif season and clouding prospects for rabi.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Opposition leaders have demanded an official drought declaration. Maharashtra Chief Minister says the government is taking &#8220;all steps necessary&#8221; to address the &#8220;alarming&#8221; situation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Why No Official Declaration Yet<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The timing constraint comes from national disaster-relief rules, not political reluctance.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/national-disaster-response-fund-ndrf\/\" target=\"_blank\">National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF)<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> rules, drought declaration for the <\/span><b>kharif season (June\u2013October)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> requires an assessment that can begin only from <\/span><b>October 5<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, once the monsoon starts withdrawing.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the <\/span><b>rabi season (October\u2013April)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, assessment can be held only in <\/span><b>March 2027<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is<\/span><b> no single, nationally accepted <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">definition of drought<\/span><b>.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> States have the authority to declare drought based on local conditions, but their report must conform to NDRF-specified parameters before the Centre releases disaster relief funds.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maharashtra has decided to submit its proposal to the Centre <\/span><b>after October 5<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Declaration Process<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The process runs through several defined steps:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">State-level surveys and panchanamas (on-ground crop-loss assessments) are already underway, to quantify losses in terms of food production and finances.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once the state submits its report, a central team visits the affected regions to conduct its own independent assessment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Only after this verification can relief funds be unlocked by the Centre.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The NDRF Criteria for Drought<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Drought declaration under NDRF norms rests on multiple indicators, not rainfall alone:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crop loss<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moisture Adequacy Index (used to assess soil health)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rainfall deficit<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Decline in food production<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Labour migration in search of work<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Specific thresholds also apply:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sowing must fall below 50% of total cultivable kharif\/rabi area.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Drinking water shortage must be severe.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Groundwater tables must be shrinking.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There must be a fodder shortage.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rainfall deficit must reach up to 70%.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>How the Kharif Season Was Hit<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sowing this season was <\/span><b>delayed<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> due to erratic rainfall \u2014 instead of the usual June 10 start, sowing began only on July 15. Rain failure after sowing then stunted flowering and fruiting.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The worst-hit crops are <\/span><b>soybean and cotton<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 the mainstay of small and marginal farmers in Marathwada and Vidarbha.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The dry spell has also stunted sugarcane growth in Marathwada and parts of western Maharashtra.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Government response<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: During the July monsoon session, the CM announced a Rs 40,385-crore farm loan waiver, with an additional Rs 50,000 incentive for farmers who had been repaying loans regularly.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Water Situation<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Drinking water scarcity is a major concern, with dam levels well below last year&#8217;s figures (data as of September 20):<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Region-wise water levels show sharp disparities:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marathwada (highest dam count at 929): just 46%, down from 81% last year.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amravati division: 64%<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nagpur division: 72%<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pune: 88%<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nashik: 83%<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Konkan: 76%<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marathwada stands out as the most severely affected region.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Rainfall Picture<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD):<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">31 of 36 districts in Maharashtra are rain-deficient.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">20 of these face a deficit of 25% to 58%.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In more than 100 of the state&#8217;s 355 drought-hit talukas, gaps between rain spells have stretched to 40\u201360 days.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a result, the main kharif crop, sown across 147 lakh hectares, has withered.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An <\/span><b>unusual pattern<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has worsened the damage: where rain did fall, it came short and intense, damaging soil health and causing erosion in some areas, rather than providing steady, absorbable moisture.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Structural vulnerability<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Maharashtra&#8217;s agriculture is largely rain-fed. Its irrigation potential stands at under 20%, far lower than states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, leaving it especially exposed to monsoon variability.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maharashtra&#8217;s crisis is real on the ground but procedurally premature on paper. The NDRF&#8217;s rule-bound calendar, not denial, explains the delay.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What the state needs now is not just an October declaration, but a longer-term shift \u2014 greater irrigation coverage \u2014 to reduce dependence on a monsoon that keeps growing less reliable.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-sci-tech\/maharashtra-drought-how-is-it-declared-10890981\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maharashtra drought conditions have intensified due to rainfall deficits and water scarcity, but NDRF rules require assessment for a kharif drought only after October 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":125981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[10457,60,22,59],"class_list":["post-125971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","tag-maharashtra-drought","tag-mains-articles","tag-upsc-current-affairs","tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125971"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126011,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125971\/revisions\/126011"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}