Drought is caused when there is dearth of water necessary for agriculture. It causes loss of crops. Acute scarcity of water causes suffering to man as well as the other animals. Drought poses problems in some areas of the country as a result of irregular and uncertain rainfall continually.
The northern part of Gujarat in north India and the southern part of Rajasthan is often drought affected owing to scarcity of rainfall. That is why Tharp Desert has been created there. In southern India Royalseema and Telengana in Andhra Pradesh, Marathawada in Maharashtra, the north eastern part of Karnataka and the district of Kalahandi in Orissa are the main drought affected areas of the country.
Preservation and proper utilisation of the rainwater, surface-water and the underground water of the area is essential to combat the problem of drought. Those areas can possibly have agricultural products by adoption of dry farming that needs less water. The underground water can be utilised by sinking wells and tube-wells.
Flood Control:
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Flood creates a great barrier on the path of progress of our country. So with a view to controlling flood the following measures have been taken by way of the National Flood Policy.
(a) Emergency measures:
Flood havocs can be done away with to some extent by construction of embankments and spurs, dredging the river-mouths, raising the level of the villages after flood and con strutting high mounds in those areas.
(b) Short-term measures:
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The affected areas can be saved from the damages caused by flood to a great extent by making provision for draining out of surface water, shifting and rehabilitating the villages worst affected to safer areas situated above the usual flood level, constructing more embankments and high mounds and cautioning people much in advance by radio and television.
(c) Long-term measures:
Construction of embankments or dams on the rivers, creation of reservoirs, afforestation in the catchment areas of rivers for soil conservation and above all, quick draining out or discharge of flood water through big canals come under these measures. Though highly expensive, these are all permanent measures of controlling flood.
Besides these, massive provision of soil conservation for checking soil erosion is being made in the source of rivers in the Himalays and other mountains. However, the most effective measures for flood control are the multipurpose projects which are being effective in different rivers of India.