Why in news? 10-member Central team to visit State’s drought-hit districts

Highlights:

• The Karnataka government has declared drought in 195 out of the 236 taluks in the State owing to deficient rainfall during the southwest monsoon
• As per the Centre’s guidelines, Karnataka has 161 taluks suffering from severe drought. Another 34 taluks have moderate drought.

What are the conditions to declare as drought hit?

• Mandatory Indicators to declare as drought hit is rainfall deviation and dry spell
  • Three consecutive weeks of dry spell,
  • less than 75% of crop coverage in the targeted area,
  • more than 50% of crop loss.
• To assess drought intensity and categorize it (severe or moderate), States may choose any three of the four impact indicators from agriculture, vegetation indices (remote sensing), soil moisture, and hydrology.
• If all three selected impact indicators fall within the ‘severe’ category, it is a severe drought. If two out of the three chosen impact indicators are classified as either ‘moderate’ or ‘severe,’ it signals a moderate drought
• After assessment, state government releases a notification to the geographic extent of the drought-affected region, that remains in effect for a period of six months unless it is revoked before that time.