State level analysis of drought policies and impacts in Rajasthan, India.

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

"The conventional attitude to a drought as a phenomenon of arid and semi-arid areas is changing because areas with high average rainfall are also facing acute water scarcity. This shows that drought is just not the scarcity or absence of rainfall, but it is more related to water resource management (or mismanagement). In the case of Rajasthan, there have been 48 drought years of varied intensity since 1901. A more detailed analysis reveals that only 9 out of the last 102 years had been drought free, and at village level the number of drought-free years would be even less. However, despite this, the State considers drought as a transient phenomenon where short-term relief measures are considered to be a solution. This paper examines the range of drought management issues in the State of Rajasthan and seeks to identify existing gaps and suggest measures to reduce the impact of droughts in the future."