Drought Frequency Assessment and Implications of Climate Change for Maharashtra, India

Droughts are likely to worsen in the coming decades, affecting millions of people, and ecosystem across India and the world. Agriculture employs 58% of the country’s workforce and accounts for 18% of GDP. Around 55% of India’s agriculture is dependent on rainfall, India will be the worst affected if drought conditions persist and are not urgently addressed. The aim of this study is to study the drought in Maharashtra, India which accounts for 15% of GDP. In Marathwada, north Maharashtra and western Vidarbha regions, water scarcity affects nearly 60% of the state. Data on soil moisture, precipitation and temperature were used to assess drought. According to the findings, Maharashtra has the highest farmer suicide rate since 2000. The results show 50 million people with 45 million hectares of crop were affected due to drought in 2001–2002. Furthermore, 4291 farmers committed suicide in 2015 due to drought. It was also found that 36.9 million people were impacted that year. In 2018–2019 Maharashtra drought,40 million people were affected in 32 districts. Hence, for assuring that government policies are efficient enough to keep countries’ economy safe requires assessing drought vulnerabilities.