The Siddaramaiah government, which took charge with a bang just a month ago, does not seem to have the blessings of the rain gods. Having rolled out its promised bhagyas, Anna Bhagya and Gruha Jyoti for starters—which have run into rough weather—it is now in a state of panic over an impending drought. The southwest monsoon may have entered Karnataka 10 days ago after good pre-monsoon showers of 116 mm, but districts across the state are facing a rain deficit, a situation compounded by cyclone Biparjoy which dried out the monsoon in the south. There is fear that the rain deficit could hit agriculture and create a power and drinking water shortage. The revenue minister has already admitted a drinking water crisis in over 800 habitations.
The state has seen varying degrees of drought for more than a decade between 2001 and 2019, punctuated by severe floods. Extreme weather events like floods, long and heavy monsoons, and high summer temperatures are slowly gaining acceptance as the norm. South India saw its worst drought during 2016–18 due to a deficit in the northeast monsoon caused by the La Nina effect, leading to a severe water crisis, especially in Chennai. Experts suggest that this rainfall pattern is man-made and due to a “lack of planning by a few at the top”, which can hurt the region. They contend that proper policy decisions and management of resources can solve any climate crisis.
As per a study by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, there is an evident change in climate and rainfall in Karnataka. While the amount of annual rainfall has increased in south-interior Karnataka and Malnad regions, there is a reduction in rainfall in north-interior Karnataka and coastal regions. It explains why the state has both floods and droughts simultaneously. Experts attribute this to deforestation and warn that disasters like droughts and floods will be inevitable if this is not curbed. This holds true for other parts of the country, from Kerala, which recorded its wettest year in 2021, to Kedarnath, which has increasingly seen landslides in the past few years.A normal monsoon is a harbinger of high agricultural productivity and industrial output, with water and power being the twin engines of a healthy economy. Karnataka can ill-afford a drought, especially when the government is looking to distribute free foodgrains and power—two sectors which could be hit the hardest.