Drought Explained in 10 Lines: Causes, Impact and Solutions
This work has been verified by our teacher: 16.01.2026 at 15:57
Type of homework: Essay Writing
Added: 16.01.2026 at 15:10
Summary:
Susza: długi brak deszczu powoduje niedobór wody, straty plonów i migracje. Przyczyny: naturalne i ludzkie. Rozwiązania: oszczędzać wodę, sadzić drzewa.
10 Lines on Drought
1. Drought is a long spell of very little or no rain that leads to water shortage. 2. It can happen naturally due to failed monsoon or changes in regular weather patterns. 3. Human activities like cutting down trees, overusing groundwater, and polluting the environment make droughts worse. 4. When drought hits, crops fail and fields become dry, so farmers struggle to earn their living. 5. Drinking water becomes scarce for both people and animals; ponds and wells may dry up. 6. Crop loss causes food shortage and the prices of daily essentials go up in markets. 7. Many villagers are forced to migrate to cities for work, which affects family life and children’s education. 8. Drought spoils soil fertility, reduces grass for animals, and can change green lands into wastelands if it happens again and again. 9. Solutions include harvesting rainwater, building check dams, using drip irrigation, planting trees, and choosing crops that need less water. 10. Everyone—students, citizens, farmers, and the government—should join hands to save water and fight drought together.---
Expanded Explanation: Drought in the Indian Context
: What is Drought?Drought is a natural disaster that means a village, town, or region is suffering through a long time with hardly any rain. This causes water levels in rivers, ponds, and wells to fall, which leads to scarcity of water for drinking, farming, and daily use. In India, where we depend so much on the monsoon, even one failed rainy season can cause big problems for millions of people.
My own grandmother would tell me stories about the drought in her village in Bundelkhand, when the earth would crack and buffaloes would gather around the last muddy pond. This is a scene repeated in many parts of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh when the monsoon fails.
Causes of Drought: Nature and Human Hands
Drought is often caused by less rainfall than usual. In India, if the southwest monsoon is weak, then entire districts can become dry. Sometimes, natural changes like El Niño affect wind patterns and delay the rains. But we cannot blame nature alone. People cause droughts to become worse by cutting forests for wood and agriculture. Trees act like natural sponges, helping the ground hold water during heavy rains. When we destroy these forests, the land dries faster.Overdrawing groundwater by using many borewells for irrigating water-hungry crops, like sugarcane or paddy in dry areas, takes away more water than nature can put back. Polluting water and mismanaging rivers also add to the problem. Experts say global warming is making Indian droughts even worse: as temperatures rise, water evaporates faster and rains become more unpredictable.
Immediate Effects: What Drought Does to People and Farming
The first people to suffer when drought comes are farmers. Most Indian farmers depend on the rains to grow their crops—wheat, pulses, millets, cotton, and more. When the fields receive little rain, seeds fail to sprout or the crops wither before harvest. Many lose the money and effort they invested, leading to deep sadness and sometimes even despair.The daily life of ordinary people changes too. Drinking water that, in wet years, comes from wells or tanks, becomes a treasure. Women and children might walk kilometres to fetch water in heavy matkis. The sight of cracked earth, empty wells, and dried ponds becomes common, like the images we have seen from Bundelkhand or the dry Marathwada region in Maharashtra. Cattle suffer too; there is little grass for them, and without water, they fall sick or die.
Social and Economic Impact: Harder Lives
Beyond immediate hunger and thirst, drought delivers a blow to the entire social structure of villages. When fields are empty, there is less food. Grain and vegetable prices rise in local mandis. Poor families, with less money to buy what they need, have to cut down meals or borrow from moneylenders. Many families become trapped in debt.With no work at home, many villagers, especially the young and able, migrate to cities like Mumbai, Delhi, or Bangalore to search for jobs as construction labourers or domestic workers. This movement breaks up families, leaves villages with only the old and very young, and often disrupts children’s studies because they cannot go to school regularly. In the case of prolonged drought, children may suffer from malnutrition and lose out on basic health and education.
Environmental Consequences: Land and Wildlife Suffer
Drought does more than just dry up fields. It changes the entire environment. The earth becomes hard, and with little vegetation, strong winds blow away the topsoil—a process called soil erosion. Soon, the land becomes less fertile, and fewer crops grow. Grasses for animals disappear, and birds and insects become rare visitors. Over time, if drought hits repeatedly, green lands may become wastelands or even deserts, as we can see in parts of western Rajasthan.Prevention and Solutions: What Can Be Done?
There are many steps we can take to prevent and fight drought. The wisdom of our elders—harvesting and saving every drop—shows the way. Building check dams, recharging old village ponds, and storing rainwater in large tanks can help collect seasonal rain for use in dry months. Drip irrigation is a modern tool that delivers just enough moisture to plant roots, saving water compared to flooding fields.Farmers can grow less thirsty crops like bajra or pulses, use mulch (dried leaves or grass) to keep soil moist, and choose quick-maturing seeds. Planting trees brings back the forest cover and helps water stay in the soil. Community efforts, like nurturing babool or neem groves, restoring old stepwells (baolis), and running water-saving campaigns in schools, make a real difference. Drought-resilient seeds developed by Indian scientists, like those in ICRISAT or PUSA, are also helping farmers manage in difficult years.
Collective Responsibility: A Call to Action
The fight against drought is everyone’s duty. Governments must build reservoirs, manage groundwater wisely, and support farmers during bad years. But students, too, can help by joining school projects to plant saplings, reduce water wastage, and spread awareness in the community. Saving even one bucket of water a day at home makes an impact.Let us all remember the words of Dr M.S. Swaminathan, India’s “father of the Green Revolution”: “Conserve every drop of water, protect every inch of soil.” Only then can we ensure that drought does not turn our fields barren and our villages empty. By working together—villagers and city dwellers, children and elders—we can beat drought and make India green and prosperous.
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