Socio-economic impact of drought in eastern part of satara district of Maharashtra

“Drought is a natural disaster which indicates the below average precipitation in given region or drought is a temporary aberration, seasonal aridity which is a permanent feature of climate. Condition of drought is appearing primarily because of the scarcity of rainfall and high temperature in an area. Drought stems from a deficiency or erratic distribution in rainfall but the spread and intensity of the calamity is contingent on several factors, including the status of surface and ground water resources, agro-climatic features, cropping choices and patterns, socio-economic vulnerabilities of the local population” (Manual for Drought Management Dec., 2016). Drought can simply be defined as extended periods of precipitation shortage, normally for a season or more resulting in water deficiency for some human activities or environmental sustainability. Human activities such as farming, irrigation, or domestic uses of water are normally highly impacted during droughts (Earth Eclipse Report, 2017). Drought produces wide-ranging impacts that span across many sectors of economy. Drought results from long continued dry weather and/or insufficiency of rain, which causes exhaustion of soil moisture, depletion of underground water supply and reduction of stream flow