When does India declare drought and how is it linked to the monsoon

One big change in India's drought management is in the IMD's parlance

Will 2023 be a repeat of 2015? Seven years ago, cumulative rainfall across India during the June-September southwest monsoon season dropped below 90 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA), to 87.3 per cent.

Thus, 2015 was officially classified as a “deficient” monsoon year.

Since then, there has been no deficient rainfall year. In fact, the past four years —2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 — were rainfall-surplus years.

However, 2023 could turn out to be different as, after a gap of four years, the dreaded El Niño phenomenon is expected to mark its presence.

Though, the IMD in its