Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 4.
Fortnightly rainfall position in Baran district: 2000.
June 1 to July 1 to July 16 to Aug. 1 to Aug. 16 to Sept. 1 to
June 30
July 15
July 31
Aug. 15
Aug. 31
Sept. 15
Normal (in mm.)
81
158
158
144
154
63
Actual (in mm.)
3
101
409
83
103
162
Percent
96
36
159
42
33
157
deviation
Source
:Ref.4.
The deviation of the rainfall from the normal was significantly experi-
enced in Baran district during 2000 (Table 4).
All the five towns of Baran district have already been covered under
drinking water supply scheme and there are 39 water supply schemes oper-
ating there. In 2002-2003, it had 241,640 hectares of net irrigated area and
26,477 hectares of total irrigated area. The ground water level went down
causing the drying of about 30% of the hand pumps. Poor maintenance of
water harvesting structures like
talab
and
talais
and indiscriminate exploita-
tion of groundwater by big rich farmers further worsened the situation.
Due to the scarcity of water sources, and to the high cost transportation
to western Rajasthan, water rates rose. Increased cultivation, in turn, had
put tremendous pressure on groundwater resources. Due to malnutrition
and infections, the price of sheep and goat fell from Rs 500-Rs 1,000 to
Rs 200-250.
8
In Baran district, there is only one district government hospital, 201
subhealth centers, and 32 primary health centers. There are only four elec-
trified municipal towns and 1,162 electrified villages.
2
Sahariya, the only
tribal community, faced the consequences of drought most severely. Most
socially and economically marginalized people, they had to face the scarcity
of both drinking water and food grains. In some of the regions these tribal
people were forced to eat the local grass —
Saawa
, these grasses are poi-
sonous in nature if consumed in more quantity. Due to the far off locations,
even government support in terms of water tanker and food depot could
not reach in time. Availability of medical facilities was also disrupted due
to the same reason.
9
9. Findings
Meteorological factors mainly caused drought in Baran district. Rainfall
and land area sown tend to be positively correlated. It has been found that
