Drought has been recognized as a disaster in view of its spatial expanse, temporal duration, slow onset, and lasting effects on various vulnerable sections. With a focus on the September 2010 guidelines from the National Disaster Management Authority, discuss the mechanism for preparedness to deal with El Niño and La Niña fallouts in India.

Introduction: Drought creeps in slowly over wide areas and lasts long, hitting rain-fed farmers and the rural poor hardest — which is why it is treated as a disaster rather than a passing dry spell. El Niño, a warming of the equatorial Pacific, tends to weaken the south-west monsoon, while La Niña usually strengthens it, so reading this ocean–atmosphere cycle is central to preparedness.

Mechanisms under the September 2010 NDMA Drought Guidelines:

• Monitoring & early warning: Drought Monitoring Cells in the states, the Standardised Precipitation Index and satellite-based crop and vegetation indices, with the IMD tracking sea-surface temperatures and issuing ENSO advisories to forecast a deficient or surplus monsoon.
• Declaration & contingency: objective, transparent drought-declaration criteria, district crop-contingency plans with alternate short-duration and drought-tolerant seed varieties, and ready fodder banks and drinking-water plans for the lean months.
• Water security & livelihoods: watershed development, groundwater recharge, farm ponds and micro-irrigation to stretch every drop, plus demand-side wage support through programmes like MGNREGA to buffer rural incomes when crops fail.

Inter-ministerial coordination, a Crisis Management Plan and crop-insurance cover through the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana complete the response chain for both El Niño-led deficits and La Niña-led excesses.

Conclusion: The framework moves drought management from reactive, post-failure relief to indicator-driven anticipation — reading ENSO signals early and acting on water storage, alternate cropping and rural livelihoods before the fields actually fail.