Discuss the role of satellite-based indices in drought monitoring. How can drought management in India move from crisis response to risk management?

Drought builds up slowly, so its onset is easy to dispute. India's Manual for Drought Management therefore uses several indicators together: rainfall deficiency, area sown, NDVI and soil moisture. Drought is declared at the taluk/block level [2]. Satellite indices have made the declaration of drought more objective. Relief, however, is still mostly paid out after crops fail.

Role of satellite-based indices

• Objectivity: The Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre monitors NDVI, LSWI and soil moisture through NADAMS. It follows the 2016 drought manual [1].
• Granularity: Satellite data can be read for each taluk or block, so declarations can be precise rather than covering a whole district [2].
• Verification: MNCFC checks the drought memoranda that States submit and is a member of the Inter-Ministerial Central Team [1]. This limits inflated claims.
• Early warning: The VEDAS portal, being built with ISRO's Space Applications Centre, supports monitoring during the crop season [1].
• Limits: Cloud cover in the kharif season and mixed cropping weaken the signal. That is why indices are combined with ground-truthing and are not used alone [2].

From crisis response to risk management

Monitor → Early warning → Timely trigger → Pre-arranged finance → Mitigation

Figure: the drought risk-management cycle

• Timely declaration: In Swaraj Abhiyan (2016), the Supreme Court ordered the drought manual to be revised. It said the manual should fix a time limit for declaring drought [3].
• Risk-based finance: The Standing Committee on Finance (2019) recommended allocating disaster funds by vulnerability rather than past spending. It also asked for a separate mitigation fund and an automatic advance from the NDRF in disasters of rare severity [4].
• Preparedness: The NDMA drought guidelines set out an institutional framework for drought management [5]. Each district should prepare a drought plan and contingency crop plans before the monsoon.
• Parametric triggers: Satellite indices can trigger PMFBY insurance payouts automatically, so farmers are paid faster.
• Mitigation: Watershed works, micro-irrigation under PMKSY, and a shift towards millets and pulses would reduce how exposed rainfed farms are to drought.

Satellite indices tell the State where drought is and how severe it is. Risk management means acting on that information before the damage is done. Pre-agreed triggers, risk-based funds and investment in water security would make relief a backstop rather than the main response. This is in line with the Sendai Framework and SDG 13.1 on climate resilience.