Changing monsoons: Vicious cycle of crippling drought, devastating floods

Climate change is beginning to show its impact on the monsoon

Floods in the time of drought are India’s new normal. Let us get this clear. Each year, without fail, a vicious cycle of crippling drought and then devastating floods plays out before us. Sometimes this cycle becomes so bad that the reports on these even hit the headlines. But the fact is that this cycle is getting a new normal. First, floods and drought come together. Today, even as 40 per cent of the districts in India face the prospects of drought, close to 25 per cent of the districts have had heavy rain of more than 100 mm in