By the end of June, in the four-month southwest monsoon cycle that ends in September, the country was facing a severe water crisis. This followed a heatwave in April and May that led to the loss of subsoil moisture, the delayed onset and tardy progress of the southwest monsoon, and depleted reservoir levels.

Everyone blames the El Nino weather phenomenon that reduces rainfall and brings dry conditions affecting the country's Kharif season planting of key crops like paddy, coarse cereals, pulses, oilseeds and cotton.

Climate Warning Ignored

El Nino may well be the proximate cause of water stress this year, but the country is actually paying a price for its past omissions and commissions. That, as a tropical nation, India was vulnerable to the adverse effects of global warming and climate change, and that these would only worsen, has been well recognised for at least two decades now.

Yet, we chose not to heed the warning signs. It is not that the country does not have adequate water resources or infrastructure to handle the crisis. Our natural endowment includes a long-period average rainfall of 870 mm from the southwest monsoon, hundreds of rivers that criss-cross the........

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