Effective Drought Index Based Analysis of Drought Characteristics and Its Propagation for the Subtropical Climatic Region in Vindhyan Range

Drought is a disastrous natural phenomenon that significantly impacts socio-economic, agricultural, and environmental spheres. It is considered as the primary factor of uncertainty that continues to haunt Indian agriculture and its economy. In this context, the drought scenario in the Mirzapur and Sonbhadra districts of the Vindhyan range motivates the investigation of drought characteristics through an index called Effective Drought Index (EDI). The analysis revealed that the region faced drought during 1989, 1992, 1998, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2014, and 2018. Maximum extreme drought events occurred in Citynagar block (21 events) followed by Kon block (20 events) in Mirzapur district, while blocks located in Sonbhadra district of the study area face 1 to 6 extreme drought events. Haliya block (28 events) in Mirzapur district and Myorpur block (26 events) in Sonbhadra district faces maximum severe drought events. Chhanvey block in Mirzapur district faces 25 severe drought events, while the rest of the block of the study area faces severe drought conditions that vary between 6 to 22 events. The severity of extreme drought is maximum in Citynagar block (-47.46) followed by Kon block (-44.87) in Mirzapur district. Maximum drought severity based on EDI computation used to prevails in Chopan block (-170.48) in Sonbhadra block followed by Haliya block (-171.12) in Mirzapur district. Maximum drought events of varying severity classes used to prevail in Robertsganj block (172 events) in Sonbhadra district. The analysis exposed the characteristics of drought that prevail in the region and through a thorough inspection suitable strategy can be synthesis that renders the impact of drought.