Reprint - Central Arid Zone Research Institute

The definition of drought adopted in this paper is applicable onlywith reference to crop growth or in any other sphere where thedistribution of rainfall, week by week, is involved. No claim is madethat this definition is suitable for broader purposes like hydrology,climatology etc. where the distribution of rainfall month by monthor even longer periods is considered adequate.17 Mann, H.S., Ramana Rao, B.V. and Rao, G.G.S.N. (1981)Quantification of rainfall and its utilisation efficiency in Rajasthan.Journal of Arid Environments. 4: 107-113The amount of precipitation in Rajasthan was quantified andcompared with the annual discharge of river water in Rajasthan andother parts of India. The amount of water used by livestock, thehuman population and the vegetation, the efficiency with which therain is used, have been calculated according to districts. In general,it was found that the efficiency of use of rain water is below 50percent in only three out of 11 districts in the arid zone of westernRajasthan, compared with eight out of 15 districts in the semi-aridzone of eastern Rajasthan. Possible increase in agriculturalproductivity, through proper management of rainfall, is indicated.18 Mull, S. and Kulshrestha, S.M. (1962)A severe hail storm of 27 May 59 near Sikar ( Rajasthan ). IndianJournal of Meteorology and Geophysics. 13: 81-94At about 1730 IST of 27 May 1959, are IAC Viscount plane flyingover the Jodhpur-Delhi sector of the Karachi-Delhi route flew into asevere hailstorm near about Sikar and suffered heavy damage. Theextent of damage is illustrated by photographs of the Viscount andfrom the sizes of the holes and deuts, the probable size of thehailstorms has been estimated. The radar echoes connected withthis storm have been reproduced and the characteristics or theechoes obtained for warning of hail.19 Paramanik, S.K. and Jagannathan, P. (1953)Climatic changes in India. I. Rainfall. Indian Journal of Meteorologyand Geophysics. 4: 291-309A study of short period cyclical movement in the annual rainfall andpolynomial moving average analyses of annual and seasonal rainfallis made in this paper. There appear to be no significant short periodcyclical movement in the annual rainfall except at Bhuj. Thedistribution of rainfall in the major part of India especially the areasin the arid and semi arid regions of India show that there is generaltendency for deficient rainfall to be more frequent. Trends in theannual and seasonal rainfall are also discussed in the paper.