The 2016–2017 drought in Tamil Nadu was a natural disaster that affected farmers in the region. It resulted from the lowest rainfall in Tamil Nadu in the past 140 years during the

Northeast monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...

season, leaving farmers with minimal rainfall. Tragically, the drought led to numerous suicides among farmer households

Northeast monsoon

In Tamil Nadu, the average annual rainfall had gradually decreased 62% in 2016. The

season had subdued Tamil Nadu with the worse rainfall ever, just scattering rain in some areas. The highest deficit of normal rainfall in Indian states in 2016 is recorded in Tamil Nadu with 82% deficit.

Charred crops in Tamil Nadu

Agriculture in Tamil Nadu has faced a thunder like hit since the low rainfall had left the crops and agricultural lands with no water for irrigation purposes. Also the Kaveri water issue became a huge headache for the farmers in Tamil Nadu, as no water is obtained from the tributaries of

Kaveri river The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery) is a major river flowing across Southern India. It is the third largest river in the region after Godavari and Krishna. The catchment area of the Kaveri basin is estimated to be and encompasses the states o ...

where it is the only source of irrigation for the Tamil Nadu farmers. The crops had severely charred in lakhs of hectares. It is said that the harvest in the year will be the worst ever in Tamil Nadu.

Farmers death due to depression

Since the agricultural growth of crops had decreased and charred due to less water for irrigation, the farmers in Tamil Nadu requested the state to be announced as affected by drought. The protest was started by a group of farmers led by 72-year old farmer P. Ayyakannu on March 14, 2017 at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi and went on for months.Many fasting strike and mass movements were held due to the delay of announcing Tamil Nadu as affected by drought. Farmers fell in deep depression because of indebtedness and charred crops in their fields. Tamil Nadu farmers fell ill and dead each day due to heart attack.

Tamil Nadu announced drought-hit

On 10 January 2017, Chief Minister

O. Panneerselvam Ottakarathevar Panneerselvam, popularly known as OPS (born 14 January 1951) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu briefly in December 2016 and previously from 2001 to 2002 and again from 2014 to 2015. As finance minist ...

announced that Tamil Nadu will be announced as drought-hit state. Since entire Tamil Nadu was devastated by the

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

because of low rainfall, huge expenses will be incurred in protecting the people and central financial assistance will be sought because of this, he said. He further said that Rs.5465 per acre will be provided for farmers who suffered 33% loss sowing paddy and other irrigational crops and Rs.7287 per acre for long term crops.

Farmers protest in Delhi

As announced by the TN Government the relief funds are not distributed evenly and not abandoning the loans of the farmers they got from the cooperative banks, they got frustrated. Since the Central and State government betrayed the Tamil Nadu farmers, they started to protest against the

central Government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...

Jantar Mantar, New Delhi Jantar Mantar in New Delhi is an observatory, designed to be used with the naked eye. It is one of five Jantar Mantar in India. "Jantar Mantar" means "instruments for measuring the harmony of the heavens". It consists of 13 architectural astr ...

References

Watch: Why Farmers Are Protesting With Human Skulls at Jantar Mantar
{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-2017 Drought in Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Droughts in Asia Natural disasters in India Agriculture in India Farmers who died by suicide in India 2017 Tamil Nadu farmers' protest