Global Journal of Research and Review www.gjrr.org Assessment of Meteorological Drought- “A Case Study of Solapur District, Maharashtra, India” Rajpoot Pushpendra Singh* 1 and Kumar Ajay 2 1 Research Scholar, Department of Physical Science, Faculty of Science & Env. Science, MGCGV, Chitrakoot M.P. India (485780) 2 Reader & HOD, Department of Physical Science, Faculty of Science & Env. Science, MGCGV, Chitrakoot M.P. India (485780) *Corresponding author e-mail: prajpoot179@gmail.com A B S T R A C T Meteorological drought is a big disaster for any type planning of agriculture in India. By the analysis of 60 years rainfall data of Solapur district, which is taken by agricultural department, maximum years have no drought, in relation to deviation from long term average rainfall (±19 %, no draught, moderate drought between deficiency -20 to -59 % and deficiency more than -60 % severe droughts). Severe drought occurred only in three years, moderate drought occurred in about ten years and for maximum years no draught intensity of rainfall condition has occurred. To get the intensity of drought, parameters are used which are suggested by IMD, 1971. Minimum intensity of rainfall is found in 1968 and maximum intensity of rainfall in 1956. In spite of having normal rainfall for maximum years, Solapur faces water scarcity problem for maximum part of the year. It is necessary to prepare a management plan for the development of water resources to reduce water scarcity. Keywords: Meteorological drought, Rainfall, Deviation index, Solapur. INTRODUCTION Agriculture is one of the most important activities, engaging more than 70 percent populations in India. Indian economy is inextricably linked with the agriculture and its prosperity is entirely dependent on the amount of rainfall received. The rainfall is one of the most important and governing factor in the planning and operation strategies of any agricultural activity for any area. The rainfall patterns have high intra seasonal variability. Also, there is high spatial variability of rainfall over districts of Maharashtra 1,2 . It is very important to study the changing trend of annual precipitation to analyze the cycle of rainfall and drought 3 . The changing pattern of rainfall is also investigated by computing seasonality Index Original Article