On May 25, 1986 millions of people all over the world including many in India expressed their concern over the drought, desertifica- tion and famine condition in Africa. On May 18, exactly one week before that, about 100 concerned professionals spent two days at a seminar on "Control of Drought Desertification and Famine" in New Delhi to look at the situation in India futurologically and to find ways to ensure that the march of desertification which has overtaken many countries of Africa can be halted in time in India and people of the world will not have to undertake another "race against time" for this part of the world in the years to come.

Drought is a meteorological phenormenon of dry spells resulting from departure of rainfall from normal. The seasonal mon- soonic climate with rainfall concentrated within two or three months in the year and variable from year to year, must necessarily be accompanied by erratic and long dry spells. In areas like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, etc, the rain- fall is so highly deviant that a 'drought' situation can be shown in any district in any year.