Maharashtra’s Chief Minister has compared the state’s current drought with the devastating drought of 1972. With nearly 70 per cent of kharif crops in jeopardy, rural distress is enormous. But the policy challenge has changed. In 1972, preventing starvation was paramount. Today, ample foodgrain stocks provide protection. The immediate priority is safeguarding rural incomes and employment; the longer-term task is reducing agriculture’s vulnerability to erratic rainfall.

Annual rainfall totals no longer adequately capture this vulnerability. In seven of the past 10 years, Maharashtra received its average annual rainfall. Yet in five of those years, kharif and rabi cultivation suffered serious disruption. Delayed rains hindered sowing, dry spells reduced yields, and excessive rain damaged harvests.…