India was hit by the worst drought in decades in 2016. Here, gunmen stand alert at a water reservoir in Tikamgarh, India, on April 27. MONEY SHARMA/AFP/AFP/Getty Images.

The cycle of drought, debt and suicide is spreading like a plague. Agriculture is still a major source of income, accounting for 14 percent of India's gross domestic product.

In India, two consecutive years of weak monsoons have left some 330 million people — a quarter of the country — in the grip of drought. Deepening the crisis, farmers are taking their lives.

The IIT study prepared a high resolution ecosystem resilience map of India from 2000 to 2014 and found that only 241 of the 634 districts, or 38%, were resilient to droughts. Thursday, Jul 17 ...

The most recent findings by the National Meteorological Department and India’s universities indicate that this year’s severe drought is part of a developing climate pattern. Over the past three ...

India's meteorological department declared the country's four-month monsoon season had ended, leaving behind what it said was the country's worst drought in decades, with rains 23% below normal.

The vicious cycle of drought and debt has consumed India's poor and marginalised farmers. Growing debt Two years ago, when the figures were last recorded, there were 12,360 farm suicides in India.

India’s Worsening Drought Is Forcing Doctors to Buy Water for Surgery. Hospitals in its third-largest city are now almost completely dependent on a fleet of privately-owned tankers.

In what could become the first crises of the country's brand-new government, India is preparing for a possible drought amid early signs the annual monsoon may not be as generous as usual this year.