A government report found that 600 million Indians – nearly half the population – are facing acute water shortages.While swimming pools, luxury hotels remain full, three quarters of the population do not have drinking water.
The effects of the drought are the most obvious in rural India. About 300,000 Indian farmers have killed themselves in the past 25 years, and many more have deserted their cities.
“There’s no water for animals. There’s no water for animals. There’s no water for trees …” says Sitabai Gaikwad, a school teacher at Ahir Wadgaon village.Government tankers carry water trucks where villagers wait for days, where they desperately need them. But the trucks only provide about 20 liters per person a day, which includes everything for people rationing, drinking, cooking, bathing and housework.
“Life is very hard because of the water situation … when we have water, the tanker comes in. People can’t afford to put their tankers in the water,” Gaikwad says. “There are older people out there who can’t afford water. Everyone’s worried about themselves because of the water situation.”In Maharashtra, more than 6,000 tankers supply water to 15,000 villages every day – 1,000 of these are government tankers which provide water for free.
The others are private operators who sell water to people and businesses. Villagers say the cost of buying water from them has escalated.”People buy water according to their finances,” says Gaikwad. “Some buy it, but that is difficult because it costs us 900 rupees ($ 13) a month.””When do we have money to feed ourselves, when do we have food and water, how can we pay for that much water?” she asks
Although the government tankers are meant to deliver water every day, villagers complain that this doesn’t always happen. GPS tracking devices have been installed on all government trucks to monitor and ensure the water arrives.In the meantime, across Maharashtra, many farmers have left their land and villages because of the lack of water, which often means a lack of work.Panduram More, a labourer, left to move his 40,000 square meter cotton farm to the city’s Aurangabad.“There is no work, so I had to migrate here and live in this small room,” he says. “There is no rainfall, so the land is of no use. We can’t grow anything.”If the drought continues, “life will be bitter,” he says. “We Can’t Survive.”
reference –
aljazeera