Where is Marathwada? Ignored by nature. ©Skymet

Children rush to the water tanker. © Rediff.com

Villagers collect water from an almost dried up well. © The Guardian

Where to go? And will I be back, again, this time?

Dineshkumar Singh (dineshkumar.singh@tcs.com)

Introduction

In 2015, Marathwada region in Maharashtra

(India) faced its worst drought in a century.

In April 2016, Godavari Marathwada

Irrigation Development Corporation

(GMIDC) declared that it’s 11 major, 75

medium and 729 minor irrigation projects in

Marathwada had, on an average only 4%

live water storage available [1]. Jayakwadi

dam (Aurangabad district) had only 1%

water left of its 2.17 billion cubic metre

capacity [2]. The region had scanty rain for

last three years and almost 80% villages

were declared drought-affected and some

of the bore wells as deep as 244 metre gone

dry.

Due to geographical setup, plains of

Marathwada are far from the western coast

and eastern coast and limited by Western

Ghats, hence it receives only 800 mm

rainfall in Southwest Monsoon [3]. Also, it

has no major river flowing through it.

Impact

Those farmers who had planted jowar and

moong seeds in the hope that it will rain,

lost the entire crop as rains didn't come.

dried-up stream they have deepened © DTE

A cattle camp near Beed town. © DTE

Many of the displaced children were forced to leave school

Many those had cow, calf and goat; either sold

them as they could not afford taking care of

them, or lost them due to want of water.

Annual income of farmers reduced by 80 per

cent over four years, borewells went dry and no.

of cattle reduced. Even if any well had water left,

that is used only for drinking purposes.

Given the magnitude of the crisis, the state

government resorted to several desperate

measures. It imported water from the various

regions. It started “water train” called ‘Jaldoot’

(Water Angel) —with over 50 wagons—to Latur

district. It implemented curfew i.e. no gathering

of people, around water supply points.

Government started cattle fodder camps. One

such camp in Beed district spent Rs. 33,000 (USD

550) per day for 800 cattle it housed, buying

36,000 litres of water daily. Entire Beed district

had 262 cattle camps with 260,925 head of

cattle. Herd owners migrated with the cattle for

almost 4 months to stay at the fodder camp to

take care of the cattle and guard there only, left

out, investment.

Migration

As a last resort to save the family, majority of the

villagers moved out to the metropolitan cities.

The families either stayed with any of the their

relatives or camped in any of the open area. The

men would leave early in the mornings in search

of employment and if they are lucky to get some

work return late at night. Most of them would

end up doing odd jobs or work as day wage labourers. If they find work they may earn around Rs 300

(45 USD) a day.

Women would either take care of the children and the do the chores like preparing food or some of

them would search for the housemaid jobs, in nearby colonies, thus helping the family. Majority of

them would be forced to leave in filthy conditions, surrounded by stray animals such as dogs and

pigs, with no or crowded access to drinking water and sanitation.

Their priorities are to survive and wait for the rains, so that if it rains, they can go back to their

villages and start their faming lives again.

Worst affected of these are the children. They are dropped out of school to come to Metro cities like

Mumbai. Generally they end up playing the whole day as there are no other alternatives to to kill

time because there is nothing to do. No school here was willing to give me admission because they

may not have documents. This makes them vulnerable to fall in trap of the social issues like

addiction to tobacco, alcohol etc. The deteriorated quality of life, also has a psychological stress.

Adolescent may be forced to work due to need to have additional income to survive and hence may

get completely out of the education cycle.

Story does not end with improve in the rainfall. Not everyone return. 20% of them stay back and

become part of the city life, and hence, migration becomes permanent in nature.

Strategy

Some of the strategies which may be useful.

Improve the drought prediction – it takes time to build, over years.

Reserve the water for drinking and ration it based on the availability.

Regulate water supply to industry

Increase the water storage capacity using methods like rain water harvesting, removal of the

slits from the storage tanks, etc.

Alternate livelihood, using social schemes such as Rural Employment guarantee

Alternate school near the refugee camp, if any to continue the studies.

Reference

[1] Nidhi Jamwal, Marathwada's dry story, Down To Earth, 15 May 2016,

http://www.downtoearth.org.in/test/news/marathwada-s-dry-story-53792

[2] Drought declared in over 29,000 villages in Maharashtra, May, 13 2016,

http://www.firstpost.com/india/drought-declared-in-over-29000-villages-in-maharashtra-

2777820.html

[3] Why Marathwada Is The Most Drought Affected Region, 27 April 2016

https://www.skymetweather.com/content/weather-news-and-analysis/why-marathwada-is-

the-most-drought-affected-region/

[4] Fleeing thirst, they find uneasy refuge in Mumbai,

http://www.rediff.com/news/special/fleeing-thirst-they-find-uneasy-refuge-in-mumbai/

20160412.htm