The number of farmers committing suicides in the backward region of Marathwada has increased this year as the parched region reels under the impact of severe drought conditions due to the failure of monsoon.
The successive failure of monsoon for two seasons and depleted ground water table in the region have created havoc with life in this region. It is not merely the scarcity of drinking water which has to be tackled on a priority basis, but many other aspects of life in this region have been severely affected due to continued drought conditions. It is not merely the failure of monsoon which is responsible for the pathetic conditions forcing many marginal farmers to take the ultimate step of committing suicide, but many more aspects needs to be looked into closely to initiate corrective policy decisions to avoid such occurrences in the near future.
Several studies have been conducted to find out how much land could be brought under irrigation to fight the vagaries of monsoon. Irrigation in Maharashtra is hardly 16% against the national average of 42%. Due to topographical constrains there is not much scope for increasing irrigation potential beyond a certain limit but unfortunately there is no proper management of available surface and underground water resources in the state.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis undertook a whirlwind tour of the region, held meetings of officials to address immediate needs of drinking water for people, fodder supply for cattle and the problems faced by process industries in the region. NCP president and former Union agricultural minister Sharad Pawar visited drought-prone areas and warned his fellow politicians not to play petty politics as the situation is grim and calls for all-out efforts to tide over the crisis. Film star Nana Patekar has been visiting areas where farmers committed suicides and doling out some financial assistance to the widows of these farmers. The administration is apparently worried over the supply of drinking water to the cities, small towns and villages in the region because it wants to stop large-scale migration from Marathwada for want of water and daily wages. Marathwada has been reeling under a drought spell for quite some time but nothing concrete has been done by the state leadership except giving lip service and announcing some populist packages.
Under pressure from the Opposition, the government may gear up and make all kinds of arrangements to tide over the crisis till the next monsoon arrives and give some subsidies to farmers to buy new seeds and fertilizers. In fact, the situation is so grim that almost every year the administration puts into service tankers to ensure drinking water supply. The administration will be pressing into service railway wagons to provide water to Latur and surrounding areas.
This may temporarily solve the immediate problems facing farmers and citizens and provide some relief. However, this will not be sufficient to find a permanent solution to the recurring water shortages and failure of crops. If one takes an overview of the last four decades, one realises that the problem of recurrence of drought conditions in Marathwada is not merely due to climatic changes taking place or the failure of monsoons. The present scarcity is a result of man-made conditions despite spending crores of rupees for augmenting irrigation potential in the region.
Former Chief Minister Shankarrao Chavan was an expert in the irrigation sector. He is credited with the vision for planning and pursuing major dams in Marathwada region like Jaikwadi dam. The dams created in the 1960-70s in the region somehow tried to tackle problems created due to the vagaries of monsoon and also satisfied increased demand for non-agriculture use in the region for initial industrialisation in and around Aurangabad city.
The availability of water in the region for drinking, irrigation for traditional crops and industrial use has gone down over the years as cropping patterns changed and large areas of cultivable lands were brought under the cash crop of sugarcane which is a highly water-consuming. The cooperative sugar factories thrived in Western Maharashtra due to political support and favourable climatic conditions. The sugar factories run by the doyens of the cooperative moment soon emerged as growth centres, pushing up economic development in rural areas.
Apart from being socio-economic centres of growth, these factories provided resources and manpower for political purposes and political leaderships revolving around sugar barons emerged from this milieu. No wonder backward regions like Marathwada and even Vidarbha also began setting up sugar factories as political elite of these regions began converting sugar into a political commodity. Three decades of mindless promotion of water-intensive cultivation is now showing a devastating impact on the entire region.
Neither political parties nor leaders had the guts to put a ceiling on the number of sugar factories to save vast tracts of land from being used for water-intensive cash crops. There has been political pressure on the leaders and the political parties to allow the setting up of new sugar factories. With the opening up of the economy and globalisation, these cooperative sugar factories are finding it difficult to run their business in a profitable way, creating further tension in the regions. With over 60 sugar factories in Marathwada, more land is being used for sugarcane cultivation without making any provisions for continuous water supply in this drought-prone region.
Post Jaikwadi dam era, over 20 medium and large dams have been constructed on Godavari in Ahmednagar and Nashik districts, limiting the flow of water for the massive Jaikwadi dam, which caters to large area in drought-prone Marathwada. The last decade has seen strained relations between political classes over the sharing of water within the state. Those living on the banks of upper stream have built dams to control water and put pressure on the government not to release water for projects in the downstream. And this has happened in Godavari, Krishna and other major basins in the state. These are ominous signs of the possibility of violent clashes over water-sharing between two districts, in some cases between two tehsils of a same district in Maharashtra. It is essential to stop using land for water-intensive cash crops in drought- prone regions.
The situation calls for an urgent brainstorming session to frame water-management policies for Maharashtra, which requires a huge quantity of water for the agricultural and industrial sectors. The farmer is under severe strain as irrigation water is already being diverted for drinking and industrial purposes. While rich and influential farmers get water from irrigation dams, the poor and marginal farmers are the worst sufferers as they totally depend on the vagaries of monsoon and the vicious cycle of demand and supply conditions in the open market. No amount of relief packages will help these marginal farmers who are more prone to suicide. Massive infrastructure projects and a growing population will also need to be accounted for in the near future before the final framework of a new-age water management policy is finalised.