Bhilwara, Rajasthan: Drought is no stranger to Rajasthan. Out of every seven years, five are rain deficient or drought affected.
This year the rain deficit for Rajasthan is 29 per cent, but in some districts, it is as high as 40 per cent. Crops have been destroyed waiting for rain, and now they will only be good for animal fodder. But the drought's inequalities are further accentuated, next to the state's dams and reservoirs.
The state is facing a huge water crisis, and the government is rationing water for big cities while poor farmers, living next to the dam, find their wells dry and their fields parched.
Seventy eight-year-old Ganpat has lived through many droughts, but the erratic monsoon this year has confused even a seasoned farmer like him.
In the first showers, Ganpat sowed his fields with bajra, but a long gap meant the crop withered and dried. This was followed by another downpour. In vain, Ganpat invested in more seeds - but that too will not ensure foodgrain for his family; the crop will only be good for animal fodder.
"It is a terrible drought. If the government does not step in, we will not survive. There is no sustainable employment close by either. And there is no water in the well," said Ganpat.
Sowing and re-sowing his fields as the monsoon played truant, Ganpat has incurred a debt of Rs 1.5 lakh. The irony is that his village is next to the Banas river, which now runs dry. The water has been damed further downstream from where it is supplied to cities like Ajmer and Jaipur.
In a year of good rainfall, the dam's backwaters would reach the village raising ground water levels, but today even their wells are running dry.
"There is a huge pipeline taking water from the Bisalpur Dam. You can drive a car on it, it is so large. But we have not got a drop from the dam even for drinking," said Ganpat.
Somebody from Ganpat's family will migrate to the city to look for work to sustain those back home. Ganpat is too old, he will sell a few bighas of land to repay his loans. Over the years, frequent droughts have reduced his land holdings. Once upon a time, Ganpat's village was envied for its fertile fields next to the Banas river, but the drought's unequal reach has reduced him to a subsistence farmer, struggling for survival.
In a drought year, it is always the poorest of the poor who suffer first. Although the farmers have their fields barely 8 km form a dam, the water is not being supplied to them. It is probably the irony of today's development that while they are thirsting for water, it's being taken many miles away.