AP Online
Village of Shahapur, in Thane district of the west Indian state of Maharashtra, is in the grips of one of the worst droughts in decades. Parched fields, burnt crops and wasted cattle have helped drive up the number of suicides by distressed farmers unable to repay their loans. Tens of thousands have left their farms in search of menial jobs, with many joining the ranks of the unemployed poor in the cities. The vast Indian hinterland has long faced water shortages, especially in the torrid months from April to June, before the annual monsoon rains bring some relief. The showers, which normally run from June to September, are crucial in a country where 60 percent of the 1.25 billion population works in agriculture and less than half the farmland is irrigated. But decades of groundwater abuse, flawed water policies and poor monsoons have turned large parts of central India into an arid dust bowl. Hundreds of millions of people in at least 13 states are reeling from severe drought, a situation that is expected to worsen in the coming months.