A deathly pall hangs over five states in Western and Central India–an arid area larger than Italy. More than 50 million people are suffering through the worst drought in a century. Reservoirs, riverbeds and ponds are dry. In the face of soaring temperatures (up to 45 degrees Celsius) and wicked winds, hundreds of thousands of people have abandoned their villages in a desperate search for water–and food. Thousands of cattle have already died. Rotting carcasses lie strewn across vast stretches of the barren countryside. In the town of Gujarat, riots are breaking out over water, which is available once every two days, and then only as a trickle in the taps that lasts a few minutes. Farmers have not been able to grow crops in many areas for the second consecutive year. Unless there is rain soon, Western India is facing disaster.
Blame the politicians, not the sun. The water shortage is “a government-made disaster,” says Anil Agarwal, director of the Center for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based nongovernment organization. With better water-management schemes, say experts, the government could have minimized the tragedy. Water has been a political issue in India for years. Nearly one third of the country’s 600,000 villages still lack easy access to safe drinking water. Most Indian villages depend on local sources of water–ponds or wells, which used to be looked after by the community. But about a decade ago, political parties began making election promises to build big dams, irrigation canals and deep tube wells. Villages began neglecting their own resources. Several huge water projects are unfinished; others never got started. “The government failed to take note of the crisis in time and promote traditional systems like rainwater harvesting,” says Agarwal. “People have been made dependent on government schemes.”
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is belatedly tackling the crisis. He has asked his administration to revive traditional water-collection methods and has sent water trains and subsidized food to the drought-affected areas. Social workers say relief is still not reaching people in remote regions. Their best hope now is the monsoon–but it won’t arrive for at least two months.
