Millions Affecting By India's Punishing Drought; 500-Meter Wells Dry Up, Suicides Multiply

[hatrack]

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In Marathwada, locals say the current drought is one of the worst in living memory. The situation was so dire in that in April the Maharashtra state government began sending millions of liters (hundreds of thousands of gallons) of water to Marathwada's worst-hit Latur district on a "water train."

Small farmers have been pushed into poverty. Poor farm laborers, hired by middlemen to work on large farms, have been forced to work for little or no money. Cattle farmers forced to bring their herds close to water supplies live in lean-tos and cook over open fires. In every village in the region there are several locked and abandoned homes. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to abandon their villages and head to slums in bigger cities to earn a living.

Landlocked Marathwada has historically suffered from water shortages, but decades of poor agricultural and water management policies have pushed the region to the brink. Scientists and activists have long warned that relentless groundwater extraction has led to a steep drop in water tables across India — the world's fastest rate of groundwater decline.

In the village of Masurdi alone, there are about 70 wells between 18 to 25 meters (60 to 80 feet) deep but they are all dry, says the headman, Nana Berde. "Bore wells as deep as 500 meters (1,640 feet) have all gone dry. The underground water level has dropped so much that there is no water at all," he adds. A recent agricultural shift has made things worse. Farmers who once grew millet, sorghum and other cereals have turned to sugarcane, which fetches more money but is a water-guzzler.

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http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f906a3717f1c4fae883593fc7f46babe/crippling-drought-central-india-leaves-millions-brink

[GliderGuider]

1. Is it just my imagination, or are things getting worse faster than expected?

Some days I feel like my head's going to explode.

[airplaneman]

5. Its not just your imagination.

Within five years half the human population will be water insecure.
We are crossing a lot of tipping points and points of no return.
Capitalism assumes infinite growth - resources are finite and running out - a brick wall called up against the limits of growth is hitting us soon. The USA is 5% of the worlds population and consumes 20% of the worlds energy and 30% of the worlds resources.
-Airplane

[Bigmack]

7. Can someone explain to me why

it seems to be impossibly difficult for people to understand that the notion of the possibility of infinite growth in a finite system is a logical impossibility? Ms Bigmack

[hatrack]

8. Because if you admit it, it takes down all the other assumptions The Wise People run the world with

Which, of course, is why no mainstream politician will admit it, at least not until things are visibly crumbling all around us.

At which point, they'll inform us that limits to growth are self-evident, and that they've been governing on that basis for years and years now.

[jalan48]

2. Serious stuff. Makes our problems pale in comparison.

I hope they get some cooler weather soon.

[Baobab]

3. We need a new model that ???

helps one another more...

[jalan48]

4. I agree. The Capitalist's response to a situation like this is, "There's money to be made here".

It's a predatory mindset that has led to our current situation of 62 individuals having as much wealth as half the people in the world combined. Lots of really poor people struggling to stay alive in a changing climate. We're further up the pyramid scheme but our time is coming as well I believe.

[Nihil]

6. They're doing it to themselves ...

> Farmers who once grew millet, sorghum and other cereals have turned to sugarcane,
> which fetches more money but is a water-guzzler.