The Covid-19 in India is slowly taking over India. With more than 700 cases in the country and over 15 reported deaths the country has placed extensive importance on sanitation and personal hygiene.

However, it is a reality that residents in several areas of the country face extreme water shortage. With not enough water for daily chores, many people are scared to use the water for maintaining hand hygiene at this time.

The Indian Express reported that the water supply from Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) to many residential colonies in Manikonda, Alkapuri Township and Financial District has been infrequent for quite some time and now as the groundwater levels too have gone down drastically, the people are in dire straits. The groundwater levels in these areas are so scarce that the residents are scared to even wash their hands to stay safe.

An apartment in Alkapuri Township had recently received a note informing people about the various ways by which Covid-19 could be kept at bay, but soon residents added another note saying: “First provide us water to wash hands”.

@HMWSSBOnline @MinisterKTR
No proper water supply in IAS colony, Tolichowki, Hyderabad. How do we fetch water in this lockdown. And on top of that hygiene is to be maintained. Without water what kind of hygiene can be maintained? Please help..

— Fareeha Rasheed (@FareehaRasheed1) March 27, 2020

@hydcitypolice @KTRTRS @TelanganaCMO Sir, all of us are aware about the position of ground water position in Hyderabad. However Police is not allowing Water Tankers in Gachibowli area. Please understand hardship being faced by people due to non availability of water & instruct.

— Mukesh Singh (@getmukesh1109) March 26, 2020

This is a regular problem gated communities face – a problem that many communities face even before the onset of summer.

Shyam Raj, a resident of Alkapuri Township said, “I knew this was going to happen, but never thought it would happen so soon. It usually happens during peak summer.”

Another resident, Robin Paul said, “There are many gated communities wherein, the RWAs are asking residents to wash hands frequently and keep their houses sanitised. But we are not in a position to do that due to water scarcity.”

The HMWS&SB officials have however assured that there is no shortage of water “as of now”. Official sources said, “We have increased the supply of water to all the villages. For Manikonda, we will make sure that the supply is frequent.”

Facts

Other parts of India too suffer from a chronic water shortage. Changing weather events, sometimes floods and sometimes drought have put India in a precarious situation during this time. It has been predicted that 21 Indian cities would run out of groundwater in 2020. As of June 2019, nearly 65 percent of the country’s reservoirs were running dry.

According to government think tank NITI Aayog, almost 600 million Indians face an acute water shortage.

In 2019, Chennai’s residents faced a historic drought and had to queue up for water supplied by tankers because the reservoirs were empty. Water management has been incompetent. When taps ran dry, water had to be shipped in freight trains from other parts of the country.

Somewhere in Delhi, families have access to water, but it is not clean at all. During this outbreak, no access to clean water for hand hygiene would prove to be truly disastrous for impoverished families. Speaking to TIME, VK Madhavan, India Chief Executive, WaterAid said, “Clean water is the first line of defense. If there is no access to clean water, the situation could worsen.”

Maharashtra has been facing droughts since 2012. In 2013, the drought hit 11,801 villages. The worst affected districts included Solapur, Ahmednagar, Sangli, Pune, Satara, Beed and Nashik. The situation was also serious in Buldhana, Latur, Osmanabad, Nanded, Aurangabad, Jalna, Jalgaon and Dhule districts. In 2015, 23,000 villages faced a drought-like situation. In 2016, the drought affected 29,000 villages. In 2018, again 20,000 villages were hit by drought. Almost 60 percent of the state was reeling under extreme water scarcity in 2019.

Karnataka too, in 2019, declared 23 of its 30 districts drought-hit, with 88.6% of the state being drought-hit.

The state governments of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha and Rajasthan too declared many regions as drought-hit in 2019, with data showing at least 40 percent of the country facing extreme water shortage.

According to a 2012, World Bank Report, India is the largest user of groundwater in the world. However, the huge number of population dependent on groundwater, the unreliable climate-reliant recharge and indiscriminate land use has rendered the groundwater scenario to be a vast problem, reported The Economic Times.

Apart from this, the unsafe use of rivers and other water bodies for disposal of industrial waste and sewage, have rendered the water non-potable.

These problems are only exacerbated in summer and people with unfavourable socio-economic conditions suffer the most.

Covid-19 and the water issue

With hand hygiene being of utmost importance during this outbreak, people have started washing their hands at least 5 – 7 times a day. Due to this, the Financial Express reports that water consumption has increased by nearly 1.5 times of the normal use. With already strained resources, it will be difficult for the water providers to allocate it to everyone equally.

It was reported that people labourers and migrant workers working in cities were returning to villages in light of the pandemic. If they unfortunately carry the infection with them to the hinterland, the looming threat of community transmission will ring true with people not being able to practise hygiene.

Not everyone has access to safe water and the price of water supplied by tankers is not affordable. While focus should be on educating people to reduce water usage, plans to make water available and affordable for all, especially during this pandemic, must be initiated.

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Gujarat – all water scarce states have recorded some of the highest number of Covid-19 cases. Relying on sanitizers is not possible, especially for the poor. They, like the urban population, cannot invest in buying packaged water, again because it is unaffordable.

With groundwater drying up and available water being either unavailable or unsafe for use, how is India going to protect its vulnerable communities from the coronavirus pandemic?

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Stay where you are, UP govt tells migrants 

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Image Courtesy: News Click

Agriculture in Maharashtra

Before we delve into a brief history of the water scarcity in Maharashtra, let us have a look at a few facts and figures pertaining to agriculture in Maharashtra. According to the Ministry of Agriculture:
 

• Principle crops grown in the state are rice, jowar, bajara, wheat, tur, mung, urad, gram and other pulses.
• Maharashtra is major producer of Jowar and Arhar contributing 46.09 and 29.11 %, respectively to the total production of India.
• The state is major producer of oilseeds such as groundnut, sunflower and soybean.
• Important cash crops grown are cotton, sugarcane, turmeric and vegetables.
• It is second largest producer of Cotton (22.21%), Soybean (28.14%), and total cereals (13.56%) in the country.
• The state has an area of 10.91 lakh hectares under various fruit crops like mango, banana, orange, grape and cashew nut etc.  
• Paddy, jowar, groundnut and various lentil crops are predominantly rainfed.

 
Traditionally farmers who practice dual cropping patterns, typically intersperse two sets of food grains or cash crops with on crop of lentils as they enrich the soil with nitrates.

Now, let us examine how climate change, poor water management, corruption, theft and other factors are perpetuating the agrarian distress in the state.
 
Maharashtra Drought 2013

Below normal rainfall during June to September 2012 is believed to have led to what was termed as the worst in four decades in 2013. As per the 2012 monsoon data as published in the Rainfall Statistics of India 2012 report by the Hydromet Division of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). In the month of June, 2012, the South West monsoon showed a shortfall of 28 percent and in July 2012, the shortfall was 13 percent.

Therefore, in 2013 when the drought hit a whopping 11,801 villages were affected. The worst affected districts included Solapur, Ahmednagar, Sangli, Pune, Satara, Beed and Nashik. The situation was also serious in Buldhana, Latur, Osmanabad, Nanded, Aurangabad, Jalna, Jalgaon and Dhule districts.

Most of these districts fall in Marathwada and Vidarbha, two regions that were already grappling with agrarian distress and farmer suicides. This area lies in what is called a rain-shadow region and has been dealing with water shortage and agrarian distress for several years.

An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) under then Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had at the time approved a relief package of Rs 1207 crores for the state. The government also arranged for tankers to deliver water in over 1600 villages and set up 554 cattle fodder camps. But one cannot ignore how much of this crisis was man made, especially in light of revelations of the Irrigation Scam.

The Irrigation Scam

The Maharashtra Irrigation Scam pertains to financial irregularities to the alleged tune of Rs 35,000 crores in Maharashtra during the period between 1999 and 2009 when Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was incharge of the Department of Irrigation and Water Resources. The allegations of corruption gained currency in wake of the 2012 Economic Survey that claimed that the state’s irrigation potential had improved by 0.1 percent despite spending Rs 70,000 crores on various irrigation projects.

Chief Engineer Vijay Pandhare, a whistle blower in the case, made a series of allegations ranging from cost escalation to poor quality construction, directly implicating Ajit Pawar in the scam. But the most shocking allegation was that the cost of 38 irrigation projects under the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) escalated from Rs 6,672 crores to Rs 26,722 crores in a span of just seven months in 2009! The allegation was made by Jan Manch in a writ petition filed before the Bombay High Court. Many more shocking allegations were made in this petition which showcase how little was actually done to alleviate the water shortage in the region.

Interestingly, in November 2012, the Maharashtra Government released a white paper that predictably gave Ajit Pawar a clean chit. And though Ajit Pawar had resigned and handed over the irrigation portfolio to fellow NCP man Sunil Tatkare in 2009, after the white paper was released Pawar returned, this time as deputy chief minister.

Maharashtra Drought 2015

Though rainfall improved marginally in the intervening years, Maharashtra suffered acute water shortage in 2015 when reportedly 90 lakh famers were affected across the state. The farmers had already suffered due to unseasonal rainfall and hail storms destroying crops such as wheat, cotton, jowar, papaya and grapes the previous year.

In 2015, over 23,000 villages were affected and faced a drought-like situation i.e crop yield was less than 50 percent of the standard yield in the area. Worst affected districts included Nashik, Arangabad, Buldhana, Beed, Amravati, Wardha, Nagpur, Yavatmal and Nanded. This year cash crops like cotton and soybean were the worst affected. Total agricultural land spread over 98.6 lakh hectares was affected. 3,228 farmers reportedly committed suicide in 2015.

Maharashtra Drought 2016

Matters got significantly worse in 2016 when drought was declared in 29,000 villages in Maharashtra. The state at the time had 1.37 crore farmers and two-thirds were said to have been affected by the drought. An alarm was raised in May 2016, when water levels in the Jayakwadi dam in Aurangabad hit dead storage. The water from this one dam is supplied to four cities, 500 villages and industrial clusters. It has been alleged that influential sugarcane and grape growers and sugar mills owned by powerful politicians had called dibs on the water.

The State Government assured the Bombay High Court that was listening to a batch of drought petitions, that all drought-like situations will be read as drought and relief will be provided as per provisions laid down in the Drought Manual 2009. The provisions cover a wide variety of relief pertaining to crop planning and support to farmers, relief employment, water resource management, food security, tax waivers and concessions, cattle camps and fodder supply etc.

Maharashtra Drought 2018  

Scanty rainfall in the period between June to September, 2018 led to drought like conditions in 20,000 villages. The Marathwada region reportedly saw a rainfall deficiency of 22 percent. Jalgaon, Solapur, Beed and Ahmednagar were the worst affected districts. Available water in reservoirs in Marathwada reportedly dropped to just over 26 percent.

The Maharashtra government declared drought in 151 talukas, including 112 classified as having been hit by severe drought.

The Tanker Mafia

During all these droughts, it is the state’s infamous tanker mafia that makes hay when the sun scorches. There are 76 municipal areas in the eight districts of Marathwada. All face varying degrees of water shortage. Some get water every alternate day, some once in a fortnight. Therefore people here depend heavily on tankers.

This report by Down to Earth exposes the devil’s arithmetic. An investigation by them found, “The rate of tankers increased from Rs 2 to Rs 4.30 per km. Besides, the everyday charge of tankers increased from Rs 158 to Rs 338 based on different capacities.” At present 6,200 tankers are operational across Marathwada.

This investigation by Moneycontrol shows that the tanker business is booming in big cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nashik etc. In fact, the tanker mafia is earning Rs 8,000-10,000 crore annually from water biz in Mumbai alone!

According to this report in Mumbai Mirror, the BMC has identified around 30 spots from where water is drawn illegally in south Mumbai to fill up tankers. These include Princess Street, Popatwadi and even opposite the LT Mark police station on Kalbadevi Road. Given how there is limited or no quality control or means to determine if the stolen water is fit for consumption, there is a very real chance of contaminated water being supplied by these unethical tanker operators. There are also allegations of complicity of corrupt municipal officials.

It is because of these illegal and unethical practices, that the water shortage gets even more acute. This is therefore the man made and completely avoidable part of the drought.

Drought and Monsoon in 2019

As per the Drought Early Warning System 43.4 percent of India is facing drought and the situation in Maharashtra is critical. Latur, Beed and Osmanabad are the worst affected, especially in wake of a heat wave. The El Nino effect is also further exacerbating the crisis.

Let us look at the broader predictions about the 2019 monsoon. This year, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD) India will experience near normal rainfall at 96 percent of its Long Period Average (LPA). LPA refers to average rainfall between 1951 and 2000, which stands at 89 cms. LPA of 96 to 104 percent is considered normal. But LPA below 95 percent falls under ‘below normal’ category of rainfall. But Skymet predicts below normal rainfall at 93 percent of LPA.

According to the latest weather forecast released on June 20, 2019, “Heat wave conditions very likely in some parts over Vidarbha” for the next 48 hours following which the region is likely to see some isolated and scattered rainfall. But will this be enough to restore or repair the fortunes of the hapless agrarian community in the region?

Also, when will we move past assigning the blame and invest in sustainable solutions that help conserve our natural resources and protect the environment, especially with climate change casting a dark shadow over all of us?

The post Climate change and corruption fueling Maharashtra’s successive droughts? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Adding to the woes of drought-hit Maharashtra, where almost 60% of the state is reeling under extreme water scarcity, the state’s agriculture department has issued an advisory for the farmers warning against a possible delay in monsoon. The department has suggested the farmers to start sowing and other related works under the direction of the meteorological department. The state was expecting the start of monsoon by June 8 but with updated details, it may get delayed till as late as June 15.

The lack of drinking water is the biggest issue for entire Marathwada, North Maharashtra and western Vidarbha region. Several parts of Western Maharashtra (Jat, Aatpadi, Khatav, Man, Sangola area) are also facing severe water shortage. The reports from only North Maharashtra region suggests that the number of water tankers being provided by the state government has increased by almost six folds compared to last year.

This year, almost 1,200 tankers have been running in this region. At the state level, the number of tankers goes up to 6,300. Even then, there are serious complaints from various corners of the state about tanker shortage.

Reserved water in the dams of the state has gone down to 13% till May 28. Marathwada is the worst affected region in the state where the only 2.9% of water stock is left in different reservoirs. The state’s irrigation officials are suggesting that in almost 45 dams of the state, the level has gone down to 0%. Now, it will have to lift water from dead stock if needed.

There are around 1,500 cattle camps being run in the state to help farmers to take care of their cattle. Almost 10.5 lakh cattle are kept in these camps. State government has released Rs 155 crore for the fodder camps across state.

The drought has affected the farmers the worst. The entire Rabi crop has been wasted. Soya bean and onions are the only two crops from which farmers were expecting a successful harvest this year. But the slashed rates of both has destroyed the hopes of farmers. In this backdrop, the state government has asked banks to provide crop loans to farmers, however, complaints about banks rejecting loan proposals are pouring in from entire Maharashtra.

There is also a buzz in the state that ahead of Assembly elections, the Maharashtra government may come up with the farm loan waiver scheme once again and that this time, entire loans will be waived off, as demanded by many farmer organisations. The state budget session is set to start from June 17. The full budget will be presented on June 18. If the loan waiver is announced in this budget session, it will prove as a great relief for the farmers struggling against drought.

The drought is also affecting the consumer markets in cities like Mumbai and Pune. The flow of wheat and rice has gone down in Mumbai. Till last month, around 1,700 to 1,800 tons of wheat was coming into Mumbai market. Now it has reduced to 400 to 600 tons. On the other hand, people have started stocking Jowar ahead of the rainy season. This has increased the Jowar inflow to market to almost 100 to 200 tons, leading to a rise in the rates, upto Rs 27 to 40.

Another impact is that power generation from Koyana dam has stopped due to depleting water level. The capacity of the dam is around 105 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) but currently it has just 12 % of the water stock. This has forced the state government’s power generation company to shut down the hydropower project, which in turn has reduced almost 1,000 MW power from the state’s generation capacity. The power department is claiming that it will not affect the state in terms of power load shedding as thermal power projects are running in full capacity.

Meanwhile, the opposition and farmers’ organisations are slamming the state government for lack of management to face the drought. “The entire state machinery was used for elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government is more worried about power than people’s issues. So, from tanker management to fodder camps, there are a number of issues in every tehsil. The government’s complete inability to handle the crisis stands exposed now,” said Dr Ajit Nawale, General Secretary of All India Kisan Sabha.

Courtesy: News Click

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Latur’s 600-bed Civil Hospital Reels Under Water Cuts due to Drought, Private Clinics also Affected

Acute water cuts due to the crippling drought in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra have put  tremendous burden and pressure on Latur’s 600-bed Civil Hospital that is now catering to a one hundred per cent rise in normal and emergency cases with patients preferring government facilities to the more expensive private ones. With the situation at a crisis level already in April, there is a real worry that in the latter part of May health services may have to be shut down, or curtailed.

“The average normal demand for water in our hospital is 1 to 1.25 lakh litres,” Dr Shailendra Chauhan, resident Medical Officer told Sabrangindia, “ Due to the cuts the Mahanagarpalika can only give us 30-40,000 litres per day. This is when pressure on our facilities is increasing. We normally catered to 30-35 normal deliveries every day; this figure has shot up to 50-60. Caesarian operations that averaged 10 a day are now up to 20.”

This means greater pressure on the 600-bed hospital that remains the main source for the region. The district does not have a hospital leaving this the major hospital for patients to turn to.

“This cut on the normal quota of water supply due to the drought, made more acute by increasing pressure of patients has forced us to cut the water supply by tap. Only limited and control water is supplied in drums, to the patients, “added the doctor.

This inevitably has had an impact on the overall cleanliness and while things are currently in control with private trusts and others chipping in by supplying water from tankers, there is a deep apprehension as to how the month of May will turn out. “Emergency road accidents, regular deliveries these are constants; how we will cope with these towards the latter half of May causes great concern. We just hope that we will not be forced to close down,” he adds on a somber note.

The Latur Civil Hpsital has 600 beds and due to acute water shortage in the Marathwada region is facing pressure of medical cases, normal and emergencies all being diverted to it as patients –faced with a huge economic crunch due to crippling drought—cannot anymore access the fancier and more expensive private medical facilities. There are 12 to 15 such in Latur.

The Latur Civil Hospital has a Staff of 425 Post Graduate Medical Students and 125 full-fledged Lectures/Associate Professors. The Nursing Staff is also vast numbering at 400-450. This entire team is currently under tremendous pressure in regular touch with the government administration and private organizations to alleviate the crisis.

On April 7, the Economic Times had reported that the situation is so grim that private doctors in the region are finding it tough to treat patients and are putting off surgeries. Many of these are being diverted to the government civil hospital that is facing a crush and burden.

There is presently an acute shortage of water as the Manjra dam and Dhanegaon river that used to supply water to the district has gone dry doctors. Bore wells within a 20-30 kilometres radius of Latur have run completely dry.

While basic medical services and access to basic drinking water threatens many ares of the state, including urban centres, Maharashtra will still go ahead and use huge quantities (nearly 60 lakh litres) of water on 20 IPL matches at three venues in the state between April and May 2016.

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UPDATE:

This PIL will be heard by the Bombay High Court today, April 6, 2016. The entire petition may be read below.

A brief synopsis on the matter of the PIL which is being filed in the High Court today, April 4

Huge quantities (nearly 60 lakh litres) of water is proposed and ready to be willingly wasted by The Board of Control for Cricket in India, The Mumbai Cricket Association, The Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, the Vidarbha Cricket Association, all being the Respondent(s) Nos. 6 to 9 in the petition. These authoritiies are being asked to answer, through this PIL, how they can justify maintaining the Cricket Pitches in the three venues nominated for Indian Premier League, 2016, in the State of Maharashtra, especially when the State is reeling through the worst kind of drought in a century and is facing acute shortage of water as the level of water in dams and lakes in the State has gone down.

The petition also states that:
There is already a scarcity of drinking water and water for sanitation purposes and The State of Maharashtra, Through its Water Resources Department, The Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority,The Mumbai Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), The Nagpur Municipal Corporation, The Pune Municipal Corporation, being the Respondent Nos. 1 to 5 have not raised any objection to the proposed wastage thereby violating the Article 21 and 47 of the Constitution of India as also violating the National Water Policy and the State Water Policy.

Loksatta Movement PIL against IPL matches in Maharashtra

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