This Firstpost series that began with highlighting how private water sellers are doing sound business in the midst of severe economic downturn in the water-parched region; the toothless laws, lack of enforcement and ineffective irrigation network which has led to the exploitation and depletion of water levels in the dams; crop failures triggering farmer suicides; the region’s sugarcane addiction, and climate change manipulations affecting the agricultural produce, provides a vantage point on the agrarian crises of Marathwada.
The next step, however, should be damage control. Environmentalists, water conservationists and agricultural scientists have long been suggesting ways like — watershed management, changing cropping pattern, focussing on agro-forestry, tree-farming and allied sectors like poultry and dairy — to mitigate drought. It is now that the region is facing severe water crisis in years, the state has actively started implementing measures like Jalyukt Shivar to conserve water.
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