Between November of last year when Sharad Markad opened a cattle relief camp in drought-hit Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra and now, the price of a 5,000-litre water tanker has gone up from ₹700 to ₹1,000. In these six months, the number of cattle in the camp swelled from 200 to over 500. For 19-year-old Markad and his fellow villagers, it is now a daily challenge to feed the cattle and keep the camp running. The water and fodder cost a staggering ₹25,000 per day. The annual south-west monsoon is at least two months away. And, the local administration is busy with the general elections. “Every day, two water tankers come to our village to supply drinking water but that is barely enough. My family buys at least one tanker a week for drinking and other household needs," says Markad. Ahmednagar is among the 26 districts in the state which have been hit by a drought that is ravaging parts of India. After the June to September south-west monsoon recorded a deficit of 9.4% compared to 50-year average, eight states, including Maharashtra, declared a drought. Since the end of the monsoon, the situation has only worsened. According to the drought early warning system at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, as on 6 April, 41% of India’s landmass is experiencing “abnormally dry" conditions. “We are getting water supply once in 15 days; farmers have resorted to distress sale of cattle; crops like cotton and soybean have failed... yet local officials are unwilling to take note of our grievances using the election (model) code of conduct as an excuse," said Manik Kadam, a farmer from Maharashtra’s Parbhani and member of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, the largest farmer organization in the state.

Last week, a campaign rally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Jalna, Marathwada emptied out in a matter of minutes as a boy ran in to announce paani aaya, paani aaya (the water tanker has arrived), The Times of India reported. But in Maharashtra, where 180 out of the 350 blocks have been officially declared as drought-hit, the issue has failed to set the tone of the election campaign. “At the local level, opposition leaders from the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party have failed to make the agrarian crisis and drought into a major issue in these elections," said Vijay Jawandhia, a veteran farm activist from Wardha. “With its stress on national security following the Pulwama terror attack, the BJP has successfully projected itself as the party which can deliver a stable government under an able leader, and people are buying that story," he added. A CSDS-Lokniti pre-poll survey reported in The Hindu in April confirms how critical issues have largely fallen by the wayside. As many as 47% of the farmers who held the centre responsible for their woes also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should get another chance. Ironically, when asked about the most important issue for them while voting, just 6% cited problems related to farming. No rains in sight Not only was the June to September south-west monsoon deficient by over 9% in 2018, the October to December north-east monsoon, which is critical to southern states, recorded a deficit of 44%, the sixth-highest shortfall since 1901. Overall, in 2018, the annual rainfall was deficient by 15% compared to the 1951-2000 average. In 2019 too, between 1 March and 10 April rainfall has been deficient by 34%, shows data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD). “The water crisis is likely to worsen as monsoon showers are expected to be deficient in June and July and because reservoir levels in central and western India are already poor," said Jatin Singh, managing director of Skymet.