In March 2001, Veera of Nakola village of Udaipur district, Rajasthan, mortgaged his one bigha of land after three successive years of drought had rendered it completely barren and useless.

That year there was no work even in neighbouring Gujarat where he used to go in search of work during the lean season every year. With no money for the return trip, Veera trekked 70 km to reach Nakola, only to see his wife and three children starving.

With no work in the village - or in the fields or at government relief sites, where relief work was yet to begin - he had no money to buy food. For two days he and his family gathered kajari seeds from the forests and sold it to the local shopkeepers, who extract oil from the seeds to make soap. Soon, there were no more seeds. The children kept crying for food.

Apparently unable to take it any more, Veera drank pesticide and ended his life. In accordance with local custom, two earthen cups were kept beside his grave, one filled with offerings of a little rice and another with milk, both luxuries when Veera was alive.

Veera's story is not untypical in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan which borders Pakistan.

Drought is endemic in Rajasthan. The state has faced drought for 44 of the last 50 years. One or other part of the state suffers a drought almost every year. A major drought affected the state in 1987-88, when the country went through the worst drought of the century. A decade later, the state suffered severe drought conditions for three successive years: 1998-99, 1999-2000 and 2000-2001. The last was the most severe.

However, human factors, in the form of over-exploitation of water resources and increasing human and livestock population, have also had significant impact. These have in fact changed the drought profile of the state. In 2000-01, even the eastern part of the state which is normally not severely affected, was reeling under drought. Alarmingly, drought signals have started appearing as early as December, instead of February/March, as in the past.

The problem is particularly acute in the 12 districts of western Rajasthan that fall under the arid zone. The Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Jodhpur, noted in a Perspective Plan in 1997 that:

• The human population in the arid zone of Rajasthan, which was 17.44 million in 1991, will be 28.45 million in 2020.
• The water table is depleting rapidly in 75% of the area. If present water consumption trends continue, the Thar desert will not have any economically viable water resources by 2020.
• Over-cropping in the arid zone increased from 32% to 50% in 1991 and is likely to be around 55% by 2020.
  

In 2000-01, the number of villages affected was over 30,000 and the human and cattle population affected was 32.5 million and 40 million respectively. Except Nagaur, all the districts experienced severe drought conditions and most of the kharif crop sown suffered damage of over 50%. In monetary terms, this was estimated to be a loss of Rs 35,000 million.

In September 2000, in a memorandum to the central government, the state government asked for financial assistance of Rs 23,678 million to combat the drought situation by providing employment to affected people in relief works, setting up cattle care facilities and providing emergency drinking water.

The third successive year of drought made the impact on the human and cattle population of the state particularly severe. It affected the availability of food and drinking water and reduced gainful employment opportunities for all those who were willing to work and depended on daily wages. Groundwater, the main source of safe drinking water and irrigation for almost 70% of the population of the state, became scarce with groundwater levels dropping by 15 metres on an average. Apart from arid and rural areas, the water supply of several towns like Vijaynagar, Gulabpura, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Pali, Bhindar, Jaipur and Sirohi was severely affected.

There were stray reports of starvation-related suicides but officials hotly denied any `starvation death'.

A study conducted by CAZRI (Strategy to Combat Drought and Famine in the Indian Arid Zone - May 2000) analysed the impact of the 1999-2000 drought in the four worst-affected districts of Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur and Jalore. The key observations can be summarised as follows:

• Impact on water resources. All surface water sources had dried up by March 2000 in this region, when demand for drinking water peaked. Shallow wells also dried up and water tables dropped by 12 to 15 m. The quality of groundwater deteriorated: salinity and the presence of industrial effluents in some areas rendered it non-potable.
• Impact on vegetation. Most of the annual species of desert vegetation recorded poor growth; whatever leaves grew were eaten by animals, particularly goats. However, trees with deep root systems, especially Prosopis cineraria, survived well. Pods of this tree are used as food.
• Crop production. In many parts of the four districts, crop production fell to less than 10% of the production in 1997.
• Fodder prices. Fodder prices increased by 200 to 300%.
• Cultivation pattern. The cultivation pattern changed significantly. While farmers of this region generally grow rainfed crops in the kharif (rainy) season ¾ rain water reduces the salinity of the soil ¾ and irrigated crops in the rabi season, this practice was reversed after successive droughts. There was a great increase in area under kharif cultivation of pearl millet and wheat under irrigation from tubewells ¾ as much as a tenfold increase in kharif cultivation of irrigated pearl millet was recorded in Barmer district compared to the area under this crop in the kharif season of 1997. Farmers wanted as much of these crops as they could get in summer for fodder (wheat straw) and food. This increased cultivation in turn put tremendous pressure on groundwater resources.
• Livestock migration. In Barmer and Jaisalmer, over 70% of the livestock population moved out. Due to malnutrition and infections, the price of sheep and goat fell from Rs 500-Rs 1,000 to Rs 200-250.
• Occupational pattern shift. There was a major shift in the occupational pattern. Traditional occupations of farming and livestock farming were replaced by daily labour in relief works. Over 70% of the farmer population of the four districts took temporary employment in relief works. Labour became the major source of income. Significantly, the bulk of labourers in relief works were women ¾ the men migrated to find work in other parts of the state. In all the districts except Balore, women constituted over 80% of the labour at relief works.
• People migration. Around 10% of the population of Jalore migrated to other parts of the state or country. Most of the migrants belonged to the so-called lower castes.
  

The area to the west of the range, known as the western sandy plains, covers a large part of the state and includes the Thar desert. The districts of Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Churu, and parts of Nagaur, Barmer and Jodhpur districts, fall in this region. The Luni river, which rises from the Aravalli hills, south-west of Ajmer, is the lifeline of the desert. The flood-prone Ghaggar is another major river flowing through this region.

The Aravalli range peaks at Mt Abu (1722 m above sea level).

The area to the east of the range is known as the eastern plains. Banas, the second most important river in Rajasthan after the Chambal, flows through the heart of these plains.

The south-eastern part of the state is known as Rajasthan Pathar and is drained by the Chambal river and its tributaries. The region is relatively fertile thanks to the deep black soil found in the river valleys.

Over 90% of the rainfall occurs during the monsoon months. Mt Abu receives the highest rainfall in the state (1638 mm).

Rainfall failure, defined as rainfall less than 25 per cent of the norm for a particular region, is also frequent in the area to the west of the Aravallis. According to a study by Yaseen Khan (Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur, 1998) between 1900 and 1991, rainfall failure was recorded for 34 years in Barmer, 38 years in Jaisalmer and 36 years in Jodhpur. In all the other districts, rainfall failure occurred in less than 32 years during the same period. In the districts of Churu, Jaipur, Bharatpur, Bhiwara, Chittaurgarh, Dholpur, Udaipur, Jhalawar and Kota, rainfall failure occurred for less than 20 years in the period 1900-1991.

Overall, groundwater resources are depleting except in the command area of the Indira Gandhi Canal ¾ the largest drought-proofing project undertaken in the country ¾ and Mahi and Chambal areas. Out of the 238 development blocks in the state, only 60 blocks show rising groundwater levels.

Only around 17% of the total cultivable area of the state is irrigated. The percentage of net irrigated area in the districts varies from 15% to over 60% ¾ the latter in districts like Ganganagar, Jaipur and Udaipur. The state depends heavily on inter-state river water allocations for irrigation. A major portion of the total allocation is from the Ravi-Beas system which is the main source of water for the Indira Gandhi canal

Around 60% of the total irrigated area is under well irrigation.

While the Rajasthan government requested assistance of around Rs 11,000 million, the actual expenditure incurred for `calamity relief' in the state in 1999-2000 was Rs 5,276 million, of which over Rs 5,000 million was from the CRF; the rest came from the PM's Relief Fund.

The bulk of the money (Rs 4,784 million) was spent on relief works for employment generation. Over 90% of the expenditure was on daily wages. Works undertaken included renovation of water storage structures, desilting of canals, construction of gravel roads, and construction of community buildings under central/state government schemes.

Around Rs 395 million was spent on cattle care, including maintenance of cattle camps, transport subsidy for fodder and milch cattle feed subsidy. Wheat, rice, gram, straw, sorghum and grass was supplied through fodder depots at subsidised rates (subsidy was around Rs 600 per tonne of fodder).

Around Rs 11 million was spent on the supply of medicines to combat diseases like gastroenteritis, jaundice, cholera, malaria, hepatitis B and sunstroke.

No significant amount needed to be spent from the CRF on water supply as in the same year the Government of India had provided over Rs 2,800 million for various kinds of water supply schemes. In 2000-01, over Rs 1,000 million of central funds were provided for accelerated water supply programmes and desert (water) development programmes.

Wheat was sold at subsidised prices to famiies below and above the poverty line through the public distribution system (PDS). The total allocation of wheat for the state's PDS during 1999-2000 was around 0.35 million tonnes. The subsidy involved was around Rs 500 million per 0.1 million tonnes.

As the state government did not get as much money as it wanted, it expressed helplessness in undertaking relief works. In January 2001, reports from the worst-affected areas ¾ Jaisalmer, Jalore, Barmer and Jodhpur ¾ indicated that less than 60% of work announced had been taken up and less than 55% of the people seeking employment as labourers were engaged on the different works in these districts.

Against a drought-affected population of 182 million in Udaipur district, the ceiling for employment in relief works was 11,000 persons in February. The figure for other rural development works was a meagre 15,000. The ceiling in the state for famine relief works was a disappointing 0.3 million persons in February whereas the affected population was over 30 million. This ceiling was raised to 0.5 million in March ¾ to cover approximately 1.5 per cent of the drought-affected population.

Further, the actual employment provided was well below the ceiling. In February, only 0.25 million people were employed.

According to one report, in Medhi village of Udaipur relief work provided jobs to only 60 of the 5,000 adults in the village and that too for 15 days in a month. Even this relief work began only in February.

Even when people did get employment, it provided little relief. Payments to labourers is as little as Rs 11 to 30 per day for work measured by government officials. Members of many families ate by rotation and on alternate days.

There were also reports of corruption eating into earnings. Officials are known to manipulate muster rolls because of which those employed get only Rs 25-30 a day against the government-fixed minimum wage of Rs 60.

Relief in the form of PDS wheat was also of little help. Families in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category could get 20 kg of wheat but at Rs 4.60 a kg, it was beyond the means of most. Those who were out of the BPL category got PDS wheat at Rs 8 a kg -- above the market price. Although the central government allotted only a small amount of wheat for Rajasthan's PDS, the state off-loaded only 60 per cent of its quota.

There was no attempt to ensure the delivery of fodder. The government had only a scheme of providing transport subsidy for fodder. Some fodder depots were woefully short of the requirement.

Government efforts to meet the drinking water crisis were not adequate. People in many western Rajasthan villages bought water from private tankers at the rate of Rs 400 per 1,000 litres.

While several non-governmental, aid and charitable organisations provided various kinds of relief measures in different parts of the state, these were largely localised. It is clear that a very widespread and effective collaboration of non-governmental organisations and other agencies is needed to raise resources for drought relief in Rajasthan.

On completion, IGNP is expected to irrigate over 150 million hectares of land. Already over 50 million hectares have been irrigated. To take water to elevated areas, six lift irrigation schemes are proposed, to cover over 50 million hectares.

IGNP is expected to provide drinking water to seven districts of western Rajasthan. Water is already being provided to Jodhpur from the scheme.

IGNP is also expected to give a big boost to production of forest produce from afforestation schemes, production of fodder and establishment of new industries.

The total cost of the project is expected to be around Rs 20,500 million, when canal works are completed in 2005.

The flip side of this massive and ambitious project is the slow pace of execution due to the huge capital cost and the almost inevitable ill-effects of canal irrigation, primarily waterlogging and over-use of water, leading to long-term degradation of lands.

A CAZRI document, Strategy to Combat Drought and Famine in the Indian Arid Zone (May 2000), suggests six alternative measures to combat drought that are long-term, economical and sustainable:

• Judicious use of irrigation water. Volumetric and other scientific methods of irrigation will lead to lower production per unit area, but overall production will increase as the same amount of water will be used for a larger area. Sprinkler and drip irrigation methods are ideally suited for the undulating land of the arid zone.
• Rainwater harvesting. Rajasthan already has a rich tradition of harvesting rain water in nadis (ponds), tankas (underground tanks) and khadnis (in situ harvesting of rain water run off from rocky surfaces by building earthen bunds; the stored water seeps into the soil of adjacent farm lands). The effectiveness of these traditional methods can be greatly increased by improved construction and design practices.
• Management of underground water. There is need for a legal mechanism to regulate exploitation of underground water in areas where the resources are at a critical level. Even in other areas, there is a need for regulation so that this precious resource is regularly and adequately replenished and there is fair allocation.
• Improved agricultural practices. Poor farmers in arid zones need the latest inputs (seeds, fertilisers etc) to maximise productivity of their lands. Adoption of practices like deep ploughing, wider spacing of plants, cultivation of drought-tolerant crops, recycling of runoff water and use of an integrated watershed approach will maximise production per unit of rainfall.

Many voluntary agencies are working along these lines, especially in the areas of water conservation and harvesting, and there are quite a few `success stories' of villages coping with rainfall failure without having to temporarily abandon their traditional occupations or homes.