Millions Suffer Due to Drought, Who Is To Blame?

Bangalore: The current drought in Western India that has led to the suffering of over millions of Indians is the first of its kind in the past four decades. "In recorded history the reservoirs have never been so low in central Maharashtra, with every passing day the reservoirs are drying up,” the chief minister of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan said, as reported by AFP.

The droughts are in fact found to be much more severe than the one in 1972, as declared by the Chief Minister. Officials have been blamed for their ineffectiveness and corruption that have led to the current water shortage in the state. Chavan on the other hand attributes this situation to the succession of poor monsoons for the past two years.

Drinking water is being transported to the affected area with the help of two thousand tankers. Livestock have been protected by over hundreds of cattle camps. "With every passing day, the tankers have to travel a greater distance. It's a huge logistical issue," Chavan said.

One of the districts that are most affected in Maharashtra is Jalna, where the famous hospital run by Christopher Moses is located. "This is a famine. Villagers have nothing to eat, they are scraping literally the bottom of their pot," says Moses.