Rainfall deficit, fund crunch leave Maharashtra battling drought

The government claims the direct transfers to the affected farmers have already begun but has refrained from publicising how much has been remitted and to how many daily.

Roughly 15 million farmers in Maharashtra are getting anxious about the Rs 5,000 that the government promised as advance relief for their crops, which withered due to the extraordinary drought that has gripped the state. This relief is due by Diwali, as per a voluntary promise by the state, but that date is very close—Diwali season starts on Sunday, November 8, and extends to Wednesday next.

The government claims the direct transfers to the affected farmers have already begun but has refrained from publicising how much has been remitted and to how many daily. If that were done, the farmers’ anxieties could be quelled to some extent because they would know the speed at which the government was delivering on its assurance. It is no secret that the government is constrained for funds.

One does not even need the back of an envelope to calculate that Rs 5,000 per farmer in the list of about 1.5 crore works out to Rs 7,500 crore, which is clearly beyond the state’s capacity to pay. So far, there is no word about the monetary support being sought from the Centre. In all probability, an estimate is being worked out before making a case with New Delhi. It is likely to be a humongous number.

Extraordinary drought this year

This year’s drought is extraordinary, with an acute deficit of water. The farmlands are already caked, the crops burnt by the sun on their by-now drooping stalks. Drinking water is already threatened, with supplies to towns and cities cut by up to 15 per cent. The forecast of an extended dry spell, perhaps into the next monsoon, makes the skin crawl, and farmers who have some water left in the wells are resisting extraction for supply to rural areas. They want old dues paid off first.

A drought of this magnitude has not visited Maharashtra since 1972, though scarcity conditions have been a fact every few years. The drought then did not hurt crops and investments therein because it was the last of the three-year deficit of rain; crops were not planted in 1972, but there were job losses, and food security was acutely impacted. That gave rise to the pioneering and innovative Employment Guarantee Scheme, which led to the pan-India MGNREGA refashioned to G Ram G now.

This time around, farmers had bought seeds and other farm inputs at prices higher than in previous years and lost substantially when the clouds refused to water their crops. As in 1972, there has been loss of fodder, but the setback has been financial because the investments on the farmlands have yielded precious little. There is a ban on any recovery of farm loans, and curiously, the private moneylenders have become active. It is said that many new licences have been sought, though much of it is an underground activity at all times.

State set aside Rs 25,000 cr for Kumbh-related work

In such a situation, what is glaring is the committed expenditure of Rs 35,000 cr for the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Kumbh, of which about Rs 25,000 cr is under the head of the state-approved development plan, with the rest coming from the Centre, for instance, to increase the capacity of Nashik airport and the railway station around the city. There has been no indication of any trimming for the Kumbh-related projects. Not all spending is going towards permanent infrastructure for the city, though some could.

It would be no surprise if the government decides not to cut the expenditure on the Kumbh because it is a massive programme with huge optics that could be wanting to rival the show put up by the Uttar Pradesh government for the Prayagraj Kumbh last year. If the expenditure on the religious gala, put up at great expense, is not curtailed and diverted towards relieving the financial agony of the farmers, it would be opting for the spiritual and ignoring the corporeal.

As it is, despite the poll promise by the ruling dispensation of raising the monthly stipend for women from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,100, it is nowhere in sight even after a lapse of 24 months since the elections and formation of the government of BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar). Those who hoped for its quick implementation and voted for the three-party coalition have more or less given up hope. But the women will remember by 2029.

BJP led alliance with unrealistic promises

Keen on winning another term, the Bharatiya Janata Party led the alliance with unrealistic promises. It is nobody’s case that women who need money to shore up their purchasing power for the benefit of their comparatively poor families or to feel empowered by having money dropping into their bank accounts were wrong. The politicians, unconcerned about the cash at the state’s command, went berserk with the promise. Now it has come home to roost.

Such disregard of basic arithmetic has landed the government in an embarrassment, and the extent is underscored by the state’s budget papers. The cash transfer scheme was launched in 2024-25, and the allocation for it was Rs 26,500 cr for the 2026-27 fiscal year, a decrease of 31 per cent from the previous year. This actually means that the state is unsure now of when it will keep its word.

A state which has a committed expenditure of Rs 3.38 lakh crore for the current budget (2026-27) is going to be hard pressed to meet this additional burden, especially when the Rs 7,500 cr for the advance relief is itself difficult to find in its coffers. Many planned activities are likely to be slaughtered to raise the fund for the advance compensation for lost crops. Only those who have lost at least 30 per cent of their crop are entitled to drought relief.

No doubt, different crops—from jowar to pulses to paddy to soybean—have different values, and this crop-wise survey is critical to determine how much each farmer gets as compensation. The extent of the landholding is linked to the total crop losses. This is an excruciatingly slow process, but farmers could get impatient with politicians pushing their cause at every opportunity that is to be found.