A man pulls a cart holding two water tanks to a nearby public tap in Dharur in Beed, Maharashtra. March 23, 2016. ©Harsha Vadlamani

Parched

Harsha Vadlamani

2016 — Marathwada, India

About this series

Over centuries, people in the rain shadow region of Marathwada have developed a lifestyle that emphasizes conserving water. After bathing their children, for example, it is not uncommon for mothers in villages to give the collected water to livestock or use it to water plants.
Sugarcane, a water-guzzling crop, isn’t well-suited to the arid landscape. Yet state-level policies have led to the establishment of 61 sugar mills in Marathwada, a region spread across 25,000 square miles in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. With the promise of higher returns, farmers were encouraged to move away from traditional crops like sorghum, pearl millet, groundnut, and pigeon pea. Today, the proliferation of sugarcane is only one of many factors contributing to the farmers’ misery. In the summer of 2016, a terrible drought swept across India, affecting more than 330 million people– close to a quarter of the country’s population. Among the worst hit was Marathwada, located 220 miles east of Mumbai. In 2015, Marathwada received only 49 percent of what is considered normal rainfall, with some villages receiving as little as 35 percent. I met farmers who are spending huge amounts of money to dig one well after another, hoping to tap into a much deeper aquifer that will save their crops.
As yields suffered and debts accumulated, many were been pushed to the brink and beyond: over 1,500 farmer suicides were reported in the region in under a year. The lack of work in villages during the summer months has forced thousands of farmers and landless labourers to migrate to major cities like Mumbai, Pune, and Hyderabad, where they slept on open ground and under flyovers, hoping to return home soon.

Residents wait for water at a community tap in the Haribhau Nagar locality of Latur city, Maharashtra, India. ©Harsha Vadlamani
Dead trees dot the hills near Dharur in Beed, Maharashtra. March 23, 2016. ©Harsha Vadlamani
In Kholewadi in Beed, Maharashtra, 500 of 600 residents migrated this year to harvest sugarcane in western Maharashtra, leaving only the young and old in the village. March 22, 2016. ©Harsha Vadlamani
A woman uses a tumbler to fill her pot from a small puddle on the bed of a well in Atola in Latur, Maharashtra. The previous day, Kevalbai Kamble, 45, stood in a line at the village's community tap for two hours and collapsed before she could collect her two pots of water. She was declared 'brought dead' at the Government Hospital in Latur. May 04, 2016. ©Harsha Vadlamani
Women draw water from a well, which has long since gone dry but replenished once a day with water from tankers, at Karigaon in Beed, Maharshtra. March 25, 2016 ©Harsha Vadlamani
A blackbuck sprints across the road near Belewadi Phata in Beed, Maharashtra. April 30, 2016. ©Harsha Vadlamani
A farmer drinks from his water bottle in Gangawadi, Beed, Maharashtra. April 28, 2016. ©Harsha Vadlamani
A woman washes clothes in the Manjra at Arjkheda village on the outskirts of Latur, Maharashtra. May 03, 2016. ©Harsha Vadlamani
The drought of 1972 is a reference point to calculate the age of Vyjayanta Ithape, 70, who gave birth to a son and had also lost her husband that year. Chincholi in Beed, Maharashtra, where she lives alone, has been relying on water tankers for the past three years, even during the monsoon."This one is unlike any other drought in the past, we have grain to eat but no water to drink." March 21, 2016. ©Harsha Vadlamani
Farmers watch India play Bangaldesh in the T20 Cricket World Cup at the fodder camp in Charata Phata in Beed, Maharashtra. March 23, 2016. ©Harsha Vadlamani
Jaldoot Express, a train bringing in water from a distance of 300km, being emptied at the railway station in Latur city, Maharashtra. May 03, 2016. ©Harsha Vadlamani

Photographer: Harsha Vadlamani
Nationality: Indian
Based in: Hyderabad, India
Website: sriharsha.in
Instagram: @harshavadlamani

Harsha Vadlamani is an independent photojournalist and filmmaker whose work explores the many inequalities that influence migration, health and the environment, with a particular focus on rural and indigenous communities across India.
His work has appeared in National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, GEO, Al Jazeera, Le Monde, Financial Times Magazine, Rest of World, CNN, BBC, Scientific American, Foreign Affairs, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Nature and Wired, among other publications.
He is a National Geographic Society grantee and recipient of Amnesty International’s Media Award for Photojournalism, 2022.