With two failed monsoons and no yield in the fields, many farmers are in the city now to make ends meet.
Subhash Kohar, 40, has found work at a construction site. Clearing up rubble all day will fetch him Rs 400. He says he's lucky that he's got work for the second straight day.
Leaving his five acre farm as well as his young children behind in Nanded district of drought-hit Marathwada, Mr Kohar is among those farmers who have migrated to cities like Mumbai and Thane in search of work. Some of them are here with their families. A local politician has provided them shelter to stay in at Thane.
Before the 400 migrants moved to Thane, they were staying in a filthy open ground in Ghatkopar in the central suburbs of Mumbai. "We were asked to pay Rs.400 for the space we were sleeping in. There was no water to drink. When we went to ask people for water, they said pay 250 rupees for a jar. And at night, people threatened to beat us," he said.
Uttam Jadhav, 36, had leased 2 acres of land to farm in Mukhed in Nanded but it did not yield a crop. He has now moved to the village to pay for his children's education in the village. "I want my children to study. I don't want them to get into farming. It has no future. If I can earn some money even through the daily jobs, at least I can send that money back home for their tuition classes," he says.
For more than two years, in their village in Nanded, a single water tanker arrived once every few days to provide water for 150 families. With two failed monsoons and no yield in the fields, they are in the city now to make ends meet.
"Farming is totally unsustainable. If we work we will be able to earn even if it's through manual labour. So what option do we have but to do this," he said.