Farmer suicides in Bundelkhand

Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh has barely received 40 per cent rain this year so far, but the place is still to find it's name in the 47 districts declared as drought-hit by the Mayawati government.

And as the situation turns grim, farmers like Govind are committing suicides, which many say could have been avoided.

"How many people does the state government wants dead before they decide to react. Few say that Govind has not committed suicide, he has sacrificed himself.  He wanted the state government to know the ground realities of Lalitpur," said Pradeep Jain, Congress MP and Union Minister of State for Rural Development.

Congress says the Mayawati government has never been serious about giving immediate relief to the drought hit farmers.

Farmers like Jhammu are clueless. It hasn't rained at all in the last three weeks and the canal meant to carry water to Jhammu's field is lifeless.

"Had there been water in the canal, we could have pumped it to the fields, which could have at least recovered the cost of cultivation," he said.

The administration insists that Lalitpur has not figured on the list of drought-hit districts because it is the only district in Bundelkhand to have seven dams. Perhaps the administration also needs to point out that all of these dams are dependent on monsoon.

The Govind Sagar dam, which provides the main water supply in this district, has not filled up even once this monsoon. But more than deficient rain it's politics that seems to have made things worse.

Lalitpur is part of the Jhansi parliamentary constituency that Mayawati lost to the Congress. Jhansi asked for drought relief in June but was left out in the first list of 47 districts declared drought-hit by the state government.

There had been nearly 700 farmer suicides in Bundelkhand, a region reeling under drought four successive years. This year too, things appear no different.