Atmaram, father of Omprakash, who allegedly committed suicide. 77 farmers have reportedly killed themselves between January and March in this region.
Intense wailing. That is the only sound that rends the air in the dusty village of Adgaon Jawle, 40 kms from the city of Aurangabad in Maharashtra. Her face is pale and the vermilion on her forehead has been wiped off.
Jayashree Pawle is only 36 years old. But the cruel and unending agrarian crisis has ensured she joins the growing number of farm suicide widows. On March 28, her husband Omprakash went to his barren field and gulped down an entire bottle of insecticide. With his and other farmers who have committed suicide, the drought prone region of Marathawada is slowly but surely becoming the next epicentre of the largest numbers of farm suicides in India.
In 2014, as per official figure from the collectorate, 77 farmers killed themselves between January and March in this region. This year in the first quarter, the figure has jumped by 50% to 114.
The vicious cycle simply doesn't seem to end even though the reasons are all well documented. In this rain shadow region the monsoon has largely been replaced by drought.
Omprakash took a loan of Rs 4 lakhs to buy a plot of land which he hoped would have a decent water table. Then to transport the water to his field 3 kms away, he purchased and laid pipes all the way to his 4 acre field. But the groundwater table was so depleted, the 900 feet bore-well he dug only found rock. He then sold his house and raised money to have tankers water his 600 sweet lime trees. Efforts which all failed. This was in 2014. The trees died and cotton and jowar were planted.
"First the drought and then the unseasonal rains ruined our new crop. He tried everything. But we failed and he gave up," his brother Ganesh explains, as other villagers listen on gloomily.
His fellow farmers claim so serious is the agrarian crisis that no father from other villages wants his daughter to marry a farmer in this village. "We have 75 men who are still not married. Who will want their daughter to suffer?" Ankush Jawle, a villager says his voice quivering.
But it's Omprakash's father Atmaram who aptly sums it up with his wrinkled face and deep sorrowful eyes which serve as a constant reminder of their pain.
"There is just no water in this region. It is a curse to be a farmer in Marathawada."