India's water woes

India has experienced the worst drought in 36 years. Long before these articles starting appearing in Wall street journal and Economist, I knew from conversations with my colleagues whose family members were agrarians in India, that this year was particularly bad and that there has been a rise in farmer suicides in Andhra Pradesh.

Monsoons to blame, for sure. But is that the only contributor? 1.2 billion people live on agriculture of which, 450 million depend on monsoons. If these numbers from WallStreet and Economist are right, then what about the other 750 million, who are also facing the same crisis? As mentioned in the Economist, the grim truth is 'India's
bad water management practices'.

Water wars between Karnataka and Tamil is as bitter as bitter gourd itself. Farmers are usually up in arms over the Kaveri water every year.(This might be an understatement) I'm not following that crisis this year, but I can very well imagine, having lived in Bangalore for some time. It seems like we are very much heading into a period where ' water is oil', at rocket speed.

I have been hearing about the woes of California farmers and I sympathize with them. California is in it's 12th year of drought. But when you read about farmers, close to home, I empathize. It makes my stomach churn.

It makes me think if there is something I can do to alleviate there pain.