In Rajasthan, Taps And Hope Run Dry

In the scorching April sun, 33-year-old Ratna draws water from an underground water tank with her 11-month-old son in her lap. Merely drawing water from the manmade tank at the nondescript Rotoo village in Rajasthan’s Nagaur district, does not put an end to her chore. She hurries back home, located about 300 metres away, with a water-laden bucket in one hand and the child in the other, while at the same time, supervising the whitewashing of her house.

“Last year, the state government installed taps in our homes, but we still don’t have access to water. This water tank was built by my father-in-law a few years ago. We have to pay Rs 1,500 to the water vendors who fill up these tanks,” she says.

Rajasthan, synonymous with deserts and an arid landscape, has historically been confronted with water shortage, but the issue has peaked over the last few years. According to Rajasthan’s Disaster Management Relief and Civil Defence Department, districts like Bikaner, Churu and Nagaur are affected by drought once every four years. But more recently, a dearth of seasonal rainfall has accentuated the crisis in these northern districts. Peaking water scarcity and pervasive groundwater contamination, leading to excessive fluoride levels, have also increased the migration of human resource.

In Bikaner and neighbouring districts, many residents, particularly the elderly and children, suffer from bowed legs and stiffened joints, causing constant pain and limited mobility. Kanha Singh ‘Fauji,’ 82, a retired soldier from Jalabsar village, used to cultivate mustard on his land until the Rabi season of 2021. However, drought and fluorosis have dealt him a double blow, leaving his fields dry for the past three years and rendering him immobile. “For cultivation, we never had enough water, but we used to irrigate our fields with the rainwater we used to save in our underground tanks. Now we don’t have enough clean water to drink. We are compelled to drink fluoride-contaminated groundwater,” he says. 

Previously, the situation was different, according to him, when drinking water was easily accessible in the area. However, in recent years, conditions have worsened. In his village, many individuals experience mobility issues and dental problems by the age of 35-40 years and despite voicing concerns to various political leaders, no efforts have been made to address our issues, Fauji says.  According to a report from the US National Library of Medicine, released in 2022, “In Rajasthan, approximately four million people suffer from fluorosis, the highest in the country.”As a result, residents of the region run the risk of weakened and discoloured teeth. 

To address the water problem in this area, a project worth Rs 8,000 crore was initiated some time ago. The state and union governments planned to construct an underground canal, locally known as the Shekhawati Canal, to provide clean water from the Yamuna River to 1,133 villages in this region. However, the plan remains stagnant. According to Rajasthan Patrika, a Rajasthan-based media organisation, the first phase of canal construction was completed in 2017, but the Detailed Project Report (DPR) has not progressed since then.

While water scarcity has ravaged local residents, for water suppliers like Sheopal Singh ‘Dealer’, the shortage represents a business opportunity for his ilk. The cost of water varies with the distance it needs to be transported across, he says. “We fill our water tankers from nearby places where water is available and supply it to the arid villages. The cost of the water ranges from Rs 700-15,000 according to the distance involved. Each day we sell five to seven tankfuls of water.” 

Amraram, a farmers’ leader and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate from Sikar, stands out for addressing unemployment and the water crisis in his manifesto. He emphasises, “As a farmer myself, I understand the severity of these issues, which is why I prioritised them in our manifesto.”

Water scarcity has forced farmers like Bhikharam, a 63-year-old man from Danta village in Sikar, to switch from his traditional occupation to masonry.  “I have three sons, all three moved to Surat last year to work at a snack factory. They used to help me cultivatemoth, moong, millet, jowar and mustard. Their wives and children live here with me,” Bhikharam said, adding that his middle son, Dinesh, was preparing to join the army, but after the government’s implementation of the Agniveer Yojana, he gave up preparing for the entrance test.

According to a 2021 study by the International Institute for Environment and Development based in the United Kingdom, at least one person in 28 per cent of households in Rajasthan has migrated to different cities due to variations in climatic conditions.  Meanwhile, to add to the water shortage and fluoride excess in north Rajasthan, the scourge of unemployment is slowly taking root too, further fuelling the desire to migrate. Unemployment in districts like Sikar, Nagaur and Bikaner has reached an alarming proportion. According to a 2023 report by the Periodic Labour Force Survey, Rajasthan ranks second in the country with an unemployment rate of 30.2 per cent.  

Sagar Kacharia, a labour activist in Sikar associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), estimates that over 3,000 youths in Sikar are still awaiting job opportunities even after receiving appointment letters from various armed forces. However, their hopes were disrupted upon learning about the implementation of the Agniveer Scheme. Subsequently, many of these youths shifted their focus to preparing for the Rajasthan Police and other such services, Kacharia said.

Suraj Jakhar, a 21-year-old, now working at an Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) work site in Sikar’s Danta village, was one of the youngsters to secure an appointment letter signing him up for an armed forces job under the Agniveer Yojna. But he did not take it up, preferring to work as an MNREGA mate instead.

“My family supports the Bharatiya Janata Party and campaigned for the party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, instead of opening new opportunities, the BJP government has left us facing unemployment. Despite working under the MNREGA, I struggle to make ends meet,” he said.

Unemployment has complex causes stemming from political and economic missteps, as well as longstanding policies governing industries, education and small-scale businesses.

In 2023, the Rajasthan Government, led by then Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, launched the Indira Gandhi Sahari Rojgar Yojana with an Rs 800 crore budget, on the lines of the MNREGA, to provide 100 days of employment in urban areas. While it initially employed one lakh people, even educated local youth like Suraj are seeking a livelihood under this scheme, because of chronic unemployment.

In 2022, the Election Commission wrote a letter to all the political parties regarding their concerns about the low polling rate due to internal migration. The letter reads, “Amongst the many reasons like urban apathy and youth apathy, inability to vote due to internal migration (domestic migrants) is also one prominent reason contributing to low voter turnout.”

The first phase of the elections took place on April 19. As per the data released by the ECI, in Rajasthan, only 57 per cent of the voters cast their votes in 12 constituencies, forcing speculation­—in light of the ECI’s communication two years ago­—as to whether out-migration had led to a drop in polling numbers.

Whoever may emerge as the winner of the Lok Sabha polls, perhaps it is the time for political parties to take stock of how unemployment and the water crisis together are causing huge damage to the social and economic structure of the country and its constituents.

Vikram Raj in Sikar, Bikaner, Churu and Nagaur

(This appeared in the print as 'When Taps And Hope Run Dry')