As Western India's drought worsens, more and more poor rural families are forced to look for jobs in cities, since they cannot count on government policies to help them to deal with crop failure, reports Alertnet. This migration is largely induced by climate change; changing monsoon patterns which lead to depletion of groundwater levels. Women are particularly affected since they are the ones who have to fetch water for the families from often large distances.
"Funds earmarked for drought relief have not been used efficiently and irrigation schemes are being mismanaged,' said Delhi-based Sunita Narain, the editor of Down to Earth magazine. In addition, agriculture, particularly sugar plantations and large urban areas use a huge amount of water as well.