Ambala/Kaithal, July 29
The impact of drought gripping north India on the farmers would vindicate Karl Marx who did not include agriculturists in his definition of revolutionary proletariat as he felt that their dependence upon nature made them superstitious.

A survey of the agricultural scene in Ambala and Kaithal districts of Haryana shows farmers have remained as dependent upon nature as they were more than a century ago and just as superstitious.

A brief patch of Kurukshetra district between Ambala and Kaithal is lushgreen which appears as a pleasant surprise after the vast tracts of yellow unsown tracts of Ambala district. “It rained in Kurukshetra, that is why the paddy crop there has grown”, stated a farmer at a village in Kaithal. There had not been much rain either at Ambala or at Kaithal and the effect of the dry weather on these districts was palpable.

Pumps, run by diesel or electricity, are being put to optimum use by farmers. “But artificial irrigation cannot be a substitute for the monsoon”, said Jaspal Singh, a farmer at Hasanpur Naggal village in Ambala district. Electricity is being supplied for six hours daily to enable farmers to run their tubewells. Nevertheless, basmati saplings in a part of the field have wilted. “Other farmers also share water pumped by tubewells, which is not enough” the farmer says, adding that only ‘rab’ (Almighty) knows what will happen to the crops.

Preetam Singh, a villager at Keorak village in Kaithal district, was also struggling to revive his paddy and sugarcane crops. The plants are still surviving but there is not much hope for them unless it rains soon. The water level, Preetam Singh says, has depleted, making many of the tubewells having depths of 100ft-150ft dry. He showed two tubewells near his own field which had gone dry.

Satpal Singh, a farmer at Ujhana village in Kaithal, said that he had to bore his tubewell deeper to look for water. “Originally, it was 200 ft but I had to dig another 50 ft”. If it does not rain, the water level will go down further”, he says.

Those farmers who use diesel for running their tubewells also have to spend a lot more money than they have to do otherwise during the monsoon season. Premo, wife of Preetam Singh, said they had already spent around Rs 20,000 an diesel in July alone, an amount they would have otherwise spent in six months.