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Landscapes of Loss: The Story of an Indian Drought
Maharashtra, India's richest state by GDP, has its eyes set on becoming the country's first trillion-dollar economy by 2025. At the same time, Marathwada - a historically backward part of the state adjoining the distressed Vidarbha region - has seen a surge in farmer suicides.
At the heart of the crisis is a cyclical drought that has persisted for almost a decade. Relief packages and loan waivers have not reversed the trend. On the contrary, the stories of dystopia grow more tragic every year as thousands of farmer families flee to the big cities, while those who stay back are plagued by bad credit and crop loss.
Landscapes of Loss tells the story of Marathwada through the accounts of its people: marginal farmers, Dalits, landless labourers, farm widows and children. It lays bare the complex factors that have brought the region to this pass - a story representative, in many ways, of the agrarian unrest in large parts of rural India.
At the heart of the crisis is a cyclical drought that has persisted for almost a decade. Relief packages and loan waivers have not reversed the trend. On the contrary, the stories of dystopia grow more tragic every year as thousands of farmer families flee to the big cities, while those who stay back are plagued by bad credit and crop loss.
Landscapes of Loss tells the story of Marathwada through the accounts of its people: marginal farmers, Dalits, landless labourers, farm widows and children. It lays bare the complex factors that have brought the region to this pass - a story representative, in many ways, of the agrarian unrest in large parts of rural India.
- GenresIndiaNonfiction
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 10, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 11, 2021
I read and reviewed Widows of Vidarbha almost two years ago. And since then nothing, literally nothing, has changed. Marthwada still remains utterly poor and farmers still commit suicide.
One of the fundamental problems farmers in this region where droughts are a near expectation at this point is that there is a ground water crisis. Farmers (and the support system) dig to find water because nearby water resources are inaccessible or dried up. This bore well digging process costs money. And this is the first step in entering into debt. During severe drought, the government started a "Cattle camp", a government program where some amount of water, cattle feed were provided to families that couldn't afford it anymore for their farm animals. The middle men running this program go through their own profit margins, women who buy water for 25 paisa a liter wonder why they pay so much while the four beer factories around them pay only 5 paisa per liter, the water tanks that come in with water are heavily rationed, and it goes on.
In 2016 it took a 19 year old girl to commit suicide (because she couldn't afford a bus pass and didn't want to continue to burden her father with this or with future marriage expenses) for the state transportation department to make bus commute free for college students in these drought areas. Why is that in this country it takes people, young or otherwise to die pointlessly for authorities to take notice and only then do the thing that should have existed ALWAYS. There are reports of rampant rise in suicides of young women for they don't want to burden their parents with expenses of their marriage. Children not older than 12 have unimaginable level of stress and trauma of having seen fathers, uncles, and relatives hanging by trees, taking their own lives. Since 2012 this has been prevalent and the government rolled out hotlines and about 20,000 social workers in this area. The data collected is heartbreaking. There is an increase in alcohol addiction, domestic violence and its constant anxiety.
The final chapter is aptly titled "Time to listen". Its a brief summary of the farmers protests of 2020 in the middle of pandemic. As is the case, the country was divided on this cause. To anyone who want to have an opinion on this subject - get to know the lives of these people. Not just Marathwada province - the problem of ground water crisis isn't unique to this region. Wells drying up, lack of rains, extended droughts or floods, rivers drying earlier than expected are happening all over the country. This is a problem that requires a massive systemic change that involves social and economic reforms, agrarian reforms, a greater effort to bring social workers who help with mental health issues, alcohol addiction, trauma, and anxiety. And these stories need to be heard by more people in urban areas.
Stop and listen before you make an opinion.
One of the fundamental problems farmers in this region where droughts are a near expectation at this point is that there is a ground water crisis. Farmers (and the support system) dig to find water because nearby water resources are inaccessible or dried up. This bore well digging process costs money. And this is the first step in entering into debt. During severe drought, the government started a "Cattle camp", a government program where some amount of water, cattle feed were provided to families that couldn't afford it anymore for their farm animals. The middle men running this program go through their own profit margins, women who buy water for 25 paisa a liter wonder why they pay so much while the four beer factories around them pay only 5 paisa per liter, the water tanks that come in with water are heavily rationed, and it goes on.
In 2016 it took a 19 year old girl to commit suicide (because she couldn't afford a bus pass and didn't want to continue to burden her father with this or with future marriage expenses) for the state transportation department to make bus commute free for college students in these drought areas. Why is that in this country it takes people, young or otherwise to die pointlessly for authorities to take notice and only then do the thing that should have existed ALWAYS. There are reports of rampant rise in suicides of young women for they don't want to burden their parents with expenses of their marriage. Children not older than 12 have unimaginable level of stress and trauma of having seen fathers, uncles, and relatives hanging by trees, taking their own lives. Since 2012 this has been prevalent and the government rolled out hotlines and about 20,000 social workers in this area. The data collected is heartbreaking. There is an increase in alcohol addiction, domestic violence and its constant anxiety.
The final chapter is aptly titled "Time to listen". Its a brief summary of the farmers protests of 2020 in the middle of pandemic. As is the case, the country was divided on this cause. To anyone who want to have an opinion on this subject - get to know the lives of these people. Not just Marathwada province - the problem of ground water crisis isn't unique to this region. Wells drying up, lack of rains, extended droughts or floods, rivers drying earlier than expected are happening all over the country. This is a problem that requires a massive systemic change that involves social and economic reforms, agrarian reforms, a greater effort to bring social workers who help with mental health issues, alcohol addiction, trauma, and anxiety. And these stories need to be heard by more people in urban areas.
Stop and listen before you make an opinion.
August 25, 2021
"(My humble hope was).... to introduce readers to real people, their very real everyday struggles, their occasional triumphs adn their unremitting agitations requesting justice. The countryside has spoken, rather eloquently. I hope urban India finds it in its heart to listen."
Kavitha Iyer concludes 'Landscapes of Loss' with these lines. And doing so, sets her detailed chronicle of ongoing struggles in drought prone Marathwade within the context of the ongoing Farmers' Agitation in the country.
Marathwada is one of the most drought prone regions in the country, and most of us hear of it when there is a spate of farmer suicides which make it to the headlines. The book goes much beyond that. It takes us through the how the drought affects entire communities of people, of how people are forced to undertake seasonal migrate to survive, of how relief measures fall short of expectations. It goes into the reasons for the water crisis, and analyses how the proposed measures will only shift the crisis back by a few years. It breaks down caste dynamics, and looks at how women are affected even worse than men. The book leads us on a journey where we understand that what is needed is not annual relief measures, but a systematic change in how we view water and of how we should conserve the resource. Above all, it introduces us to the people of Marathwada- through their stories, she inspires us to do more.
The book is a MUST read.
Kavitha Iyer concludes 'Landscapes of Loss' with these lines. And doing so, sets her detailed chronicle of ongoing struggles in drought prone Marathwade within the context of the ongoing Farmers' Agitation in the country.
Marathwada is one of the most drought prone regions in the country, and most of us hear of it when there is a spate of farmer suicides which make it to the headlines. The book goes much beyond that. It takes us through the how the drought affects entire communities of people, of how people are forced to undertake seasonal migrate to survive, of how relief measures fall short of expectations. It goes into the reasons for the water crisis, and analyses how the proposed measures will only shift the crisis back by a few years. It breaks down caste dynamics, and looks at how women are affected even worse than men. The book leads us on a journey where we understand that what is needed is not annual relief measures, but a systematic change in how we view water and of how we should conserve the resource. Above all, it introduces us to the people of Marathwada- through their stories, she inspires us to do more.
The book is a MUST read.
August 21, 2022
Kavita iyer's this account is unmasking politicians ploy. illuminating the darker side of society which is associated with our lives. Envisage of water arid,loan scheme, jalyukt shiver system,caste system, class system and other farmer's issues.
Enormous reason for draught which debilitating our social structure and life. This is the dichotomy of our society in one hand our politicians giving up loan waiver to the corporates and in another our farmers giving up their life.Our politicians are prudent stop being so lucrative for giant shunter. Policymakers must think how can we hold depletion of ground water level which can stop precipitation of arid.
Cane crop is not responsible for draught in India or in marathwada. Truant rain and water conservation is also our fault. The contentious debate over watering sugarcane fields is not unique to Maharashtra alok, he points out, even if it is particularly intensive in water-scarce marathwad. Across India, sugarcane fields occupy just 3 percent of total cultivated area. And yet can is one of india’s top five crops based on economic value.According to a 2018 report by NABARD, it accounts for 7.5 percent of the gross value of agricultural production in India.
Yep it is debatable why sugarcane factory workers are not well,Helmet of Vanjarwadi, eteeem 19 and 60 years of age, have undergone hysterectomy. In 2018-19 as it emerged that a large number of women from Beed district engaged in sugarcane cutting had complete hysterectomies.
Most of the farmer's agonies are shrouded with in homes which coerce them to leave thier life.
Read farmer’s life 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Enormous reason for draught which debilitating our social structure and life. This is the dichotomy of our society in one hand our politicians giving up loan waiver to the corporates and in another our farmers giving up their life.Our politicians are prudent stop being so lucrative for giant shunter. Policymakers must think how can we hold depletion of ground water level which can stop precipitation of arid.
Cane crop is not responsible for draught in India or in marathwada. Truant rain and water conservation is also our fault. The contentious debate over watering sugarcane fields is not unique to Maharashtra alok, he points out, even if it is particularly intensive in water-scarce marathwad. Across India, sugarcane fields occupy just 3 percent of total cultivated area. And yet can is one of india’s top five crops based on economic value.According to a 2018 report by NABARD, it accounts for 7.5 percent of the gross value of agricultural production in India.
Yep it is debatable why sugarcane factory workers are not well,Helmet of Vanjarwadi, eteeem 19 and 60 years of age, have undergone hysterectomy. In 2018-19 as it emerged that a large number of women from Beed district engaged in sugarcane cutting had complete hysterectomies.
Most of the farmer's agonies are shrouded with in homes which coerce them to leave thier life.
Read farmer’s life 🙏🏻🙏🏻
September 22, 2024
For more than a decade, farmers of Vidarbha and Marathwada in one of the most prosperous states in India (Maharashtra) have been committing suicide. This book uncovers the complex nature of this socio-economic issue and how successive government policies have failed to address it. Add to it the dynamics of local topography, politics, caste and gender and lack of economic opportunities, and the problem only gets bigger and more complicated that goes far beyond just that of drought and water scarcity. The author does an excellent job of discussing all these with relevants facts and figures and yet it's not a dry read. The narrative never loses sight of the human angle. A must read for every Indian (and non-Indian) who wishes to get an understanding of how climate change can impact a region and its people and the multi-dimensional challenges that it poses to governments.
September 20, 2022
A sad yet comprehensive account of the problems of water management, social inequalities and political events surrounding the drought hit regions of Maharashtra. The solution to these problems need long term planning and commitment, something beyond the current political ploys and economic band aids to win votes for the next election.
April 12, 2021
The book of our lifetime. Needs to become part of the Indian education curriculum.
'Landscapes of Loss - The Story of An Indian Drought' meticulously documented by the journalist Kavitha Iyer needs to become part of the Indian education curriculum.
Those of you out there supporting, hashtagging and trending the farmers' protests just so you look cool to be part of a mob, how much do you know about the ground water crisis? Or do you even know there's one?
This ignorance and disparage have been enabling the lack of action from those wielding power and in turn farmers suffering the immediate ravages as a result.
It is a failure in the system altogether. Failure in recognizing that we need the farmers. They never needed us. We need them in order to continue living our entitled lives.
India is failing as an agragian country. Or rather the Indian government is deliberately failing the land and it's farmers. The very farmers who put food on our tables, feed us, sustain us and sustain nature are dying. Thousands and more have committed suicide. Those who are left protesting are fighting for justice until they bleed dry.
An absolute failure of governance. An absolute absence of policies in water conservation.
The flippant attitude towards the water scarcity and cyclic drought is indeed glaring.
There exist no policy-makers who act on the water crisis that emerged decades ago and now full blown, rapidly expanding across the country, drying up water bodies as we speak. Instead, there are those in power sitting on their arses, stroking their paunches and slapping on temporary band-aids to problems once in a while.
We have unscrupulous, entitled bastards who have been daringly making fun of the farmer suicides and their protests. In a just world, they should have had their insides clawed and strung out into the open. Then again, what do we do with those who are oblivious to the fact that the life-preserving essential: water, is depleting by the second?
Kavitha unravels the plethora of layers, backing up with statistical findings. She deserves a standing ovation for her thorough investigation and writing on the harrowing groundwater crisis with such moral clarity. Water scarcity and cyclic drought have been played out before our eyes and still continue doing so.
Kavitha's Landscape of Loss needs to be read, widely discussed, hold the government accountable and force a systemic change to happen. Time is exponentially running out to save what is left.
I feel strongly about the farmers' suicides, the farm widows left behind to bear the brunts of poverty and starvation, and those women who have died in the event. I am angry there's nothing I could do to stop the monstrosity except to share this important book of our time now and hope this reaches readers.
Thank you, Kavitha for your hardwork. Your book has stirred up so much emotions in me. I stand in solidarity with the farmers. Lest we forget.
#LandscapesOfLoss #KavithaIyer #TheStoryOfAnIndianDrought #landscapesoflossthestoryofanindiandrought #HarperCollinsIndia
#IGreads #Bookstagram #bibliophile #waterscarcity #droughts #cyclicdrought #farmersuicides #farmerprotests #solidaritywithfarmers
'Landscapes of Loss - The Story of An Indian Drought' meticulously documented by the journalist Kavitha Iyer needs to become part of the Indian education curriculum.
Those of you out there supporting, hashtagging and trending the farmers' protests just so you look cool to be part of a mob, how much do you know about the ground water crisis? Or do you even know there's one?
This ignorance and disparage have been enabling the lack of action from those wielding power and in turn farmers suffering the immediate ravages as a result.
It is a failure in the system altogether. Failure in recognizing that we need the farmers. They never needed us. We need them in order to continue living our entitled lives.
India is failing as an agragian country. Or rather the Indian government is deliberately failing the land and it's farmers. The very farmers who put food on our tables, feed us, sustain us and sustain nature are dying. Thousands and more have committed suicide. Those who are left protesting are fighting for justice until they bleed dry.
An absolute failure of governance. An absolute absence of policies in water conservation.
The flippant attitude towards the water scarcity and cyclic drought is indeed glaring.
There exist no policy-makers who act on the water crisis that emerged decades ago and now full blown, rapidly expanding across the country, drying up water bodies as we speak. Instead, there are those in power sitting on their arses, stroking their paunches and slapping on temporary band-aids to problems once in a while.
We have unscrupulous, entitled bastards who have been daringly making fun of the farmer suicides and their protests. In a just world, they should have had their insides clawed and strung out into the open. Then again, what do we do with those who are oblivious to the fact that the life-preserving essential: water, is depleting by the second?
Kavitha unravels the plethora of layers, backing up with statistical findings. She deserves a standing ovation for her thorough investigation and writing on the harrowing groundwater crisis with such moral clarity. Water scarcity and cyclic drought have been played out before our eyes and still continue doing so.
Kavitha's Landscape of Loss needs to be read, widely discussed, hold the government accountable and force a systemic change to happen. Time is exponentially running out to save what is left.
I feel strongly about the farmers' suicides, the farm widows left behind to bear the brunts of poverty and starvation, and those women who have died in the event. I am angry there's nothing I could do to stop the monstrosity except to share this important book of our time now and hope this reaches readers.
Thank you, Kavitha for your hardwork. Your book has stirred up so much emotions in me. I stand in solidarity with the farmers. Lest we forget.
#LandscapesOfLoss #KavithaIyer #TheStoryOfAnIndianDrought #landscapesoflossthestoryofanindiandrought #HarperCollinsIndia
#IGreads #Bookstagram #bibliophile #waterscarcity #droughts #cyclicdrought #farmersuicides #farmerprotests #solidaritywithfarmers
April 8, 2021
I think the author Kavitha Iyer sums up her motivations and aim for writing this book perfectly in the afterword: "...to introduce readers to real people, their very real everyday struggles, their occasional triumphs and their unremitting agitations requesting justice. The countryside has spoken, rather eloquently. I hope urban India finds it in its heart to listen."
A strict academic and theoretical focus (as important as it is), makes it sometimes easy to lose sight of the human element involved. That is why stories like the ones featured in Landscapes of Loss about human loss and the socio-economic costs of environmental degradation are so important. Highly recommended!
A strict academic and theoretical focus (as important as it is), makes it sometimes easy to lose sight of the human element involved. That is why stories like the ones featured in Landscapes of Loss about human loss and the socio-economic costs of environmental degradation are so important. Highly recommended!
December 26, 2022
"Water is thought by thirst!" An unfortunate truth that many people face and understand very well. How much water has been stored in dam? How much water can the tankers running on highways provide? How many milliliters the farm will require this week? How much a large animal drinks? How much cubic meters of storage was created last year? The farmers always have precise calculations ready.
On one hand we do understand the value of water but still end up depleting the ground water to dangerous levels. More farming is done with ground water today. Why it's not easy to just stop doing what is leading us to human tragedy? We continue to grow water guzzler crops like sugarcane but at same time working at sugarcane mills and farms provide additional income to many poor farmers. How so many lives are dependent on agriculture. It's a story of how farmers leave their young kids behind with aged grand parents and migrate to cities or work in other farms. How they accept to live at far worst living conditions in slums or makeshift houses, to save few 1000 rupees to send back home.
There are some positive change happening. How NGOs, some govt schemes, aggressive lending by micro finance companies (providing cheap credit) are bringing change. Woman's are getting loans to start small business, many have shifted to growing other crops which need relatively lesser water like fruits and vegetables. In some areas rain water harvesting is giving an opportunity to plant more then one crop in a year. There is direct correlation between alcohol consumption (+ domestic violence) and good monsoon. Alcohol consumption decreases when there is good rain and/or work to do. But unfortunately the change is limited, slow and only in few places.
Though the book is focused on the people of Marathwada (area in central Maharashtra), think it very well captures the problem that is being faced by most of rural India.
On one hand we do understand the value of water but still end up depleting the ground water to dangerous levels. More farming is done with ground water today. Why it's not easy to just stop doing what is leading us to human tragedy? We continue to grow water guzzler crops like sugarcane but at same time working at sugarcane mills and farms provide additional income to many poor farmers. How so many lives are dependent on agriculture. It's a story of how farmers leave their young kids behind with aged grand parents and migrate to cities or work in other farms. How they accept to live at far worst living conditions in slums or makeshift houses, to save few 1000 rupees to send back home.
There are some positive change happening. How NGOs, some govt schemes, aggressive lending by micro finance companies (providing cheap credit) are bringing change. Woman's are getting loans to start small business, many have shifted to growing other crops which need relatively lesser water like fruits and vegetables. In some areas rain water harvesting is giving an opportunity to plant more then one crop in a year. There is direct correlation between alcohol consumption (+ domestic violence) and good monsoon. Alcohol consumption decreases when there is good rain and/or work to do. But unfortunately the change is limited, slow and only in few places.
Though the book is focused on the people of Marathwada (area in central Maharashtra), think it very well captures the problem that is being faced by most of rural India.
September 3, 2021
I wasn't looking to label this book as a 'must read' when I began it, but now I wonder if there is really anything more important that needs attention. In 'Landscapes of Loss', Kavitha Iyer tells us the story of the Marathwada region in Maharashtra prone to cyclical droughts, not purely a natural calamity but exacerbated by commercial greed. This book takes us through a history of events and government responses to such events, that have spiraled into a huge imbalance in the hydrological cycle of a very large mass of land. The tanker industry and the borewell industry are the only industries that make huge profits in this region. A good harvest is dependent on water gotten from water tankers. Reading stories and horrifying data was one part of the book, but the most heartbreaking sentences sit in the postscript, short and sharp:
"The countryside has spoken, rather eloquently. I hope urban India finds in its heart to listen."
At the beginning of this book, I did not particularly remember that I had been to this very place this book often mentions - Osmanabad, Tuljapur taluka. I browsed through my gallery taken in Solapur, Tuljapur etc. because these regions were arid, dry, but with water-intensive cropping patterns and industries. Not only this, but tulajpura taluk hosts the grand Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and the campus premises resembles nothing close to the rest of the Marathwada region. The campus is serene, has adequate water facilities, and food. Step outside, and its a whole other world.
"The countryside has spoken, rather eloquently. I hope urban India finds in its heart to listen."
At the beginning of this book, I did not particularly remember that I had been to this very place this book often mentions - Osmanabad, Tuljapur taluka. I browsed through my gallery taken in Solapur, Tuljapur etc. because these regions were arid, dry, but with water-intensive cropping patterns and industries. Not only this, but tulajpura taluk hosts the grand Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and the campus premises resembles nothing close to the rest of the Marathwada region. The campus is serene, has adequate water facilities, and food. Step outside, and its a whole other world.
December 30, 2022
This is the second book on drought in India that I have read, the first being Everybody Loves a Good Drought by P. Sainath, who also writes the foreword for this one. It's tough to not be affected. Here, the impact hits closer to home because the book covers droughts in my home state.
The conditions that the farmers face aren't new; in fact their plight has been highlighted many a times over the last few decades. But bring it all together in one space and you are left reeling with the wretchedness of it all...the sheer helplessness that the farmers and their families experience, with no probable end to the tunnel in which they are in.
The conditions that the farmers face aren't new; in fact their plight has been highlighted many a times over the last few decades. But bring it all together in one space and you are left reeling with the wretchedness of it all...the sheer helplessness that the farmers and their families experience, with no probable end to the tunnel in which they are in.
July 18, 2021
A poignant narrative about the sufferings of farmers, their resilience . A sad tale of the farmers suicide in Maharashtra, India and the factors beyond the climate change responsible for their owes. Strongly substantiated by data. Must be read by every politician and person interested to know the reasons behind the farmer suicides.
February 24, 2022
If you are someone who wants to understand the agrarian crises that loom over Maharashtra, this is a fantastic eye-opening read.
In depth look at how policies, domestic situations and drought are all intertwined with the current state of affairs in Marathwada region.
In depth look at how policies, domestic situations and drought are all intertwined with the current state of affairs in Marathwada region.
October 18, 2024
An interesting book on the droughts and farming practices & woes of India, written by an Indian author. Pretty dense language but this book offers a unique perspective and the stories of many forgotten people. Heartbreaking insights into farmer suicides and the continual denial of women’s rights.
February 6, 2022
Very touching, at the same time clinical, view of the reality of rural India.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews