Sources from Srirangapatna have stated that the Krishna Raja Sagara Dam changed the face of much of Mandya district in Karnataka and the areas it irrigated saw water intensive crops like sugarcane and paddy being planted. But there are pockets of the district which never received irrigation and farmers there still depend wholly on the rainfall and what bore wells can provide. In one such dry area, in Srirangapatna taluk, we met Chikthayamma, working in the hot sun on a field, trying to grow vegetables in the middle of a drought.
It was stated that Chikthayamma doesn't know her
exact age, but thinks she is about 80 years old. There's no rest for her at
this stage of her life she works in the
fields for up to 10 hours a day, trying to grow vegetables on the family land
in a time of drought.
She had told that it had been decades since she had seen such a drought.
"This kind of drought was seen about 45 years ago. After that, this is the
worst and just not enough water”.
Also on the field are Chikthayamma's son Sanjeevegowda and
daughter-in-law Thayamma. There has not been enough rain for two years now and
the family decided to try and keep their vegetables alive with the help of bore
wells. They dug seven expensive bore wells in their three and a half acres of
land only two are yielding a little water.
