A large amount of India is in the grasp of a ruthless drought, after two successive weak monsoons and a searing heatwave. The drought has killed at least 300 people already.
The drought in India has dried up river beds across India. Resorvours have dipped to less than a fifth of their total capacity and a quarter of the country’s 1.1 billion people are estimated to be affected in some way.
Some of these effects have already started with three men dying after inhaling toxic gases that had collected in a well in Haryana state.
Local reports enclose that the men, from the Jind district of Haryana decided to get the well functioning again to alleviate a severe scarcity of drinking water in the region.
However, local deputy police chief, Virender Singh denied this, stating that the men were hoping to use the well for bathing purposes.
He also said: “The well had not been in use for about five to six years and a poisonous gas had formed in its depths. The five men inhaled that and died”.
This years monsoon, due to appear in the first week of June, is being desperately awaited. People are hoping that this will turn things around but many see the drought as a wake-up call for India. It is also seen as a foretelling of what is yet to come as global warming takes hold.
