Mumbai: On October 31, the entire top echelon of the Maharashtra government was in Nasik, at a glittering ceremony to inaugurate the Simhastha Kumbh at the hands of President Droupadi Murmu. The ceremony reportedly cost Rs 20 crore. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis posted 23 tweets that day. Nineteen of them highlighted the ceremony. None of them were about the drought.His last tweet, at 11:08 pm, offers his “congratulations” to Maharashtra for a new Guinness World Record created that day. “Our 6,233 tribal sisters and brothers from 650 villages, with enthusiastic participation, have created a Guinness World Records [sic] for performing Goda Aarti at Ram Tirtha in Nashik,” he tweeted. “Har Har Mahadev”, he wrote.That same night, 45-year-old Tikaram Chavan, a farmer in Yavatmal district took his own life. According to a news report in Lokmat, Chavan owned 8 acres of land and had borrowed Rs 3 lakh from a bank to cultivate his field this year.But a crushing drought that led to poor rainfall, a prolonged dry spell and stunted crops dashed his hopes. Reeling under the crop loss and mounting debt, Chavan ended his life.Maharashtra is reeling under a drought that Fadnavis said was the worst to hit the state in over five decades. Like with Chavan, hundreds of thousands of farmers are facing distress, losses and despair as a result of the inadequate rainfall.In Vidarbha alone, at least ten farmers have taken their own lives in just the last six days, according to data maintained by farmer activist Kishore Tiwari. In the Amravati division of Vidarbha, figures maintained by Tiwari show 815 farmer suicides between January and June this year. In Marathwada, 760 farmers took their own lives this year from January to September. Of these, 108 deaths occurred in September alone, as per data published by Divya Marathi newspaper.For many farmers, the Maharashtra government’s steps are too little and often jarringly dissonant with their plight.The opposition Congress has criticised the Maharashtra government’s decision to host a lavish flag worship ceremony for the Simhastha Kumbh Mela. The Fadnavis government has already earmarked nearly Rs 35,000-crore to build infrastructure for this mela (fair).Also read: Maharashtra Saw 781 Farmer Suicides in Nine Months, State Minister Tells Legislative CouncilCongress legislature party leader Vijay Wadettiwar criticised the expenditure on the ceremony.“Instead of spending on illumination for the Kumbh Mela, ensure that farmers have a better Diwali,” he said. Pointing to the rising farmer suicides, Wadettiwar added, “Are the farmers who die by suicide not Hindus?”The Wire has reached out to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Maharashtra spokesperson Keshav Upadhye for his response to Wadettiwar.Little reliefOn September 26, the Maharashtra government declared a drought in 265 of the total 358 tehsils in the state. On October 17, it added 40 more tehsils to the drought-affected list, taking the tally to 305 tehsils, covering 85% of the state.On the same day, the government announced that it would make “an advance payment” of Rs 5,000 to farmers in drought-hit areas. Fadnavis said the government would also extend to affected farmers measures like restructuring of crop loans, subsidies on electricity bills and educational fee exemptions for children of affected farmers.The Fadnavis government has reportedly sought Rs 31,000 crore from the Union government to provide financial assistance to farmers. The Wire has reached out to additional chief secretary in the relief and rehabilitation department Vinita Vaid-Singal for her comments, but has not heard back.Yet, on the ground, not much is changing.In Maharashtra’s Tirzada village, 36-year-old Vaishali Yede knows the costs that a crisis like this incurs.In 2011, her husband Sudhakar had taken his own life after repeated crop failures, which meant that he couldn’t repay the Rs 75,000 he had borrowed from a moneylender for farming expenses.Also read: ‘Only When Animals Eat Their Bodies Will They Learn a Lesson’: Shiv Sena MLA’s Remark on Farmers Who Died by SuicideFifteen years later, Yede stares at eerily similar circumstances herself.She has spent nearly Rs 1 lakh this year on her two-acre farm where she has planted cotton. She had expected her yield to touch 10 quintals, helping her break even and bring in just a little more.“I put in everything I had. I hired labourers repeatedly, even used a tractor,” she said.Last week, she harvested the cotton to find her efforts had only yielded close to 1.5 quintals, instead of 10. She got just about Rs 10,000 rupees for it.The Maharashtra government had sanctioned Rs 5,000 for drought-affected farmers like her, as part of its immediate drought relief measures. But the amount will go to Sudhakar’s mother, who holds the title to the land. They are not on talking terms.“Whatever else is sanctioned by the government will also go to my mother-in-law, and she won’t share a penny with me,” said Yede. “The government needs to think of the plight of farmers like us, or else we will be left with nothing.”Nagpur-based farm activist Vijay Jawandia said the Maharashtra government’s measures leave out a crucial category – landless labourers as well as landless farmers who farm lands owned by other farmers.“So far, all the measures that the government has announced are meant to benefit farmers who own lands. Landless labourers are suffering a double whammy because they lost out on income during the farm season, and now they won’t even be eligible for relief,” he said.According to the 2011 census data, Maharashtra had 1.34 crore landless labourers, the fourth largest number in the country.On November 4, the Bombay High Court is slated to hear a Public Interest Litigation filed by the Swabhimani Mazdoor Sanghatan, asking for urgent drought relief measures to be extended to landless agricultural workers and marginal workers in the state.Running out fast: time and waterMaharashtra’s water storage, according to government data, is at 67% of full capacity on November 3. Last year, on this day, it was at 90.35%.In Amravati division and in Marathwada, the twin hotspots of agrarian distress, it is even lower than the state average – 55% in Amravati and 54% in Marathwada.Also read: How Water Inequality Governs Drought-Hit MaharashtraRising temperatures have also led to a rapid deletion of ground water in these regions. A survey last month by the Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency (GSDA) in the Marathwada region showed that in October alone, the groundwater level in the region dropped by an average of 4.39 metres across 875 wells in the region. In some districts like Dharashiv, the fall was sharper – the level fell by 8.86 metres in 30 days.Jawandia said time was running out fast for the government to extend relief, ensure adequate drinking water supply for the year.“Diwali is a particularly hard time for a farmer during a bad crop year, because this is when he is expected to spend money on festivities, buy new clothes for his children,” Jawandia said.“I fear this crisis is going to worsen after Diwali, when farmers realise they have little money left. This drought feels like a war against our farmers,” he added.On the ground, farmers like Yede stare at an unfamiliar crisis. Each time the Kharif crops failed, she would turn to Rabi crops like chickpea or wheat. The earnings from the Rabi crops, Yede said, would end up ensuring a small income at best, or an additional supply of grains for the household.But this time round, Yede isn’t sowing anything.“We have no irrigation facility here in my village, and there is very little water left in the ground. I can’t afford any more losses this year.”Kunal Purohit is an independent journalist.