This report on water crisis in the Mahanadi basin (Odisha & Chhattisgarh), staring at a fourth drought in a row, blames crisis on desertification caused by Hirakud dam, its over 58000 hectares of drowned forests, and methane emissions.
In Punjab, extreme rain, exacerbated by climate change, forced the cotton farmers of Muktsar district to shift from cotton to grow rice. Cotton crops “drowned in 4-5 feet of water”. 75% of 150 paddy farmers “were sure, climate patterns have changed in Hoshiarpur, Faridkot and Muktsar Sahib.”
