Representative image showing a farmer.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Karnataka’s Bhima River basin, spanning Kalaburagi, Yadgir, and Bidar districts, has become a grim reminder of the extremes that define the state’s agrarian distress. In this region, floods and droughts are recurring realities, destroying crops, deepening debt, and pushing farmers to despair. The recent floods have again exposed the human and ecological cost of decades of neglect in water management. Government data shows more than 3.5 lakh farmers in Kalaburagi district alone have been affected this year. Over 80% of them are tenant cultivators who lease land annually at high rents. Having invested heavily in crops like tur and cotton, they now face mounting debt and uncertainty. Since the land titles are not in their names, they are ineligible for government compensation. The despair is evident: official figures confirm 25 farmer suicides since April, a tragic reflection of a broken system.
Ironically, the same region that reels under floods during the monsoon turns parched in summer. The core of the problem lies in the absence of adequate water storage and distribution infrastructure. The dams across Kalaburagi, Yadgir, and Bidar together hold just 24.7 tmc ft, while over 1,000 tmc ft of water flowed through the Bhima this year without being stored. Projects to lift water from the Bhima to fill lakes in Afzalpur and Aland remain incomplete, and the region continues to lack sub-canals and barrages that could make irrigation equitable and reliable. District-in-charge Minister Priyank Kharge has alleged that Maharashtra’s construction of illegal dams upstream and the sudden release of water without prior notification have worsened the flood situation in Karnataka. Experts, however, point out that while inter-state coordination is essential, the state must also invest in expanding storage capacity and reviving existing lakes to harvest monsoon flows.
The ecological cost of this neglect is equally grave. Repeated flooding erodes fertile topsoil, silts riverbeds, and disrupts the natural riverine ecosystem. Standing water also raises soil salinity levels in low-lying areas, degrading agricultural productivity over time. Changing rainfall patterns linked to climate change are magnifying these challenges. Adding to the distress, thousands of landless and tenant farmers from flood-hit villages have migrated to cities in search of work. The government must ensure comprehensive relief and rehabilitation measures, including mental health counselling for the displaced. The crisis demands long-term planning across the basin. This includes fast-tracking irrigation and water storage
projects, creating an inter-state coordination mechanism, and providing compensation to tenant farmers. Without systemic reform, the Bhima basin will remain trapped in a vicious cycle, pushing its farmers deeper into loss and despair.