From Deluge to Desert: The Harrowing Cycle of Extremes Plaguing Karnataka's Bhima Basin

Just a few years ago, the Bhima basin in Karnataka was a scene of devastating floods, its rivers swollen and fields submerged. Today, a stark and equally catastrophic reality grips the region: severe drought. This relentless swing between hydrologic extremes, from excessive rainfall to acute water scarcity, has trapped hundreds of thousands in a vicious cycle of despair, fundamentally altering their lives and livelihoods.

The districts of Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, and Yadgir, once reeling from the aftermath of destructive floods in 2020, are now parched and desolate.

The very same communities that witnessed their homes and fields engulfed by raging waters are now watching their crops wither under a relentless sun, their borewells run dry, and their livestock suffer from lack of fodder and water. This dramatic shift highlights the escalating climate crisis impacting fragile ecosystems and agricultural economies.

Farmers like Hanumantraya from Maratagi village, Kalaburagi district, embody this tragic irony.

His lands, once fertile, now yield nothing but dust. “In 2020, floods destroyed my fields. I took a loan to restart, but now the drought has taken everything. What hope is left for us?” he laments, his voice heavy with resignation. His story is replicated across the basin, where small and marginal farmers, already debt-ridden, face an existential threat.

The monsoon of 2023 delivered a cruel blow.

After an initial promising start, rainfall tapered off dramatically from mid-July, leaving the crucial period for crop growth severely deficient. The region experienced a staggering deficit of 26% in rainfall, with some taluks facing up to 60% shortage. This abrupt cessation of rain, exacerbated by scorching temperatures, led to widespread crop failure.

Jowar, maize, groundnut, pulses, paddy, and even sugarcane, which demands significant water, have all been ravaged.

The impact extends beyond the fields. Water bodies, including tanks and reservoirs, lie empty or at critically low levels. Borewells, once reliable, are failing at an alarming rate, forcing villagers to trek miles for potable water.

The scarcity has led to a desperate scramble for resources and has begun to trigger distress migration, as families leave their ancestral lands in search of work and sustenance in urban centres.

Local officials and agricultural experts confirm the gravity of the situation. Dr. Vijayakumar, a senior scientist at the Regional Agricultural Research Station, notes, “We are seeing the most extreme weather patterns in recent memory.

Farmers often attempt to compensate for initial flood losses by investing heavily in the next season, only to be hit by drought. It's a lose-lose situation.” The economic fallout is immense, with estimates of crop loss running into hundreds of crores of rupees, further burdening the state exchequer through drought relief efforts.

While the state government has officially declared 223 out of 236 taluks as drought-hit and begun the process of providing aid, the relief often arrives too late or is insufficient to cover the extensive damage.

Farmers express frustration over the bureaucratic delays and the inadequacy of compensation, which barely scratches the surface of their mounting debts and losses.

Scientists warn that these extreme weather events are not isolated incidents but symptoms of a larger, global climate change phenomenon.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has repeatedly highlighted increased frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events and prolonged dry spells in South Asia. For the Bhima basin, this means a future potentially fraught with even greater unpredictability, demanding urgent and effective climate adaptation strategies.

Addressing this crisis requires a multi-pronged approach: investing in climate-resilient agricultural practices, enhancing water harvesting and management infrastructure, promoting drought-resistant crop varieties, and providing robust financial and social safety nets for farmers.

Without decisive action, the tragic pendulum swing between floods and droughts will continue to push the resilient people of the Bhima basin to the very brink.