Why Children are the Worst Affected By Drought

Children are perhaps the worst affected by drought in India.

Barrels for water storage. (Photo courtesy: Subrata Biswas/Greenpeace)

Every morning as I wake up, I am hit by the fact that we are living a life of debt. My father committed suicide in 2013 by taking poison. All I can remember about my father is him being stressed, due to all the debts and irregular monsoon. I was 16 then, and I dropped out of school and started working in the fields to support my family and repay the loans. Only God can help us get through another year of drought

Pankaj (24), Vidarbha, Maharashtra

Pankaj grew up with the drought, but the life of the children since Pankaj is not drastically different. There are millions of children affected by the drought, across 11 states in the country, according to a report by World Vision India, a Chennai-based NGO. The analysis finds that children are perhaps the worst affected in a drought situation.

Drought Spills Into All Aspects of Life

The onset of drought is slow and the impact is multi-dimensional. One of the biggest problems, according to the World Vision India report is the lack of access to water –whether for drinking or for domestic purposes. The threat of crop failure and scarce or poor quality of seeds for the next harvest constantly looms large.

From April to September, agricultural activities come to a standstill every year for the smaller farmers and labourers, severely impeding their income. The production had fallen from 40 bags of rice per acre to 25 bags this year in Andhra’s Prakasam district, the report says.

How Drought Affects the Children’s Health

Children seem to be much more susceptible to heat strokes. In a prolonged spell of drought and heat waves, children find themselves fatigued and dehydrated.

The report speaks of a 12-year-old girl in Maharashtra’s drought-hit Beed district, who died in the midst of her fifth trip to the hand pump to fetch water for her family. 

“As the schools were closed, she went to the nearby hand pump to fetch water for us. But she fell unconscious on her way. We took her to the nearest hospital, where doctors declared her dead on arrival,” the girl’s uncle told ANI.

Photograph of the community gathering water from a neighbouring village handpump. (Photo: Tiatemjen Jamir/World Vision India)

Rise in food prices and lack of nutritious food also impacts children in their growing years. According to the report, malnutrition is the underlying cause of around 50% of child deaths in the country.

Impact of Drought On Child Protection
In the event of food insecurity and drought, younger children often migrate with their parents, in search of better livelihoods. According to the report, these young children are vulnerable to hazards at work sites which their parents are exposed to. These children are perhaps the most vulnerable to the worst kinds of child labour. In a desperate situation, children are forced to contribute to the family income.

Meanwhile, the children between 12-14 who are left behind to take care of the elder members of the family, are expected to juggle between their education and responsibilities at home.

An Indian farmer looks towards the sky, while standing amidst his drought-stricken crop near Patiala in the northern state of Punjab July 17, 2002. (Photo: Reuters)

The Inescapable Aspect of Caste

Social discrimination, apart from the burden of drought is also at play. According to the report, casteism and discrimination manages to keep the most vulnerable away from access to water. According to a personal account in the report, some of the villages in Bundelkhand, have water sources installed by the government, but these are in upper caste villages which cut the most vulnerable off from access to clean water.

Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh has been under severe conditions of drought. (Photo: iStockPhoto)

Children’s Education Has Taken a Hit

One of the most obvious ways of breaking out of the cycle of poverty is education. Unfortunately, education is the most severely affected aspect of children’s life in the event of drought and indebtedness. Children are often withdrawn from school and compelled to work on the field or look for jobs, or simply migrate with their parents. Their education needs to be compromised, so they don’t go to bed hungry.

The children’s education is deeply affected by drought. (Phot: Flickr/Gates)