On a sweltering afternoon, Disha Jadhav, still in her school uniform, joins her family in a routine that has become essential: gathering water from a borewell located near their home on the Ambad-Rohilagad road in Ambad, within Maharashtra’s Jalna district. The family matriarch, 60-year-old Asabai Jadhav, fills a pitcher for Disha, who carefully balances it on her head as she walks barefoot over the scorching pavement, managing to keep the water from spilling.
“We’ve always relied on this borewell for our water, but it won’t be sufficient for much longer, so we have to store what we can. It pains me to see Disha working at such a young age, but this is the reality for us girls. I was her age when I started helping my parents in the fields,” shared Suman Jadhav, Disha’s 45-year-old aunt.
On September 26, the government of Maharashtra officially declared a drought affecting 265 out of its 358 talukas, as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis described the situation as the most severe the state has faced since 1972. With more than 20 days without rainfall during the critical kharif crop season and the Southwest monsoon retreating, the outlook for the upcoming summer months appears grim.
The Periodic Labour Force Survey of 2025 indicates that while 82% of rural women in Maharashtra work in agriculture, fewer than 20% hold titles to the land they cultivate. In response to ongoing challenges, the state government introduced the Maharashtra Women Farmers Empowerment Act, 2026, which aims to provide legal recognition to women involved in various agricultural activities, moving away from the rigid requirement of land ownership.
On October 2, the state commenced the distribution of Woman Farmer Certificates under this new law, designed to enhance women’s access to government welfare programs and financial assistance. To date, over 2 million women have applied for these certificates.
The Jadhav family, consisting of 15 members living in three adjacent houses, has been affected by this year’s inadequate rainfall, prompting both men and women in the household to seek work as laborers in local sugarcane fields. However, the task of fetching water has added to the women’s already heavy workloads. As the borewell approaches depletion, the family has taken to renting a bullock cart once a week to transport two 1,000-liter water tanks from a facility located 2 kilometers away.
In Karajkheda, a village in Dharashiv district, Sonali Aditrao, 39, takes a break for lunch, enjoying a simple meal of bajra roti and dal. Dressed in a blue overshirt and a scarf to protect herself from the relentless heat, Sonali has been laboring in her neighbor’s sugarcane field since early morning. The lack of rain has severely affected the sugarcane crop, and she has been tasked with salvaging what she can.
Sonali’s family owns a half-acre of land where they grow soybeans and bajra, which barely supports them, so she typically works on her neighbor’s field for Rs 300 a day. This year, however, she has also taken on the responsibility of securing water. Her day starts around 5 am when she and her husband, along with their daughter Shravani, go to fetch water from a nearby school compound, a task that many in the village have to do as they wait in line at a tap. A nearby borewell, linked to her home, is nearly dry.
After multiple trips to fill their tanks at home, Sonali’s daughter prepares for her junior college classes, which require a 30-kilometer bus ride, while Sonali gets ready to return to the sugarcane field after preparing lunch for herself and Shravani. They usually leave their home by 8 am.
Sonali’s work yields approximately Rs 300 daily, and in addition to household expenses, they must consider the costs associated with their children’s education. Her son, a BA student, lives in a hostel over 40 kilometers away. “My daughter commutes to college by bus, which costs us around Rs 8,000 annually,” she explained. “This week, she mentioned that we need to pay Rs 1,100 for her examination fee. Although we were informed that this fee would be waived due to the drought, the college said they haven’t received any official notice yet,” she lamented.
In an attempt to cover the fee, Sonali’s husband worked for a day at a nearby facility, which meant they could not collect enough water that day. “Working in the fields and fetching water is part of our daily life, but with the drought, our expenses continue to rise, especially food prices. Balancing household finances, rationing food, and setting aside money for emergencies has become increasingly challenging,” Sonali expressed.
On September 23, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited Sonali’s village as part of his tour to assess the drought-stricken areas. “I tried to speak with him, but there were too many people around,” she recalled.
