CAUGHT BETWEEN DELUGE AND DEFICIT

Climate uncertainty can roil both paddy farmers and rice consumers, placing governments in a tight spot

- Sayantan Bera

You were so thirsty that you came here to get drowned. We warned you, but you did not listen," quipped the residents of Nabiabad. The pun was directed at Tejraj Singh, a farmer in his mid-50s, who relocated to Nabiabad in 2019. Singh chose the tiny village, close to river Yamuna in Haryana’s Karnal, for a reason. The land was extremely fertile and water was in abundance. His former village in Sonipat district, some 80 kms away, was parched in comparison.

Singh took the joke in his stride and laughed aloud. Then, he said: “It’s okay. It won’t flood like this every year." Others seemed to agree. There is no option but to agree. Faced with a devastating flood which ruined a crop and is now threatening to swallow parts of the village, the residents of Nabiabad can only hope for better days ahead.