Pune: For decades, drought in Marathwada has been measured in failed crops, water tankers, dry reservoirs and farmer suicides. But in Zari village of Parbhani district, a 14-year-old boy’s death by suicide this week underscored the human cost that rarely finds a place in official records.All that Yuvraj Munjaji Mudwar wanted was new clothes for a school trip scheduled later this month. On Sunday, he asked his parents for money. His father, a marginal farmer cultivating barely an acre of soybean, told him to wait until the crop was harvested and sold. The harvest itself remained uncertain as scant rainfall has battered soybean crops across Marathwada this season.As his parents discussed their lack of money, absence of work and their inability to afford new clothes for their son, Yuvraj walked into another room. Moments later, he was found hanging with his mother’s sari.“Govt records only count how many acres of crops have been destroyed, or how many farmers have committed suicide. But what officials do not record is how drought affects a life, reshapes it or sometimes even stubs it,” said Raju Kendhe (54), an activist in Parbhani with MAKAAM (Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch).Parbhani Rural police station in-charge Suresh Thorat confirmed the suicide and said a report under Section 194 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 was registered. “There is no rain in the region. All farmers are in a dire condition because of the drought. Like most farmers, the Mudwars also had no money. The boy wanted new clothes, and his father had asked him to wait till soybean was harvested and sold. But the boy took the extreme step,” said Thorat.Yuvraj’s neighbour, Shankar Dinde (27), described him as a quiet boy. “He was not stubborn like other boys of his age. His school trip was almost two weeks away. When his father asked him to wait for the new clothes, he didn’t complain and went inside the second room. His parents also did not suspect anything wrong.”Dinde said, “When Yuvraj’s parents called him half an hour later, he didn’t respond. They tried to open the room, but found it locked from inside. His father went out and found him hanging through the window. On seeing this, his father fell unconscious. His mother is still in hospital, recuperating from Yuvraj’s death.”Dinde said the farmers in the region were barely getting two to three quintals of soybean from an acre of land. “The marginalised farmers are in distress. Even the big farmers are not hiring farm labourers in the absence of rain. We are all waiting for govt to announce compensation,” he said.Kendhe said children in drought-hit areas grow up witnessing and eventually accepting the effects of drought on daily life. “The boy’s school trip was scheduled around Oct 22, and his father had asked him to wait until Oct 20 for new clothes. The boy knew how badly soybean farmers have been affected by this drought. He perhaps feared that his father would not be able to make enough money from the crop, or that there would be little left to spend on clothes after spending on food or basic necessities.”
