About 330 million people are suffering from drought in India, the government has said, as the country reels from severe water shortages and desperately poor farmers suffer crop losses.
One of the government’s most senior lawyers PS Narasimha told the Supreme Court that a quarter of the country’s population, spread across 10 states, have been hit by drought after two consecutive years of weak monsoons.
Narasimha said the government had released funds to affected regions where a crippling shortage of rainfall has forced the rationing of drinking water to some communities.
As summer hits India, reports of families and farmers in remote villages walking long distances to find water after their wells dried up have dominated local media.
Narasimha gave the figures on Tuesday, after an NGO filed a petition asking the top court to order Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to step up relief to the hardest-hit areas.
The figures come as high temperatures hit parts of eastern, central and southern India in recent weeks, with scores of deaths reported from heatstroke.
Hundreds of mainly poor people die at the height of summer annually in India, but temperatures have risen earlier than normal, increasing concerns about this year’s overall toll.