Invisible calamity: drought leaves 16 crore kids vulnerable

As the world celebrated Labour Day on 1 May, in Lingampally village deep inside the forests of Telangana's Adilabad district, Madhu, 12, and Ashok, 8, died of thirst. That day, the Bachpan Bachao Andolan reports, their mother Lakshmi had gone door to door with a plastic container, begging for water. Nobody had any, so she went to look for some in the nearby forest. By evening, she had fainted, clutching her plastic container. Back at home, her children died, waiting.

A few days ago, Sowbhagya, 9, of Latur, Maharashtra, was given away by her family to Devdasis so she may live and not die of thirst. It's better than selling her into slavery, her parents told the BPA. Some families fleeing the drought in Karnataka and Telangana have reportedly left their children in temples, hoping they may somehow survive on their own.

"Owing to this drought and the ongoing water crisis, children are becoming increasingly vulnerable. Reports of children being forced into child labour, trafficking, child marriage and the Devdasi system are coming to light, with children increasingly dropping out of school, discontinuation of midday meals and largescale migration due to this crisis," BPA founder Kailash Satyarthi read to a packed hall in Delhi's Constitution Club Tuesday. The Nobel laureate was reading from a letter he has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting a child-centric action plan in drought-hit areas.