The devastating drought in Maharashtra is no longer just a farm crisis. Across the parched districts of Marathwada, every village and small town stand testimony to the unravelling of the rural economy. The barber shops and tea stalls in Latur town wear a deserted look. "A year ago, I used to get around 300 people every day at my shop, now I am lucky if I get 30 people on a good day," says Padam Gaikwad a tea shop owner in Latur.Osmanabad cloth merchants are offering 20 per cent to 30 per cent discounts to attract consumers. But there are no takers. Anil Dubile a 53-year-old farmer with a 15.5 acre farm explains that people here are living on loans with no income. So, obviously they have to think twice before they buy anything."We have lost our buying power so badly that necessities have become luxuries. We don't buy haldi, or jeera anymore. People don't use rickshaws or state transport buses to travel. Basically, farmers have nothing to spend," said Dubile.There are no property deals. Nobody is selling or buying. "Till last year there were a number of property deals happening, land was sold, buildings were built. But all of it has now come to a standstill," pointed out Osmanabad resident Sunil Dhepe.Latur is not the back of beyond. It was the constituency and fiefdom of former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and the home town of former Lok Sabha Speaker and home minister Shivraj Patil. Yet, residents of Sarola village here are now forced to eat a foul-smelling weed, which even the cattle won't consume. This is the second year of a terrible drought and the government is just not visible.Vilasrao's MLA-son Amit Deshmukh lives in a palatial marble house in Babhalgaon barely three kms from Sarola where villagers have to substitute vegetables with inedible weeds. Amit claims he is not aware of Sarola's misery. "I am hearing this for the first time, I will try to find more details of what's going on. The situation is really harsh since we haven't had proper rains for five years. We feel that a complete loan waiver and cash compensation should be given to farmers," said Amit.Though the government is virtually invisible in the dry and dusty villages of Marathwada, the state government's publicists insist that it has done a lot for the farmers like reconstituting loans and waiving interest dues, offering crop and accidental insurance and waiving fees up to Rs 1 lakh for students pursuing professional courses to ensure that they don't miss their classes. This fee-waiver is applicable to those whose annual income doesn't exceed Rs 2.5 lakh. When desperate farmers sell cattle unable to feed them, typically the government is talking about a scheme to assist farmers in buying cattle by giving half the price for a cow or a buffalo.Maharashtra's rural development minister Pankaja Munde who is also the guardian minister for Beed and Latur said that the government is seeking a permanent solution to end farmers' woes. "We have a five year plan where we are building ponds and canals to supply water to farmers. We are giving seeds for farmers to plant fodder. We are providing seeds free of cost. Also rice is being given at Rs 2 per kg and wheat at Rs 3 per kg for even those above poverty line. We also brought in a number of fodder camps to feed the livestock of the farmers," Pankaja Munde told ET.She added that the government has initiated efforts to initiate MNREGA in every drought-hit area to provide a source of livelihood for villagers.But farmers like Latur's Dubile aren't impressed. "The government has a five-year programme to provide water to farmers but most of us won't last till next year. What we need is the government to give farmers Rs 1 lakh without interest for the next ten years. Also increase the period of repayment without adding interest for the loans that we have already taken. We are not asking to give us free cash, we just need some breathing space," said Dubile. He hopes that with the rain gods abandoning them, at least the government will listen to them."We can't afford to spend Rs 10 or 20 to buy vegetables so we make do with Tandul Kunjra. It is not exactly a substitute but we have to make do with it. Buying a vegetable is a luxury that many in our village can't afford," says Navrang Bodke from Sarola village. He owns a 2.5 acre farm in Sarola on which he has not been able to grow anything for the last two years. "We have been having drought for three years, I used to grow Soyabean and Tur dal. The crops were ruined two years ago without rains. I had incurred so much loss that I didn't sow last year. It is the same this year," said Bodke.Another villager Rahul Deshmukh couldn't sow in his 16 acre farm. He has taken a loan to feed his family and his cattle. When Tandul Kunjra runs short, they eat Tarlotta a foul smelling weed that even buffaloes spurn.While the farmers scrounge around for food, they are also worried about their children's future. "We don't have money to pay school fees for our children. To force us to pay the fee, children are being harassed by the school authorities. My nephew and niece were removed from their classrooms and kept in an empty classroom till they paid their fees," complained Bodke.Their wives are being harassed by private finance firms. "Our wives had formed self-help groups and taken loans from these companies. These guys don't even tolerate a minute's delay in loan prepayment and fine us Rs 20 every week even if there is a small delay in payment. We are ready to repay the loans. We just need some more time," said Deshmukh.In Beed, desperate farmers have begun to sell their cattle dirt cheap. For instance, even a few months ago only 70-100 heads of cattle were sold at Beed's Hirapur market. Now the same market sees livestock being brought in thousands."This is a distress sale, people are selling their cattle dirt cheap, because they cannot afford fodder for them. When it is difficult for people to get water and food, how can they take care of animals?" asked a local Beed resident Uddhav Pawar.If numbers can explain how bad the farmers' situation in Beed is, then these should: 152 people committed suicide last year in Beed. Till now 182 farmers have committed suicide in Beed this year.The crisis is fuelling one of the worst rural migrations in recent times. A huge number of people are leaving their villages in search of water and jobs. Most of them are leaving for Mumbai, Aurangabad and Pune, and some are going even to Hyderabad. "In every village you would find that at least 5 to 25 families have already left in search of jobs and water. There are many more who would like to go but can't because they don't have any support systems in these big cities," said Maharudra Magnale, a local resident who writes on farmer's issues.Magnale said that those who have stayed back are on the verge of indebtedness, and some are suicidal, because most of the farmers in drought prone areas have taken debts just to feed the families. "Earlier loans were taken to cover input costs for farming. Now with the weather destroying crops for three years in a row, people have resorted to take loans to just feed themselves and their cattle," said Magnale.Tuljapur's Khodawadi, panchayat samiti member Manoj Kabade says that the entire village might have to move lock, stock and barrel. "It needs to rain heavily in October for us to sow crops for the Rabi season or else we would be forced to move out. We won't be able to survive another season without rain," said Kabade.