The southwest and the northeast monsoons have failed Karnataka again this year, but the distress has reached critical proportions in the northern districts of the state. In 22 North Karnataka taluks declared drought-affected by the government, people are fighting what appears to be a losing battle: Inadequate rainfall has brought on a severe drinking water crisis and caused crop losses so crushing that people are migrating to neighbouring states in search of work.Vijayapura and Bagalkot are the worst affected, with all 12 taluks of the two districts stricken by drought. Lack of drinking water is the primary problem. District officials have arranged for tanker water supply in 88 villages. Most families in Muddebihal and Basavana Bagewadi taluks in Vijayapura district have left their homes and made the long haul to places in Goa or to Ratnagiri, Satara and Karad in Maharashtra — between 200km and 260km by road — to eke out a living after MNREGA jobs failed to come to their rescue.Migration is also taking place from villages such as Agasanhalli, Katenahalli and Benchikere in Davanagere district, with people leaving for Goa, Bengaluru or estates in Chikkamagaluru. Conditions are even worse in Challakere and Molakalmuru taluks of Chitradurga, where scarcity of fodder has forced shepherds and their families to migrate to the Western Ghats with livestock that they hope to feed. Farmers in the two taluks and in Holalkere suffered devastating losses after drought and pest attacks laid waste to maize, green gram, onion and pomegranate crops.All 10 taluks in Ballari face severe drinking water shortages and both kariff and rabi crops have failed due to deficit rainfall. Kudaligi and Sandur taluks are reeling from acute shortage of drinking water. Ballari district officials have hired private borewell owners to supply water to residents.In the Belagavi taluks of Savadatti, Ramdurg and Athani drought has ravaged standing kharif crops on 74,996 hectares, leaving close to 94,000 farmers in distress.In Kalaburagi, Yadgir and Bidar districts, people are staring at a calamity. Farmers in villages including Mavanur in Kalaburagi — where there is little or no fodder — have started distress sales of cattle, accepting just ?30,000 to ?35,000 for a pair of oxen, or half the normal price of ?65,000.“We have set up reverse osmosis plants in affected villages. The taluk has supply of fodder for another month,” Navalgund tahsildar Naveen Hullur told TOI.Not enough MNREGA jobsVijayapura deputy commissioner SB Shettennavar said crop losses had climbed to ?122.77 crore in seven taluks of the district and 67 villages are dependent on tanker water supply.Aravind Kulkarni, Vijayapura president of Akhand Raitha Karnataka Sangha, said MNREGA had failed to provide adequate jobs in the district, compelling many villagers to migrate.“We have instructed DCs of all seven districts of North Karnataka to supply water through tankers, make fodder arrangements and create jobs under the MNREGA scheme to prevent migration,” Belagavi additional commissioner Ramesh Kalasad said. “We have stocks of 24.5 lakh metric tonnes of fodder to deal with the situation for 23 weeks.”In south interior Karnataka, however, the situation is unusual. Some areas including three taluks of Madikeri, five each in Chikkamagaluru and Hassan and seven in Mysuru districts are still recovering from flood-wrought devastation. But the 12 remaining taluks in the region have been hit by drought. Even hilly and thickly forested areas in Chamarajanagar district are in the grip of drought-like conditions. Increased availability of water in all major dams including KRS, however, has come to the rescue.Officials said drought relief work is underway in all these taluks.A problem that runs deepA visit to the taluks of Kadur in Chikkamagaluru or Channarayapatna and Arasikere in Hassan, which have had to deal with water crises for decades, reveals that the problem runs deeper than meets the eye.“Our coconut plantations have turned yellow due to the water crisis,” said Abhilash Jolad, a resident of Arasikere. “The water table is sinking.”The government declared Kadur drought-hit for a fifth successive year, but the situation is better than in previous years. “At least 41 villages in the taluk still depend on tanker water,” said Gurumurthy Sadarad, of Kadur. “But due to good rainfall in the Malnad region, most tanks have water and good inflow in River Vedavati has ensured that farmers are not suffering so severely.”By contrast, excess rainfall in most parts of Dakshina Kannada led to flash floods in the district during the southwest monsoon this year. District additional deputy commissioner Kumar said all five taluks in Dakshina Kannada received sufficient rainfall, providing relief from last year, when Bantwal and Mangaluru taluks were hit by drought.(With inputs from HM Mahendra Kumar, Sushilendra Naik, Kishan Rajput, Gangaraju Siddagiri, Ravindra Uppar, Basavaraj Maralihalli, Mounesh Sonnad, M Shrinivasa and Chethan Misquith)FEW OPTIONS: With crops failing, farmers (above) have taken up jobs under MNREGA in Kampli, Ballari. In some areas, farmers unable to find jobs under the scheme have migrated to Maharashtra, Goa and even Bengaluru and Chikkamagaluru. A farmer in Mavanur, Kalaburagi, with no fodder for cattle, prepares to sell a pair of oxen