Even as heavy rainfall has led to extensive flooding, landslide and displacement of lakhs of people in most of India’s northeastern states, Manipur has been facing a drought-like situation for the last two months, leading farmers’ organisations to come to the street, demanding that the government declare the state drought-hit.
The state, largely dependent on agriculture, has been facing drought-like situation for the last decade due to an increased shortfall of rainfall each passing year. In 2009, the Centre had declared Manipur a drought-hit state.
In 2012 too, a drought-like situation led the then Congress government to resort to various measures. The capital city, Imphal, along with other parts, often face a drinking water shortage and supply by the civic authorities. 
This year too, since June, rainwater deficit of 41-50% and lack of adequate irrigation facilities to help rainwater reach the fields from the existing water bodies have aggravated the situation.
At the end of June, a team of the North East Dialogue Forum conducted a survey in three districts of the state – Thoubal, Chandel and Churachandpur – where farmers expressed anger at the government’s inability to respond to the situation by providing adequate number of water pumps to them, thus delaying the sowing of Kharif crop, mainly rice. They spoke about the fear of reaping fewer yields due to delay in sowing the seeds and thereby affecting their income.
A local news report said, “The villages where the NEDF teams visited today (June 24) lacks water pumping facilities as there is no River Lift Irrigation (RIL) Schemes in the area, according to the locals. Locals at three villages also complained that they have to buy potable water at Rs 30 per 100 litre from private water tankers.”