Satya Prakash, 52, from Mandya town - also known as Karnataka's sugar bowl - has been toiling as a farmer all his life.
Apart from growing sugarcane on his 1.5-acre plot of land, which is located several kilometres away from Krishna Raja Sagar dam from where Karnataka is currently releasing water to Tamil Nadu after the Supreme Court verdict, Prakash is not equipped with other active skills.
Though he took over from his father in tilling the land, he does not want his sons to follow in his footsteps.
The 52-year-old farmer has been struggling to pay for his children's education. "The meagre rainfall over the past few years has stifled sugarcane and rice production in Karnataka," Prakash told dna.
He added,"The returns are not good. To top it off, we have taken loans from banks that will have to be repaid with interest. How will we manage that? Last year, a few debt-laden farmers committed suicide in the neighbouring taluks ( villages). Their families want to sell the land, but even land prices have plummeted. We have nothing left."
More than 90 per cent of the district's population is engaged in agriculture, which is in turn dependent on rainfall and water reserves.
Farmers said the water scarcity has reduced sugarcane production by more than 70 per cent.
Over the past one-and-a-half years, around 150 farmer suicides have been reported in the district due to below-average rainfall, coupled with the failure of the successive state governments to deliver on their promises.
Recently, a section of farmers also attempted suicide by jumping into the Cauvery basin near KRS dam while shouting slogans like, 'Cauvery is ours'. They allege that successive state governments have "not done enough for them."
"We have given up hope on the government. They have failed us. Last year, chief minister Siddaramaiah visited the families of those farmers who committed suicide and promised compensation. He (Siddaramaiah) said factory owners will pay a government-fixed price to farmers. But, nothing has materialised. We are not even paid half the price of what we were promised," a farmer from Srirangapatna village said.
A few farmers, under the leadership of Cauvery Hita Rakshana Samiti (Cauvery protection group) president Made Gowda (90) participated at sit-ins, while also blocking the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway in protest. These farmers have also urged Bengaluru residents to join the Cauvery agitation.
Earlier, Made Gowda told media that farmers would block Cauvery water supply to Bengaluru if it doesn't join the agitation.
Farmers are now pinning their hopes on the Supreme Court verdict and are demanding that the state government provide a minimum compensation of Rs 25,000 for each acre of land.
However, with the SC ordering the release of 6,000 cusecs of water every day till September 27, Mandya farmers are up in arms again, calling the verdict a "setback".
Prohibitory orders under section 144 have already been clamped in Mandya with the district administration ordering the closure of schools and colleges.
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