New Delhi, July 11 -- Climate Change and You is a fortnightly newsletter written by Bibek Bhattacharya and Sayantan Bera. Subscribe to the newsletter to get it directly in your inbox.

Dear reader,

Two weeks ago, I was in Madhya Pradesh to report on a story on child under-nutrition. I also met farmers in the villages of the three districts that I visited. Farmers explained what waiting for the rains meant on the ground. Most were well-to-do cultivators, growing premium Basmati rice. They had pumps to draw groundwater. But these cannot quench the soil's thirst in the absence of rain, because rice requires a lot of water; also, farmers cannot switch back to the pulses and oilseeds they once grew. You can read the field report here.

Two ob...