Archive · 5 Oct 2026
Maharashtra’s Drought Crisis Meets Ambitious Data Centre Plans
A farmer in Jalgaon feared that drought would ruin much of his soybean and cotton crop.
The rains stopped after a promising start, and his fields and wells lacked water.
The state later declared a drought.
At the same time, Maharashtra’s chief minister spoke about plans to build many more data centres.
He said the state already had 65 percent of India’s data centre capacity.
The article says the planned projects could raise Maharashtra’s capacity to 5.7 gigawatts.
It also says a 100-megawatt data centre uses 2 million litres of water each day.
The article uses these two situations to question how water is managed in the state.
Jalgaon farmer Rahim Khan expected to salvage only about a third of his soybean and cotton crop.
After an initially promising start, rains failed to arrive, crops wilted and wells remained dry.
The state government declared a drought, though Khan had anticipated a difficult year before the declaration.
At an August 18 convention in Mumbai, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Maharashtra had 65 percent of India’s data centre capacity.
Fadnavis cited plans for $300 billion in data centres and 5.7 GW of capacity; the article says a 100 MW centre uses 2 million litres of water daily.
- Who
- Farmer Rahim Khan and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
- What
- A drought threatened Khan’s crops as Fadnavis promoted major data centre expansion plans.
- When
- By August; Fadnavis spoke at the convention on August 18.
- Where
- Jalgaon district and Mumbai, Maharashtra.
- Why
- The article juxtaposes drought and crop losses with water-intensive data centre expansion to question Maharashtra’s water policy.
- Farmer
- Rahim Khan grows soybean and cotton in Jalgaon district.
- Expected crop salvage
- Khan estimated he would save about one-third of his produce.
- Data centre share
- Fadnavis said Maharashtra held 65 percent of India’s data centre capacity.
- Announced investment plans
- Fadnavis cited plans to build data centres worth $300 billion.
- Planned capacity
- The plans were described as taking Maharashtra’s capacity to 5.7 GW.
- Water use
- The article says a 100 MW data centre consumes 2 million litres of water per day.
- India’s current capacity
- The article puts India’s total data centre capacity at around 1.5 GW.