The Asian giant China Nitrile Rubber Hoses Factory hot season has been particularly harsh this year, with temperatures rising above 50 degrees Celsius in Rajasthan state.The village's 98 families survive on agriculture, growing mostly rice and vegetables that they sell at markets in nearby cities.  
The tankers run seven days a week between March and June when water is at its scarcest in India. Every night he and his colleagues sleep in their vehicles where the tankers are lined up on wasteland beside a river.New Delhi: As Gajanand Dukre parks the water tanker in a drought-stricken Indian village, dozens of locals mostly women in saris, come running with jerry cans, buckets and stainless steel pots.
In Shakar Pada village, water levels in the well are dangerously low, meaning villagers are relieved to see Dukre roll in, attach a hose to the back of the tanker and start to fill up everyone's vessels. "If it wasn't for the water tankers we would have to rely on the well, which would be very difficult," the 25-year-old adds. Almost half of India, an area home to more than 500 million people is facing drought-like conditions because of deficient pre-monsoon rainfall, according to the Indian Meteorological Department ."We are working overtime," says 41-year-old Dukre, who conducts four rounds of deliveries a day to hamlets around Shahapur in the parched western state of Maharashtra. "Every year the drought gets worse.
Over the next two hours, Dukre helps them empty the 12,000-litre tank, providing a lifeline to this small community as India reels from one of its worst droughts in years.Falling groundwater levels and poor irrigation techniques mean they are overly reliant on India's June-to-September southwest monsoon, which provides the country with most of its annual rainfall.Dukre is one of 37 drivers operating government-run water tankers in the area, which is situated around 100 kilometres from India's financial capital Mumbai."There has been a scarcity of water for the past month," Pramila Shewale tells AFP as she carries a freshly filled pot of water on her # head to her home.Three of the last five monsoons have been deficient and while the IMD is predicting a normal monsoon this year it is already a week late and that worries farmers. During drought, there is no water for agriculture or livestock..
I pray to God that there is sufficient water ," Naresh Rera, a 32-year-old farmer, tells AFP.Dukre will keep delivering water until the monsoon is in full swing in Maharashtra, likely by the end of the month.