This is what Nature has become: Tracing climate and water narratives in India’s rainfed drylands

This article traces the evolution of water scarcity narratives in the Indian drylands. In doing so, it shows how the politics of water scarcity has remained undergirded by a persistent and ubiquitous framing of climate-driven scarcity framings, which predates widespread recognition of anthropogenic climate change as a pressing concern. Using a combination of existing sources and analysis of key national and state level policy documents, I show how scarcity-focused narratives have remained stable over time and across the range of policies and sectors.