Overview

• Ambadas Govind Pawar and his 60-year-old wife have manually tilled their 2.5-acre dry plot for nearly eight years after losing access to oxen or machinery.
• A video that went viral in June showed Pawar dragging a wooden plough with his body and mobilised widespread media coverage on July 1–2, 2025.
• Despite government promises of loan waivers and mechanisation grants, no meaningful aid has reached Pawar or other marginal farmers in Maharashtra.
• The drought-prone Marathwada region recorded 269 farmer suicides between January and March 2025 as rising input costs and erratic weather deepen rural distress.
• Local officials have yet to announce concrete relief measures following the public outcry generated by the viral footage.