Guwahati, July 28 -- As five western Assam districts have been officially declared drought-hit and the state records a 44 percent rainfall deficit in June and July, a ground reality check in eastern Assam reveals a grim picture unfolding silently, barren paddy fields, dying crops, abandoned tea gardens, and a haunting sense of hopelessness among farmers.

From Kakopathar to Sadiya, Dirak to Barekuri, once-flourishing agricultural belts in Tinsukia district, the scene is bleak. At dawn, this correspondent visited several paddy-growing villages, expecting to meet farmers busy in their fields. Instead, large swathes of farmland lay deserted, and paddy saplings sown weeks earlier now lie yellowed, wilted, and scorched, with deep cracks splitt...