Beed: Close your eyes and conjure the image of an Indian village with Dickensian poverty, and you may find yourself at Kathoda, 28 kilometres from the unremarkable town of Beed in Marathwada. Arid ridges of dried up mud mark the agricultural fields, and travelling on the unpaved roads can take anything up to an hour-and-a-half to traverse 20 kilometres. The only spot of colour under the harsh sun are the blue-and-black and pink-and-yellow plastic water drums and containers that line the roads, a testament to Marathwada’s acute water scarcity. Unrest among the region’s sizeable Dalit and Muslim voters and the consolidation of the Maratha votes have suddenly turned the contest in parched Beed into a high-stakes poll battle. (Raju Shinde/ht) The dams are dry, the reservoirs are dry and every morning the district magistrates despatch one tanker of brackish water to each village of 200 families and above. The highlight of the day then is how much water a family can collect for themselves. Last monsoon as against the average rainfall of 566 mm, Marathwada …