Guwahati, July 17 - Until recently, 55-year-old Biswajit Bora made a modest living growing paddy on his two- acre plot in Assam's Nagaon district and managed to feed his family of six. Today Bora goes from house to house with a begging bowl for survival.

'There is no option left other than begging as a long dry spell has damaged my crops. If I don't beg, my two young children, wife and my elderly parents would die of hunger,' Bora said in a choked voice.

He is among scores of farmers in Assam who have taken to begging for survival, even as the state government declared 14 of the 27 districts in the state drought-hit.

'We explored all options before setting out of our homes with begging bowls,' said Ananda Das, another farmer from Raha in central Assam.

Das has a tale similar to Bora -- his paddy crop was also ruined by a long dry spell that hit the state.

There has been a deficit of nearly 30 percent rainfall from the beginning of June to July 12 -- the 14 districts received 414.8 mm of rain in the period compared to an average rainfall of 588.8 mm.

The districts declared drought-hit are Bongaigaon, Cachar, Dhubri, Goalpara, Golaghat, Hailakandi, Jorhat, Kamrup, Karbi Anglong, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Morigaon, Nagaon and Sivasagar.

'There has been no relief from the government's side, worsening the woes of farmers like us,' Bora said.