Mumbai, Sep 21 (Agencies): Desperate to do her bit for the crisis among farmers in Maharashtra, a young girl in Maharashtra has made a very big gesture.

The eight-year-old donated the contents of her piggy bank for the Chief Minister's Relief Fund and asked that her contribution be used for farmers who hit by drought.

"Rashika is a big fan of Bollywood actor Aamir Khan. After she saw the actor's pictures with the Chief Minister, she asked me what was the actor doing with him. I explained to her that he (Aamir) is giving a cheque to the Chief Minister for his relief fund which would help farmers who lost their crops due to the ongoing drought," Manoj Joshi, Rashika's father, told news agency PTI.

Mr Joshi said that he was out of town when his neighbours took his daughter Rashika Joshi to meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The Maharashtra Chief Minister tweeted his thanks.

The Marathwada region of Maharashtra has been battered by drought for the third year in a row with nearly 700 farmers having committed suicide this year.

Actor Nana Patekar has been leading a campaign to raise funds for farmers in the area. Two weeks ago, NDTV met him, without the PR machine that usually surrounds actors when they take up causes, quietly distributing cheques to farmers' widows.

The Maharashtra government has yet to officially declare a drought for the state because the official date for submitting the report was September 15. However, the government received flak from the opposition, which insisted that even the monsoon's late revival would not help the Kharif crop.