 | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | WATERLESS PIT: This dry well tells the story | | If you’ve to pinpoint government neglect and failure, it is in the declining availability of water for irrigation. Even 60 years after Independence, 60 per cent of the farmlands are still dependent on good monsoons for reasonable crop productions. Efforts to increase the area under irrigation in the past decade have been an abysmal failure. Here are some revealing statistics. Between 1981 and 1991 the annual growth of land being brought under irrigation was 2.27 per cent. But between 1991 and 2004, that figure dropped to 1.15 per cent. In real terms, between 1985 and 1995, 14 lakh hectare were brought under irrigation. But between 1995 and 2005 that figure fell to 6.85 lakh hectare. The reason is apparent—there was a major slow-up in investment in infrastructure for agriculture in the past decade. Public investment in irrigation has declined from 23 per cent of the total plan outlay in the First Plan period to about 5 per cent in the 10th Plan. In contrast, as Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar points out, investment in telecommunication sector averages 13 per cent of the GDP (see interview). Even the figure of 6.8 lakh hectare of additional land brought under irrigation during the past decade is disputed by the Planning Commission. It commented that the land use data shows no real increase in irrigated area. Strangely for the 10th Plan, while the target of spending Rs 90,000 crore towards investment in irrigation was met, the potential added was only half of the stated figure of 16 million hectare. Meanwhile, there are some 480-odd irrigation projects that need to be completed apart from 240 new ones being proposed. As Y.K. Alagh, a former Union minister of state and an expert on agriculture, points out, “We didn’t seem to understand the crisis of land and water till a year ago even though public investment had fallen and agriculture growth rates had flattened.” | |  "We didn’t understand the crisis of land and water till last year even though growth rates had flattened."
Y.K. ALAGH, FORMER UNION MINISTER
| |
| | WATER | | | THE CRISIS | THE CONTROL | India commands just 4 per cent of the global freshwater resources, but supports 16 per cent of world population Adverse effects of droughts on production of crops Over-dependence on rainfall and monsoon. More than 60 per cent of the cultivated area is rain-dependent. The country’s rainfall is not evenly distributed, but in total, it is adequate to meet the water requirement Over-exploitation of water, especially for growing rice and sugar, has seen water tables recede | | Creating irrigation potential, repairing system deficiencies and inefficient on-farm water management. Adapting cropping patterns according to water availability Reducing the utilisation gap, ground water extraction, watershed development, rainwater harvesting Increasing irrigation efficiency from the present level of 35-40 per cent, completion of ongoing irrigation projects. River grid development will help rationalise the availability of water National Rainfield Authority to help conserve water
| | Meanwhile, the over-exploitation of water, especially for growing rice and sugar, has seen water tables drop dramatically. A recent report of the Punjab Farmers Commission found that the water table had reached the critical depth of more than 10 meter in as much as 85 per cent areas in central Punjab, which has sweet ground water. | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | WILL IT, WON’T IT: Agriculture in India still depends on rains | | | 50% fall in the rate of additional land brought under irrigation. | | G.S. Kalkat, chairman of the Commission, says, “The national food security is important but it cannot be at the cost of imperilling Punjab’s ground water resources beyond redemption.” The Punjab Government has been focusing its diversification plan on shifting at least one million hectare under paddy to other less water-consuming crops. Dr S.S. Johl, a farmer-economist of repute, warns: “If the current trend of decline in the ground water level by one meter a year continues, Punjab could turn into a barren territory in next two decades.” Other states too face similar problems. In Karnataka, ground water levels were depleting at an alarming rate of 70 cm a year. In Uttar Pradesh, three years of drought have brought farmers to their knees. “Agle ek do saalon mein agar yahan bhi Bundelkhand aur Vidarbha jaisi atmahatyaen ho to aap ashcharya nahin kariyega (Don’t be surprised if the farmers of this region too start committing suicide like the ones from Bundelkhand and Vidarbha),” lamented Prem Prakash Tewari, a farmer in Sarwan village in Unnao district who was given a paltry sum of Rs 65 as a drought relief last year. The Centre has now set up a National Rainfield Authority to find out how best to conserve water in these regions and to come up with a time-bound plan. However, it would take years for the country to boost irrigation facilities and implement an effective watershed management programme.
Index |
