AbstractGroundwater depletion in India is a result of water, energy, and food policies that have given rise to a nexus where growth in agriculture has been supported by unsustainable trends in water and energy use. This nexus emanates from India's policy of providing affordable calories to its large population. This requires that input prices are kept low, leading to perverse incentives that encourage groundwater overexploitation. The paper argues that solutions to India's groundwater problems need to be embedded within the current context of its water‐energy‐food nexus. Examples are provided of changes underway in some water‐energy‐food policies that may halt further groundwater depletion.
Invited paper presented at the Conference on Sustainable Development and Livelihoods, Delhi School of Economics, 6-8 February 2007 ; In this paper, I will argue that groundwater irrigation in well-endowed alluvial aquifers of the Ganga-Meghna-Brahmaputra (GMB) is a source of wealth and welfare (and not threat) to its largely poor and agrarian population. I will illustrate this with the case of West Bengal. First, based on secondary data, I will show that groundwater irrigation has been instrumental in agrarian growth in West Bengal. Then, based on primary data collected from 580 respondents in 40 villages in the state, I will specially focus on the beneficial impact of groundwater supported private irrigation services market in distributing benefits of irrigation to those who do not own water extraction mechanisms (WEMs). In doing so, I will capture the spread and extent, as well as functioning and impact of informal groundwater markets. The paper will show that the situation in West Bengal is in sharp contrast to the groundwater situation in many other parts of India such as Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. However, unfortunately, the dominant discourse in the field of groundwater studies in India has been that of depletion and scarcity so much so that the groundwater policies even in a well- endowed state such as West Bengal have been unduly influenced by this dominant discourse. The result has been that of a paradox: little groundwater regulation where resource conditions are precarious (e.g. Gujarat, Tamil Nadu) and strict regulation where little is needed (e.g. West Bengal). This brings us to the arena of politics of policy making, especially how 'scientific' information is processed through the lens of politics and vice- versa. Political ecology of groundwater irrigation will be briefly discussed in the last section of this paper.
Paper presented at 3rd Marcelino Botin Foundation Water Workshop, Santander, Spain, 12-14 June 2007 ; This paper deals with three different, yet related issues of groundwater use, viz. economics, ethics and politics. One of the most important ethical dilemmas of global groundwater use is that its positive impact on food security, incomes of the poor and poverty alleviation are relatively under-estimated while the negative externalities are often over-emphasized. The first section of this paper deals with this very ethical dilemma by illustrating how the role of groundwater irrigation in sustaining high agricultural growth rates in West Bengal -- an eastern state of India, has been completely over looked in academic discussions so far. Groundwater irrigation has conferred immense economic benefits in terms of increased access to irrigation, higher cropping intensity and productivity. Informal groundwater based irrigation services markets have played an important role in this regard. The second section, based on primary data collected from 580 respondents in 40 villages in the state, specially focuses on groundwater economics and the impact of groundwater supported private irrigation services markets. The third section of the paper concentrates on groundwater politics. It shows that the dominant discourse in the field of groundwater studies in India has been that of depletion and scarcity so much so that the groundwater policies even in a well-endowed state such as West Bengal has been unduly influenced by this dominant discourse. The result has been that of a paradox: little groundwater regulation where resource conditions are precarious (e.g. Gujarat, Tamil Nadu) and strict regulation where little is needed (e.g. West Bengal).
This study was conducted in two Indian states of Punjab (in the north) and Karnataka (in the south). An analysis of long term trends in groundwater development and agricultural growth in Karnataka shows two things. First, the growth in irrigation was largely contributed by expansion of groundwater irrigation. Second, with the groundwater development, the state experienced a quantum jump in electricity supply to agriculture. In 1981, electric tubewells were de-metered and a flat tariff regime was introduced. This led to rapid increase in tubewell connections. Electricity was made free in 1998, further perpetuating this crisis. This in turn brought its own share of problems such as difficulty in accounting for agricultural electricity consumption mounting losses of electricity utilities and deterioration of quality of supply to farmers over the years. The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission was formed in 2000 and since then it has urged the electricity distribution companies to improve their agricultural energy consumption estimates, but their methodologies remain as fraught with problems as before with the result that agricultural electricity consumption is likely to be grossly over-estimated as are the number of electric pump sets in the state. The farmers in turn esort to illegal connections and under-reporting of their pump capacity making it even more difficult to arrive at independent estimates of agricultural power consumption. Overall, there is anarchy below the feeder level an anarchy that leaves farmers, utilities and the state government much worse off than they need be. A collateral damage of this anarchy is the deep level of mistrust between the farmers and the utility staff. An analysis of groundwater development and agricultural growth in Punjab shows two important trends. First, growth in irrigation extent and irrigation intensity was largely contributed by expansion of groundwater irrigation. Second, with the groundwater development, the state experienced crop specialization to bi-crop rotation of rice-wheat which further increased the demand of groundwater. Since the increase in groundwater irrigation was made possible with tube-well energization, Punjab's agriculture got highly dependent on electricity supply. This in turn brought its own share of problems such as difficulty in accounting for agricultural electricity consumption in the absence of metering, mounting losses of state utility due to non-payment of subsidy amount by the government and deterioration of quality of supply to farmers over the years.
In Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). Water cooperation: building partnerships. Abstract Volume, World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, 1-6 September 2013. Stockholm, Sweden: Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) ; The government of Bangladesh invested in large scale coastal embankment projects in the 1960s and 1970s, which then played an important role in protecting coastal communities from water related disasters and increasing agricultural productivity. However, maintenance of polder infrastructure has been problematic. Since the 1990s, the government of Bangladesh requires local communities to organize themselves into water management groups and to contribute toward minor maintenance of the infrastructure. Empirical evidence shows that some communities have been able to come together and collect funds for maintenance, while majority have not been able to do so. The purpose of this paper is therefore to understand the factors that determine contribution to maintenance funds by community members. For this, a public goods game was played with community participants at several locations in Coastal Bangladesh. Our results show that economic homogeneity in the group as well ions and recommendations proportional sharing of benefits increases the level of contribution. It also shows that institutional mechanisms that allow communities to be involved at an early stage of project formulation and make monetary contributions towards project implementation are more likely to contribute toward maintenance in the long term than communities who did not undergo such institutional processes.
Groundwater is now a major source of agricultural water supply in many parts of the world. The value of groundwater as a new source of supply is well known. However, its additional buffering or stabilization value is less appreciated and even less analysed. Knowledge on groundwater's stabilization value is advanced by developing and estimating an empirical model using the case of tank irrigation systems in Tamil Nadu, India. Unlike previous work, the model uses cross-sectional rather than time-series data. The results show that for the case-study region, the stabilization function added approximately 15% to supply value. Scenarios with surface water and electricity price were incorporated in the model. Increased surface-water supply and electricity price caused reduction in groundwater use but the percent of stabilization value of groundwater increased. The findings are used both to suggest improvements in tank irrigation systems and to further contextualize knowledge of groundwater's stabilization value.
Indian agriculture is trapped in a complex nexus of groundwater depletion and energy subsidies. This nexus is the product of past public policy choices that initially offered opportunities to India?s small-holder-based irrigation economy but has now generated in its wake myriad economic, social, and environmental distortions. Conventional ?getting-the-price-right? solutions to reduce these distortions have consistently been undermined by the invidious political economy that the nexus has created. The historical evolution of the nexus is outlined, the nature and scale of the distortions it has created are explored, and alternative approaches which Indian policy makers can use to limit, if not eliminate, the damaging impacts of the distortions, are analysed
Private investments in groundwater have emerged as the main pathway through which smallholder farmers in India access irrigation. This paper discusses the role of groundwater in agrarian growth in West Bengal, India. It finds that agricultural growth in the state has stagnated since mid-1990s, after an initial period of growth in the 1980s and early 1990s. We hypothesize that this stagnation was a direct result of slowdown in growth in groundwater irrigation. The reason for this slowdown was, in turn, government policies related to groundwater and electricity. The paper then goes on to discuss the Groundwater Act of 2005 as well as electrification policies of the government of West Bengal and locates these policies within the broader backdrop of groundwater resource endowments in the state. By juxtaposing groundwater policies and resource realities, the paper questions the relevance of current regulations and suggests some policy alternatives - alternatives that are likely to propel the state and its smallholder farmers on a path of higher agricultural growth.
Community-based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) has been promoted as part of the development discourse on sustainable natural resources management since the mid-1980s. It has influenced recent water policy in Bangladesh through the Guidelines for Participatory Water Management (GPWM) where community-based organisations are to participate in the management of water resources. This paper reviews the extent of success of such participatory water management. It does so by first discussing the changing discourses of participation in Bangladesh's water policy from social mobilisation to decentralised CBNRM. Second, Bangladesh is used as a case study to draw attention to how the creation of separate water management organisations has been unable to promote inclusive participation. It argues that the current form of decentralisation through a CBNRM framework has not resulted in its stated aims of equitable, efficient, and sustainable management of natural resources; rather it has duplicated existing local government institutions. Finally, it questions the current investments into community-based organisations and recommends that the role of local government in water management be formally recognised.
Two decisions taken by the Government of West Bengal, one, to facilitate easier extraction of groundwater, and the other, the application of a fi xed connection fee for an electricity connection to farmers could well lead to a quantum leap in agricultural production.
Two decisions taken by the Government of West Bengal, one, to facilitate easier extraction of groundwater, and the other, the application of a fixed connection fee for an electricity connection to farmers could well lead to a quantum leap in agricultural production.
The last decade has witnessed rapid progress in energy cooperation between the countries of the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) sub-region. Cooperation has been bilateral, with each of the countries entering into separate energy development and trade agreement with India, broadly similar to the water sector where national governments engage bilaterally on transboundary cooperation and dispute resolution. A more recent wave of electrical grid interconnections and hydro-energy cooperation has emerged with governments increasingly shifting from bilateral to multilateral energy-sharing agreements. This trend holds considerable potential for regional transboundary water governance. Based on documentary and media analysis along with interviews of key BBIN policy-makers, we identify and examine in this paper four factors for future progress: 1) technical cooperation can be extended to information-sharing for policies and institutions to regulate and manage water resources; 2) India must seize the opportunities and benefits of enhanced regional leadership in the region; 3) simultaneous informal discussion and diplomatic negotiation of water, energy and their nexus can provide BBIN countries the opportunity to highlight potential gains of cooperation and interstate interdependencies; and 4) regional cooperation can give a strong impetus to nations for advancing structural reforms, building institutions and capacity, developing a shared knowledge base, bridging infrastructural gaps, attracting private sector participation, and addressing poverty alleviation goals including job creation.
