Distressed Elephants: Policy Initiatives for Sustainable Groundwater Management in India

This article reviews the dominant arguments which shaped public policies in the agricultural groundwater sector in India. It also examines the initiatives to arrest groundwater depletion. It is a synthesis of the research carried out by the author over the last two decades and review of the work by others. Following were the arguments that shaped public policies in the agricultural groundwater sector in India, as per the review: high density of farm wells in remote areas increases the transaction cost of metering and charging for electricity on a pro-rata basis, as a tool to control groundwater draft; groundwater economy is controlled by small and marginal farmers, and attempts to regulate it are politically sensitive; and raising power tariff would adversely affect farmers who buy water. Furthermore, the regions with high density of wells do not experience intensive groundwater use; groundwater economy is mainly controlled by large farmers. In water-abundant regions, subsidized power does not reduce the monopoly of water sellers; in water-scarce regions, an increase in power tariff would have only marginal effect on it; and, in semi-arid regions, raising farm power tariff would result in improved efficiency, equity and sustainability in groundwater use and would be socio-economically viable. In water-scarce regions, the large public funds spent for watershed management, dug well recharging and community-based water harvesting produce no positive outcomes. Attempts to introduce electricity pricing or groundwater taxes or water rights are absent. Schemes promoting the use of micro irrigation do raise farm productivity, but leave no incentive among farmers to reduce water use.