World Bank Rings Alarm On Depleting Groundwater.

“With the growing number of aquifers in India reaching unsustainable levels of exploitation, about 60 percent of them will be in a critical condition within 20 years if the current trend continues, says a World Bank report released on Friday, Deep Wells and Prudence: Towards Pragmatic Action for addressing Groundwater Overexploitation in India. This will have serious implications on the sustenance of agriculture, long-term food security, livelihoods and economic growth. Over a quarter of the country's harvest is estimated to be at risk….” [Financial Express (India, 3/7)/Factiva]

The Kalinga Times adds that “…even though there is a major dependence of many sectors on groundwater and it is facing a critical threat of overexploitation, there is little investment in its management. This inaction has arisen mainly because the solutions often proposed for groundwater management are very controversial, including ‘command-and-control’ regulation of wells and curbing the supply of free or cheap power for groundwater irrigation….” [Kalinga Times (India, 3/5)]

AFP writes that “…farmers' wasteful use of water is unsustainable in a country with a fast-growing population and rapidly industrializing economy, says India’s Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal…. Many farmers flood their crops, using more water than they need to, and often choose water-intensive crops in areas with low rainfall. Bansal believes pricing water to reflect its scarcity would deter waste and force farmers to take ‘the last drop to the last mile.’…” [Agence France Presse (3/8)/Factiva]