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India’s food security goals in danger
Source: Source: The Tribune, New Delhi, Date: , 2010
Two days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured the Parliament of
“no-panic” on the food front, an alarming new report by the World Bank
has shown that an increasing number of aquifers in India are reaching
unsustainable levels of exploitation, endangering long-term food
security goals. If current trends continue, in 20 years about 60 per
cent of all aquifers in the country will be in a critical condition,
putting at risk over a quarter of the harvest, concludes the report
“Deep Wells and Prudence: Towards Pragmatic Action for Addressing
Groundwater Overexploitation in India”, initiated to identify practical
strategies for managing groundwater use in India. The report rings alarm
bells for policy makers, warning them against status quo. “If nothing
changes, groundwater depletion could risk future agricultural
sustainability, livelihoods and economic growth in India,” it says,
considering groundwater acts as a buffer against the variability of
monsoon rains. A rainfall deficit in 1963-66 decreased India’s food
production by 20 per cent but a similar drought in 1987-88 had very
small impact on food production due to widespread prevalence of
groundwater, which is now declining. India is the largest groundwater
user in the world, exploiting 230 cubic kilometres of groundwater every
year - over a quarter of the global total. 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. “The report provides a menu of practical interventions which
can be implemented in the current environment,” Roberto Zagha, WB India
Director told, Analysing the factors behind overexploitation, the report
says groundwater allows the users more control over quantity and timing
of supply, and, therefore, its use is linked with higher productivity.
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