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Water table depth in Central Punjab 

Water table depth in Central Punjab 

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We are happy to present the third issue of Centers for International Projects Trust (CIPT) newsletter – CIPT Sandesh. We thank our readers for their suggestions in making the content of our newsletter relevant to the expectations of our target audience. CIPT will continue to develop new approaches and practices to address the challenges of food and...

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... irrigations. This is very important in situations where adequate water is not available. This example is just an indicator of the other technologies developed in the state. Further gains in water-use efficiency are being targeted through plant breeding and biotechnological tools. Good biomass, vigorous early growth for fast ground cover, root development and reduced susceptibility to drought are some of the most soughtafter characters. The judicious use of water is also being investigated through microbes and precision based experiments. The narration simply suggests that management of water can be done on sound planning like river linking, recharge of aquifers and by judicious use of water. What is needed is to work out a plan and plan out work accordingly to save water for our future generations. The negative effects of intensive agriculture in Punjab, especially groundwater depletion, started becoming visible way back in 1980s. The water table started falling at the annual rate of 18 cm during 1982-87. Despite some concerns being raised by academicians at that time and Johl Committee recommending shifts in the cropping pattern towards high value and less water consuming crops in 1980s, no major effort was undertaken to address the emerging issue of groundwater depletion. The result was that annual rate of depletion increased to 25 cm during 1990-2000 and touched alarmingly high levels of 91 cm per annum during 2000-2005. The dominance of rice-wheat monoculture was being cited as the major reason for such crisis and Johl Committee and Kalkat Committee once again pointed towards the need for crop diversification in 2002 and 2006, respectively. There was another factor feeding into the severity of groundwater depletion. This was the practice of early transplantation of rice. The proportion of rice area being transplanted even before the start of June was reaching more than one-third and that before mid-June was touching almost two-third. As water requirements of the early transplanted rice were much higher due to high temperature, low humidity and rainfall, it was leading to faster depletion of the aquifers. The fact was well documented and highlighted by the eminent scholars, scientists and development administrators. Despite the concern and appeals to the farming community for avoiding early transplantation of rice, there was no breakthrough in getting the things corrected. The fear of losing votes of the farming community was preventing the government from taking any hard step to discourage the practice of early transplantation of rice. After continuous efforts of the Punjab State Farmers’ Commission, Punjab Agricultural University and the Department of Agriculture, the Punjab Government was encouraged to promulgate an ordinance in May 2008, which was later changed to an Act in March 2009. The Act prohibited the farmers to sow rice nursery before 10th of May of every year and to transplant rice before the notified date (which was 10th June). There was a provision of destroying the nursery or transplanted rice in case of violations and recovering the costs from the non-complying farmers. The Act provided for penalty from the farmer upto Rs. 10,000 per hectare, in case of him not acting as per the directions of the authorized officer. Despite the challenges of implementing the provisions of the ordinance (and later the Act) and the fears of a backlash from the farming community, pro-active approach of the government and careful planning and its implementation by the bureaucrats and development officials made the Act a success story in Punjab. The proportion of farmers transplanting rice before the start of June declined sharply to less than 2 per cent and those transplanting before mid-June also came down to less than one-fourth in 2008- 09. The proportion has become almost negligible in the later years highlighting the success of implementation of the Act. Apart from implementation of the Act, its positive impact on checking the rate of groundwater depletion, reducing power consumption in agriculture, power subsidy and decline in relative humidity are worth mentioning. A study by Prof. Karam Singh, Consultant, Punjab State Farmers Commission in 2009 revealed that the Act could check the annual fall in water table by 30 cm. Reduction in water use due to the prohibition of early transplantation led to the electricity consumption of about 27.6 crore units, which translated into an annual reduction in power subsidy bill of the Punjab government by Rs. 122 crore. Even the relative humidity due to decline in the evaporation of flooded water was estimated to have declined by about 15-16 per cent, with a potential to bring significant reduction in the incidences of insect-pests and diseases. Looking at the rate of fall in the water table in central Punjab in the recent years, it is evident that depletion of groundwater resources has slowed down by some fraction, though it still continues to be significant (see Figure 1). It is due to the fact that the cropping system in Punjab is dominated by paddy-wheat rotation with an annual demand of more than 2 meters of irrigation water against the long-term annual rainfall of the region at around 60-70 cm. Such a mismatch between demand and supply of irrigation water in Punjab will lead to a continuous decline in the water table with severe implications for power consumption in agriculture, power subsidy, fixed investments by the farmers in irrigation infrastructure, farm incomes and sustainability of natural resource use. There is an urgent need to look at all the possible options for sustainability of natural resources in agriculture, especially groundwater. While a single solution will not address the problem completely, there is a need to look at the water-energy-agriculture nexus in a holistic manner. The success of the Act has given an important message to the policy makers, administrators, scientific community and development officials. It reflects that issues of common property resources can be effectively addressed by operational policy instruments without any adverse political fall outs. There is need to encourage the use of water saving technologies and practices; shifting towards less water intensive crops and improve the overall water-use efficiency in Punjab agriculture. We should explore more policy options which can facilitate rational use of water in agriculture as well as in industry. It is important to note that sub-optimal policy instruments not only promote wasteful use of precious natural resources but also cause significant reduction in the impact of resource saving technologies and practices. The role of policy instruments for bringing synergies between agricultural production and natural resource should not be ignored and in fact should be explored more enthusiastically. Water laws in India have been continuously evolving. Our country lacks an umbrella framework to regulate freshwater across all its dimensions and uses. The existing water law framework in India include common law principles and irrigation acts from the colonial period as well as more recent regulation of water quality and the judicial recognition of a human right to water. In terms of statutory development, irrigation laws constitute historically the most developed part of water laws. In Gujarat, the stage of groundwater development is 70 per cent. As per the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) reports, of the total 223 assessed units in Gujarat 31 are already over exploited, 12 are critical and 69 are classified in semi-critical stage. This indicates an alarming situation for the state as close to 80 per cent of the irrigated area uses groundwater for irrigation. The Government of Gujarat passed the Gujarat Irrigation and Drainage Act in 2013 replacing age-old Gujarat Irrigation Act 1879. The main objective of the new Act was to increase the performance efficiency of irrigation schemes in the state with a view to bring about equitable distribution of water for irrigation with the help of farmers and maximizing benefits from irrigation through canals in terms of agricultural production without additional ...

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