Budget 2018 has incentivised unsustainable groundwater use: SANDRP

PUNE: The budget allocated Rs 2600 crore for ground water irrigation scheme in 96 deprived irrigation districts. However, water sector activists claim this scheme will blindly incentivise use of groundwater in unsustainable matter.

The Finance Minister announced in his speech: Ground water irrigation scheme under Prime Minister Krishi Sinchai Yojna- Har Khet ko Pani will be taken up in 96 deprived irrigation districts where less than 30% of the land holdings gets assured irrigation presently. I have allocated Rs 2600 crore for this purpose."

Himanshu Thakkar, co-ordinator, South Asia Network on Dams, River and People (SANDRP) said, "The scheme will incentivise use of groundwater without emphasising augmentation and regulation of groundwater along with its use for appropriate cropping pattern."


Thakkar said that of the irrigation deprived 96 districts, there could be many districts, which have water intensive cropping pattern like the districts in Marathwada and Western Maharashtra, which grow sugarcane. "This scheme will encourage use of ground water for crops like sugarcane in such water stressed areas," said Thakkar.

The water sector activists want the government to acknowledge the reality that groundwater is India's lifeline and it has to be recharged, augmented and regulated in order to sustain farmers' income.