As water crisis looms large owing to exploitation of ground reserves,state governments are using innovations to preserve the precious resource. Results on the ground show that policy nudge works much better than punitive action. Haryana government’s key scheme to save groundwater is one such example.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar-led state government pays the farmers to shift from paddy cultivation to other crops, or even to keep their fields idle (fallow) so it acts as a natural rejuvenator for the soil. In the last two years, officials said over 1.7 lakh acres of paddy cultivated land has shifted to other crops particularly cotton (94,000 acre), while farmers did not plant paddy on 30,000 acres of farm land. Bajra was planted on another 10,000 acres, while vegetables on 21,000 acres. The government has paid over Rs 117 crore as incentive to over one lakh farmers.
The crop diversification scheme 'mera pani, meri virasat', has a potential to turn around the severely impacted areas due to over-exploitation of groundwater.
Known as the food bowl of India, 83 per cent of Haryana's geographical area is cultivable land, of which 64 per cent is irrigated by tube-wells. The annual groundwater withdrawal in Haryana is 137 per cent of its extractable ground water resources. The main reason is six to seven times increase in paddy cultivation in Haryana in the last five decades. Paddy was cultivated over 4.8 lakh acre in 1966-67 whereas it went up to 34.1 lakh acre in 2021-22. Paddy is a water guzzling crop.
In the state, between 2004 and 2020, the number of over-exploited blocks have increased from 55 to 85.
Comparing the area under cultivation, since the green revolution of the 1960s, the cultivable area under paddy has grown by over eight times; for wheat it is over three times. The area under bajra, millets and pulses cultivation has gone down sharply, showing the preferred crops by the farmers owing to their better market remuneration. This also explains why the farmers in the state of Haryana and Punjab were on streets against the three reform bills as they feared that once their paddy or wheat will not be procured by the central agencies at the MSP, the benefits that have flowed to them since the green revolution would be taken away.
The crop diversification scheme was launched in 2020 to incentivise farmers to shift from paddy to alternative less water-intensive crops. State government officials said the alternate crops were maize, cotton, kharif pulses and kharif oilseeds (groundnut, til, castor).
In another scheme which also aims at rejuvenation of ground water, Haryana launched the Pond and Waste Water Management Authority for development, protection, rejuvenation, conservation, and management of ponds. Out of the 19,456 ponds across the states, 18,558 are in the rural areas. Of the total ponds, nearly 600 have a historical value, while another 680 have religious significance. Chief Minister Khattar's decision to revive the ponds using the available scientific means is now connected with involving the villagers through ‘Ganga Aartis’ around the ponds so that they retain their religious and cultural significance.
To give fillip to conservation of water, the government has set another target of developing 75 ponds or Amirt Sarovars per district Amrit Sarovars. This initiative coincides with the 75th year celebration of Indian independence.
