By Sudhirendar Sharma
That the country’s groundwater reserves have shrunk beyond redemption is no breaking news.
Neither the fact that it has been a political tool to expand electoral base through electricity subsidies any revelation. The only surprise being that 230 cubic kilometres of annual groundwater withdrawal, the world’s highest, is largely unregulated without any credible entitlements to those who pump it. There is no check on its unstinted growth either.
It may have worked thus far but not before pushing one-third of 6,572 groundwater blocks into ‘overexploited’ category. And there is no let up in the efforts to milk the remainder groundwater reserves dry if growth of affordable water extraction pumps is any indication.Read More
