Journal of Water Resource Engineering and Pollution Studies ISSN: 3107-8419 (Online)

Authors: Manish Kushwaha, Dr.R.L.S.Sikarwar

Abstract: Stagnating agriculture and consequent failure of rapid economic growth to bring about poverty reduction as envisaged have been major constraints for India’s economic growth. Contrary to the view that slow-down in public investment for irrigation development is mainly responsible for the deceleration of agricultural growth, the paper argues that in spite of the Government initiatives and substantial investments in irrigation development, the area irrigated by public irrigation systems in India has stagnated or even declined. India’s irrigation economy has been undergoing a dramatic transformation with the control of irrigation shifting from the government to the individual farmers through millions of wells owned and operated by them. Though the booming tube well irrigation has generated substantial socio-ecological dividends in terms of flood mitigation and reduction in water logging and soil Stalinization, it has also been responsible for resource depletion and contamination of ground water in some parts of the country, leading to various adverse environmental and socio-economic consequences. There is need for achieving the right balance between supply and demand side measures for forging a sustainable ground water governance regime. Problems of groundwater overexploitation in India are bound to become more acute and widespread in the years to come unless corrective mechanisms are put in place before the problem becomes insolvable or not worth solving. Lack of information and absence of systematic monitoring of availability and withdrawal of ground water is a major barrier that prevents the transition from groundwater development to management mode. Further, unlike in the case of surface water irrigation systems, public agencies have only an indirect role to play in the national ground water sector due to its development mostly in the private, ‘informal’ sector and the quality and amount of application of science and management to this sector has been much less when compared to the former.

Keywords: Ground Water, Business Economics, Agriculture, Consequent Failure, Economic Growth