1. Water for Irrigation: An Overview

Irrigation, largely in rice and wheat complemented by research and extension efforts heralded India’s green revolution, making India the world’s top most extractor of groundwater. India’s green revolution can also be termed as ‘groundwater exploitation revolution’, since green revolution largely took place in water loving crops - paddy and wheat. The role of groundwater and its continuing importance in shaping Indian agriculture by contributing more than 60 % of growth in agricultural productivity highlights the relative efficiency in groundwater extraction at the cost of equity and sustainability. Climate change can thwart groundwater use unless farmers and policy-makers appreciate its fragile nature in hard rock areas (HRA) of India and work towards its sustainable path of extraction and use. The reciprocal externalities due to cumulative interference among irrigation wells and the cone of depression are internalized by farmers, while the policy-makers point towards the degree of electricity subsidy, which is only the ‘tip of the iceberg’ of the groundwater cost borne by the farmers. As farmers begin incurring the pumping cost, user cost, environmental cost, ecological cost and costs of unsustainability, groundwater extraction goes on reducing due to marginal cost pricing in theory. The role of organizations and institutions towards wise use of groundwater is crucial for sustainability in resource extraction.