Socio-ecology of groundwater irrigation in India

Groundwater is the backbone of irrigated agriculture in India. Consequent upon the advent of Green Revolution in India, the use of groundwater has become very intensive. Despite negligible public investment in groundwater irrigation, this source of water contributes more to agricultural wealth and well being than any other source of irrigation. Groundwater irrigation in India is a function more of demand for timely and reliable irrigation in area with high population densities and vibrant agricultural economies, than a function of supply side variables such as availability of groundwater. This has given rise to unsustainable pattern of groundwater use in many parts of the country, where extraction of groundwater has exceeded annual renewable recharge. Groundwater is a so-called democratic resource in the sense that individual farmers have direct access to it. Three problems dominate in groundwater scenario in India: depletion, salinization and pollution and these have far-reaching socio-economic and environmental consequences. This pathology of groundwater decline in region after region reflects a remarkably similar 4-stage pattern; from a stage where underutilized groundwater resource becomes instrumental in unleashing agrarian boom to one in which, unable to apply brakes in time, the region goes overboard in exploiting its groundwater resources. This paper examines the trends in groundwater use in India over the decades and offers a first tentative test of the hypothesis that the contribution of groundwater to agricultural wealth creation has risen faster than the contribution from any other irrigation source. In other words, groundwater contributes more to agricultural well being and rural wealth than any other irrigation source per se.