An innovative solution to ground water over-exploitation, based on IWMI research, is to be rolled out nationally in India
Gujarat is one of India’s driest states and long had one of the country’s most volatile agrarian economies. Because public irrigation was limited, the government encouraged groundwater use by subsidizing farm electricity supply during the 1970s and 1980s. This allowed individual farmers to cheaply pump irrigation water from their own locally dug wells. However, by the 1990s this policy had bankrupted the government electric utility and severely depleted Gujarat’s aquifer. The agricultural economy continued to falter.
Donors and power experts all wanted the State Government to meter all tube wells and charge farmers a consumption-linked tariff. But strong farmer lobbies opposed the proposal. Researchers, including a team from the International Water Management Institute, helped formulate a new policy that delivered dramatic results.
The researchers recommended a practical solution with three components: intelligent rationing of farm power supply to match farmers’ irrigation needs; a roster of power supply to different villages; and supply of full voltage, uninterrupted power to agriculture during the rationing hours to overcome farmer resistance.
Under the new scheme, dubbed Jyotigram Yojana or ‘lighted village’, US$ 260 million was invested in separating electricity feeder lines for agricultural and non-agricultural users to make farm power rationing effective and tamper proof.
By providing regular and reliable full-voltage power, Jyotigram Yojana made it possible for farmers to keep to their irrigation schedules, conserve water, save on pump maintenance costs and use labor more efficiently. While the gross domestic product from agriculture grew at just under 3% per annum for India as a whole, Gujarat recorded nearly 10% growth in the seven years from the projects inception. This was the highest in all India for the period. Reducing some of the risk involved in farming helped boost on-farm incomes, which meant less out-migration to cities. Some of the most profound impacts were improvements in the lives of rural women. Reliable electricity and higher household income meant that women had a bit more time to spend with their children in the evenings.
Now the Government of India is set to accept Gujarat’s Jyotigram project as a flagship scheme for its 12th five year plan for the power sector (2012-17). The goal is to supply round the-clock, high-quality power to all villages. A recently released Planning Commission draft of the plan, notes that Gujarat has achieved very good results by combining feeder separation with an extensive watershed program for groundwater recharge. Feeder separation needs to be extended to all states, especially where groundwater is extensively used.
The draft then goes on to state that the separation of agricultural feeders in the country will enable villages to get 24 X 7 power for domestic uses, schools, hospitals and village industries. As for the farm pump sets, which require much more power, they can obtain eight hours or more of quality power on a pre-announced schedule.
For more information see the publication “Innovative electricity scheme sparks rural development in India’s Gujarat State”
Photo credit: Sharni Jayawardena/IWMI
I just want to know how does this help in ground water recharge?Can any one throw some light in that context.
This certainly does not directly help in increasing groundwater recharge. What it does is reduce aggregate groundwater withdrawal. Before this intervention, the government used to provide 16-18 hours of farm power supply, but of inddifferent quality, with frequent interruptions and often with low voltage. Moreover, farmers never knew when power supply would come. These resulted in rampant waste of water and power. Providing farmers fewer hours of power but of good quality and at fixed, pre-announcing schedule brought about a modicum of discipline and order. Under other programs, Gujarat has already invested in a massive people-based groundwater recharge program in Saurasthra and Kachch. The impact of this has been augmented by the demand side discipline imposed by Jyotigram.