Government plans to shift irrigation via canal systems instead of groundwater

In a major move aimed at making available water to every arable land, the Ministry of Jal Shakti is working on a comprehensive micro irrigation project to provide water to every agricultural land through canal systems instead of using groundwater.

As per a senior official, the ministry is also mulling a policy shift to control solar pumps and ground water extraction, which would be limited to communities only.

The initiative in this regard has been taken after going through a well-thought process to meet the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and reduce dependency on ground water, which is being exploited at the expense of ecosystems.

Given that agricultural production and water management are equally important and need to be addressed in a best feasible manner to meet the future food production requirements, which are likely to be doubled in the future while the water cycle will be likely disturbed by climate change, a senior official of the ministry said.

“The micro irrigation’s dream of India has to be developed on canal water.

The micro irrigation target of 70 Mha will have a crop water requirement of 500 BCM whereas utilisable ground water is only 240 BCM. Using groundwater is a hydrogeological disaster in waiting,” the official said.

Raising a pertinent concern about the misuse of solar pumps used for ground water exploitation, the official said, “It has been found that a majority of solar pumps never get switched off, which result into over exploitation of ground water.”

The Jal Shakti Ministry is working on a concept note to consider recasting the flagship Pradhan Mantri Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) into a smart irrigation infrastructure providing scheme, the official said.

“The objective behind it is to improve the water use efficiency and saving around 50 BCM water in India which is almost equal to the food basket reservoirs in the country that provide 55 BCM water,” the official said.

The ministry is also mulling a policy shift to control solar pumps and ground water extraction, which would be limited to communities only.