Draught In Maharashtra

Draught in Maharashtra

EDITORIAL IN DOWN TO EARTH: Six sins that make drought invincible
by Sunita Narain
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It’s drought time again. Nothing new in this announcement. Each year,
first we have crippling droughts between December and June, and then
devastating floods in the next few months. It’s a cycle of despair,
which is more or less predictable. But this is not an inevitable cycle
of nature we must live with. These droughts and floods are man-made,
caused by deliberate neglect and designed failure of the way we manage
water and land. What we must note with concern is that these “natural”
disasters are growing in intensity and ferocity. That is why we must ask
why we are still so badly hit when for years we have been doing
everything to drought-proof our agriculture and economy.

This year, large parts of Maharashtra are hit by a severe drought.
People are thirsty, crops are lost and livestock abandoned. Remember, it
is the loss of this asset, which turns seasonal devastation into
long-term destitution. The chief minister wants money for relief; the
opposition wants to score points. But in spite of programmes, plans and
money, we are not moving towards any real solution to this scarcity. Why?

Why when Maharashtra has had the longest programme for drought relief in
the country? It was in the 1970s, when the state was similarly
afflicted, that it devised the employment guarantee Act. It guaranteed
work close to where people lived so that they are not forced to migrate.
As the scheme was to check migration, city dwellers and professionals
paid for it. Over time, the state government improvised and put the
drought relief money in works that provided relief against drought such
as building check dams and percolation ponds and conserving soil. The
scheme was abandoned once its successor—Centrally sponsored National
Employment Guarantee Programme—was launched in mid-2000s. But the work
continues.

Maharashtra has also had a furiously spending programme for building
irrigation projects. Since 2007—the time farmer suicides in Vidarbha hit
headlines—the state has been given Central grants for water projects.
According to the state economic survey, till February 2012, Maharashtra
spent Rs 12,000 crore under this scheme alone. Then last year, the state
received rainfall 102 per cent over the normal. So there was rain,
schemes and money.

Let’s understand how we are going wrong in our strategies. First,
rainfall is even more variable—scientists link this with climate change.
In Maharashtra last year, rains were normal, but were either late or
erratic. Farmers lost time waiting to plant the summer crop and then
suffered due to intense or unseasonal rains. Increasingly capricious
monsoon makes water management more urgent.

Secondly, irrigation projects have been built but not utilised. In this
thirsty state, according to its own data, some 40 per cent of the
potential created is not being used. Reports by the Comptroller and
Auditor General of India speak about scandalous ways in which dams are
built but canals are not and about cost escalations so high that
projects become unviable and are never completed.

Thirdly, Maharashtra is the only Indian state to give industry priority
over agriculture in allocation of water. So even when an irrigation
project is built, water is diverted for urban and industrial needs. In
Amravati, a drought-hit district, the Upper Wardha irrigation project
was taken up for implementation under the prime minister’s relief
package. But when water started to flow in the canals, the state decided
to divert it to the Sophia thermal power project. Farmers protested
vehemently. This resulted in the overturning of the policy that gave
industry priority, but not in the cases where water was already
allocated. Fights go on.

Today, the state’s Economic Survey accepts that only 50 per cent of the
utilised water in its reservoirs is being used for agriculture. With
rapid urbanisation demand for water will only go up. This will add to
stress unless cities and industries become water prudent now—use less
water and return clean water to farmers, not sewage.

Fourthly, water use is grossly inefficient. Maharashtra has a propensity
for sugarcane-type, water-guzzling crops. This dry and water-stressed
state produces 66 per cent of the crushed sugar in the country—way over
what Uttar Pradesh, located in the Ganga basin, manages. So water
available for agriculture is also not used wisely.

Fifthly, we forget underground aquifers meet a considerable part of
water demand. So we do not factor in the need for recharge of
groundwater. Instead we extract more and more water, leading to scarcity.

The sixth sin is our inability to link investment in watershed and soil
conservation to groundwater recharge. In the past few years, attention
has been paid to building ponds and tanks and to protecting watersheds.
But investment in these assets—coming largely through employment
guarantee schemes—is hardly ever productive. The schemes provide jobs
and do not care about the quality of the work. Watersheds are planted
with trees but protection of trees is not ensured. The tank is desilted,
but the channels or the catchment that bring water to the tank are not.

In this way, we have made droughts perpetual—rain or no rain, money or
no money.

My Response to the Editorial:

Extremely well written and honest analysis of the draught in State of Maharashtra

When I happened to travel in Haryana and Punjab I was delighted to see vast tracts of irrigated land and an intricate canal system which raised lush green crops. When we travel in interior Maharashtra barring a few districts the picture is pathetic. We have dams but very few canals .Water storage in Maharashtra is likely to be for purpose of electricity generation than irrigation. An analysis of percentage will be worthwhile.

There are huge surface water reservoirs held for consumption of city dwellers of Mumbai. This prevents from recharging of ground water due to runoff into the sea after use affecting ground water and wells’ running dry in Western Ghats of Sahyadri in Karjat and Mokhada .It is but natural that locals have threatened to disrupt water supply to Mumbai as they have to walk miles to fetch water. Some women have succumbed to this severe exertion and heat stroke.

Lack of superior and technical ground water survey of large water bodies across districts and state boundaries is another reason for adequate utilization .Here administrative straight jacket comes in way as ground water transgresses such boundaries. Red tape is encouraged and opportunities galore for inaction.

Climate change and fluctuations in rains is now permanent and to cite it as an excuse for mismanagement is unacceptable.

With huge forests becoming privatized it is possible that ground water resources will be available to those who can pay for the water. Draught in poorer communities then is sure and unavoidable.

Sensitizing farming communities about rain water harvesting, recharging ground water through controlled usage and liaison with labor ministry to execute meaningful projects at local Panchayat  may be some of the thrusts .