Did you know that it takes 5,000 litres of water to grow 1 kg of rice? And did you know that India – increasingly a water deficient country – merrily exports rice to more than 170 countries. In fact, we learnt from Anant Prakash’s nerve shattering story of policy incompetence that, “India is the world’s biggest exporter of basmati rice, supplying nearly three out of every four plates consumed globally.” No prizes for guessing that India’s rice exports go to water deficient countries:
“The majority of it reached nations like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE, and the Republic of Yemen in the Middle East and North Africa, the world’s most water-stressed region.
These five countries alone buy nearly seven out of every 10 bags of basmati rice that India exports.
Eight out of every 10 individuals in the Middle East and North African region face extremely high water stress, meaning demand exceeds supply, leading to overuse and depletion of water resources. In South Asia, where all the basmati is grown, seven out of every 10 individuals is exposed to extremely high water stress.
People in these regions use at least 80% of their renewable water supply. It leaves little room for emergencies like droughts that slow down natural water recharge and put the region’s water security at immediate risk.
Sardara Singh Johl, an eminent economist and a Padma Bhushan laureate, India’s third-highest civilian award, sees the trade and movement of water-intensive crops from one region to another as water trade.
He says, “We are pumping water out from the ground, and day by day, it’s going down. It’s going into grains and moving out of state.””
Mr Prakash points out that the water depletion situation is the worst in the state which grows most of India’s Basmati: “Punjab produces the largest quantity of basmati rice, followed by Haryana and other states. In 2023, Punjab accounted for four out of every 10 bags of basmati rice produced in India.
In 2023, Amritsar and Tarn Taran emerged as the top two biggest producers of basmati rice, followed by Fazilka, Muktsar, and Sangrur.
These five districts together account for half of the state’s basmati production…
However, the rapidly declining water table—dropping over a metre annually in some districts, including in Sangrur, a leading basmati-producing region—raises serious concerns about its long-term sustainability…
Punjab has the second highest groundwater extraction rate in India after Uttar Pradesh, primarily for irrigation, according to five assessments conducted between 2013 and 2023 by the Central Groundwater Board of India (CGWB)…
The CGWB provides these assessments at the block level as well and classifies each unit as safe, semi-critical, critical, over-exploited, or saline based on their rate of extraction.
‘Over-exploited’ means more water is being pumped out from groundwater aquifers than their natural rate of replenishment.
In each assessment conducted from 2017 to 2023, six out of every 10 assessment units in Punjab have been classified as ‘over-exploited.’
Districts like Sangrur, Ludhiana, and Jalandhar have consistently ranked among the top five consumers of groundwater for irrigation in all. assessments from 2013 to 2023. They are also some of the top producers of basmati rice.
Out of the five leading basmati producers, groundwater levels in three districts are in either critical or over-exploited categories.” To figure out how Punjab can extricate itself from the mess it finds itself in, the author turns to Sardara Singh Johl, an eminent economist and a Padma Bhushan laureate: “Johl, now in his late nineties, explains how Punjab got to this dire state.
In the 1970s, the government was eager to increase production and introduced the minimum support price (MSP) policy to both stabilise prices and help farmers with their income. It also created multiple agencies from the Agriculture Prices Commission (now called the The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices) to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Public Distribution System to cover the whole supply chain, from production to procurement, storage, and distribution, he said.
It created an environment where the area under paddy and wheat grew unchecked. The beginning of basmati exports also encouraged its production.
He believes a policy overhaul is long overdue.
“A policy should not be and is never static; it must be dynamic. At the time, the policy was appropriate, but we didn’t change it over the years. As a result, we landed into these problems.”…
The state, to reduce the growing stress on its groundwater resources, has enacted the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act. This prohibits farmers from cultivating paddy before a date notified by the authorities.
“Earlier, farmers used to sow paddy in the first week of May. It was a dangerous practice for groundwater depletion. Then, in 2009, the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act was passed to prevent early paddy cultivation,” recalls Aulakh. “This was necessary because, during the summer months, the low relative humidity causes significant water loss through evaporation. However, with the arrival of the monsoon, cooler air and moist soil help reduce evaporation, conserving water for the crops.”…
The central government is running schemes such as Per Drop More Crop to save groundwater by making irrigation practices efficient. The programme funds farmers to install micro-irrigation systems like drip and sprinkler irrigation.
Under this scheme, small and marginal farmers can receive 55% financial assistance, while other farmers get 45%. Additionally, some states offer extra incentives or top-up subsidies to encourage farmers to adopt micro-irrigation.”
However, experts are not optimistic that these measures will solve the problem. They predict something more stark: “Johl, the economist, issues an even starker warning. He says, “there will be no water left in the next 30 years even for drinking if we continue on this path. Some scientists estimate it’s even worse; in 15 years, Punjab might not have any drinking water left.””
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