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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Issues in power subsidy and farm distress -Shripad Dharmadhikary, Sreekumar Nhalur & Ashwini Dabadge

Issues in power subsidy and farm distress -Shripad Dharmadhikary, Sreekumar Nhalur & Ashwini Dabadge

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published Published on Jan 22, 2019   modified Modified on Jan 22, 2019
-The Hindu Business Line

Farmers are wrongly blamed for high power consumption. They need incentives for growing appropriate crops

Agitations and loan waivers have brought the economics of agriculture in focus. Much of the discussion is about minimum support price, farmers’ net incomes and debt repayment capacities. However, the inputs side of the issue, especially the role and sustainability of subsidised inputs, also need equal attention if agriculture distress is to be comprehensively addressed. Once such input is electricity supply.

There has been a sharp growth in electricity use in the agriculture sector, especially since the 1980s with consumption rising from 3,465 million units (mu) in 1969 (8 per cent of total consumption) to 173,185 mu in 2016 (17 per cent of total). This is supplied either free or at subsidised rates, and a large part of it is not metered.

Ironically, most of the discussion on subsidised electricity supply to agriculture is on increased cross-subsidy burden on industrial and commercial consumers, massive financial outgo from the State government as direct subsidy, and deteriorating financial health of the electricity distribution companies (discoms).

Another thread is about cheap electricity leading to the unrestrained exploitation of groundwater. Not surprisingly, a major push of power sector reforms has been towards the elimination of subsidies and increasing tariffs for agricultural consumers.

Yet the problem persists and worsens, with neither the farmers, the discoms, nor the governments happy with the situation. Attempts like increasing tariffs, metered connections or financial bailout packages for discoms have not helped. A major reason is that the discourse has largely ignored the crucial role of agriculture in the country and the strong linkages between electricity, water and agriculture. The importance of the linkages is seen from the fact that all of the electricity supplied to agriculture is used for pumping water, mostly groundwater, for irrigation. Close to 85 per cent of pumping energy used in agriculture comes from electricity, the rest being mainly from diesel. The net area irrigated by groundwater increased seven-fold from 5.98 million ha in 1950-51 to 42.44 million ha in 2013-14. In the same period, canal irrigated area rose only two-fold, from 8.29 million ha to 16.28 million ha.

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The Hindu Business Line, 21 January, 2019, https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/issues-in-power-subsidy-and-farm-distress/article26053133.ece


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