Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Paddy, tube wells and depleting groundwater: Why Punjab's water resources are under strain -Vikas Vasudeva

Paddy, tube wells and depleting groundwater: Why Punjab's water resources are under strain -Vikas Vasudeva

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Aug 17, 2019   modified Modified on Aug 17, 2019
-The Hindu

Rice cultivation in Punjab, which thrived in the past due to the easy availability of water resources and free supply of electricity to farmers, is under considerable strain now. Vikas Vasudeva examines how overexploitation has made groundwater not only scarce but also increasingly alkaline.

Gurmeet Singh, 60, a tall land-owning farmer in Bhattiwal Khurd village, which is located in Punjab’s Sangrur district, has yet again planted the water-guzzling paddy crop this summer (kharif) as he is sceptical of any other crop fetching him a remunerative price.

Standing on the edge of the Ghaggar branch canal, which flows barely a few metres away from his field, Gurmeet reveals that hardly anyone in the village irrigates his/her field with canal water. That is because motor-operated tube wells, with their powerful submersible pumps, have become an easy and preferred choice for most of the households to extract groundwater, he says.

Punjab’s policy of providing free electricity to farmers, in place since 1997, along with the Central government’s favourable attitude towards paddy cultivation, are the key factors that have motivated farmers like Gurmeet to persist with paddy, despite the grave groundwater crisis faced by the State.

Please click here to read more.

The Hindu, 17 August, 2019, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/paddy-tube-wells-and-depleting-groundwater/article29112950.ece?homepage=true


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close