-Down to Earth To reduce the consumption of water and maximise agricultural productivity in the country, the government is trying to introduce different innovations The gap between irrigation potential created, through major and minor projects, and the actual usage is increasing and affecting the country’s agricultural productivity, according to the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), the premier agricultural education and research body under the Union Ministry of Agriculture. "The key challenge facing...

-Newsclick.in The CWMI report, released by NITI Aayog, also pointed out that the larger economic contributors across the country have low water management scores, and this can hamper India’s economic progress. According to the Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) 2019 released by the Niti Aayog on Friday, August 23, even though the states across the country are making progress in water management, the overall performance still remains well below what is required...

-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...

-PTI * India, ranked 13 on Aqueduct's list of 'extremely highly' water stressed countries * 'Water stress is the biggest crisis no one is talking about,' said President and CEO of the World Resources Institute Washington: India is among the 17 countries, which are a home to a quarter of the world’s population, facing "extremely high" water stress, close to "Day Zero" conditions when the taps run dry, according to a report unveiled...

-National Herald Agriculture, food and trade policy expert Devinder Sharma writes: “My understanding is that only agriculture can reboot the economy, sustain millions of livelihoods, and reduce global warming.” At a time when Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz says that neo-liberalism is ‘dead and buried’, and the world as a result is increasingly grappling with the gigantic problems of rising unemployment, gnawing inequality and climatic change reaching a tripping point, agriculture alone has...