06-29-2005, 02:01 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Make farmers pay </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
On the face of it, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia's recommendation to the State Governments that they should charge farmers for the water they use is eminently sensible and the right thing to do. Some State Governments do charge a levy of sorts at present, but the total intake is far too meagre and does not add up to even a quarter of the operational and maintenance costs.
As a result, irrigation departments across the country are perpetually starved of funds; leave alone heavy investments in new irrigation projects, they are barely able to keep the existing schemes alive. If the Indian farmer has to be freed from the vagaries of the monsoon, then alternative irrigation facilities have to be created. And, the only way to do that would be to generate adequate resources, the bulk of which must come from the beneficiaries. State Governments are in full agreement with this in principle, but rare is the political party that has the gumption to make farmers pay for the water they use. Good economic sense, beneficial to both farmers and the state, therefore, is subsumed by political expediency. Ironically, small, marginal and landless farmers, who comprise the majority in rural India, do not benefit from the misguided patronage extended by those in power.
As Mr Ahluwalia has pointed out, rich farmers are the real beneficiaries of the state's largesse - be that in the form of free water, free power or subsidised fertilisers. Hence, in the guise of serving the have-nots, our political parties are actually pandering to India's rural elite. It can, of course, be argued that voting preferences in India's villages are dictated by this very elite, but that would only reinforce the larger point Mr Ahluwalia has made at the National Development Council meeting on Monday: Chasing short-term benefits that accrue from vote-bank politics, instead of seeking long-term gains that flow from prudent economic policies, has become the bane of our decision-making process.
There is another aspect to the issue of water usage by farmers that should cause concern to everybody. The unregulated and rampant use of groundwater by sinking bore-wells is the perfect recipe for an unmitigated disaster that stares India in the face. With State Governments, especially those controlled by the Congress, providing free or highly subsidised power to farmers, or worse, writing off their dues on account of unpaid power bills, as has been done in Haryana, there is increasing use of bore-wells for irrigating water-guzzling crops.
This pattern has reached an alarming proportion in Punjab where water-intensive paddy is being cultivated to the exclusion of other low water-consuming crops. The Union Government must shoulder the blame for this skewed crop pattern: The high minimum support price for paddy is a temptation that farmers are unable to overcome. Water, especially ground water, is a national resource and must be harnessed and used in the most judicious manner. Our much-vaunted self-sufficiency in food grains production depends on this crucial input.
Playing politics with water is nothing short of striking at the heart of India. Mr Ahluwalia's recommendation can put in place a major corrective, but that will be possible only if there is matching political will. The UPA Government is yet to signal that it has the courage to put an end to short-sighted water politics. Till it does so, such bright ideas will amount to nothing more than putting the cart before the horse.
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The Pioneer Edit Desk
On the face of it, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia's recommendation to the State Governments that they should charge farmers for the water they use is eminently sensible and the right thing to do. Some State Governments do charge a levy of sorts at present, but the total intake is far too meagre and does not add up to even a quarter of the operational and maintenance costs.
As a result, irrigation departments across the country are perpetually starved of funds; leave alone heavy investments in new irrigation projects, they are barely able to keep the existing schemes alive. If the Indian farmer has to be freed from the vagaries of the monsoon, then alternative irrigation facilities have to be created. And, the only way to do that would be to generate adequate resources, the bulk of which must come from the beneficiaries. State Governments are in full agreement with this in principle, but rare is the political party that has the gumption to make farmers pay for the water they use. Good economic sense, beneficial to both farmers and the state, therefore, is subsumed by political expediency. Ironically, small, marginal and landless farmers, who comprise the majority in rural India, do not benefit from the misguided patronage extended by those in power.
As Mr Ahluwalia has pointed out, rich farmers are the real beneficiaries of the state's largesse - be that in the form of free water, free power or subsidised fertilisers. Hence, in the guise of serving the have-nots, our political parties are actually pandering to India's rural elite. It can, of course, be argued that voting preferences in India's villages are dictated by this very elite, but that would only reinforce the larger point Mr Ahluwalia has made at the National Development Council meeting on Monday: Chasing short-term benefits that accrue from vote-bank politics, instead of seeking long-term gains that flow from prudent economic policies, has become the bane of our decision-making process.
There is another aspect to the issue of water usage by farmers that should cause concern to everybody. The unregulated and rampant use of groundwater by sinking bore-wells is the perfect recipe for an unmitigated disaster that stares India in the face. With State Governments, especially those controlled by the Congress, providing free or highly subsidised power to farmers, or worse, writing off their dues on account of unpaid power bills, as has been done in Haryana, there is increasing use of bore-wells for irrigating water-guzzling crops.
This pattern has reached an alarming proportion in Punjab where water-intensive paddy is being cultivated to the exclusion of other low water-consuming crops. The Union Government must shoulder the blame for this skewed crop pattern: The high minimum support price for paddy is a temptation that farmers are unable to overcome. Water, especially ground water, is a national resource and must be harnessed and used in the most judicious manner. Our much-vaunted self-sufficiency in food grains production depends on this crucial input.
Playing politics with water is nothing short of striking at the heart of India. Mr Ahluwalia's recommendation can put in place a major corrective, but that will be possible only if there is matching political will. The UPA Government is yet to signal that it has the courage to put an end to short-sighted water politics. Till it does so, such bright ideas will amount to nothing more than putting the cart before the horse.
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