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Grand announcements and promises but no planning or vision

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Grand announcements and promises but no planning or vision Empty Grand announcements and promises but no planning or vision

Post by confuzzled dude Wed May 25, 2016 9:04 pm

In February, Narendra Modi, the prime minister, pledged to double farm incomes by 2022. But before grand projects and promises, small steps are needed. Rainwater harvesting, an age-old technique for capturing monsoon run-off, can provide the country with reliable water supplies throughout the year. Building check dams on riverbeds will improve groundwater levels. Farmers should be trained and encouraged to switch to drip irrigation. And the government should set a better example as India awaits the rains: when a minister visited Latur last month, local officials wasted 10,000 litres of water scrubbing the helipad for his arrival.
Using subsidised electricity, farmers pump groundwater at will, drawing up more annually than China and America combined. A recent European Commission report counted more than 20m boreholes in India, up from tens of thousands in the 1960s. The water table is falling on average by 0.3 meters and by as much as 4 meters in some places. Water-starved regions often cultivate water-hungry crops like paddy, cotton and sugarcane. Punjab in the north and Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the south continue to squabble over the ownership of rivers. The problem is not lack of adequate water, but its reckless overuse. China, with a larger population, uses 28% less fresh water than India.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2016/05/economist-explains-11

confuzzled dude

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