Trigger Incident
- Kailash Arjun Nagare, a Young Farmer Awardee from Maharashtra, died by suicide on March 13, 2025, due to unaddressed irrigation demands.
- His death highlights the crisis of inequitable access to irrigation and broader systemic issues in water governance in Indian agriculture.
Relevance: GS 2(Governance ) ,GS 3(Agriculture ,Irrigation)
Water Usage in Agriculture
- India uses 80% of its water for agriculture — around 688 billion cubic metres annually, the highest globally.
- Despite this, many farmers lack equitable access to irrigation water due to socio-economic and regional disparities.
Unsustainable Irrigation Expansion
- India accounted for 36% of global unsustainable irrigation expansion (2000–2015).
- Water-intensive crops (rice, wheat, sugarcane) dominate in water-scarce regions like the northwest.
- Environmental and socio-economic impacts are severe due to this unsustainable growth.
Inequity in Access
- Groundwater is the main source of irrigation; access is shaped by land ownership, energy pricing, and water markets.
- Tube well irrigation has increased inequality, especially harming marginalised communities and women.
- Climate change is worsening this divide through declining water tables.
Environmental and Financial Costs
- 17% of groundwater units are over-exploited, and 3.9% are in a critical state.
- Groundwater pumping is responsible for 45.3–62.3 MMT of annual carbon emissions (≈8–11% of India’s total).
- Leads to high energy use, GHG emissions, and environmental degradation.
Efficiency and Productivity Concerns
- India’s irrigation efficiency is just 38%, compared to 55% in developed countries.
- Irrigation Water Productivity (IWP) is low even in high-productivity states:
- Punjab: high rice output, low IWP.
- Tamil Nadu: high sugarcane yield, low IWP.
- Non-optimal practices like continuous flooding in paddy increase emissions.
Way Forward: Technological & Policy Reforms
- Promote water-saving technologies like:
- Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) in paddy.
- Drip irrigation for crops like sugarcane.
- Improve conveyance and application efficiency of irrigation systems.
- Encourage solar-powered irrigation, but regulate use to avoid further groundwater depletion (e.g., grid-connected incentives).
- Implement rainwater harvesting and tailwater storage as supplementary sources.
