Though a little late in the day, the government is planning to launch an ambitious scheme to dig over a million shallow tubewells in areas reeling under drought where groundwater has not been over-exploited, to help farmers arrange irrigation for both the standing kharif crop and an early rabi crop.

Senior government sources involved in drought management said the government is planning to dig around 13.34 lakh wells (tubewells/borewells/dugwells) in scanty and deficient rainfall areas this year in regions with untapped groundwater potential, with an investment of about Rs 8,000 crore.

Under the scheme, whose contours and exact details are still being worked out, 25 per cent of the cost of digging the tubewells may be borne by the Centre. The remaining money could be raised by private investment by farmers or state government funding.

State governments, on their part, may choose to extend subsidy component from their fund or also arrange loans for farmers by borrowing funds from NABARD.

The move has been necessitated by the government’s experience in the current drought, where kharif crop could not be sown in large areas in regions like eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar despite their huge groundwater potential. In contrast, Punjab and Haryana managed to save their kharif crop to a large extent despite over-exploitation of goundwater because of the availability of irrigation.

According to statistics available with the Agriculture Ministry, sowing of paddy, the major kharif food crop, is down by over 38 lakh hectares, or 40 per cent below last year’s levels, in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

... contd.