While Punjab offered some comfort to the government during the drought by keeping its paddy sowing levels the same as last year — unlike other rice-producing states — there may be a price to pay. The state has told the Centre that as a consequence of it digging deeper to save its rice crop, the water tables in Punjab have gone down considerably this monsoon and the coming rabi crop may now pose

a problem.

“Depletion of groundwater level” coupled with “lower water levels in reservoirs” are going to be the core issues stacked against its rabi (winter) crop

especially wheat, which contributes substantially to government stocks for its welfare schemes.

“Due to poor monsoon, the groundwater recharge has reduced. The groundwater level in central districts has declined by 1-2.5 meters since June 2009,” the Punjab government told the Union Agriculture Ministry at a rabi conference in the last week of September. The ministry had called the meeting to start early preparations for the forthcoming winter crop, where the government plans to recoup the losses in the kharif crop due to deficient monsoon.

In fact, a study published in Nature using data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) satellite showed the decline in water tables in Punjab during the kharif crop season much higher than the annual average of 33 cm.

An analysis of the data by Grace on Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan led a scientist of the US agency, Mark Rodell, and his colleagues to conclude that groundwater levels in these regions were declining at a rate of 1 metre every

... contd.