Cities are managing to get more water while the majority of people live in villages

Dynamic groundwater resources of India have been estimated using groundwater resource estimation methodology-1997. The methodology uses the water-level fluctuation technique and empirical norms for recharge estimation. The groundwater utilization is also estimated.

Works on Yaragol project that would provide permanent solution to water woes in Kolar district, have been suspended due to infighting among the elected representatives.

Rs 30 crore worth pipes brought for this project work are lying disused near Omkarashrama on Kolar-Bangarpet road.

Long-standing demand

TIRUCHI: The Cauvery Delta Farmers

There is a strong nexus among overutilization of groundwater, subsidized power utility, marketing, minimum support price and procurement policies.

A careful analysis of the computed Agricultural Development Indices for different districts of Orissa reveals that the four coastal districts (Balasore, Cuttack, Puri and Ganjam) and two districts of central table land area (Sambalpur and Bolangir) are agriculturally more advanced than other districts in the three reference years over three decades (1980-81, 1998-99).

In 2005, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) started a three-year research study on

Farmers adapt to changing weather by switching crops Farmers who have to live with the reality of unpredictable rainfall are trying to cope as best as they can. They are experimenting with different crops to see what works. And each time they start new field trials, they incur debts. In Andhra Pradesh, where intense rainfall incidents are increasing, farmers are growing fruit orchards.

In the hard-rock terrains of Peninsular India groundwater resource management cannot be generally achieved through policy and regulatory actions by government, given the extremely large numbers of individually small users and the limited institutional capacity which needs to be focused on that small proportion of critical aquifers at risk of irreversible degradation.

The famous work of Hardin on 'The Tragedy of the Commons' explains why the Common Pool Resources (CPR) or Open Access Resources are over-exploited, degraded or depleted.

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