| |
Can Andhra Pradesh afford such extravagance?
In Andhra Pradesh, Naidu is out and Reddy is in. And going by the
fledgling
government's latest announcements, aggressive wooing of farmers is
definitely the trend that is in. YS Rajashekhara Reddy's poll campaign
primarily hinged on his promise to provide free electricity to farmers.
Barely two days after he was sworn in, the new chief minister passed
an order making good his promise. He waived tariff arrears of farmers
and provided free supply of power to the agricultural sector. Clearly,
this is slated to be the star programme of the Reddy regime.
Focussing on farmers is a welcome move. It has been established beyond
doubt now that one of the key reasons of the erstwhile government's
unceremonious ouster by a sullen electorate is its failure to protect
the interest of this community. But Reddy will do well to exercise
a degree of caution before initiating such major policy decisions.
For history proves that the government's energy policy vis-à-vis
the agricultural sector is critical for the health and sustenance
of the state's natural resources -- especially groundwater. Free power
supply encourages unlimited and unmonitored use of pumpsets and spawns
millions of tubewells. And this inevitably results in drastic depletion
of underground water reserves.
Take Tamil Nadu for instance. Here, the state government made power
supply free to farmers in 1991. Result: enormous leap in groundwater
extraction and alarming growth in the depletion rate. In Tamil Nadu,
water levels have fallen by 70m in just the last 15 years. Landed
farmers not only use water from their wells to irrigate their own
fields, but also sell it to neighbours who do not own land. In short,
the government's liberal power policy actually sustains a thriving
groundwater market! Andhra Pradesh certainly cannot afford such extravagance.
Already the state's groundwater reserves are severely stressed, due
largely to a rapid growth in the number of tubewells - from 0.8 million
wells in 1975, to 2.2 million by 2001. And this number does not account
for the
unregistered wells that have mushroomed across the state. The impact
of this is beginning to show. A Central Ground Water Board (CGWB)
survey shows Andhra Pradesh is the only state in India where all districts
have recorded more than a 4-metre drop in the groundwater table in
the past two decades. In this scenario, the abolition of power tariff
is bound to have a catastrophic effect on the state's dwindling resources.
The Naidu government had sought to control the rampant extraction.
The Andhra Pradesh Water, Land and Trees Act -- constituted in 2002
-- had set up a nodal authority whose mandate was to "regulate
exploitation and use of groundwater." Unfortunately, the body
was tied down with bureaucratic red tape, and its performance till
date is nothing to write home about. But the groundwork has been laid
for the Reddy regime to build upon. Blindly reversing everything that
Naidu initiated would be a classic case of throwing the baby out with
the bath water. And Andhra Pradesh is in no position to lose the baby,
or for that matter, even a drop of water.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
