Breaking the Agrarian Impasse in Eastern India: Understanding the Land-Water-Energy-Food Nexus

The fact that irrigation has acted as a key driver of agricultural growth and poverty reduction in many regions in India has motivated many researchers to aggressively lobby for subsidized power connections for wells and free or subsidized electricity in the farm sector as a ‘silver bullet’ for breaking the agricultural stagnation and reducing rural poverty in eastern India, under the pretext that it would help poor small and marginal farmers in this water abundant region to access well irrigation at affordable costs.