Groundwater Institutions and Governance in North India: Cases of Hoshiarpur and Jammu Districts

Intensive use of groundwater, lack of adequate planning, legal framework and governance has posed a great threat to sustainable use of groundwater resources in Punjab. More or less similar has been the situation in Jammu District of Jammu and Kashmir. Keeping the above scenarios in view, a study of institutions for groundwater governance became essential in both these North Indian States. The primary data and information have been collected from 180 water users each in agriculture from Jammu district of Jammu and Kashmir State and Hoshiarpur district of Punjab State. The study reveals that energy subsidies to agriculture have resulted in over pumping of groundwater, declining water table levels, failure of tube-wells, and increasing diesel run pumping costs, with serious environmental consequences. Minimum support price for paddy, wheat and sugar had greater influence on groundwater use. Uncertainty of monsoon and existence of groundwater markets add further stress to groundwater resources. Therefore, there became a need for a gradual phasing out of cross-energy subsidies. Conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water has been suggested for achieving much greater water-supply security, larger net water-supply yield and better timing of irrigation-water delivery.