India Digs Deeper, But Wells Are Drying Up

India, soon to be the world’s most populous country, is running out of water. Encouraged by cheap electricity doled out by vote-buying politicians, rural Indians have spent the past few decades using electric pumps to suck up and sell the nation’s groundwater reserves. Such water harvesting has provided poor Indians with a steady stream of cash, but ill-timed droughts can leave Indian aquifers perilously depleted. Even wetter regions like Punjab suffer – bad news for a country that relies on irrigated crops to feed its people. The government of Manmohan Singh faces a challenge as it strives to balance India’s need to feed its people with its need to conserve water, as well as reining in the lower-level politicians whose patronage has exacerbated the shortages. For India to quench its thirst for water in the future, it must find ways to harvest rainfall more effectively – and elect politicians who do not simply say “aprés moi, la sécheresse.” – YaleGlobal