Caring for water: Incentivise farmers to save & liberalise import of water – guzzling crops (Ashok Gulati, South Asia Monitor)

Scattered ‘mango rains’ have brought some respite from scorching heat in certain places. Earlier, IMD’s forecast of above normal monsoon rains had given some hope of forthcoming acche din. Yet, a sizeable part of India is still smouldering under the grip of a drought. Bundelkhand and Marathwada are just samples, but in reality more than 250 of India’s 680-plus districts have experienced severe drought, where even drinking water has become a major problem. Wisdom lies in converting this water-crisis into an opportunity to change policies and programmes, so that masses don’t have to suffer again like this. This is feasible only if our policy-makers wake up and start caring for water on a high priority.

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