The Draught Conundrum –Maharashtra

Rainfall in 2015 – 1300mm against All India Avg 1100mm; large variation across regions from 3000mm in Konkan to 882 mm in Marathwada.  

Rajasthan avg rainfall is never more than 400mm.

So what is the problem in Maharastra? It has only 18 per cent of its cropped area under irrigation cover compared to an all-India average of 47 per cent and states like Punjab with 97 per cent.

Is Sugarcane the Culprit?

The 4% land of Maharashtra is under sugarcane but consumes 71.5% of Irrigated water.

Maharashtra has built the highest number of large dams – 1845 dams with height over 15 meters – in the country: having storage capacity of 60 million cubic meters. And invested ~Rs 1,18,000 Crores over the 10 year period of 11th & 12th Plans.

So, investment in irrigation largely is for Sugarcane!

Maharashtra allocates 70-75% of water to agriculture 10-15% for industry and 10% for domestic purposes.

Counter-argument : Sugarcane water economy is interesting.  

Crop                Water Need               Gestation        Harvest           Veg matter

Sugarcane           2150 mm                              365 days               80 tons /ha         15-20 tons

Paddy                   1400 mm                              130 days               9 tons /ha

The crop is 70% water .  Of the 700 litres of Water per ton of Sugarcane supplied to a Mill, 250 liters is used in Boilers for steam and power generation. 250 liters is used up in sugar process. And 200 liters after cooling and processing is recycled for agri use.

Factories in fact end up supplying water. Also bagasse is used for producing power. About 130 kWh can be produced from each ton of cane. Of this only 30-35 kWh is needed for the factory use, leaving 95 units / ton of cane processed for uploading to the grid.

The Clincher : During the 10 years of 10th and 11th Plans (FY03-12), at 2014-15 prices. public expenditure for irrigation in Maharashtra works out to Rs 1,18,235 crore.

During this period, the irrigation potential created (IPC) was 8.9 lakh ha and irrigation potential utilised (IPU) was just 5.9 lakh ha. This gives us the cost of IPU at Rs 20 lakh/ ha.

Compare this with Gujarat, which spent only Rs 46,888 crore (at 2014-15 prices) over the same period and created irrigation potential of 22.5 lakh ha and utilised 17.3 lakh ha, with an IPU cost of only Rs 2.71 lakh/ ha.

For MP, the similar cost works out to Rs 4.26 lakh/ ha over the same period.

So the real issue is not that Maharashtra spent less on irrigation. It’s why its costs are so high (Rs 20 lakh/ ha) compared to MP (Rs 4.26 lakh/ ha) and Gujarat (Rs 2.71 lakh/ ha). Is it really topography or the massive leakages in irrigation systems?

Surely, rakshak hi bhakshak ban gaye !

Amratya Sen belied about Democracy?

''No famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy,'' This, he explained, is because democratic governments ''have to win elections and face public criticism, and have strong incentive to undertake measures to avert famines and other catastrophes.''

Have Maharashtra politicians belied this assertion?  

''Democracies are often run by ethnically based groups prepared to do terrible things to other ethnic groups,'' said Frances Stewart, a professor of development economics at Oxford University. ''Or they can be very corrupt, dominated by elites.''

She added: ''Capitalist, democratic states put the emphasis on the private sector, which doesn't always deliver on social goods. The free press is good on major disasters like classic famines, but it tolerates chronic hunger as much as anyone else.'' To be fully represented, she said, the poor need institutions like trade unions and political parties that speak for them.

Is there an agenda and way forward for parties like AAP, in Prof Stewart's assertions?