Maharashtra is on the verge of drought due to very low rainfall in the month of June.And unless compensated by a good amount of rainfall in the rest of the monsoon season it would turnout to be a worst drought since 1971. What pains me,which also establishes the utter incompetency of our political establishment to deliver, is that we are not prepared for a mere 15-20 days delay in the onset of monsoon.What if monsoon refuses to give rain in the rest of the season?Even such an imagination is horrible.Can we afford to take nature for granted? Some irregularities,uncertainty is bound be there.
Then what did the Govt did in all these years? Did the Govt was constrained by cash-strapped? No.In fact in the last decade[2000-2010] the govt of Maharashtra spent a huge amount of 70,000 Crore rupees on irrigation,but the result is an increment of mere 0.1 % [from a meager 17.8 to 17.9 % ] in irrigated land. So the problem lies elsewhere, poor governance!
Our energies,money and time is over-obsessively driven by large irrigation projects.'giganticism' is the problem.The research literature,world over, on the water management has established that watershed development and micro-irrigation is the key.
Another thing which we has to accept is that we can not increase the rainfall.We has to manage with what we get.One interesting fact is that the total rainfall in the konkan region is almost equivalent to what the rest of maharashtra gets. But the unfortunate thing is that substantial amount of water in the konkan goes to the sea. It is high time that we harness environment-friendly technology to transfer the surplus amount of water in the konkan region to the rest of maharashtra.But it requires political determination and visionary leadership.
Then what did the Govt did in all these years? Did the Govt was constrained by cash-strapped? No.In fact in the last decade[2000-2010] the govt of Maharashtra spent a huge amount of 70,000 Crore rupees on irrigation,but the result is an increment of mere 0.1 % [from a meager 17.8 to 17.9 % ] in irrigated land. So the problem lies elsewhere, poor governance!
Our energies,money and time is over-obsessively driven by large irrigation projects.'giganticism' is the problem.The research literature,world over, on the water management has established that watershed development and micro-irrigation is the key.
Another thing which we has to accept is that we can not increase the rainfall.We has to manage with what we get.One interesting fact is that the total rainfall in the konkan region is almost equivalent to what the rest of maharashtra gets. But the unfortunate thing is that substantial amount of water in the konkan goes to the sea. It is high time that we harness environment-friendly technology to transfer the surplus amount of water in the konkan region to the rest of maharashtra.But it requires political determination and visionary leadership.
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