Negative Impacts of Emerging Informal Groundwater Markets in Peninsular India: Reduced Local Food Security and Unemployment

Halanaik Diwakara and N. Nagaraj ()
Additional contact information
N. Nagaraj: Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India

Journal of Social and Economic Development, 2003, vol. 5, issue 1, 90-105

Abstract: In peninsular India, water remains an extremely critical and valuable resource because of its scarcity. Being a semiarid region, demand for irrigation water competes with increasing demands from other sectors such as domestic and industrial uses. This paper analyses the impact of groundwater transfer from rural to urban areas on local food security and employment. We argue that groundwater trading from peri-urban to urban centres has led to ‘overdraft of groundwater,’ inflicting damage to the local economy such as unemployment, out-migration of labourers, and local food insecurity. Based on the results, we propose some policy measures to regulate groundwater extraction and use via water allocation management plans which issue permissible annual extractions, pricing of water on a pro-rata basis to reflect true cost of water, and encouragement of users’ participation in groundwater conservation through watershed development programmes. These regulations should be embedded in local State-based policy evolved under the National Water Policy.

Date: 2003
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.isec.ac.in/JSED_v5_i1_90-105.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sch:journl:v:5:y:2003:i:1:p:90-105

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Social and Economic Development from Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by B B Chand ().