Telangana positioned better than BJP-ruled States in power supply to farmers, ground water levels

Hyderabad: Telangana’s sound policies on power and irrigation coupled with effective implementation have had major spin-off effect on the ground water levels across the State that has been found to be critical for sustained agriculture practice. Not only has the youngest State in the country managed to pull off what was considered impossible by ensuring 24×7 quality power supply to all sectors, with the farm sector enjoying the additional perk of not having to pay for it, Telangana has also, with prudent management, ensured that the ground water levels are recharged to unprecedented levels.

It is common knowledge that Telangana is one of the very few States in the country which does not bill the farmers for the power they consume for agriculture activities, something that none of the BJP-ruled States can boast of. It is not just merely the power freebie for farmers that has caught the attention but also the fact that the supply is uninterrupted without any drop in quality. Leave alone supplying free or uninterrupted power, most States struggle to maintain quality in power supply.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in a report released on May 17, pointed out that there was an increasing demand for ground water not only from the farm community but also from other sectors which called for increased irrigation efficiency that had become critical for sustainable agriculture. Of the total 19 agriculturally important States in India where the RBI study was conducted, Telangana was the only State providing quality and uninterrupted power free of cost.

Presently, the agriculture sector in Telangana accounts for about 38 per cent of the total power consumed in the State. Supplying free power to farmers costs the State ex-chequer about Rs 850-900 crore per month. Apart from Telangana, States like Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Tamil Nadu do provide free power to the farm sector, well almost, since they impose nominal charges on farmers, but then the supply is for only for limited hours. Certain BJP-ruled States like Karnataka and Gujarat are supplying power to agriculture sector at subsidised tariff.

The RBI report also emphasised the need to redesign the national irrigation policy including promotion of improved technological interventions to correct the inter-State irrigation imbalances. It pointed out that the development of irrigation infrastructure appears to be biased towards certain sources of irrigation, States and crops. It also observed that there was a wide variation among States in terms of affordable irrigation accessibility depending on the ground water availability and extent of subsidy provided by the State governments in the electricity tariffs for agriculture purposes, and in both these areas, Telangana has trumped the remaining States.

The RBI report found that the ground water table was at alarming levels in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu due to excess usage of ground water for irrigation. The report suggested that in States like Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana where the share of tubewell usage had increased at an unprecedented rate, there was a need to revive the traditional sources of irrigation, including tanks, farm ponds, and other water harvesting-cum-irrigation structures, on a larger scale.

Here again, Telangana can take pride in having addressed these issues with foresight right in the formative years of its existence. Due to the proactive measures taken by the Telangana government through Kaleshwaram and other Lift Irrigation Schemes as well as revival and rejuvenation of village ponds and tanks under Mission Kakatiya, the average ground water levels in the State increased significantly and was recorded at 8.73 meters below ground level (m bgl) during April-2022. The net average rise of 0.29 m in ground water level was observed during April-2022 as compared to April-2021.