India10
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Agriculture: Big Water Use, Big Water Savings
As in much of the world, farmers in Punjab, an agricultural state known as the “breadbasket of India,” grow rice via flood irrigation. In this method, fields are flooded with several centimeters of water in order to kill weeds. When the water dries, the field is flooded again – up to 40 times per season. Clearly this uses a…
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India: Seminar on Increasing Water Efficiency in Agriculture Sector
Government and Industry leaders in India met last week at a national forum on water use in agriculture, organized by the Confederacy of Indian Industry. According to the press release, they were in agreement on the need to link water efficiency with agricultural production.
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Punjab Farmers Adapt to Shrinking Water Supply
Often referred to as the granary of India, Punjab is now slowly drying out. And though many farmers are deeply worried over the prospects of producing enough food, some of the more entrepreneurial ones are adopting new ways to conserve water while bracing for what will be a drier future. Back in the 1970s India…
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Public water means water savings
On February 12, Columbia Water Center staff had the opportunity to hear a presentation from Sheetal Sekhri, an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia Department of Economics, on ‘The Impact of Public Groundwater Provision Schemes on Water Tables: Evidence from Rural India’. Staff engaged her in a spirited discussion of the results of her…
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India boosts climate data contribution to IPCC
“A scientific network set up recently by India’s environment ministry will contribute formally to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the country’s prime minister has announced.
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Punjab: Less Water, More Money (Part 3)
In previous weeks, I began the story of declining groundwater tables in India. In the first post, I talked about the current system of subsidized energy, the need to change it, and the willingness of farmers to adapt to such changes. The second post talked about the possible benefits and methods of direct seeding for…
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Punjab: Less Water, More Money (Part 2)
Last week, I began the story of declining groundwater tables in India. I talked about the current system of subsidized energy, the need to change it, and the willingness of farmers to adapt to such changes. Even before changing the irrigation in the crop’s lifecycle, however, an initial step that farmers can take starts with…
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Punjab: Less Water, More Money (Part 1)
In an earlier blog, I highlighted the story of declining groundwater in many parts of India. This story is one of agricultural intensification and widespread groundwater pumping, facilitated by highly subsidized or free electricity. As the Government of India sought food security for the nation, it promoted the procurement of rice and wheat from the…
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Water Reflections: Crisis of water supplies in New Delhi, India
Written in collaboration with Meghna Bhattacharjee. Failed monsoon rains put a cloud over the Columbia Water Center’s journey to India this summer. Soaring temperatures hitting 40 degrees Celsius with 100% humidity made for a hazy sweltering experience which begged for some precipitous relief. As we traveled around New Delhi from air-conditioned cars to air-conditioned rooms,…
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