Plan panel suggests cap, tax on groundwater usage

India's groundwater resources are vanishing. And, at a rate that is being considered far too dangerous for a country which has perhaps the highest rates of extraction of groundwater.

Agriculture remains the major recipient of groundwater.

The Indian government is now thinking of bringing in a cap and a tax on groundwater usage so that its indiscriminate use for irrigation is discouraged. The move is expected to help preserve the fast depleting groundwater levels across the country.

The Planning Commission is working on a new groundwater bill and water framework law for the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period that begins next year. The bill is expected to include several other sweeping changes to arrest the decline in groundwater levels.

Planning Commission Member Mihir Shah recently made a presentation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in which he suggested that without legal reform, "mining of groundwater will be impossible to control".

Over-extraction of groundwater has lowered the water table to dangerous levels across several states, the mid-term appraisal report of the Eleventh Five-year Plan has warned.

Last year, a World Bank report too had also warned that overexploitation of groundwater in India was rampant and 60 per cent of all aquifers in the country could run dry in 20 years or will be in a critical condition.

A Central law that regulates groundwater usage is much needed. But, it will not be an easy task. There are several laws governing water in India. And, water remains a state subject too.

Political compulsions could undermine a move to bring harmony on this front. But, a beginning has to be made.

ON its part, Planning Commission has suggested that a National Water Commission, a central regulator monitoring investment clearances for water projects, should be set up to affectively gauge and incentivize state compliance.

Some states are already charging for irrigation from canals and dams and use the money for maintenance work. But, groundwater usage remains largely out of tax ambit in several states.