Examine the factors responsible for depleting groundwater in India. What are the steps taken by the government to mitigate such…

India is the world’s largest extractor of groundwater, drawing over a quarter of the global total, which has led to severe aquifer stress: the CGWB's 2024 assessment puts extraction at about 60% of annual recharge nationally, with about 11% of assessment units over-exploited, concentrated in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and parts of the south.

Factors Responsible for Depletion

Natural Factors: Spatial-temporal variability and erratic monsoon patterns severely curtail natural recharge. Furthermore, hard rock aquifers across peninsular India have low storage and percolation capacities, which, coupled with limited surface water storage, intensifies reliance on deep aquifers.

Anthropogenic Drivers: Agriculture consumes nearly 90% of extracted groundwater. The dominance of flood irrigation and water-intensive cropping patterns, such as the paddy-wheat cycle in northwestern India and sugarcane in western states, drives over-extraction. Concurrently, rapid urbanization causes surface concretization that blocks recharge, while burgeoning industrial demand further depletes reservoirs.

Mitigation Steps Taken by the Government

Policy Interventions: The National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme (NAQUIM) maps aquifer geometries to facilitate targeted recharge. The Jal Shakti Abhiyan promotes water harvesting, while the Atal Bhujal Yojana incentivizes community-led, participatory groundwater management.

Legal and Regulatory Measures: The Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) enforces extraction guidelines and bans new tubewells in over-exploited and notified areas. The Model Groundwater Bill (2016) provides a framework for state-level regulation and aquifer protection.

Technological Interventions: The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) promotes micro-irrigation (drip and sprinkler), alongside state mandates for rooftop rainwater harvesting and the construction of artificial recharge structures.

Critical Gaps and Finding

An examination indicates that the crisis persists due to structural bottlenecks: unmetered electricity subsidies that incentivize over-pumping, sluggish progress on crop diversification, unresolved inter-state aquifer disputes, and weak CGWA enforcement. Moving forward, sustainable aquifer management requires coupling technical recharge with strict power-tariff rationalization and enforceable demand-side water budgets.