Agricultural production in India has increased through green renaissance, growing high-yielding varieties of crops and adopting scientifically improved soil fertility management, water management, plant protection and crop husbandry technologies during the past three decades.
Integrated approach

Businesses related to water may lack the glamour of sunrise sectors like education and healthcare, but it has attracted over 500 crore in private equity in the past year. The trickle will turn into a flood, says Ahona Ghosh. The inability of the state to deliver on basic services has nurtured many a business: inverters and bottled water, to name just two. A third one is beginning to flourish: water purification and waste-water treatment.

JAIPUR: The state government will receive Rs 630 crore as loan from French Development Agency (AFD) for Jodhpur water supply project, which is estimated to cost Rs 740 crore. The project aims to augment and extend the present system for meeting the water demand of Jodhpur city till 2029.

An MoU regarding this was signed between joint secretary, economic affairs, ministry of finance Prabodh Saxena and additional chief secretary PHED, government of Rajasthan in the presence of French Ambassador Francois Richier on Thursday in New Delhi.

An urban drinking water supply project worth Rs.740 crore will be launched shortly in Jodhpur — the second biggest city in Rajasthan — with loan assistance to be provided by L'Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the French public institution releasing development finance to various countries.

In a transparent attempt to offload the responsibility of providing drinking and potable water to the people, the Ministry of Water Resources has said privatisation of water supply is the way forward.

In its draft National Water Policy of 2012 released on Tuesday, the ministry has proposed that the State shift its onus of being a ‘service provider’ to being a ‘facilitator’ for supply of water to citizens.

Having burnt its fingers over the Teesta river water agreement with Bangladesh, that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stalled, the draft National Water Policy (NWP) envisages “consultative association with riparian states” while negotiating such deals over trans-boundary rivers. “Negotiations over sharing and management of water of international rivers should be done on a bilateral basis in consultative association with riparian states, keeping paramount national interest,” the policy says, asking the government to establish appropriate mechanisms at the Centre for this.

An integrated approach to supply and demand side water management is the best response to water stress and climate change, experts from Australia and India pointed out at a panel discussion here on Wednesday.

With the success story of integrated approach in the Murray-Darling basin, the Australian experience in water management is seen as a natural area of collaboration with India.