Haryana's Groundwater Crisis Worsened by Subsidised Tubewell Irrigation

Forty-two-year-old Singh, who has primarily grown paddy and wheat on his farm, owns 30 acres of land and has to source water for irrigation from a tubewell as canal water isn't enough. This not only adds a financial burden but may soon be the reason for his family to stop farming altogether.

This ordeal is not just limited to Singh but haunts many other farmers in Haryana. Around 150 km from the national capital Delhi, thousands of acres of farmland sprawl across 22 districts: a scenic landscape that is only possible at the price of a problem percolating below the ground.

A majority of the farmers in Haryana grow wheat or paddy--usually identified as water-thirsty crops or crops that require a lot of water to grow.

As farmers persist in cultivating these crops, they depend on groundwater drawn from tubewells, as the canal channel's water supply remains inadequate. This not only has caused the water levels below the ground to drop but also has far-reaching impacts that eat into the farmers' pockets.

Failure of government policies meant to aid farmers seems to be making the situation worse. Subsidised electricity, poor distribution of canal water, and lack of funding for micro-irrigation means groundwater levels continue to drop as farmers drench fields in groundwater that is running out fast. Districts where subsidised electricity used for agriculture is the highest are among the most water-stressed, and also among the top 10 districts growing paddy and wheat, our analysis shows. If water use is not regulated, the state could soon run out of groundwater to meet the basic needs of the farmers.

Haryana's groundwater: Unveiling the crisis

According to analysis of data published by researchers from the Irrigation and Water Resources Department in Gurugram, and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, groundwater levels have dipped significantly over the past two decades in the state. Data from the Central Ground Water Board also support this reading.

The data show that in the last two decades, groundwater levels have fallen in 16 of 22 districts in Haryana, where the maximum decline was witnessed in Ambala, Kaithal and Karnal.

While groundwater levels continue to decline, data from the National Compilation on Dynamic Ground Water Resources of India show that the annual groundwater available has also decreased by about one-sixth from 2013 to 2023.

Water levels are dropping fastest in the districts most dependent on water-intensive agriculture. Since 2013, seven of the top 10 wheat and paddy-growing districts, which include Karnal, Panipat, Kaithal, Jind, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Sonipat, Ambala, Fatehabad, and Panchkula, have over-extracted groundwater resources for irrigation.

Although farmers haven’t experienced issues related to water scarcity directly, they have admitted to a drop in water levels. “The water is adequate till now but the water levels have dropped and the quality of water has also dropped,” said Singh of Thari village, who has primarily grown paddy and wheat for the last 25 years.

Hidden costs of groundwater crisis eating into farmers’ pockets

While the implications of the decline in water extraction haven’t directly reached the farmers, Hardeep Rai Sharma, assistant professor, Institute of Environment Studies, Kurukshetra University, noted that it still has indirect consequences. Every year, farmers have to drill deeper for water.

“If a farmer has to increase the depth of the tubewell year after year or even after every three years, it will of course come with a cost. Moreover, there is also a chance for water to be saline in deeper aquifers,” he added.

The scenario shared by the experts is a predicament that farmers are facing in Kaithal and Karnal where, they say, they have to bore deeper into the ground to access water.

Boring and installing a new tubewell is expensive: Singh of Thari village has to buy pipes, wires, motors, and starters and has to get permission from authorities to get an electricity connection in case of increasing the load of the motor. In all, it costs around Rs 5 lakh to get a new tubewell installed.

Singh notes that the lack of financial resources adds a burden on small farmers more than others, because the cost represents a large portion of their already marginal earnings. The government categorises farmers into five groups based on landholding: marginal farmers with less than 1 hectare, small farmers with 1–2 hectares, semi-medium farmers with 2–4 hectares, medium farmers with 4–10 hectares, and large farmers with more than 10 hectares. Small farmers can’t afford to install a tubewell, which leads them to take out loans from banks.

“The banks have a cap on the amount they give to the farmers. Usually, a bank can give out a loan of Rs 1 lakh,” says Singh. Many farmers also rely on private lenders for loans which leaves small farmers more vulnerable than others to repay the debt. In December 2024, the Reserve Bank of India increased the collateral-free loan cap for farmers from Rs 1.6 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.

“A small farmer usually struggles to pay off the loan which he might have borrowed to install a tubewell or for other work,” adds Singh. He explains that this forces a small farmer to reach out to private lenders as well to pay off the loan but the mounting toll of debt forces the farmer to either sell off his land or worse, kill himself.

Basawa Singh, a farmer of Barot village, Kaithal, says that he needs to add a 10-foot pipe every two to three years due to declining groundwater levels. The cost of installing a pipe is approximately Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000.

As the situation worsens, the question is--what is making farmers draw so much water from the ground?

An official from the Groundwater Cell, Irrigation and Water Resources Department of Haryana, on condition of anonymity explained that the reason for water depletion in Haryana varies from district to district.

“The biggest reason for the decline in groundwater levels in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat, Kaithal, Fatehabad, and some blocks of Sirsa is because farmers in these districts grow paddy,” said the official.

He noted that the groundwater decline in Mahendragarh and Rewari is due to the scarcity of groundwater, which can be attributed to the rock formation in the soil. Water to be contained in the soil requires alluvial soil, which these districts lack. He further highlighted that the reason for the decline in groundwater in Gurugram and Faridabad is due to industrialisation and infrastructure.

Even though some districts are facing a decline in water levels due to urbanisation or geographical disadvantages, the theme for the majority of the affected areas hinges on what they are growing.

Thirsty crops of Haryana: Wheat and paddy

The two crops that are primarily grown in Haryana are wheat and paddy, both of which require large quantities of water. And the tubewells are used to extract as much water as possible in as short of time as possible, leading to water waste.

“Tubewell is used once every 90 to 100 days for growing paddy. Water for wheat is required once every 21 days.” Sandeep Singh said. “If there is adequate rain then it could also extend for two months for wheat. However, for paddy, tubewell is run daily for 8 hours per day,” he added. He explained that electricity is often cut, which leads the tubewell to run for 5-6 hours.

In Haryana, wheat, a Rabi crop, is grown from mid-October to April. In contrast, paddy, a Kharif crop, is cultivated during the monsoon season from the end of April to mid-June. This means that from mid-October to June, farmers grow these two water-intensive crops.

Not all farmers rely on groundwater as the monsoon and the soil in their farms help keep water requirements lower. Basawa Singh of Kaithal said, “The area of my farm is a flood area, here we don’t need that much water to grow paddy as the soil retains water for a longer period. If it rains two to three times then we don’t need to use tubewell that much. Last year, we had a lot of rainfall which helped in irrigating rice. We barely used tubewells then.”

Haryana's blue water footprint--the amount of surface and groundwater used--for wheat cultivation is 2.86 times the global average, our analysis of data published in a 2010 UNESCO report shows. For paddy, the state’s blue water footprint is 2.75 times the national average and 3.64 times the global average.

Given how these two crops--wheat and paddy--are water-thirsty, the scale of their cultivation in Haryana makes all the difference. As of 2021, three-fifths of Haryana’s farmland was dedicated to wheat and paddy cultivation, our analysis of the data from the Land Use Statistics dashboard shows.

The data from Desiagri, a Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES)--which collects statistics of agriculture and related sectors--show that Haryana was the fourth biggest wheat producer in 2013, slipping to fifth by 2023. Haryana produced just under a tenth of India’s wheat and is the 12th biggest producer of paddy.

While its share in national production is declining, wheat production increased in seven of Haryana’s 22 districts in over a decade. Panchkula, Yamunanagar and Karnal witnessed the highest growth in wheat production.

Paddy production increased in 18 of the state’s 22 districts. The production of paddy doubled in Rohtak, Hisar, Bhiwani and Jhajjhar. Whereas, Jind, Mewat, and Kaithal saw production increase by more than half.

Karnal, Panipat, Kaithal, Jind, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Sonipat, Ambala, Fatehabad, and Panchkula--the top 10 wheat and rice growing districts--together account for more than half of wheat produced in Haryana, whereas these districts account for 70% of Haryana's rice production.

The top 10 paddy and wheat-producing districts are more vulnerable to the water crisis than others.

While the preference for growing wheat and paddy is often attributed to the Minimum Support Price (MSP)--the guaranteed rate at which the government procures these crops--experts say this isn’t the sole reason behind farmers inclination

Virender Singh Lather, former Principal Scientist, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, says that the press and bureaucracy have got it wrong for attributing MSP to be the reason for the increase in paddy and wheat’s growth.

He explained that during the Green Revolution, wheat and rice production increased by more than six times. In six years, there was a six-time increase in production due to technological advancement, which led to an increase in the productivity of these crops.

“The reason for farmers to grow these two crops is because the productivity of these two crops is about 1.5 or 2 times more than other crops. So will the farmer prioritise more on yield or MSP?” questions Lather.

Shifting sources of irrigation away from renewable water sources

In 2001, more than four-fifths of Haryana's arable land was under irrigation. By 2020, nearly all of it was under irrigation.

Farmers in the state have changed the way they source water to irrigate their farms. Analysis of data from Land Use Statistics shows that in the last two decades, Haryana farmers have shifted the way they irrigate their fields. The state has two main sources of irrigation--through the canals or tubewells.

At first glance, all the farms in the state can be differentiated owing to the landscape and the crops that are grown in Haryana. However, one thing that they all have in common are the tubewells guzzling up water on the edges of these farms, irrespective of the connectivity of canal channels.

A tubewell pump in Kaithal. One thing that farms in Haryana have in common are the tubewells guzzling up water, irrespective of the connectivity of canal channels.

Data indicate that between 2000 and 2021, there was a 60% increase in the area irrigated by tubewells, while the area irrigated by canals decreased by 16%.

Of the top 10 wheat and paddy-growing districts, canal irrigation per hectare decreased in six districts, while tubewell irrigation increased in seven.

Speaking about the reliance on tubewells, Singh of Karnal--among the top 10 rice and paddy-growing districts--said, “We have primarily depended on tubewells because the canal water isn’t enough.”

He explained that if there is a farmer with acres of land, he is supplied with an hour's worth of canal water. But one hour of water supply does not meet the irrigation needs of a large farm.

“The water supplied through the canal is very little in quantity. That much water can only be used for an acre. Tubewell is a necessity as canal water is not enough to irrigate our lands,” added Singh.

During his grandfather’s time, he says, they used to use canal water but later, with the introduction of tubewells, they shifted the way they sourced their water for irrigation.

The analysed data from Land Use Statistics show that over the last two decades, 15 of Haryana’s 22 districts saw a rise in tubewell irrigation, while only three districts showed an increase in canal irrigation.

In Thari village in Karnal, a canal channel lies parched and choked with weeds and roots, mirroring the acres of farmland it was meant to irrigate. Just a few metres away is Sandeep Singh’s farm, where his tubewell serves as his sole source of water.

A canal channel in a dilapidated state in Thari village, Karnal. Over the last two decades, 15 of Haryana’s 22 districts saw a rise in tubewell irrigation, while only three districts showed an increase in canal irrigation.

Jagtaar Singher, another farmer of Thari village, said, “We used to use canal water for growing wheat. Earlier, the government had also concretised these channels adequately. However, it has been some time since it has been maintained. There is no supply of water through these channels anymore.”

The issue cuts across Kaithal as well. Basawa Singh of Barot village in Kaithal--another district that ranks among the top 10 cultivators of rice and wheat--said, “I have relied on tubewell for the past 50 years as there is no canal water supply in the area.”

Experts noted that canal irrigation should be sufficient in districts such as Karnal, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Jind, and Yamunanagar, where water is sourced from the western Yamuna canal. But farmers in Karnal and Kaithal claim inadequate supply. This reporter contacted the chief engineer of the Irrigation and Water Resources Department in Haryana for comment on the canal water supply. The story will be updated when we receive a response.

Inadequate canal supply: A compulsion for farmers to choose tubewells

Where canal water is available, water release often does not coincide with farming patterns. Lather of IARI explained that in Haryana, canal irrigation is available only for 45% of the area. The areas where there has been coverage are districts such as Karnal, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Jind, and Yamunanagar, which are reliant on the Western Yamuna Canal.

The Western Yamuna Canal is the oldest and among the top two leading canal water supply sources in Haryana.

He said that although canal water is available, it is not being supplied during peak sowing seasons. “There was an instance between October and November 2024 when the canal supply was closed for 20 days,” Lather recalled. “The reason given was cleaning and maintenance of the canal. Though cleaning is important, they have to note that these were the peak months for sowing. Even if we agree that there is canal water available, it is not being supplied when it is needed most.”

He explained that canal water is released on a schedule based on the parameters of zones. “The issue with this is that when a farmer needs water, the supply is not there. The water comes 15 days later. So the reason for farmers to depend on tubewell is a need-based issue,” Lather added.

Jagtaar Singh of Thari village also had a similar experience last year. “The government designated June 15 as the start of the paddy growing season, and we began transplantation around June 15-20. However, the canal water wasn’t released until the end of July. Throughout the transplantation process, the canal channels remained dry.”

He noted that in a year, canal water is available for only about 50-60 days, and even then, there isn’t enough to sustain paddy cultivation.

The rise of electric tubewells

Tubewells in Haryana are of two types--electric and diesel-powered. The government provides electricity for agriculture on subsidised rates while diesel is sold at market rates. Use patterns suggest the influence of subsidies on unfettered groundwater use. Data show that government-subsidised electric tubewells are favoured over diesel-powered ones.

Installing diesel-powered tubewells isn’t just about the tubewell itself; it also requires investing in a generator, which significantly increases the initial cost. On top of that, operating a diesel-powered tubewell is expensive since it consumes three to four litres of diesel per hour. “To irrigate an acre of land, the tubewell needs to run for three to four hours, which means around 30 litres of diesel would be required to operate the motor for eight hours, considering the typical water requirements for my farm,” says Singh of Thari village.

As farmers favour electric tubewells over diesel, the data from the State Statistical Abstract of Haryana show that over nearly two decades, the number of electric tubewells in the state rose by nearly half, while diesel tubewells saw a 19% increase.

Farmers have credited the subsidy given by the government to pushing them towards electric tubewells. The data from the State Statistical Abstract of Haryana highlight the district-level picture of the rise of electric tubewells.

A tubewell in Thari village, Karnal. Electricity subsidies set off a buying spree of electric tubewells, data show.

Over the past 17 years, the number of electric tubewells has doubled in districts like Jhajjar, Hisar, and Rohtak, whereas in Sonipat, Yamunanagar, and Kaithal, electric tubewells have increased by 50%.

Electricity subsidies set off a buying spree of electric tubewells. Electric tubewells accounted for roughly three-fifths of all tubewells in Ambala, Sirsa, Kaithal, and Faridabad in 2006. By 2022, this proportion had risen to over four-fifths in these districts.

With electric tubewells becoming increasingly common in agriculture, the subsidies act as a lifeline--supporting their use while enabling unabated water extraction by farmers.

Electricity subsidy: Easing water extraction

A flat fee for an unmetered connection and heavy subsidies means farmers can address water scarcity by digging deeper and pumping faster without incurring additional costs. There is no incentive for the farmer to save either electricity or water, and the government is saddled with the bill.

The subsidy given by the Haryana government is based on the brake horsepower or BHP of the pumping motor of the electric tubewell. The BHP of a motor in tubewells determines how powerful the motor is. A higher BHP means the motor is more effective at pumping water. In areas where groundwater levels have dropped more than others, farmers have had to install a higher BHP motor to pump water from greater depths below the earth's surface.

The already subsidised electricity rate for a unit of electricity to agriculture was slashed further by 2021, according to the Distribution & Retail Supply Tariff approved by the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Data show that the electricity rate was 25 paise per Kilowatt hour (kWh or unit of electricity) in 2011. In a decade, the rate was cut to 10 paise for pumping motors up to 15 BHP and 8 paise per kWh for those above 15 BHP. This was the subsidy for metered connection.

For unmetered connections, the fixed charges were reduced from Rs 35 per BHP per month to Rs 15 for up to 15 BHP and Rs 12 for above 15 BHP. The minimum charges for unmetered connections stayed at Rs 200 per BHP per year.

To put things into perspective, in 2022, farmers in Haryana would have paid Rs 6.67 per unit to run motors of any size. With the subsidy, the cost dropped to Rs 0.10 per unit for motors up to 15 HP and Rs 0.08 for motors over 15 HP, reducing the price by more than 90%, according to Central Electricity Authority Book 2023 data.

The farmers in the state are more inclined towards the unmetered connection.

Sandeep Singh of Thari village claims that farmers in Haryana don’t get metered connections. “At least in Karnal everyone has an unmetered connection and pays fixed tariff rates based on BHP,” said Singh.

Singh said that running the tubewell by meter costs more for the farmers. Speaking on the subsidy, he said, “This is a great step by the state government as electricity doesn’t incur a toll on the farmers.”

A tubewell in Barot village, Kaithal. Districts like Kaithal and Karnal where subsidised electricity used for agriculture is the highest are among the most water-stressed, and also among the top 10 districts growing paddy and wheat.

Hardeep Rai Sharma of Kurukshetra University, explained that during his research in Karnal and neighbouring areas, he learned that farmers were not using metered tubewells in the state.

Even though farmers lean on subsidy support, an analysis of data provided from the Economic Survey of Haryana indicates that the number of electricity consumers using tubewells has increased by almost 7% in the last five years.

The electricity consumption in agriculture shows how this subsidy may have burdened the state’s exchequer. Data from the State Statistical Abstract of Haryana indicate that electricity consumption in agriculture has more than doubled in the state over the past decade.

In the last two years, the Haryana government has spent over Rs 10,000 crore to provide subsidised electricity to farmers, suggest data by the Economic Survey of Haryana.

Contextualising the use of electricity on a national scale, Haryana ranks ninth in agricultural electricity usage, according to data from the Agricultural Statistics At A Glance.

The district-level lens shows that the districts where electricity used for agriculture is the highest are districts that are among the most water-stressed and also among the top 10 districts growing paddy and wheat. As of 2022-23, Kaithal and Karnal lead in both the share of electricity used for agriculture within their districts and their contribution to Haryana's overall agricultural electricity consumption, according to the State Statistical Abstract of Haryana.

While data and farmer accounts indicate that it is electricity subsidy that has enabled farmers to switch to tubewells, experts are on the fence.

“Before 1960, we had no electricity but we still depended on artesian wells which were more expensive and required more work at that time. It was farmers' compulsion that led them to depend on it,” noted Lather, the Former Principal Scientist, Indian Agricultural Research Institute.

He added that electricity may have increased the rate at which tubewell is used but even if we shut off electricity, it wouldn’t change a thing. “If the government were to stop electricity subsidies, large farmers would invest in solar pumps and small farmers would club together,” he said. The Haryana government is providing a total 75% subsidy on solar pumps of 3 HP to 10 HP capacity to meet the irrigation requirements of farmers of the state.

Sharma of Kurukshetra University disagrees. “I believe subsidised electricity is a contributing factor in the depletion of groundwater sources,” he said.

He suggested that the subsidised electricity could be based on the classification of the farmers, which would help a small farmer as they depend more on subsidised electricity than large farmers, who have landholdings of 10 hectares or above. “The subsidy should be prioritised and not facilitate groundwater exploitation,” added Sharma.

Sustainable irrigation: Weighed down by gaps

Government efforts to promote more responsible use have not changed the course of Haryana’s water use. The Union government launched Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) in 2015-16 to improve the accessibility of water, as well as improve its efficiency on farms. Under the PMSKY scheme, Per Drop More Crop or PDMC was a component, which aimed to improve water use efficiency at the farm level through micro irrigation.

Micro-irrigation is a method of irrigation where water is irrigated using drippers, sprinklers, foggers and by other emitters on the surface or subsurface of the land. This method is said to be sustainable as it regulates the use of water and doesn’t work like traditional irrigation methods, which enable the overuse of water.

Although the Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) scheme has been implemented nationwide, Haryana--despite being an agriculturally significant state--appears to have gained little from it. An analysis of state-wise data on Central Assistance released under the PDMC scheme and the area covered under micro-irrigation from 2015-16 to 2023-24, as shared by Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Arjun Munda, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, highlights a critical issue: the lack of sufficient Central assistance has hindered Haryana from fully reaping the benefits of the scheme.

The data show that Haryana’s coverage under the PDMC is limited due to significantly lower central assistance compared to states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat, which receive more funding and have better micro-irrigation adoption.

An official from the Micro Irrigation & Command Area Development Authority (MICADA), Haryana, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “The government has not been able to supply central funds at a sufficient level, which is why it hasn’t been picked up at scale. Even though we have excess demand, we are not able to satiate the supply due to funding limitations.”

The reporter has contacted the secretary of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare via email to request comments on the factors influencing funding decisions for Haryana under the PDMC scheme. The story will be updated when we receive a response.

“Micro-irrigation has the potential to solve Haryana’s groundwater crisis. However, central funding needs to be ramped up for the penetration to grow,” he added. The official from the irrigation and water resources department, Haryana, highlighted that the only solution is to make farmers aware of the water issue and provide them with crops which require less water. “We can’t sit in an AC room and blame them,” he added.

We welcome feedback. Please write to respond@indiaspend.org. We reserve the right to edit responses for language and grammar.