Critically analyse the role of subsidised electricity in agricultural groundwater depletion. Is withdrawal of such subsidies a feasible solution?

Free or heavily subsidised farm power pushes the marginal cost of pumping towards zero, converting a common-pool aquifer into an unpriced input. The 2025 Dynamic Groundwater Resources Assessment records 730 of 6,762 units (10.8%) as 'over-exploited' [1]. Subsidised power is a powerful driver of this depletion, but not its sole cause — hence withdrawal alone is neither sufficient nor politically feasible.

How subsidised power drives depletion

• Zero marginal cost: pumping is limited only by pump capacity, not cost. Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan all show a stage of extraction above 100%, among the highest in India [2]; Punjab's is about 152%, with roughly 72% of its 153 blocks in the red zone [3].
• Energy–water vicious cycle: falling tables require deeper submersible pumps, raising both energy use and the subsidy bill, which in turn subsidises deeper extraction [6].
• Regressive outcome: wealthier farmers can chase falling water tables with deeper tube wells and extract more, while marginal farmers — though more water-efficient — are forced to buy water [3].

The critical counterpoint: power is not the whole cause

• MSP-backed procurement makes paddy the low-risk crop; diversification falters for want of assured price, storage and processing chains [3].
• Institutional gaps: Atal Bhujal Yojana (₹6,000 crore, seven States) promotes micro-irrigation, crop diversification and feeder separation [4] — yet excludes Punjab, the most stressed State. Without metering and feeder separation, even priced power cannot be enforced.

Feasibility of withdrawal

• Against: it hits incomes in a sector already bearing thin margins, is electorally unviable, and shifts the cost of a national food-security choice onto a few States.
• Workable middle path: Punjab's Paani Bachao Paisa Kamao retains free power within a seasonal quota and pays cash for unused units, cutting water and electricity use by about 30% in pilot feeders [5]; NITI Aayog–World Bank favour grid-connected solar to alter pumping economics rather than punitive pricing [6].

Depletion is driven by the incentive structure, not electricity pricing alone. The way forward is to reform the reward rather than abruptly raise the price — DBT for electricity with higher per-unit rewards for small holdings, universal metering and feeder separation, extension of Atal Jal to Punjab, and procurement support for alternative crops. This aligns food security with SDG 6.4 on water-use efficiency and sustains, rather than sacrifices, the Green Revolution's gains.