Analysis of determinants of groundwater depletion in rice-wheat ecosystems of Punjab- a case of India

Green Revolution brought spectacular growth in three central states of the country: Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Many issues, such as monocropping, groundwater depletion and stagnancy in agriculture production, became major concerns during the 1980s as a by-product of the success of the Green Revolution. In recent years, over-exploitation of groundwater due to the shifting of conventional irrigation from surface to groundwater has shown elevating demand for water for irrigational purposes. Groundwater depletion is one of the burning issues plaguing Indian agriculture. Punjab, our study area, has been flagged as an over-exploited area since the nineties. This study identifies the determinants of poor groundwater conditions in Punjab from 1996 to 2018. The methodology used to establish the relationship between various agriculture-related variables and groundwater depletion is the Feasible Generalised Least Square model as Pooled Ordinary Least Square (POLS), which has inherent problems when it deals with panel data. The study results have shown a positive significant effect of changing cropping intensity, well density, irrigation through tube-well, and use of technology (tractor) on depletion of groundwater. However, change in the area under paddy has shown a negative effect on groundwater depletion due to the Preservation of Subsoil Water Act of 2009. So, it implies that the Government must find alternative ways of reducing the intensive use of groundwater and reframe its agriculture policies.