For the worst

This round of crops the kharif is probably a lost cause. In parts of South India the harvest,according to the traditional calendar,is already underway so September turning out to be a bit wet wont help. After all,down in Kerala they got together for the harvest festival of Onam yesterday. But a wet September matters,nevertheless. For that rain,too late for Onam,might well make the difference to Pongal,Lohri and Makar Sankranti: the rabi round of crops,planted late in the year and harvested in January/ February,still hang in the balance. As this newspaper has meticulously demonstrated,water levels in major reservoirs around India are currently 27 per cent below the last 10 years average; two-thirds of what they were last year. Drying out reservoirs will certainly affect the rabi crop.

Rain was lowest in Indias northwest,but reservoirs are low countrywide. Areas already under drought West Bengal,for example,the countrys largest rice grower,has just estimated that its rice production will drop by around 10 per cent will be even worse off. So lets get mechanisms in place to deal with worst-case scenarios as soon as possible. The Centres plan to push states in the east and south towards digging a million shallow tubewells is one step that is crucial in providing subsistence farmers in those states with some protection against the worst of the drought.

Of course,there are questions that could be raised: what will tubewells do to groundwater? What will the pricing of power be like? But keep two things in mind. First: when starting from scratch,there are no lobbies already in place that have to be kowtowed to,especially in matters such as free power. Second: that the basic principles are already understood; Montek Ahluwalia,as far back as 2005,pointed out that property rights in groundwater have to be enforced,and mandatory recharging should be introduced. Thus no qualms should slow down the actual digging. Lets get that done.