Extreme heat and weak rainfall are fuelling India’s groundwater crisis far more aggressively than before. Such a scenario would call for crop diversification, along with other measures to conserve sub-surface water, to be taken up on a war footing.

But the picture on the ground – and under it - is quite the opposite, revealing gaps at the policy level.

Crop diversification has not taken off in states like Punjab and Haryana where it is being pushed as a solution. These two states extract the highest quantities of groundwater for irrigation in India. On the other hand, schemes like free electricity and solar power are aggravating the problem.

India remains the world’s largest extractor of groundwater, surpassing China and the US combined.

According to the Ministry of Jal Shakti, India extracts around 245–247 billion cubic metres (BCM) of groundwater annually, while annual groundwater recharge stands at about 446.90 BCM. Agriculture accounts for the overwhelming majority of groundwater use.

Speaking to The Secretariat, Abhijit Mukherjee, Professor of Geology and Geophysics at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, said the policy debate often oversimplifies how groundwater systems function.

“It cannot be solved through one prescription for the entire country. Every region has its own geological and social realities,” Mukherjee said.

Crop Diversification Failing

The groundwater situation is worse in Punjab and Haryana, as these states are among the top groundwater extractors in the country.

In 2025–26, Punjab allocated ₹115 crore for crop diversification with a focus on sustainable maize cultivation. The state expanded paddy-to-maize schemes and introduced incentives of ₹17,500 per hectare. These schemes provide incentives to farmers to replace paddy with maize.

While maize can be a water-guzzler when grown in summer, these schemes specifically promote kharif maize. Sown in the rainy season, kharif maize relies heavily on rainfall, consuming about 80% less groundwater than waterlogged paddy. Currently, 20,000 hectares in Punjab are under maize cultivation.

According to a report by Punjab Agricultural University, Punjab cultivates 32.43 lakh hectares in the kharif season, with paddy occupying nearly 31 lakh hectares in recent years.

So, 20,000 hectares of maize effectively represent barely 0.62% of kharif cultivation. This means diversification exists, but not on a large scale.

Haryana also promoted diversification, aiming to reduce dependence on water-intensive crops. But data suggests that stress remains.

While Haryana has a crop diversification scheme, the total land under rice cultivation has actually expanded in recent years. Between 2020 and 2025, the area under rice cultivation expanded from 15.26 lakh hectares to 18.68 lakh hectares.

Why Farmers Still Prefer Paddy

India’s agricultural system still rewards water-intensive farming.

Paddy cultivation remains economically safer because of assured procurement under the Minimum Support Price system. Punjab and Haryana together contribute nearly 40% of rice procured for India’s central grain pool.

Alternative crops still do not offer comparable procurement guarantees, income stability, or market certainty. Farmers continue to prefer paddy because it provides assured returns and lower financial risk.

In fact, farmers have protested the crop diversification scheme, saying it pushes them away from high-income generating crops. They say the government has failed to maintain natural channels for irrigation.

“This government has failed to maintain natural canals and other streams that provide enough water for irrigation. For years, streams have not been desilted, and now they are pushing us towards crop diversification. We are against it,” P. Krishna Prasad, finance secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha, told The Secretariat.

“Crop diversification also puts food security under threat,” he said.

New Risks For Groundwater

Other factors are aggravating the problem.

Punjab and Haryana operate extensive free or heavily subsidised electricity regimes for agricultural pump sets. This lowers the cost of groundwater extraction. So, lakhs of agricultural pump connections continue operating with little economic restraint.

The expansion of solar-powered irrigation, under schemes that promote renewable energy adoption, is adding to the problem.

While solar pumps reduce diesel dependence and support clean energy goals, they also sharply reduce the marginal cost of groundwater extraction after installation. Once pumping becomes almost free during daytime hours, groundwater effectively turns into a zero-cost resource.

Sohil Barad, Associate Vice President of clean energy firm Ganesh Green Bharat, said, “There is scope for broader adoption of integrated safeguards such as smart metering, groundwater monitoring systems, and data-driven irrigation management. These measures can help ensure that clean energy adoption goes hand in hand with sustainable water usage.”

Groundwater Extraction

Rising temperatures dry out soil moisture faster, increasing the demand for irrigation. At the same time, forecasts of below-normal rainfall have heightened fears that farmers will rely more heavily on groundwater to protect their crops during the upcoming kharif season.

According to the Central Ground Water Board, Punjab recorded groundwater extraction of 156.36% of annual recharge. This means the state extracts far more water than nature replenishes.

In simple terms, for every 100 units of groundwater naturally replenished, nearly 157 units are being pumped out annually.

According to the Central Ground Water Board's (CGWB) “National Compilation on Dynamic Ground Water Resources of India, 2025”, out of Punjab’s 153 groundwater assessment units, 111 units have now been categorised as overexploited, while only 17 units remain under the safe category.

The data further shows that nearly 68.35% of Punjab’s recharge-worthy geographical area now falls under the over-exploited category.

A recent reply in Rajya Sabha by Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Raj Bhushan Choudhary, pointed to declining groundwater trends in Punjab’s districts such as Bathinda, Faridkot, Ludhiana and Patiala.

Nearly 9% of monitored wells in Punjab now record groundwater depths exceeding 40 metres, particularly in Sangrur, Barnala, Patiala, Moga, and Malerkotla districts, indicating deep aquifer stress caused by sustained paddy irrigation.

The groundwater crisis in Haryana is also deepening geographically. The Central Ground Water Board has placed Haryana’s groundwater extraction rate at 136.75%, making it the second-most stressed state after Punjab.

According to the Haryana Water Resources Authority, 88 groundwater blocks in the state are now categorised as overexploited, 11 as critical, and only 36 remain under the safe category.

The Haryana government recently informed the Assembly that the state recorded an average groundwater decline of 5.41 metres between 2014 and 2024. Ambala emerged as the worst-affected district, where groundwater depth declined from around 10.5 metres below ground level in 2014 to nearly 29.25 metres in 2024.

The decline has also been severe across major agricultural districts, including Karnal, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Panipat and Sonipat, where intensive paddy cultivation dominates irrigation demand.

Aquifers Behave Differently

Experts say the groundwater crisis is becoming more complicated because aquifers themselves behave differently across regions.

Mukherjee said, “In Punjab and Haryana, much of the agricultural extraction occurs from deep aquifers exceeding 150 metres. Even if shallow aquifers temporarily recharge during rainfall periods, deeper groundwater reserves may continue declining because sustained pumping during paddy seasons continues unabated.”

“Groundwater is not a single water tank. One aquifer can decline while another improves,” he said.

In Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, shallow aquifers are drying rapidly, while some deeper basalt aquifers show relative stability because extraction patterns differ across geological layers.

Unlike Punjab’s natural alluvial landscape, made of loose sand, gravel, and silt that acts like a giant underground sponge, Vidarbha sits atop Deccan basalt formations where shallow and deep aquifers are often hydraulically disconnected. This means surface drought conditions do not always reflect deeper groundwater realities.

India’s groundwater crisis is no longer only an agricultural issue. It is increasingly becoming a climate-related issue, an energy policy challenge, and a governance problem unfolding simultaneously.

Unless crop diversification moves beyond pilot schemes into deeper structural reforms, backed by irrigation planning and groundwater regulation, every heat wave and every weak monsoon will push India’s aquifers closer towards irreversible depletion.