A water drops from a tap at a private warehouse of wheat and rice in Makhu, in the Indian state of Punjab, Friday, March 12, 2021. India's water crisis looms over the agrarian crisis that has been brewing for decades. And at its heart is a policy conundrum: India has been subsidizing the cultivation of rice in northern India, but these are thirsty crops that have depleted the ground water.
Every third house in Ransih Kalan — a community of nearly 3,000, less than 100 kilometers from India’s border with Pakistan — bears flags supporting thousands of farmers hunkered down outside New Delhi since November to protest three laws Prime Minister Narendra Modi says will modernize agriculture., leaving them at the mercy of big corporations. The laws don’t address the region’s water crisis.
Farmers turned to well water. When the government started providing free electricity to run well pumps in 1997, Punjab rice raising rocketed — from 500 square kilometers in 1975 to 31,000 square kilometers . Protesting farmers fear the new laws signal that the government wants to reduce its role in agriculture and that guaranteed prices for their crops will end.
Their exploding population is largely responsible for any of the ills in that country. When you can't take care of yourself why do you continue to have more children it's just logical
Its the same story in Ca and Midwest too. This is frustrating to read.
Subsidizing wheat eating North? Sikh vote buying? Another imitation of USA? Divide & conquer?