In the monsoon bounty, signs of a looming crisis

The interconnected degradation of land and water, accentuated by the climate crisis, poses an existential threat to India’s food security. It needs urgent redress

- Ananda Banerjee

Blue skies turning to grim grey is an indication of the change of season. From a period of fresh air to deadly smog. This year, the southwest monsoon withdrew from the Indian landmass on October 16, and the northeast monsoon arrived on the same day, ahead of its normal schedule on the eastern coast. An early onset and prolonged monsoon season scored an extra eight per cent of average rainfall with 937.2mm of recorded rainfall from above the normal average of 868 mm.

But what did we do with this extra 8% of surplus fresh water from the skies? For a severely water-stressed country (we are 18% global population with 4% fresh water resources), how much water did we conserve? After all, rainwater is a critical natural resource, and the monsoon remains the backbone of India’s economy and food security.

At the very end of September, just when the southwest monsoon started to retreat from Northwest India, the Union rural development ministry's National Initiative on Water Security drew scant attention in the news cycle. Now, a fixed portion of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) funds has to be earmarked for rainwater conservation. The expenditure on rainwater harvesting has to increase based on groundwater stress levels: 65% for “dark zone” districts, 40% for “semi-critical” districts and 30% for other districts.