India, April 23 -- Sattaiah, a farmer in Shivampet village of Medak district in Andhra Pradesh , dug another borewell to save his standing crop from drought as his existing borewell had dried up in January. Like his previous one, the new alternative, too, failed and he incurred huge losses. Studies conducted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the World Bank prove that groundwater-irrigated farms have twice the crop productivity as compared to rain-fed farms. However, groundwater must not be over-exploited as it is a natural resource with limited availability.
In this context, is the Telangana Government's scheme to provide round-the-clock power supply to 2.3 million farmers for free just another populist policy? Or is it a ...