[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jodepp/v6y2021i2p252-269.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Policy of Free Electricity to Agriculture Sector: Implications and Perspectives of the Stakeholders in India

Author

Listed:
  • Jin Kathrine Fosli
  • A. Amarender Reddy
  • Radhika Rani
Abstract
The Indian central government is pursuing state governments to replace free power supply to agriculture with the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). This article examined the free power policy from the perspective of various stakeholders and suggested alternate policies based on a field survey in the state of united Andhra Pradesh (AP), India, in the year 2018. The team interviewed all stakeholders: farmers, economists, policy experts, power distribution companies and administrators. The study team also visited four villages in AP and conducted focus group discussions with farmers to record their perceptions and alternative policy choices. The opinions are substantiated and cross-checked with the published sources. Free electricity for agriculture is seen as a lifeline in drought-prone areas as it helped them to expand the area under irrigation and increase incomes. However, many experienced huge capital expenditures in drilling-failed borewells. Other stakeholders opine that free power leads to overexploitation of groundwater, lowering groundwater levels, rising cost of drilling deep and piling up of power subsidies, and expanding water-guzzling crops like paddy even in water scarce areas, failure of borewells leading to farmer’s distress. The study suggests that replacing free power with DBT to farmers will help them maintain their incomes without overexploiting water resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Jin Kathrine Fosli & A. Amarender Reddy & Radhika Rani, 2021. "The Policy of Free Electricity to Agriculture Sector: Implications and Perspectives of the Stakeholders in India," Journal of Development Policy and Practice, , vol. 6(2), pages 252-269, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jodepp:v:6:y:2021:i:2:p:252-269
    DOI: 10.1177/24551333211025203
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/24551333211025203
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/24551333211025203?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rajendra Kondepati, 2011. "Agricultural Groundwater Management in Andhra Pradesh, India: A Focus on Free Electricity Policy and its Reform," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(02), pages 375-386.
    2. Kleemeier, Elizabeth, 2000. "The Impact of Participation on Sustainability: An Analysis of the Malawi Rural Piped Scheme Program," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 929-944, May.
    3. Shah, Tushaar & Ul Hassan, Mehmood & Khattak, Muhammad Zubair & Banerjee, Parth Sarthi & Singh, O.P. & Rehman, Saeed Ur, 2009. "Is Irrigation Water Free? A Reality Check in the Indo-Gangetic Basin," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 422-434, February.
    4. Alaerts, G.J., 2020. "Adaptive policy implementation: Process and impact of Indonesia’s national irrigation reform 1999–2018," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    5. Garg, N.K. & Dadhich, Sushmita M., 2014. "Integrated non-linear model for optimal cropping pattern and irrigation scheduling under deficit irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 1-13.
    6. Dong Yan & Zhiwei Jia & Jie Xue & Huaiwei Sun & Dongwei Gui & Yi Liu & Xiaofan Zeng, 2018. "Inter-Regional Coordination to Improve Equality in the Agricultural Virtual Water Trade," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, December.
    7. Unknown, 2016. "Energy for Sustainable Development," Conference Proceedings 253270, Guru Arjan Dev Institute of Development Studies (IDSAsr).
    8. Totare, Ninad P. & Pandit, Shubha, 2010. "Power sector reform in Maharashtra, India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 7082-7092, November.
    9. Kar, Gouranga & Verma, H.N. & Singh, Ravender, 2006. "Effects of winter crop and supplemental irrigation on crop yield, water use efficiency and profitability in rainfed rice based cropping system of eastern India," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 280-292, February.
    10. Gaur, Vasundhara & Gupta, Eshita, 2016. "The determinants of electricity theft: An empirical analysis of Indian states," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 127-136.
    11. Baskaran, Thushyanthan & Min, Brian & Uppal, Yogesh, 2015. "Election cycles and electricity provision: Evidence from a quasi-experiment with Indian special elections," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 64-73.
    12. Reena Badiani-Magnusson & Katrina Jessoe, 2018. "Electricity Prices, Groundwater, and Agriculture: The Environmental and Agricultural Impacts of Electricity Subsidies in India," NBER Chapters, in: Agricultural Productivity and Producer Behavior, pages 157-183, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Sharma, Bharat R. & Rao, K.V. & Vittal, K.P.R. & Ramakrishna, Y.S. & Amarasinghe, U., 2010. "Estimating the potential of rainfed agriculture in India: Prospects for water productivity improvements," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 23-30, January.
    14. Patel, Praharsh M. & Saha, D. & Shah, Tushaar, 2020. "Sustainability of groundwater through community-driven distributed recharge: an analysis of arguments for water scarce regions of semi-arid India," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 1-29:100680.
    15. David Mosse, 1997. "The Symbolic Making of a Common Property Resource: History, Ecology and Locality in a Tank‐irrigated Landscape in South India," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 28(3), pages 467-504, July.
    16. Bardhan, Pranab, 2000. "Irrigation and Cooperation: An Empirical Analysis of 48 Irrigation Communities in South India," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(4), pages 847-865, July.
    17. Kumar, M. Dinesh, 2005. "Impact of electricity prices and volumetric water allocation on energy and groundwater demand management:: analysis from Western India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 39-51, January.
    18. Reddy, V. Ratna, 2005. "Costs of resource depletion externalities: a study of groundwater overexploitation in Andhra Pradesh, India," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(4), pages 533-556, August.
    19. Medellín-Azuara, J. & Howitt, R.E. & Harou, J.J., 2012. "Predicting farmer responses to water pricing, rationing and subsidies assuming profit maximizing investment in irrigation technology," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 73-82.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Akber, Nusrat & Paltasingh, Kirtti Ranjan & Mishra, Ashok K., 2022. "How can public policy encourage private investments in Indian agriculture? Input subsidies vs. public investment," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Disha Gupta, 2023. "Free power, irrigation, and groundwater depletion: Impact of farm electricity policy of Punjab, India," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(4), pages 515-541, July.
    2. Briggs, Ryan C., 2021. "Power to which people? Explaining how electrification targets voters across party rotations in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    3. Ghazala Mansuri, 2004. "Community-Based and -Driven Development: A Critical Review," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 19(1), pages 1-39.
    4. Peter Kwadwo Adusei & Eric Oduro-Ofori & Owusu Amponsah & Kwasi Osei Agyeman, 2018. "Participatory incremental slum upgrading towards sustainability: an assessment of slum dwellers’ willingness and ability to pay for utility services," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 20(6), pages 2501-2520, December.
    5. Christian Kimmich & Sergio Villamayor Tomas, 2019. "Assessing Action Situation Networks: A Configurational Perspective on Water and Energy Governance in Irrigation Systems," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 5(01), pages 1-29, January.
    6. Shreyasee Das, 2012. "State Rights over Water and Agricultural Productivity: Evidence from the Krishna Basin," Working Papers 12-03, UW-Whitewater, Department of Economics.
    7. Barbara Pozzoni & Nalini Kumar, 2005. "A Review of the Literature on Participatory Approaches to Local Development for an Evaluation of the Effectiveness of World Bank Support for Community-Based and Driven Development Approaches," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 20203.
    8. Athukorala, Wasantha & Wilson, Clevo & Managi, Shunsuke, 2017. "Social welfare losses from groundwater over-extraction for small-scale agriculture in Sri Lanka: Environmental concern for land use," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(PA), pages 47-55.
    9. Mehta, Tarun & Sarangi, Gopal K., 2022. "Is the electricity cross-subsidization policy in India caught between a rock and a hard place? An empirical investigation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    10. Siwa Msangi & Sarah Ann Cline, 2016. "Improving Groundwater Management for Indian Agriculture: Assessing Tradeoffs Across Policy Instruments," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(03), pages 1-33, September.
    11. Kumar, Tanu & Post, Alison E. & Ray, Isha & Otsuka, Megan & Pardo-Bosch, Francesc, 2022. "From public service access to service quality: The distributive politics of piped water in Bangalore," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    12. Devi, G. Karthiga & Narayanamoorthy, A. & Sujitha, K. S. & Suresh, R., 2023. "Exploring the Determinants of Groundwater Exploitation Among Indian Districts," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), June.
    13. Villanthenkodath, Muhammed Ashiq & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar, 2021. "Does economic growth respond to electricity consumption asymmetrically in Bangladesh? The implication for environmental sustainability," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    14. Madan K. Jha & Richard C. Peralta & Sasmita Sahoo, 2020. "Simulation-Optimization for Conjunctive Water Resources Management and Optimal Crop Planning in Kushabhadra-Bhargavi River Delta of Eastern India," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-20, May.
    15. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Hoang, Thi Hong Van & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar & Roubaud, David, 2017. "Energy consumption, financial development and economic growth in India: New evidence from a nonlinear and asymmetric analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 199-212.
    16. Schlör, Holger & Venghaus, Sandra & Hake, Jürgen-Friedrich, 2018. "The FEW-Nexus city index – Measuring urban resilience," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 382-392.
    17. Cao, Zhaodan & Zhu, Tingju & Cai, Ximing, 2023. "Hydro-agro-economic optimization for irrigated farming in an arid region: The Hetao Irrigation District, Inner Mongolia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    18. Mollik, Sazib & Rashid, M.M. & Hasanuzzaman, M. & Karim, M.E. & Hosenuzzaman, M., 2016. "Prospects, progress, policies, and effects of rural electrification in Bangladesh," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 553-567.
    19. Obsatar Sinaga & Mohd Haizam Mohd Saudi & Djoko Roespinoedji & Mohd Shahril Ahmad Razimi, 2019. "The Dynamic Relationship between Natural Gas and Economic Growth: Evidence from Indonesia," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(3), pages 388-394.
    20. Asongu, Simplice A. & Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2021. "Inequality, finance and renewable energy consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(P1), pages 678-688.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jodepp:v:6:y:2021:i:2:p:252-269. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.