Economics & Public Policy
7 mins read

How to Fix India’s Broken Groundwater Governance

Featuring Ashwini Chhatre and Anjal Prakash
New research outlines legal, institutional, and behavioural reforms to address India’s deepening groundwater crisis.
How To Fix India's Broken Groundwater Governance 02
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Ashwini Chhatre
Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy. He is also the Executive Director of Bharti Institute of Public Policy (BIPP). An interdisciplinary scholar, his research explores the intersection of governance, economic development, and environmental sustainability. He focuses on decentralised forest governance, climate change adaptation, and multifunctional agriculture.
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Anjal Prakash
Clinical Associate Professor (Research). He also serves as the Research Director of ISB’s Bharti Institute of Public Policy (BIPP). An experienced researcher and academic, he primarily focuses on water, climate change, urban resilience, gender and social inclusion issues in South Asia.
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India’s domestic water security and agricultural success have long rested on the invisible yet indispensable resource of groundwater. Today, that foundation is crumbling. Decades of unchecked extraction, aided by policy distortions and weak institutional oversight, have pushed groundwater systems across much of the country to the brink.

 

Drawing on our recent study with Noor Kumar, Shriya Thakkar, and Aaditya Dar, we argue that addressing this crisis requires more than piecemeal fixes. It demands a coordinated, evidence-based, and community-anchored policy framework.

 

After all, the scale of the crisis we are dealing with is staggering. Approximately 60% of Indian districts show groundwater depletion, placing nearly a quarter of agricultural production at risk. At the same time, increasing contamination from untreated industrial effluents and agricultural runoff renders groundwater unsafe for drinking, further complicating the challenge. Climate change compounds the problem, altering rainfall patterns and undermining natural recharge mechanisms.