Introduction:

Agrarian distress is real and persisting, water is growing into an ever bigger human crisis, state power sector has once again managed to bring itself on the edge of the precipice.

The human and fiscal cost of the downward-spiralling nexus between energy, water, and agriculture is staggering.

India cannot address its water and energy economy without addressing agrarian distress and finding non-agriculture income options.

Connecting the solar irrigation pumps to the grid to sell surplus electricity provides an additional source of income for the farmer.

It has been amply demonstrated by International Water Management Institute (IWMI) through a pilot project in Dhundi (Solar Power as a Remunerative Crop- SPaRC) and NDDB’s solar cooperative in Majkuva (Gujarat).

Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM):

Earlier this year, the Cabinet approved the Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM).

With a Budget allocation of Rs.34,000 crore, and a similar contribution expected from the States, KUSUM aims to provide energy sufficiency and sustainable irrigation access to farmers.

It would provide extra income to farmers, by giving them an option to sell additional power to the grid through solar power projects set up on their barren lands. It would help in de-dieselising the sector as also the DISCOMS.

At present, despite burgeoning farm power subsidies, nearly 30 million farmers, especially marginal landholders, use expensive diesel for their irrigation needs as they have no access to electricity.

More than half of India’s net sown­area remains unirrigated.

Equity by design will address inequality between the states:

First, KUSUM should aim to reduce the existing disparity among States with regard to solar pumps deployment and irrigation access:

• Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan together account for about half of the two lakh solar pumpscurrently deployed in the country.
• This is surprising given the low irrigation demand in the former and poor groundwater situation in the latter.
• On the other hand, States such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, where penetration of diesel pumps is among the highest, have not managed to deploy any significant number of solar pumps.
• This disparity highlights poor State budget allocation towards solar pumps and the lack of initiative by State nodal agencies.
• To encourage more equitable deployment of 5 lakh off­grid pumps by 2022, the Centre should incentivise States through target linked financial assistance, and create avenues for peer learning.

Second, KUSUM must also address inequity within a State:

• For instance, 90% of Bihar’s farmers are small and marginal. Yet, they have received only 50% of government subsidies on solar pumps.
• On the other hand, in Chhattisgarh, about 95% of beneficiaries are from socially disadvantaged groups due to the mandate of the State.
• Learning from these contrasting examples, a share of central financial assistance under KUSUM should be appropriated for farmers with small landholdings and belonging to socially disadvantaged groups.

Third, instead of a one­size­fits­all approach, KUSUM should provide greater financial assistance to smaller farmers:

• KUSUM proposes a 60% subsidy for the pumps, borne equally by the Centre and the States, and the remaining 40% will be the farmer’s contribution, 10% as down payment and 30% through loans.
• This unilateral financing approach will exacerbate the inter­farmer disparity given the inequity in access to credit and repayment capacity between small and large farmers.
• A higher capital subsidy support to small and marginal farmers and long­term loans with interest subsidies for large and medium farmers would be a more economical and equitable alternative.

Approaching Prudence over populism:

Solarising existing grid­connected pumps, as proposed under the scheme, needs a complete rethink:

• Existing grid­connected farmers, who have enjoyed power subsidies for decades, would receive the same financial support as that received by an off­grid farmer.
• In addition, they would earn regular income from the DISCOM on feeding surplus electricity, furthering the inequitable distribution of taxpayers’ resources.
• Instead, the scheme should only provide Central government subsidy of up to 30% for solarisation, and use the proposed State support to incentivise DISCOMs to procure energy from the farmers.
• Also, solarising grid connected pumps must include replacement of the pump.

Surplus Solar Energy can be used to power post-harvest processes:

Poor efficiency levels of the existing pumps would mean unnecessary oversizing of the solar panels and lesser available energy to feed into the grid.

Moreover, instead of feeding surplus energy to the grid, solar pump capacity could be used to power post­harvesting processes, which complement the seasonal irrigation load and can enhance farm incomes through local value addition.

Further, the injection of solar power by farmers would require the entire agriculture electricity line (feeder) to be energised throughout the daytime, including for those not having solarised pumps.

This would aggravate DISCOMs’ losses on such feeders. Instead, an effective alternative is to solarise the entire feeder through a reverse­bidding approach, and provide water­conservation­linked incentives to farmers as direct benefit transfer.

Conclusion:

Expected positive outcomes of the scheme include promotion of decentralised solar power production, reduction of transmission losses as well as providing support to the financial health of DISCOMs by reducing the subsidy burden to the agriculture sector.

The scheme would also promote energy efficiency and water conservation and provide water security to farmers.

KUSUM could radically transform the irrigation economy if the government chooses an approach of equity by design and prudence over populism.

KUSUM should not woo a certain section of farmers with short­sighted objectives. If designed better and implemented effectively, it holds the potential to catapult the Indian irrigation economyfrom an era mired in perpetual subsidy, unreliable supply, and inequitable distribution of resources to a regime of affordable, reliable, and equitable access to energy and water.