Now Reading: Broken irrigation leaves Palamu farms exposed to another drought
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Broken irrigation leaves Palamu farms exposed to another drought
Jharkhand’s rainfall this year remains 48% below normal despite heavier-than-expected rain in July, while a strengthening El Niño threatens another failed season. Palamu has faced every one of the state’s ten declared…
The Story in Brief
Jharkhand’s rainfall this year remains 48% below normal despite heavier-than-expected rain in July, while a strengthening El Niño threatens another failed season. Palamu has faced every one of the state’s ten declared droughts in the past 25 years.
Mongabay-India found lift irrigation systems, ponds and canals built over five decades lying broken or unmonitored. One lift scheme served ten villages but stopped working after a damaged pipe went unrepaired. Of 3,624 farm ponds targeted in 2015-16, about 2,500 were built, but officials have no records of how many still function. Soil Conservation Officer Shyam Bind said maintenance failures have undermined the investments. Recent droughts in 2023 and 2024 also drove villagers to migrate for work.
The Indian Opinion
The lazy narrative is that drought-prone farmers simply need more rain, while another claims government water schemes are useless by design. Palamu shows a less dramatic but harder problem: infrastructure was built, then left without repairs, audits or records. New ponds may help, but they cannot replace upkeep across fragmented small holdings. The useful test is simple: how many of the 2,500 ponds still hold water after the next two monsoons?
Source: india.mongabay.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
