Centre for Studies in Social Sciences (CSSCAL)

The paper generated under the Challenge Program for Water and Food (CPWF) project explores in some depth a totally different dynamic in the irrigation economy of the vast Indo-Gangetic basin (IGB), an important exception to the global characterization. The global debate on ‘‘water as an economic good’’ presumes that irrigation water supply is delivered, controlled, and priced by public institutions. In the developing world, the price of water is kept so low that water use cost leaves farmers no incentive to use it efficiently. 

This paper by Centre for Studies in Social Sciences and Jadavpur University, aims at explaining the factors that determine private investment in groundwater irrigation in West Bengal. It also addresses the issues pertaining to institutional arrangements, particularly provision of facilities by the government. The study, largely empirical in nature, is based on data collected from surveys conducted in close to one thousand moujas (villages) spread across the major agro-climatic zones in West Bengal. It begins with a descriptive account of the changes in the agricultural scenario in West Bengal over the last thirty years. The research questions are discussed and the econometric methodology presented.