Former Chief Secretary of Gujarat Dr J N Singh, while addressing a web lecture of the Department of Political Science of the MS University of Vadodara, spoke about the shift from ground water pumping to surface water irrigation as well as the long term goals of the Gujarat government in enhancing water supply to far flung areas of Saurashtra and North Gujarat, which have traditionally recorded much lower rainfall than the national and the state average.
Singh is also an alumnus of the university. The lecture was held to throw light on the issue of “Farmers as an Interest Group in Gujarat and the Issue of Water”.
“The rural economy gets boosted by 1.8624 lakh crore annually from agriculture and allied sectors. This importance of agriculture is also reflected in the number of elected representatives in the Gujarat Assembly, where 56 seats are urban but 126 predominantly rural. Output of agricultural sector in Gujarat has been largely dependent on South-West monsoon, according to a socio-economic survey in Gujarat in 2019-20. The average rainfall in Gujarat is quite poor compared to all India figures…,” Singh said.
