The Policy of Free Electricity to Agriculture Sector: Implications and Perspectives of the Stakeholders in India

Jin Kathrine Fosli, A Amarender A. Reddy, Radhika Rani
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引用次数: 7

Abstract

The Indian central government is pursuing state governments to replace free power supply to agriculture with the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). This article examined the free power policy from the perspective of various stakeholders and suggested alternate policies based on a field survey in the state of united Andhra Pradesh (AP), India, in the year 2018. The team interviewed all stakeholders: farmers, economists, policy experts, power distribution companies and administrators. The study team also visited four villages in AP and conducted focus group discussions with farmers to record their perceptions and alternative policy choices. The opinions are substantiated and cross-checked with the published sources. Free electricity for agriculture is seen as a lifeline in drought-prone areas as it helped them to expand the area under irrigation and increase incomes. However, many experienced huge capital expenditures in drilling-failed borewells. Other stakeholders opine that free power leads to overexploitation of groundwater, lowering groundwater levels, rising cost of drilling deep and piling up of power subsidies, and expanding water-guzzling crops like paddy even in water scarce areas, failure of borewells leading to farmer’s distress. The study suggests that replacing free power with DBT to farmers will help them maintain their incomes without overexploiting water resources.
农业部门免费电力政策:印度利益相关者的影响和观点
印度中央政府正在要求各邦政府用直接利益转移(DBT)取代免费的农业电力供应。本文从各个利益相关者的角度研究了免费电力政策,并根据2018年在印度安得拉邦(AP)进行的实地调查提出了替代政策。该团队采访了所有利益相关者:农民、经济学家、政策专家、配电公司和管理人员。研究小组还访问了安得拉邦的四个村庄,并与农民进行了焦点小组讨论,以记录他们的看法和可供选择的政策。这些观点是经过证实的,并与已发表的消息来源进行了交叉核对。农业免费电力被视为干旱易发地区的生命线,因为它帮助他们扩大了灌溉面积,增加了收入。然而,许多公司在钻井失败的井中经历了巨大的资本支出。其他利益相关者认为,免费电力导致地下水的过度开采,降低了地下水位,增加了深钻成本和电力补贴,甚至在缺水地区也扩大了水稻等耗水作物的种植,钻井失败导致农民的痛苦。该研究表明,用DBT代替免费电力将有助于农民在不过度开发水资源的情况下保持收入。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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