Suggest measures to improve water storage and irrigation system to make its judicious use under depleting scenario.

India, with 18 per cent of the world's population but only about 4 per cent of its freshwater resources, is fast becoming water-stressed. Agriculture consumes nearly 80 per cent of water, much of it inefficiently, making better storage and judicious irrigation a national priority.

Improving water storage

• Watershed and rainwater harvesting: Check dams, farm ponds, and revival of traditional tanks and johads to capture monsoon runoff.
• Groundwater recharge: Managed aquifer recharge, recharge wells and the Atal Bhujal Yojana for community-led groundwater management.
• Completing pending major/medium projects and safe desilting of existing reservoirs to restore capacity.
• River interlinking and rejuvenation where ecologically sound.

Judicious irrigation and use

• Micro-irrigation: Drip and sprinkler systems under 'Per Drop More Crop' to raise water-use efficiency dramatically.
• Command-area development and canal lining to cut conveyance losses.
• Crop and input alignment: Shift water-guzzling paddy/sugarcane to less-thirsty crops; adopt direct-seeded rice and alternate wetting-drying.
• Demand management: Rational water pricing, metering, and reforming free-power incentives that encourage over-extraction.
• Participatory Irrigation Management through Water User Associations.

Under the umbrella of PMKSY, integrating supply augmentation with demand-side efficiency and community participation is the sustainable path to secure irrigation in a depleting-water scenario.