Karnataka’s ‘Surya Raitha’ experiment: lessons for PM–KUSUM

Solar-powered irrigation has expanded in India at an unprecedented pace—the number of solar irrigation pumps—from less than 4,000 in 2012 to more than 2,50,000 by 2019. It has been argued that besides giving farmers an additional and reliable source of income, grid-connected SIPs also incentivise ef...

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Autores principales: Durga, N., Shah, Tushaar, Verma, Shilp, Manjunatha, A.V
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/116411
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author Durga, N.
Shah, Tushaar
Verma, Shilp
Manjunatha, A.V
author_browse Durga, N.
Manjunatha, A.V
Shah, Tushaar
Verma, Shilp
author_facet Durga, N.
Shah, Tushaar
Verma, Shilp
Manjunatha, A.V
author_sort Durga, N.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Solar-powered irrigation has expanded in India at an unprecedented pace—the number of solar irrigation pumps—from less than 4,000 in 2012 to more than 2,50,000 by 2019. It has been argued that besides giving farmers an additional and reliable source of income, grid-connected SIPs also incentivise efficient energy and water use—critical for sustaining groundwater irrigation. The Surya Raitha scheme was the country’s first, state-driven initiative for solarisation of agriculture feeders by replacing subsidy-guzzling, inefficient electric pumps with energy-efficient, net-metered SIPs. An early appraisal of Surya Raitha lauded the scheme as a smart initiative and argued that it could set an example for promoting solar power as a remunerative crop. However, the scheme was eventually executed as a single feeder pilot with some design changes in Nalahalli panchayat from 2015–18. The authors visited the pilot in 2017–18 and 2018–19 to assess if it had delivered the promises of Surya Raitha scheme. The results are a mixed bag and offer important lessons for implementation and scaling out of component C of the Government of India’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan policy.
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spelling CGSpace1164112025-05-20T05:38:24Z Karnataka’s ‘Surya Raitha’ experiment: lessons for PM–KUSUM Durga, N. Shah, Tushaar Verma, Shilp Manjunatha, A.V solar energy irrigation pumps groundwater pumping energy generation electricity energy consumption water use farmers irrigated land pilot projects Solar-powered irrigation has expanded in India at an unprecedented pace—the number of solar irrigation pumps—from less than 4,000 in 2012 to more than 2,50,000 by 2019. It has been argued that besides giving farmers an additional and reliable source of income, grid-connected SIPs also incentivise efficient energy and water use—critical for sustaining groundwater irrigation. The Surya Raitha scheme was the country’s first, state-driven initiative for solarisation of agriculture feeders by replacing subsidy-guzzling, inefficient electric pumps with energy-efficient, net-metered SIPs. An early appraisal of Surya Raitha lauded the scheme as a smart initiative and argued that it could set an example for promoting solar power as a remunerative crop. However, the scheme was eventually executed as a single feeder pilot with some design changes in Nalahalli panchayat from 2015–18. The authors visited the pilot in 2017–18 and 2018–19 to assess if it had delivered the promises of Surya Raitha scheme. The results are a mixed bag and offer important lessons for implementation and scaling out of component C of the Government of India’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan policy. 2021-11-27 2021-11-30T20:53:02Z 2021-11-30T20:53:02Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/116411 en Limited Access Durga, N.; Shah, Tushaar; Verma, Shilp; Manjunatha, A. V. 2021. Karnataka’s ‘Surya Raitha’ experiment: lessons for PM–KUSUM. Economic and Political Weekly, 56(48):55-60.
spellingShingle solar energy
irrigation
pumps
groundwater
pumping
energy generation
electricity
energy consumption
water use
farmers
irrigated land
pilot projects
Durga, N.
Shah, Tushaar
Verma, Shilp
Manjunatha, A.V
Karnataka’s ‘Surya Raitha’ experiment: lessons for PM–KUSUM
title Karnataka’s ‘Surya Raitha’ experiment: lessons for PM–KUSUM
title_full Karnataka’s ‘Surya Raitha’ experiment: lessons for PM–KUSUM
title_fullStr Karnataka’s ‘Surya Raitha’ experiment: lessons for PM–KUSUM
title_full_unstemmed Karnataka’s ‘Surya Raitha’ experiment: lessons for PM–KUSUM
title_short Karnataka’s ‘Surya Raitha’ experiment: lessons for PM–KUSUM
title_sort karnataka s surya raitha experiment lessons for pm kusum
topic solar energy
irrigation
pumps
groundwater
pumping
energy generation
electricity
energy consumption
water use
farmers
irrigated land
pilot projects
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/116411
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