The pear tree I am looking at is nearly bent to the ground under the weight of fruits — 50-100 kilograms grows on each tree in this 50-year-old orchard. Then my gaze shifts to guava, plum, peach and miles of kinnow and other citruses. And, of course, there was date palm.
No, I did not visit Israel last fortnight. I was in Abohar in Fazilka district of Punjab, at the border of Pakistan and then crossed over to Sri Ganganagar district in Rajasthan. This is the region of the Rajasthan Canal, also known as the Indira Gandhi Nahar.
It was incredible to see how water can transform land; and also to learn of the initiative, the scientific knowledge and the risk that the pioneers took to make the desert green. The Indira Gandhi Nahar extends almost 400 km, bringing water of the Sutlej and Beas rivers up to Bikaner and Jaisalmer.
But as the journey of water lengthens, the demand goes up. Along with prosperity, the canal brings conflict and competition over the increasingly scarce water. But instead of working to build a water-prudent economy, water-guzzling paddy is now being grown where the canal reaches...
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