ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the shape and structure of the global groundwater irrigation economy. It explores the range of groundwater instruments that have been tried out in different parts of the world with varying degrees of success. It examines how India is coping with groundwater over-development issues. Groundwater governance discourse worldwide is a product of the growing threat of water scarcity, which has made the transition from resource development to resource management mode critical. In this transition, groundwater an invisible, fungible resource has proven to be particularly difficult, and although the western United States, Spain, Mexico, and other countries offer lessons about attempts to craft groundwater governance regimes. India's groundwater economy and its management challenges are huge and urgent. While groundwater use in agriculture is growing around the world, the drivers of this growth are different in different parts with different implications on resource productivity and governance regimes. The Gujarat approach would work if groundwater overdraft is sustained by energy subsidies.
