India may spend as much as 50 billion rupees ($1 billion) in the next five years to map underground water as indiscriminate sinking of wells by farmers depletes resources in the world’s second-most populous nation.
The government’s goal is to avert a water crisis in the South Asian country, where agriculture accounts for 20 percent of the $1.7 trillion economy, Mihir Shah, a member of the Planning Commission that sets five-year targets for economic growth, said in an interview in New Delhi.
