'Cut down on kids or lose water'

By Zubair Ahmed
BBC News, Mumbai

Sugar cane and banana plantations are particularly thirsty for water

India's western state of Maharashtra has told banana and sugar cane farmers they will not get water for irrigation if they have more than two children.

The state's water minister says the move will help curb the rising population and solve water shortages.

The upper house of the state's parliament has backed the bill and it will go to the lower house on Monday.

Water shortages in the past few years have caused droughts that have led to hundreds of farmers committing suicide.

Static resource

The scheme is the brainchild of state water resources minister, Ajit Pawar, who is the nephew of the federal agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar.

The bill's backers say it is needed because water resources are static while the population is continuing to rise.

The bill also requires all banana and sugar cane farmers, regardless of child numbers, to use drip or sprinkling systems of irrigation within five year or lose their supply.

The bill is targeting the crops because of the large amount of water they require.

Sharad Joshi, founder of the farmers' association in Maharashtra and the farmers' coordination committee nationwide, said: "If the Maharashtra government is imposing restrictions on agriculture and asking farmers to implement drip irrigation, it should also make finances available, at least in the form of credit."

If the bill is approved into law it will not apply to farmers who already have more than two children.

Maharashtra is agriculturally one of India's most advanced states but has suffered bad droughts over the past few years.