Under relentless skies, Punjab fell once again, this time into despair with its fields submerged. Over 40 lives have been lost, many remain missing and more than 1,300 villages lie underwater. Crops across lakhs of acres have been destroyed, families displaced and the very land that feeds the nation has been drowned overnight.
Many farmers voiced the same grief: “First, we fed the nation, and today our homes are drowning. Will anyone come to save us?”
These are not mere statistics, but human voices that remind us why “securing Punjab” matters, it is about preserving the breadbasket of the nation.
The tragedy came with terrifying speed. More than 20,000 acres of land under the “white gold” cultivation is adversely impacted by waterlogging. The Ravi, Sutlej, Beas, and Ghaggar swelled, and the 19t century Madhopar Barrage crumbled under the ferocity of floodwaters. The Ranjit Sagar and Pong dams crossed danger levels, and the Bhakra Dam remains perilously close to spilling over.
Yet the tragedy wasn’t entirely unforeseen. According to IMD, in August the rainfall measured 253.7 mm, 74 per cent above normal and the highest in 25 years. Heavy monsoons combined with reservoir mismanagement and delayed preparations turned predictable risk into catastrophe.
The flood preparedness meeting in Punjab was held quite late on June 5, only 17 days before the monsoon arrived on June 22.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s message was unambiguous. In letters to the Prime Minister and public appeals, he emphasised that three lakh acres of paddy fields, ripe for harvest, lay submerged while compensation under SDRF—Rs 6,800 per acre—was woefully inadequate. He demanded at least Rs 50,000 per acre and pressed for Rs 60,000 crore in “stuck” Central funds to be released immediately.
At the same time, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan toured flood-ravaged districts and called it a “Jal Pralay.”
“Loss is visible, the crop is completely damaged. Fields are inundated. In this hour of crisis, we are with farmers and will make every effort to bail them out,” he said. He singled out illegal sand mining as a critical weakness that eroded embankments, making Punjab more vulnerable to deluge, an issue environmentalist have long flagged.
The Union Minister urged coordinated planning across short, medium and long-term strategies to rebuild, de-silt and safeguard future crops.
Well, these statements make an alignment of concern. However, words alone won’t suffice for such a catastrophe. Relief without real reform is like pouring water into a sinking boat.
Beyond immediate relief, however, lies the larger question of water security. The Indus Water Treaty, often praised as a model of transboundary cooperation, was designed in another era. It allocated 80 per cent of Indus basin waters to Pakistan, leaving India’s control over the eastern rivers—Sutlej, Beas and Ravi. While both banks of the Sutlej and Beas lie within India’s sovereignty, the Ravi presents a strategic vulnerability, only one bank lies in India, while the other runs through Pakistan.
Also read: Who drowned Punjab? Not the bureaucrats
Pakistan has increasingly treated the Ravi as a matter of national security, reinforcing it with embankments, spurs and studs often executed by its military. This is not without precedent—the 1988 floods saw a similar scenario where Pakistan’s concrete structures diverted flows with devastating effect on the Indian side. While Pakistan’s economy may be dwarfed by India’s, its military-led flood control initiatives indicate a calculated effort to wield water as leverage. India cannot afford to ignore this.
Securing Punjab, therefore, means more than repairing breaches. It requires urgent investment in reinforced embankments, modern flood control systems, and groundwater recharge. Former Punjab finance and planning minister Manpreet Singh Badal has long warned that Punjab’s over-dependence on groundwater is unsustainable; securing the state means replenishing aquifers alongside surface water management.
At the same time, farmers who have lost their livelihoods, need support that goes well beyond symbolic relief. Those whose fields were submerged should receive free seeds and fertilisers, while others are provided with targeted subsidies. An additional installment under PM-Kisan could be directly transferred via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), ensuring faster assistance.
Similarly, direct transfers aimed at repairing pumps, desilting fields, and strengthening social security would not only speed up recovery but also minimise bureaucratic delays. Housing losses should be carefully mapped and geotagged under PM Awas Yojana, and damaged schools must be made a priority under the National Education Mission.
Schemes such as Flood Management and Border Areas Programme (FMBAP), the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) and crop insurance under PM Fasal Bima Yojana exist, but their gaps are evident in Punjab’s villages. Too often, compensation arrives late, insurance claims are at times mired in red tape and embankments remain weak until the next breach.
Punjab contributes over 35 per cent of rice and 60 per cent of wheat to India’s central pool. Its security is inseparable from the nation’s food security. Relief packages may rebuild homes, but resilience-building through infrastructure upgrades, treaty reforms, environmental regulation and farmer-first policies will determine whether Punjab continues to be India’s food bowl or slips into recurrent vulnerability.
Simply put, securing farmers means securing Punjab, and securing the state means securing the food and future of India. The floods of 2025 must be a wake-up call to move beyond temporary relief and build a system where disasters do not translate into devastation.
By Shyna Gupta
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