evidence: Critical food shortages in India in the 1960s, including a major famine in 1965–66, led to the implementation of the Green Revolution and a reformulation of the Indian Government’s food procurement and distribution system1. The procurement system was established with minimum price support for selected crops and a distribution/storage system to ensure that lower-income households have access to primary nutrition. To reduce transaction costs, the crops are procured from a few provinces where the Green Revolution took root and crop yields are typically higher. This ultimately led to a significant change in regional cropping patterns different from traditional crops adapted to the local climate and soil conditions. Increased demand for irrigation in the procurement regions resulted and surface water-based irrigation through dams and canals was developed in many cases but it had a limited reach. To support many smallholder farmers, state governments offered subsidized/free electricity for pumping groundwater for irrigation which consequently led to widespread groundwater depletion2,3. Farmers in procurement-favored regions receive a guaranteed revenue (based on a margin above the cost of cultivation) from the crops procured by the government as well as subsidies for electricity and other inputs.