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Agriculture is the lifeline for many economies, India being one of them. Many issues have arisen because of intense agriculture adopted in India, especially since nineties. Groundwater depletion is one of the burning issue plaguing Indian agriculture. Punjab, our study area is flagged as over-exploited area since the nineties. This study focuses on identifying the determinants of poor groundwater condition in Punjab from 1996 to 2018. The methodology used to establish the relationship between various agriculture related variables and groundwater depletion is Feasible Generalised Least Square model as OLS has inherent problems when it deals with panel data. The study has shown a positive significant effect of changing cropping intensity, well density, irrigation through tube-well, and technology (tractor) on depletion of groundwater. However, change in area under paddy has shown a negative effect on groundwater depletion due to the Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009. So, it implies Government must have to find out alternatives way of reducing the intensive use of groundwater and need to reframe its agriculture policies.

The present study aims to examine the impact of climate change on wheat and rice yield of the Punjab state of India. Using district-level panel data from 1981 to 2017, the study employs fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), and pooed mean group (PMG) approaches. The Pedroni cointegration has established a long-run relationship of climate variables with rice and wheat crops. The results of FMOLS and DOLS show that minimum temperature has a positive effect on both wheat and rice, while maximum temperature is found to be negatively contributing to both the crops. Rainfall has a significant adverse effect on wheat yield. Seasonal rainfall has been detrimental to wheat and rice yield in the study period, indicating that excess rainfall proved counterproductive. Pooled mean group (PMG) model confirms the robustness of the results obtained by FMOLS and DOLS techniques. Moreover, Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test has revealed a unidirectional causality running from minimum temperature, rainfall & maximum temperature to rice and wheat yield. The findings of the study suggest that the government should invest in developing stress-tolerant varieties of wheat and rice, managing crop residuals to curb further environmental effect and sustain natural resources for ensuring food security.

The unification and development of crawling Asian countries is the burning issue after the declaration of failure of the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) region. Besides, a small bubble in the ocean of agreements is ‘BIMSTEC’ (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), which has not been flourishing to date due to the lack of interest of a dominating country like India, whose focus is on other successful regional blocs. However, recent studies have shown that though it starts late but contributing significantly towards the trade among BIMSTEC countries. And, second, almost all the countries have shared similar cultures, languages and levels of per-capita income except Myanmar and Thailand, which will favour the trade among the region. Thus, the main focus of the study is to analyse the revealed comparative advantage of countries in BIMSTEC, their trade competitiveness and contribution made to the country’s growth before and after formation by the region. Under the study, it was observed that the intra-industry trades of India in Agriculture among the BIMSTEC nations have shown very less potential for trade in all 24 agriculture chapters. Thus, economies need to reframe the policies as required and identify the potential products in agricultural-related goods that can significantly improve the trade balance of the countries. JEL Codes: F14, F15, F19, F53