Water shortage in states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat has been acute, says Purvi Mehta of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Purvi Mehta, deputy director and head of Asia for agriculture at The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, spoke to CNBC-TV18 about tackling water crisis in India.

"Water shortage this time of the year leading up to the monsoon is not unusual in most parts of the country. However, this time especially in prominent agriculture states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, etc. the water shortage has been acute and the delay in monsoon has pushed the rainfall deficiency to about 45 percent which is concerning,” Mehta said on Tuesday.

“I think the government’s ambition of promoting agriculture sector as a growth engine and the constraints of monsoon, these are not two contradictory things. I think they are pretty linked because one of the things that our higher investments in agriculture will do is to reduce our dependencies on weather and especially monsoon. So, I think these two factors are very related in terms of the agriculture growth emphasis and the challenges that the weather has brought,” Mehta said.