<p>Groundwater (GW) in India is emerging as the major source of water which contributes about 85% to drinking water supply in rural areas and 62% to irrigation. In Punjab, GW provides irrigation to more<span style="background-color:white"> than 72% of the area under the rice-wheat cropping system and it has played a key role in its </span>emergence as &#39;granary of India&rsquo;. But the area under rice, a water-guzzling crop grown in the state during summer, has increased tremendously, i.e., from 3.90 lac hectares in 1970-71 to 31.03 lac hectares in 2018-19. The runaway growth of GW irrigation has also contributed to the depletion of the water table and thereby posing a huge environmental challenge. <span style="background-color:white">In t</span>his paper, an attempt has been made to review the development of the legal framework for GW governance and its effect on the groundwater situation in the state. <span style="font-size:12.0pt">However, the i</span>ncreasing stress on aquifers due to GW irrigation has been reduced to an acceptable degree by strengthening and enforcement of legal framework coupled with a set of incentives and disincentives for improving its efficiency.<em> The Punjab Preservation of Sub-soil Water Act 2009</em><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> coupled with some minor technical interventions have contributed to a reduction in the consumption of irrigation water by 413liters per kg of production of rice due to a change in the crop calendar of rice and following the wheat. I</span>t is being increasingly acknowledged that for effective GW governance in Punjab, science and policy for GW use need to ?ank and complementsthe legal frameworks.</p>