irrigation in India

The earliest mentions of irrigation are found in Rigveda chapters 1.55, 1.85, 1.105, 7.9, 8.69 and 10.101.BN Puri, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41694262 Irrigation and Agricultural Economy in Ancient India], Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Vol. 48/49 (1968), pp. 383-390 The Veda mentions only well-style irrigation,{{cite book | last=Hoiberg | first=Dale | title=Students' Britannica India | url=https://archive.org/details/studentsbritanni02hoib | url-access=registration | publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-85229-760-5 | page=[https://archive.org/details/studentsbritanni02hoib/page/260 260]}} where kupa and avata wells once dug are stated to be always full of water, from which varatra (rope strap) and cakra (wheel) pull kosa (pails) of water. This water was, state the Vedas, led into {{Transliteration|sa|surmi susira}} (broad channels) and from there into khanitrima (diverting channels) into fields.

Later, the 4th-century BCE Indian scholar Pāṇini, mentions tapping several rivers for irrigation.{{cite book | last=Gopal | first=Lallanji | title=History of agriculture in India, up to c. 1200 A.D | year=2008 | isbn=978-81-8069-521-6 | page=762}} The mentioned rivers include Sindhu, Suvastu, Varnu, Sarayu, Vipas and Chandrabhaga. Buddhist texts from the 3rd century BCE also mention irrigation of crops. Texts from the Maurya Empire era (3rd century BCE) mention that the state raised revenue from charging farmers for irrigation services from rivers.[http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries_regions/ind/index.stm India - History of Irrigation] FAO - United Nations (2014)

Patanjali, in Yogasutra of about the 4th century CE, explains a technique of yoga by comparing it to "the way a farmer diverts a stream from an irrigation canal for irrigation".{{cite book | last=White | first=David | title=The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali: a biography | publisher=Princeton University Press | year=2014 | isbn=978-0-691-14377-4 | page=139}}{{cite book | author=Patañjali (Transl: Chip Hartranft)| title=The Yoga-Sūtra of Patañjali: a new translation with commentary | publisher=Shambhala Publications | location=Boston | year=2003 | isbn=978-1-59030-023-7 | page=62}} In Tamil Nadu, the Grand Anicut (canal) across the Kaveri river was implemented in the 3rd century CE, and the basic design is still used today.

The most widespread irrigation system in India was undertaken in India in the medieval period by the Sultanate rulers. Firoz Shah Tughlaq (1309–1388) built the most extensive canal irrigation system around the Indo-Gangetic doab and the region west of the river Yamuna in the fourteenth century. These canals provided vast resources of water to agricultural lands in northern India as well as vital supplies of water to urban and rural settlements.Husain Siddiqui, Iqtidar, and Husain Siddiqui, Iqtidar. “Water Works and Irrigation System in India During Pre-Mughal Times.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 29 (1986): 52–78 These irrigation projects were continued by the subsequent rulers of northern India, particularly the Mughal rulers till the early eighteenth century. The British built the colonial canal networks on these medieval canal systems.Smith, R. (1849). Canals of irrigation in the North Western Provinces of India / [by R. Baird Smith]. Calcutta: Calcutta Review, 1-20

File:Ganges canal roorkee1860.jpg

In 1800, some 800,000 hectares were irrigated in India. The Britishers by 1940 built significant number of canals and irrigation systems in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Praveen Singh (2003), Colonising the Rivers: Colonial Technology, Irrigation and Flood Control in North Bihar, 1850–1950, Ph.D. thesis (Jawaharlal Nehru University), pp. 198–261 Punjab, Assam and Odisha.for the historiography, see Rohan D’Souza, "Water in British India: the making of a ‘colonial hydrology’." History Compass (2006) 4#4 pp: 621-628. [http://www.sussex.ac.uk/cweh/documents/hcomroh.pdf online] The Ganges Canal reached 350 miles from Haridwar to Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. In Assam, a jungle in 1840, by 1900 had 1.62m hectares under cultivation, especially in tea plantations. In all, the amount of irrigated land multiplied by a factor of eight. Historian David Gilmour states British colonial government had built irrigation network with Ganges canal and that, "by the end of the century the new network of canals in the Punjab" were in place.{{cite book|author=David Gilmour|title=The Ruling Caste: Imperial Lives in the Victorian Raj|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xEzx2zVHXSwC&pg=PA9|year=2007|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|page=9}}

Much of the increase in irrigation during British colonial era was targeted at dedicated poppy and opium farms in India, for exports to China.Thorner (1962), ‘Deindustrialization’ in India, 1881–1931, In: D. Thorner, and A. Thorner (Editors), Land and Labour in India, {{ISBN|978-8180280214}}T. Roy, London School of Economics, Globalization, Factor Prices and Poverty in Colonial India, Australian Economic History Review, Vol. 47, No. 1, pp. 73-94 (March 2007)Sarkar (1983), The colonial economy, In: S. Sarkar (Editor) Modern India: 1885–1947, Macmillan, {{ISBN|978-0333904251}} Poppy cultivation by the British Raj required reliable, dedicated irrigation system.{{Google books|ddHUAAAAMAAJ|National and English Review, Volume 6|page=PA480}}, WH Allen & Co, London Large portions of the eastern and northern regions of India, namely United Provinces, Northwestern Provinces, Oudh, Behar, Bengal and Rewa were irrigated to ensure reliable supply of poppy and opium for China. By 1850, the Asian opium trade created nearly 1,000 square kilometers of poppy farms in India in its fertile Ganges plains, which increased to over 200.000 hectares by 1900.{{Google books|704zAQAAMAAJ|The Parliamentary Debates, Volume 348|page=1058}}, Hansard's, HM Government, Great Britain (14 August 1890), pp. 1054-1061 This diversion of food crop land to cash crop use, state scholars, led to massive famines over the 1850 to 1905 period.Maddison, A. (1970), The historical origins of Indian poverty, PSL Quarterly Review, 23(92), pp. 31-81Richard Hunt (1997), To End Poverty - The Starvation of the Periphery by the Core, Oxford, UK, {{ISBN|978-0952887201}}, pp. 145-148

Major irrigation canals were built after millions of people died each in a series of major famines in the 19th century in British India. In 1900, British India (including Bangladesh and Pakistan) had about 13 million ha under irrigation. In 1901 the Viceroy, Lord Curzon, appointed a Commission chaired by Sir Colin Scott-Moncrieff to draw up a comprehensive irrigation plan for India. In 1903 the Commission's report recommended irrigation of an additional 2.6 million hectares.{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Scott-Moncrieff-Commission |title=Scott-Moncrieff Commission |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |website=www.britannica.com|access-date=3 December 2016}}{{cite book |last=Scott-Moncrieff |first=Sir Colin Campbell |date=1903 |title=Report of the Indian Irrigation Commission, 1901-1903 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/012155910 |location=London |publisher=H. M. Stationery Office}} By 1947, the irrigated area had increased to about 22 million ha. In Northwestern British India region alone, with the colonial government's effort, 2.2 million hectares of previously barren land was irrigated by the 1940s, most of which is now part of Pakistan.{{cite book | author=Jin-Bee Ooi | title=Natural resources in tropical countries | publisher=Singapore University Press | location=Singapore | year=1983 | isbn=978-9971-69-063-2 | page=350}} Arthur Cotton led some irrigation canal projects in the Deccan peninsula, and landmarks are named after him in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. However, much of the added irrigation capacity during the colonial era was provided by groundwater wells and tanks, operated manually.Edward Balfour, {{Google books|3U0OAAAAQAAJ|The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia}}, pp. 377-380

File:India- Hydro-Electric and Irrigation Projects - DPLA - 223247d5708821982960d2439fee1d88.jpg

File:Bhakra Main Canal.JPG

India's irrigation covered crop area was about 22.6 million hectares in 1951, and it increased to a potential of 90 mha at the end of 1995, inclusive of canals and groundwater wells. However, the potential irrigation relies on reliable supply of electricity for water pumps and maintenance, and the net irrigated land has been considerably short. According to 2001/2002 Agriculture census, only 58.13 million hectares of land was actually irrigated in India.[http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/irrigationmap/ind/index.stm Net Irrigated Area] FAO, United Nations The total arable land in India is 160 million hectares (395 million acres). According to the World Bank, only about 35% of total agricultural land in India was reliably irrigated in 2010.[http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.IRIG.AG.ZS/countries Agricultural irrigated land (% of total agricultural land)] The World Bank (2013)

The ultimate sustainable irrigation potential of India has been estimated in 1991 United Nations' FAO report to be 139.5 million hectares, comprising 58.5 mha from major and medium river-fed irrigation canal schemes, 15 mha from minor irrigation canal schemes, and 66 mha from groundwater well fed irrigation.[http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5082e/y5082e08.htm Irrigation in India] FAO, United Nations

India's irrigation is mostly groundwater well based. At 39 million hectares (67% of its total irrigation), India has the world's largest groundwater well equipped irrigation system (China with 19 mha is second, USA with 17 mha is third).S. Siebert et al (2010), [http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/al816e/al816e00.pdf Groundwater use for irrigation – a global inventory], Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 14, pp. 1863–1880

India has spent {{INR}} 16,590 crore on irrigation development between 1950 and 1985. Between 2000–2005 and 2005–2010, India proposed to invest a sum of {{INR}} 1,03,315 crore (INR) and ₹ 2,10,326 crore (INR) on irrigation and flood control in India.{{cite web|url=http://www.aponline.gov.in/Apportal/AP%20Govt%20Information/APES%20New/New/10.ELEVENTH_FIVE_YEAR_PLAN_%E2%80%93_A_REVIEW.pdf|title=PDF on 10th 5-Year Plan of India(2002-2007)}}

Tables below provide the fraction of agricultural area irrigated by state, the agricultural yield per hectare, and the proportion of different irrigation technologies employed.

Note: The All India total includes land area for Union Territories of India that is not shown in the above table.

File:Rawla mandi canal.jpg]]

Irrigation Projects in India are classified as follows:{{Cite news |last=Chandrashekhar |first=B. |date=15 February 2020 |title=Irrigation department revamp on cards to boost efficiency |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/irrigation-dept-revamp-on-cards-to-boost-efficiency/article30831291.ece |access-date=30 September 2024 |work=The Hindu |language= |issn=0971-751X}}{{Cite web |last= |date=24 August 2016 |title=Irrigation projects in Karnataka poorly executed, says CWC |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/irrigation-projects-karnataka-poorly-executed-2082513 |access-date=30 September 2024 |website=Deccan Herald |language=}}

1. Major irrigation projects
2. Medium irrigation projects
3. Minor irrigation projects
4. Micro-irrigation projects

Since 1950, irrigation works were classified on the basis of cost incurred for the projects' implementation, governing and dissemination. However, the Planning Commission of India adopted the classification of projects on the basis of culturable command area (CCA).

{{Plain image with caption|image=Mamer Minor Irrigation Project Reservoir.jpg|caption=This reservoir of the Mamer Minor Irrigation Project in Rajasthan is an example of a minor irrigation project.|width=200px|align=right|caption position=bottom}}

Minor irrigation project is a classification of irrigation projects used in India. A project with a designed to irrigate an area of 2000 hectares or less is classified as a minor irrigation {{cite journal |last1=Dhawan |first1=B.D. |title=Major and Minor Irrigation Works |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |date=30 September 1989 |volume=24 |issue=39 |pages=A117–A121 |jstor=4395392 }}{{cite book |title=The Andhra Pradesh Water Resources Development Corporation Act, 1997 |date=1997 |url=https://archive.org/details/1997AP12/}}{{cite book |title=The impact of Minor Irrigation Projects on Economic Development in Selected Six Tribal Majority Districts of Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal |date=2004 |publisher=Planning Commission of India |location=New Delhi |url=http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/sereport/ser/stdy_mnr.pdf}} Before the Fifth Five-Year Plan, irrigation schemes were classified on the basis of investments needed to implement the scheme. Since the Fifth Five-Year Plan, India has adopted the command area-based system of classification.

{{anchor | Micro }}

Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) of INR 5,000 crore was established "to bring more land area under micro-irrigation as part of its objective to boost agriculture production and farmers income", NABARD offers low interest rate to state govts "to promote micro-irrigation, which currently has a coverage of only 10 million hectares as against the potential of 70 million hectares." Drip irrigationis promoted.[https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/10-important-government-schemes-agriculture-sector-divd-1593413-2019-08-30 10 important government schemes for agriculture sector], India today, 2019-08-30.

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{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150520021920/http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/irrigationmap/ind/IND-gmia.pdf Global Map of Irrigation Areas INDIA] (PDF; archived) — Irrigated land data by state and districts of India, FAO-United Nations and University of Bonn, Germany (2013).
• [https://cbip.org/activities_services.html Central Board of Irrigation and Power]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080221185738/http://wrmin.nic.in/ Ministry of Water Resources] – Government of India (archived)
• [https://icid-ciid.org/home International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID)]

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