Contents preface (VII) introduction 1—37

6
MANAGEMENT OF CANAL
IRRIGATION IN INDIA

6.1. NEED FOR CANAL IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT
Because of the limited availability of utilisable water (see Tables 1.4 and 1.5) and the growing need of water for irrigation and other purposes (see Table 1.6), the need for managing the water resources can hardly be overemphasized. Irrigation management assumes special importance in view of the fact that irrigation alone needs about 75 per cent of the total water requirement (see Table 1.6). The objective of irrigation management is to supply and apply the right amount of water at the right place and at the right time. It was estimated that irrigation projects were running at an annual loss of about Rs. 400 crores in the early 1980’s. This figure rose to Rs. 800 crores in the mid–1980’s. Examination and analysis of the performance of canal irrigation systems in India in the early 1980’s revealed many deficiencies in the operation and management of canal irrigation systems, especially those constructed in the previous three decades (1). Table 1.3 indicates the disparity in productivity of canal and tubewell irrigated lands.

In the absence of data on employment and livelihood as a result of introduction of an irrigation system, the performance of irrigation systems is gauged by the following (1):

(i) Area irrigated as proportion of the area planned to be irrigated, (ii) Waterlogging,

(iii) Tail-end deprivation, and (iv) Yield.

The ratio of the area irrigated to the area planned to be irrigated in some irrigation projects of India are tabulated in Table 6.1. It establishes that the performance in area actually irrigated has fallen far short of that projected.
A land is said to be waterlogged when the pores of soil within the root zone of plants get saturated and the normal growth of the plant is adversely affected due to insufficient air circulation. Poorly-practised canal irrigation is the main cause of waterlogging wherever it occurs. The Irrigation Commission (1972), the National Commission on Agriculture (1976), the Soil and Salinity Research Institute (1981) and the Central Ground Water Board (1982) have separately and at different times assessed the amount of waterlogging areas in the country (Table 6.2).

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