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The Planning Commission36 classified irrigation projects/schemes in India
on the following lines :
(i) Major Irrigation Schemes —those with cultivable command areas (CCA) of more than 10,000 hectares.
(ii) Medium Irrigation Schemes— those with cultivable command areas (CCA) between 2,000 and 10,000 hectares.
(iii) Minor Irrigation Schemes— those with cultivable command area (CCA) upto 2,000 hectares. Expansion of irrigation facilities, along with consolidation of the existing systems, has been the main part of the strategy for increasing production of foodgrains.
With a view to ensuring early completion of projects for providing irrigation benefits to the farmers, Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) has been in operation since 1995–96. The government launched the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) in 1996–97 to give loan assistance to the states to help them complete some of the incomplete major/medium irrigation projects, which were in an advanced stage of completion.
There is need to expand the acreage under irrigation along with adoption of appropriate technologies for efficient utilisation of water through suitable pricing to raise agricultural productivity in India. This could be done through– (i) Adoption of irrigation technologies which improve efficiency in the use of water is imperative in a scenario where flood irrigation has resulted in wastage of water. (ii) Focus on efficient irrigation technologies is important with increasing water shortages owing to climate change and indiscriminate wastage of water in agriculture and other uses.
Having ‘more crop per drop’ through efficient irrigation technologies should be the motto to improve productivity in agriculture which can ensure food and water security in the future.
As per the latest available data37 on irrigation, the all India percentage distribution of net irrigated area to total cropped area during 2012–13 was
33.9 per cent. There is regional disparity in irrigated farming, with net irrigated area to total cropped area at more than 50 per cent in the states of
Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, while it is at less than 50 per cent in the remaining states. There is need and scope for increasing the coverage of irrigated area across the country to increase productivity in agriculture. The total UIP (Ultimate Irrigation Potential) of India is about 140 million hectares (Mha). There is substantial gap between IPC (Irrigation Potential Created) and IPU (Irrigation Potential Utilized). There is perceptible decline in the ratio of IPU to IPC mainly due to:
(i) lack of proper operation and maintenance,
(ii) incomplete distribution system,
(iii) non-completion of command area development,
(iv) changes in cropping pattern, and
(v) diversion of irrigated land for other purposes.
There is need to arrest the declining trend in efficient utilization of irrigation potential and also reverse it. A larger share of funds available under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and other employment generating schemes need to be deployed for promotion of irrigation—for creation and maintenance of community assets,
de-silting and repair of tanks and other water bodies.
Agricultural productivity can be boosted in a big way by enhancing irrigation efficiency in the use of irrigation systems. Over the time, the conventional systems of irrigation have become non-viable in many parts of India® 38 due to:
(i) increasing shortages of water,
(ii) wastage of water through over irrigation, and
(iii) concerns of salination of soil.
Economically and technically efficient irrigation technologies like – drip and sprinkler irrigation – can improve water use efficiency, reduce costs of production by reducing labour costs and power consumption. [One of the objectives of the PMKSY (Prime Minister’s Krishi Sinchai Yojana) is to
(a) The adoption of sprinkler irrigation resulted in 35 to 40 per cent savings of irrigation water in the cultivation of groundnut and cotton in Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
(b) The adoption of drip irrigation resulted in 40 to 65 per cent savings in water for horticulture crops and 30 to 47 per cent for vegetables. Such examples need to be emulated by other areas/crops in these states and in other states for a larger basket of crops.
Water productivity in India is very low. The overall irrigation efficiency of the major and medium irrigation projects in India is estimated at around 38 per cent. As per the NITI Aayog , efficiency of the surface irrigation system can be improved from about 35-40 per cent to around 60 per cent and that of groundwater from about 65-70 per cent to 75 per cent. Water productivity needs to be enhanced by the following methods –
(i) tapping, harvesting and recycling water,
(ii) efficient on-farm water management practices,
(iii) micro irrigation,
(iv) use of waste water, and
(v) resource conservation technologies.
In order to promote judicious use of water ensuring ‘more crop per drop’ of water in agriculture for drought proofing, the GoI recently launched the PMKSY aiming at providing water to every field of agriculture