A wake-up call for canal irrigation

It is ironical that the area under canal irrigation saw stagnation and decline despite so much investment

The development of canal irrigation through investments in medium and major irrigation projects has been a priority of the government of India since the beginning of the First Five Year Plan. As a result, the area irrigated by canal (refer to government canals) increased from 71 lakh hectares during 1950-51 to 144 lakh hectares during 1980-81. In these 30 years, the share of public canals in the net irrigated area under all sources of irrigation also increased from 34 to 37 per cent. The area irrigated by government canals continued to increase in the next decade and reached a peak