Related Publications: India

Although India possesses 4.9 percent of the total average annual runoff in the rivers of the world, the per capita water availability from surface as, well as groundwater sources is assessed at 3,200 cubic meters Jm3) per year, compared with the a

The expansion and improvement of irrigation facilities occupy a central place in India's strategy for raising agricultural productivity.

Three chapters are presented in this section. The first, by C. Gopinath and A. H. Kalro, reviews the sustainabi1ity of some recent efforts to improve the management of Indian irrigation systems, largely below the watercourse outlet.

Eastern India had been a region of iffluence and the center of Indian prosperity for long periods ii history. After almost uninterrupted progress and prosperity, a gray period in its history seems to have set in about 1200 A.D.

The five chapters presented in this section provide case studies of the performance of irrigation systems.

This chapter is presented in two parts. The first presents a brief overview of the performance of Indian irrigation systems and specifically discusses the use and limitations of performance indicators of an irrigation system.

The chapters presented in this section identify needs and potential for groundwater development and conjunctive use, with special reference to eastern India. The first chapter by T. Prasad and I. D.

Many irrigation systems in India perform at levels far below their design standard, and the need to improve the performance of existing irrigation systems is therefore urgent.

Modern Indian irrigation development goes back in time at least to the construction of the Western Yamuna Canal near Delhi in 1355 by Ferozshah Tughlaq.