38-Groundwater Governance Issues in Irrigation Development - A Perspective.

Abstract

Irrigated agriculture is fundamental to Indian economy, particularly, from poverty alleviation point of view. Agriculture alone accounts for nearly 30 per cent of GDP and 70 per cent of employment in the country. Irrigation is a primary input to agricultural production. With the rapid expansion of irrigation in terms of commissioning of major, medium and minor irrigation projects through various five-year plans, the potential created has grown manifold since 1951. This has resulted in India moving from the spectre of periodic famine and import of food grains to the actuality of achieving self sufficiency in food and drought proofing, besides exporting select food and horticulture crops. With ever increasing population, however, India would be required to feed about 1.40 billion people by 2025. The current food production of nearly 210 million metric tons will therefore have to be raised to 350 million metric tons by then. At the same time, there will be an increasing pressure to diversify the agricultural output by raising high value crops, such as, cash crops, horticultural crops etc., so as to give further boost to the rural economy in terms of generation of higher rural income and employment. Hence, judicious use of water under irrigated agriculture with strong emphasis on water management in terms of water conservation and augmentation of both the surface and the groundwater resources of the country is most important.