Water Users Association and Irrigation Management - Institute for ...

levels. This is more so with major irrigation projects) where per hectare cost of
development is high. Not only is there an unsatisfactory performance of irrigation in terms
of productivity of crops, but the irrigation potential created under the major and medium
schemes is also said to be underutilized. Even the potential utilized is believed to have
created distributional problems. The farmers at the head reaches and other influential and
powerful ones generally get more water than they are entitled to, depriving the tail-end
farmers of their legitimate share. Such inequitable distribution of water seems to have
created social tensions in the countryside apart from widening the income inequalities
between the rich and poor.
The Second Irrigation Commission (1972) was, therefore, appointed to suggest ways and
means to improve irrigation efficiency. This has led to creation of the Command Area
Development Program (CADP) in 1973 at the state level while the Command Area
Development Authority (CADA) was created at the project level for coordinating and
integrating the processes relating to water and crop management in the commands of major
irrigation projects. CADA had been established to reduce the gap between the irrigation
potential created and utilized and to increase production per unit of water and land. Although
there are not many systematic studies on CADA, some studies have noted that the
performance of CADA has not been very satisfactory in terms of on-farm development
works or for ensuring equity in the distribution of water (Reddy 1998).
Many of the major irrigation projects, apart from delivering a low and inefficient
performance, have also created negative externalities. Millions of people are being
displaced, thousands of hectares of forests are being submerged, some rare species of flora
and fauna are getting wiped out and millions of hectares of land are no longer fit for
cultivation due to waterlogging, salinity and alkalinity. Water pollution and water-borne
diseases too are on the rise. This has ultimately led to the questionable validity of the
investment priority given to the major irrigation projects and anti-major irrigation protests
have been emerging in the recent past.
I Per hectare cost of development of irrigation through a major irrigation project is estimated at over Rs. 1
lakh, while the cost per hectare in a watershed scheme is Rs. 5500, for tank renovation schemes is Rs.
15,000, and for a ground water scheme it is Rs. 10,000lhectare (Tenth Plan).
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