Organizational Change for Participatory Irrigation Management

ones feeding 5,000 ha (Venkataswamy, 1994). Recently the area under tanks command has
fallen by 22 percent due to multifarious factors like improper maintenance, siltation,
encroachment etc.
Open wells have been in use since time immemorial. They are more common in the red
soils of southern India. Their yields are about 70,000-2,30,000 lit/day. The number of dug
wells, shallow tube-wells and public tube-wells was 14.3 million in 1990. In 1983-84, the area
irrigated was 51.5 million ha, of which the area accounted for by canals was 38.3 percent; by
wells, 39.3 percent; by tanks, 6.2 percent; and by other sources, 16.2 percent. In the Punjab
State, there has been a substantial increase in the area under irrigation due to increase in
number of tube-wells. More than 60 percent of the total 93 percent of the irrigated area is
covered by tube-well irrigation (Pasricha, 1998).
India has a large number of major rivers well distributed over the entire area. The
average annual potential in different rivers of India is estimated at 1,880 km 3 (Table 4). India
is among the foremost countries in the world in exploiting its river water resources. From less
than 300 large dams existing at the beginning of planned development, the number of dams
constructed has spiraled to about 4,300.
Table 4. Water Resources Potential in the River Basins of India
Name of the River Basin
- 178 -
Average Annual
Potential in
the River (km 3 )
Percent Expected
Storage to Average
Annual Flow
Indus (up to border) 73.31 23
a) Ganga 525.02 16
b) Brahmaputra and others 597.04 11
Godavari 118.98 35
Krishna 67.79 5
Cauvery 21.36 38
Pennar 6.86 40
East flowing rivers between Mahanadi and Pennar 16.95 17
East flowing rivers between Pennar and 17.72 9
Mahanadi 66.88 37
Brahamani and Baitami 36.23 48
Subernarekha 10.79 30
Sabarmati 4.08 41
Mahi 11.83 47
West flowing rivers of Kutch, Saurashtra 52
including Luni 15.10
Narbada 41.27 52
Tapi 18.39 77
West flowing rivers from Tapi to Tadri 109.01 12
West flowing rivers from Tadri to Kanyakumari 89.84 13
Area of inland drainage in Rajasthan desert - -
Minor river basins draining to Bangladesh and
Myanmar 31.00 -
Total 1,879.45 20
Source: Gupta, et al., 2000.