Ashwamedha – Ignite

Irrigation

Submitted by
Aditi Agrawal
Indian institute of Management Lucknow
Let’s get our facts right …
• Major Irrigation (surface
Water) : 38%
• Minor Irrigation (tanks,
ground water etc.): 62%
• 70% of food grain
production coming
from irrigated
agriculture
Then what’s the problem
• Dwindling water table
• Low productivity levels
• Not enough groundwater during drought years
• Most of the regions experience drought once in 5
years
• Free electricity (making farmers irresponsible –
Punjab .. Though its not just about farmers, even
here students waste lot of electricity as it is “free”
with 24X7 supply)
Do we have any example to follow?
• Chauka System - Laporiya of Dudu block,
Jaipur, Rajasthan
- Village Tank – Community based rain water
harvesting

• Tanks in Southern States

- Fell out of favor because of high maintenance
requirements, corruption
The Idea
• Village Tank
- Degraded pasture areas (better if they are
along strategic location - contour lines) to be
dyked for storing rain water
- Building of channels for the water to flow
from other areas to the catchment area
- Part of the water collected can be used for
recharging the ground water
Business Model
• Building village tanks
- Executing the entire project for villagers for fee
• Tie – up with MFIs
- MFIs will provide funds to the villagers
• Providing technical know-how to the villagers
References
• http://www.sustainableinnovations.us/index.php?option=c
om_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=36
• http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/publications/data/2009-03-
08Gandhi.pdf
• http://www.nourin.tsukuba.ac.jp/~tasae/2005/India.pdf
• http://www.sandrp.in/irrigation/prfmnce_lrg_dams.pdf
• http://www.iwmigiam.org/info/GMI-DOC/GIAM-India-
Stats.pdf
• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VC6-
4SW8B1K-1/2/c45469f03e80935a84ffc166a6a04dd2
• http://www.rainwaterharvesting.org/Rural/Improvised.htm