page_title: Irrigation in India
section_title: Colonial era
hierarchical_section_title: Irrigation in India / History / Colonial era
caption_attribution_description: English: Watercolor titled, "The Ganges Canal, Roorkee, Saharanpur District (U.P.)." The canal was the brainchild of Sir Proby Cautley; construction began in 1840, and it was opened by Governor-General Lord Dalhousie in April 1854 Uploaded by Fowler&amp;fowler«Talk» 22:38, 15 November 2008 (UTC)
context_page_description: Irrigation in India includes a network of major and minor canals from Indian rivers, groundwater well based systems, tanks, and other rainwater harvesting projects for agricultural activities. Of these groundwater system is the largest. In 2013-14, only about 36.7% of total agricultural land in India was reliably irrigated, and remaining 2/3rd cultivated land in India is dependent on monsoons. 65% of the irrigation in India is from groundwater.Currently about 51% of the agricultural area cultivating food grains is covered by irrigation. The rest of the area is dependent on rainfall.
  Indian govt launched a demand side water management plan costing INR6000 crore or USD854 million across 8,350 water stressed villages of 78 districts in 7 states - Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh - over five years from 2021-2022 to 2026-27, with the view to harvest rainwater, enhance water table, water recharge rate with village panchayat level water management plans.
context_section_description: In 1800, some 800,000 hectares were irrigated in India. The Britishers by 1940 built significant number of canals and irrigation systems in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Assam and Orissa.  The Ganges Canal reached 350 miles from Haridwar to Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. In Assam, a jungle in 1840, by 1900 had 1.62m hectares under cultivation, especially in tea plantations.  In all, the amount of irrigated land multiplied by a factor of eight.  Historian David Gilmour states British colonial government had built irrigation network with Ganges canal and that, "by the end of the century the new network of canals in the Punjab" were in place.
  Much of the increase in irrigation during British colonial era was targeted at dedicated poppy and opium farms in India, for exports to China. Poppy cultivation by the British Raj required reliable, dedicated irrigation system. Large portions of the eastern and northern regions of India, namely United Provinces, Northwestern Provinces, Oudh, Behar, Bengal and Rewa were irrigated to ensure reliable supply of poppy and opium for China. By 1850, the Asian opium trade created nearly 1,000 square kilometers of poppy farms in India in its fertile Ganges plains, which increased to over 200.000 hectares by 1900. This diversion of food crop land to cash crop use, state scholars, led to massive famines over the 1850 to 1905 period.
  Major irrigation canals were built after millions of people died each in a series of major famines in the 19th century in British India. In 1900, British India (including Bangladesh and Pakistan) had about 13 million ha under irrigation. In 1901 the Viceroy, Lord Curzon, appointed a Commission chaired by Sir Colin Scott-Moncrieff to draw up a comprehensive irrigation plan for India. In 1903 the Commission's report recommended irrigation of an additional 2.6 million hectares. By 1947, the irrigated area had increased to about 22 million ha. In Northwestern British India region alone, with the colonial government's effort, 2.2 million hectares of previously barren land was irrigated by 1940s, most of which is now part of Pakistan. Arthur Cotton led some irrigation canal projects in the Deccan peninsula, and landmarks are named after him in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. However, much of the added irrigation capacity during the colonial era was provided by groundwater wells and tanks, operated manually.
caption: Ganges irrigation canal built during the colonial era, and inaugurated in 1854.
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