Lok Sabha Question No. 1914 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-07-28
Subject: Irrigation Infrastructure
Ministry: WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANAGA REJUVENATION
Asked by: R. PARTHIPAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1914 ANSWERED ON 28.07.2016

## IRRIGATION INFRASTRUCTURE

## 1914.          SHRI R. PARTHIPAN

Will the Minister of WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has any plan to increase the efficiency of the irrigation infrastructure; and (b) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE   MINISTER   OF STATE FOR WATER   RESOURCES,   RIVER   DEVELOPMENT    AND GANGA REJUVENATION (DR. SANJEEV  KUMAR BALYAN)

(a) & (b) Yes,  Madam.  State  Governments  undertake  several  measures  for  increasing efficiency of   Irrigation   infrastructure.    Central   Government   supplements   the efforts of the          State Government     in     this     regard     through     various schemes/programmes. The Union Government      provides      central      assistance  under  Command  Area  Development    and  Water Management    (CADWM)  Programme  to  the  state  governments    with  a  view  to  increase  the efficiency of  the  infrastructure  further,  to  increase  water  use  efficiency,  a  minimum  of  10%  of Culturable  Command  Area  (CCA)  of  each  project  under  CADWM  programme is  also  being brought  under Micro  Irrigation.    Central  assistance  to the  tune  of 50% is  provided  to  the  States for    development    of    infrastructure    to facilitate    use    of  sprinkler/  drip  irrigation  systems  as  an alternative  to  on-farm  development  works  with  a  view  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  irrigation infrastructure.

The National   Water   Mission   set   up   under   National   Action   Plan   on   Climate Change has  the  mandate  of  improving  water  use  efficiency  by 20%  in  the  three Irrigation,  domestic  and industrial  sectors.  One  of  the  strategies for  increasing water use efficiency  is to incentivize  use of efficient  irrigation practices  and fully utilize the created facilities.

Central  Water  Commission  has  prepared  Guidelines  for  improving  water  use  efficiency    in irrigation,    domestic    &    industrial    sectors.  Central  Water  Commission  has  been  observing  the performance overview and management improvement  of  Major  and  Medium  irrigation  Projects  of the  Country.  It has  so  far    studied    water    use    efficiency    of    35    irrigation projects    and performance  evaluation  of  131  projects. These  study  reports  containing  the  detailed  findings  on remedial    measures were conveyed    to the respective project authorities    for  taking-up the suggested corrective measures. For    increasing the operative  efficiency of  the  irrigation projects,  CWC has  been  encouraging  water  auditing. It has published  general  guidelines  for  water audit and water  conservation. These  Guidelines  have been circulated to all the State Governments  and   concerned Central  Ministries  and other  Utilities  for  framing  their  own  specific Guidelines. The  States  are  being  sensitized  on  importance  of  benchmarking  of  irrigation  projects through workshops.  So  far,  one  National  level,  three  State  level,  seven Regional  level  and  three  Project level  workshops  have  been  arranged.  Modified Guidelines  for  the Accelerated  Irrigation  Benefits Programme (effective From October,  2013)  have  encouraging  provisions  for  inclusion  of the  ERM Projects of the water sector reforming  States which are committed to implement  Micro Irrigation  in at least 10% of command area. The  per  drop  more  crop  component  of  Pradhan  Mantri Krishi  Sinchayee  Yojana (PMKSY)  interalia  aims  at  promoting  efficient  water  conveyance  and  precision water  application   devices   like DRIPS,  Sprinklers  pivots,  rain-guns  etc  in  the farm. The  NWP,  2012  has  recognized  the  importance  of  water  saving  in  irrigation  and  has  inter  alia

recommended  are as follows:

'Water  saving  in  irrigation  use  is  paramount  importance.  Methods  like  aligning cropping   pattern with   natural   resources   endowments,   micro   irrigation   (drip, sprinkler  etc)  automated  irrigation operation, evaporation-transpiration reduction etc should be encouraged and incentivized. Recycling of canal seepage water through conjunctive ground water use may also be considered  '.

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