Irrigation

Featured Articles
August 10, 2022
Taming water - Irrigation and drought protection in colonial India and the present
The irrigation at all costs mindset and narrow policies for drought protection during the colonial rule ignored rainfed agriculture and local practices that sustained agriculture in the Bombay Deccan. This continues even today.
Recurrent droughts and the struggle for survival (Image Source: Gaurav Bhosale via Wikimedia Commons):
August 9, 2022
MGNREGS becoming the quintessential scheme for tribal agriculture
Ensuring irrigation through farm ponds in tribal Chhattisgarh
Many tribal farmers opted for individual farm ponds under MGNREGA ensuring protective irrigation. (Image: Meenakshi Singh)
April 8, 2022
Water for all, still a dream?
Lack of governance and six toothless irrigation acts have done very little to change the water situation on the ground in Maharashtra, argues water expert Pradeep Purandare.
Peanut irrigation in India (Image Source: Seratobikiba via Wikimedia Commons)
March 11, 2022
Making every drop count: Micro-irrigation for tribal farmers of Gujarat
Subsidies enable tribal farmers to adopt micro-irrigation systems providing them assured irrigation
A key mitigation strategy to deal with water scarcity due to climate change is on-farm management of water using techniques like micro-irrigation (Image: India Water Portal Flickr)
September 17, 2021
Villagers’ shramdaan revives canal, enhances area under cultivation
Benefits of well-managed commons on livelihoods
Collective efforts revived the canal structure of Bichhiya dam bringing water to the village (Image: Foundation for Ecological Security)
August 29, 2021
Diversion-based irrigation systems
Experience of Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) in revitalizing the traditional phad irrigation system in hilly tribal villages of Western Madhya Pradesh
Community members contribute voluntary labour required for laying the pipeline network and tank construction (Image: Anjali Aggarwal)
Unravelling NITI Aayog’s Composite Water Management Index: Veering to a pragmatic approach
An analysis of the effectiveness of the Composite Water Management Index as a policy-making tool
Kuhelika Ghosh
Praharsh M. Patel
Posted on 14 Jun, 2019 11:34 AM

INTRODUCTION
Image for representational purposes only. Image credit: India Water Portal
Climate change real, warns Pangi tribe
The effects of climate change are felt by the indigenous communities residing in the Himalayan region. How are they coping with these changes?
Rajesh Kumar Meena et al
Posted on 13 Jun, 2019 02:14 PM

Mountain ecosystems are highly sensitive due to ecological fragility, geomorphologic instability but are blessed with vast eco biodiversity.
Chandrabhaga river through Pangi valley, Himachal Pradesh (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
UNICEF lauds SBM for reducing groundwater contamination
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 12 Jun, 2019 12:09 PM

Swachh Bharat Mission reduced groundwater contamination: UNICEF
SBM reduced groundwater contamination in many villages. (Source: IWP via Flickr photos)
Skymet Weather releases kharif crop estimate 2019
With over 50 percent of the cultivable area being rain-fed, the farm economy could be in a precarious situation with the ongoing rain deficiency.
Skymet Weather Services
Posted on 11 Jun, 2019 04:25 PM

India’s leading weather and agriculture risk monitoring company has released a Kharif Report, sharing the prediction for the upcoming monsoon and its impact on the production of kharif crops.
Cotton production in the country is expected to go up by 10 percent as compared to last year. (Image: Kimberly Vardeman, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)
Food security with flood, drought-resistant rice crops
New drought and flood tolerant rice varieties can ease water constraints and ensure food security, study says.
Anchal Arora
Sangeeta Bansal
Patrick S Ward
Posted on 07 Jun, 2019 11:23 AM

In recent years, cycles of extreme drought and severe flooding have affected the country’s water availability and crop production. The trend can be attributed to climate change. Scientists have been exploring drought and flood tolerant crop varieties to offset stress conditions that significantly constrain rice production.
Determining the long-term effects of the flood-tolerant rice variety Swarna-Sub1. (Image: Centre for Effective Global Action)
Monsoon to arrive late, less rain expected: Skymet
The forecast shows monsoon to begin under the shadow of El Niño and could be below normal across all four regions.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 30 May, 2019 11:25 AM

Skies in several parts of Kerala are overcast with pre-monsoon but monsoon is progressing sluggishly, as per meteorological predictions. “This year’s monsoon rains will arrive on India southern coast in Kerala on June 4 and deliver less rain than average year,” says Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency.
Monsoon in Sikkim Himalayas (Image: Marina, Wikimedia Commons, CC-A-2.0-Generic)
Borewells: Boon or bane for women?
A study shows that although borewells have improved women’s access to water in the short term, they have increased water insecurity and the suffering of women in the long term.
Divya Susan Solomon
Nitya Rao
Posted on 23 May, 2019 08:29 PM

Tamil Nadu is one of the most water-vulnerable states in India that depends heavily on groundwater for irrigation. As high as 56 percent of land in the state is currently irrigated by groundwater and the remaining by tanks and canals.
Collecting water, a daily backbreaking task of women. (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Reservoir storage in western India below normal: CWC
CWC's latest data raises concern over water availability and the country's preparedness to deal with shortages in western India and parts of southern India.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 23 May, 2019 04:49 PM

The recent data from the Central Water Commission (CWC), released on May 9, 2019 reveals a reassuring situation of water storage in the river basins of India. The overall water storage in the 91 reservoirs monitored is slightly more (105 percent) when compared to the average water storage over the last 10 years, the data shows.
Mulshi dam reservoir in Maharashtra (Image: Rohit Gowaikar, Wikimedia Commons)
Mapping pollution hotspots in Yamuna
A sensor network system is being used for mapping and monitoring the water quality of river Yamuna.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 01 May, 2019 10:38 AM

The Yamuna was considered a nurturing and life-enhancing goddess in the past. Legend has it that bathing in the sacred waters of the Yamuna, the sister of Yama, the god of death, frees one from the ordeal of death. The 1376-km river is a tributary of the Ganga and originates in the Yamunotri glacier in the lower Himalayas.
A project, conceptualised by a team of researchers from the University of Chicago, US helps demonstrate that scalable water quality mapping systems can detect and predict water contamination (Image:India Water Portal)
Understanding water footprint of cereals in India
Changes in cereal production practices can contribute to improved efficiency of water use in India.
Benjamin Kayatz
Francesca Harris
Jon Hillier
Tapan Adhya
Carole Dalin
Dali Nayak
Rosemary F Green
Pete Smith
Alan D Dangour
Posted on 30 Apr, 2019 01:05 PM

India has the highest national freshwater demand globally and 91 percent of our freshwater is used in the agriculture sector. Cereals account for over 50 percent of the dietary water footprint in India and represent a potential opportunity for reducing water use in Indian agriculture.
Cereals and millets at a bazaar in Nizampet, Hyderabad (image: Aditya Madhav, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons)
Subscribe to Irrigation
×