Need for irrigation in India
Topic: Water Resources of India: Availability, Use and Conservation · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Water Resources"
Meaning
India needs irrigation because its rainfall is uneven in space (place) and in time (season). The north-west and the Deccan are drought-prone, and winters and summers are mostly dry. Breaks in the monsoon cause dry spells even in wet states like West Bengal and Bihar. Crops such as rice, sugarcane and jute need a lot of water. Irrigation also lets farmers grow more than one crop a year, and it makes high-yielding varieties (HYVs) work, because these seeds need assured water.
Example
In Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, over 85% of the net sown area is irrigated. Wells and tubewells water 76.1% of Punjab's net irrigated area and 51.3% of Haryana's. This is what made these states the centre of the Green Revolution.
Related concepts
- Sectoral water use
- Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana
- Drip irrigation
- Sprinkler irrigation
- Micro-irrigation
- Virtual water