Warabandi
Topic: Regional Planning and Sustainable Development in India · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 6 "Planning and Sustainable Development in Indian Context"
Meaning
Warabandi is a way of sharing canal water fairly by turns. Every canal outlet serves a group of farms. Each farmer under that outlet gets water for a fixed time on a fixed day. The length of their turn depends on the size of their land, so a bigger farm gets a longer turn. This stops farmers near the head of the canal from taking too much and leaving none for farmers at the tail end. It also cuts water lost on the way to the fields, and that lost water is a major cause of waterlogging.
Example
In the Indira Gandhi Canal command of western Rajasthan, warabandi is one of the Command Area Development works. It sits alongside lining watercourses (sealing small channels so water does not seep away) and levelling land. Together they help farmers in districts such as Ganganagar save water.