“The development of irrigation has outrun its administration…” noted the Chief Engineer of the Upper Ganga Canal in 1869. More recently, a series of reports on the state of India irrigation suggest quite the obverse of Colonel W.Greathed’s glum observation; that it is India’s administration, in fact, that has outrun her irrigation. Trends gleaned by compiling figures from a multitude of government sources including the Planning Commission, the Ministry of Water Resources, and the Ministry of Agriculture indicate in spite of massive public investments in dams and river basin projects over the last ten years, the area under canal fed irrigation is actually declining.

Big dams and irrigation projects remain one of the most controversial issues in India’s environment-development debates, but the latest data suggest that those backing these mega-projects might have to re-consider their positions.

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