Minor Irrigation Census of India

Minor Irrigation Schemes

Minor Irrigation schemes contribute a major share in the growing irrigation across the country.

Irrigation schemes using either ground water or surface water and having a Culturable Command Area upto 2000 hectare individually are categorized as Minor Irrigation Schemes. The schemes have been categorized broadly into six major types; (1) Dugwell (2) Shallow tubewell (3) Medium Tubewell (4) Deep tubewell (5) Surface flow schemes and (6) Surface lift schemes.

The need for conducting the census of Minor Irrigation arose as it was felt that a database of these schemes will serve the planning, development and management needs of these schemes which contribute to agriculture in a big way.

Overview  

The Centrally Sponsored Plan Scheme “Rationalisation of Minor Irrigation Statistics (RMIS)” was launched in 1987-88 with 100% Central assistance to the States/UTs.  Since the XIth Five Year Plan the RMIS Scheme has become part of the Central Sector Plan Scheme “Development of Water Resources Information System (DWRIS)”.  During the XII Plan, RMIS was a sub-component of “Irrigation Census” component of the Plan Scheme DWRIS.  Currently Irrigation Census (parent component of “RMIS”) is a standalone component under Umbrella Scheme- Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana and Other Schemes.

The main objective of the RMIS scheme is to build up a comprehensive and reliable database in the Minor Irrigation (MI) Sector for effective planning and policymaking. The major activity under the scheme is the Census of Minor Irrigation schemes conducted in the States/UTs covering all ground water and surface water schemes (which are mostly under private ownership up to 2000 ha.).  The Census throws light on important aspects like Irrigation Potential Created and Utilized through minor irrigation structures both ground and surface water, water distribution practices employed by owners of these schemes and also sources used for energisation of these schemes.

For the implementation of the RMIS scheme, each State/UT identifies a Nodal Department for compilation of Minor Irrigation Statistics for the State.  State Statistical Cells are generally created within the Nodal Department so identified by the State Government.  These Cells assist the Head of the Nodal Department or Census Commissioner in the State in organizing, coordinating and supervising the minor irrigation census as an when planned by the Ministry Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.

• The First Census of Minor Irrigation schemes was conducted with reference year 1986-87.
• The Second Census with reference year 1993-94 was conducted in all States and Union Territories, except Gujarat, Maharashtra and UTs of Chandigarh, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep.
• The Third Minor Irrigation Census with reference year 2000-01 was conducted in all States and Union Territories except Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep.
• The fourth Census in the series was conducted with reference year 2006-07 in all States and Union Territories except Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep.
• The Fifth MI Census was conducted with reference year 2013-14 in all States and Union Territories except Daman & Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep.
• The Sixth MI Census has been conducted with reference year 2017-18 in all States and Union Territories except Delhi, Daman & Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep. The First census of water bodies has also been taken up in convergence with sixth MI census.

6th Census Report On Minor Irrigation Schemes

As per the report, 23.14 million minor irrigation (MI) schemes have been reported in the country, out of which 21.93 million (94.8%) are Ground Water (GW) and 1.21 million (5.2%) are Surface Water (SW) schemes. Uttar Pradesh possesses the largest number of MI schemes in the country followed by Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Leading States in GW schemes are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. In SW schemes Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Odisha and Jharkhand have the highest share. GW schemes comprise dugwells, shallow tube wells, medium tube wells and deep tube wells. The SW schemes comprise surface flow and surface lift schemes.

There has been increase of about 1.42 million in MI schemes during 6th MI census as compared to 5th Census. At the national level, both GW and SW schemes have increased by 6.9% and 1.2%, respectively. Dug-wells have highest share in MI schemes followed by shallow tube-wells, medium tube-wells and deep tube-wells. Maharashtra is the leading State in dug-wells, surface flow and surface lift schemes. Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab are the leading States in shallow tube-wells, medium tube-wells and deep tube-wells, respectively. Out of all MI schemes, 97.0% are ‘in use’, 2.1% are ‘temporarily not in use’ whereas 0.9% are ‘permanently not in use’. Shallow tube-wells and medium tube-wells lead in the category of ‘in use’ schemes. A majority of MI schemes (96.6%) are under private ownership. In GW schemes, the share of private entities in the ownership is 98.3% whereas in SW schemes the respective share is 64.2%.

For the first time, the information about gender of the owner of MI scheme was also collected in case of individual ownership. Out of all the individually owned schemes, 18.1% are owned by women. Around 60.2% schemes have single source of finance whereas 39.8% schemes have more than one source of finance. In single source of finance, majority of schemes (79.5%) are being financed by own savings of individual farmer.

To access the report, click here.

Source : Ministry of Jal Shakthi