International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences (IJRESS) Available online at: http://euroasiapub.org Vol. 8 Issue 6, June - 2018 ISSN(o): 2249-7382 | Impact Factor: 6.939 |

“A Look into irrigation in State and initiatives Administered”

-G Thilothu Rao,

“Agriculture is not crop production as popular belief holds - it's the production of food and fibre from the world's land and waters. Without agriculture it is not possible to have a city, stock market, banks, university, church or army. Agriculture is the foundation of civilization and any stable economy”. -Allan Savory

Abstract: The State, which set a scorching pace for development and people’s welfare from the word go, is at the pole position in the country when it comes to spending on irrigation, a critical component of agricultural infrastructure, and on welfare of socially-backward and marginalized communities. Telangana is moving on the right path, and far from being debt-ridden as alleged by the Opposition, with the right blend of spending on developmental and welfare activities. This paper is intended to find the major initiative taken by the government in irrigation sector. Keywords: Development, Irrigation, Agricultural Infrastructure, welfare, marginalised, socially- backward.

Introduction Where there is a will, there is a way. And Telangana, a toddler State at that, has shown that given political will, intent can be translated into reality. The State, which set a scorching pace for development and people’s welfare from the word go, is at the pole position in the country when it comes to spending on irrigation, a critical component of agricultural infrastructure, and on welfare of socially-backward and marginalized communities. The cherry on the icing is that Telangana’s outstanding liabilities stood at just 17 per cent of the GSDP in 2016-17, among the lowest in the country. These positive aspects of the State’s economy, brought out in a comparative study of States’ budgetary allocation by New Delhi-based Institute for Policy Research Studies (PRS), speak volumes of the rapid march Telangana made within a short period of three-and-half years, and more importantly, nails the opposition lies that the State’s fundamentals are shaky. Focus on irrigation The government, which has consistently been reiterating that the key to ‘Bangaru Telangana’ lay in harnessing river waters, has been setting aside huge funds for irrigation projects. According to the PRS analysis, the budgetary allocation for irrigation in Telangana had gone up several notches from 13.2 per cent in 2014-15 (the first budget of the new State) to 17.6 of its total expenditure in 2017-18, the highest by any State in the country. Neighbouring Andhra Pradesh is a distant second allocating 8.9 per cent of its total expenditure in

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2017-18, followed by Odisha with 8.6 per cent. The average spend on irrigation by the 19 States included in the comparative study works out to just 5 per cent. The TS government, buoyed by the spate of Central clearances given to major irrigation projects, including the ambitious Kaleshwaram, Kalwakurthy and Sitharama, has fast-tracked works on these schemes, and the budgetary allocation only reflects its determination to achieve time-bound goals. When it comes to allocations for the welfare of weaker and marginalized sections of society, Telangana is on top accounting for 9.7 per cent of its total expenditure in the 2017-18 budget, up from 5.6 in 2014-15. This has been one of the major focus areas of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao who constantly reminds everyone that the SCs, ST, BCs and Minorities account for 90 per cent of the State’s population.

Low outstanding liabilities: Andhra Pradesh with 7.9 per cent and Karnataka with 6.8 per cent are in second and third position in welfare spends. The high percentage figure is on account of the various welfare schemes launched by the State government, including the Aasara pension scheme (a bouqet of financial aid covering several sections), sheep distribution scheme, Kalyana Lakshmi and Shaadi Mubarak, to name a few. A key finding of the PRS study is that TS also enjoys a low outstanding liabilities ratio compared with the GSDP. The State’s outstanding liabilities account for a healthy 17 per cent of its GSDP in 2016-17. This is among the lowest in the country with only Delhi and Chhattisgarh bettering the figure at 6 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively. Under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRMB) Act, the limits of liabilities are set at 25 per cent of States’ GSDP a year, and the TS figure clearly indicates that the accumulated debts from financing fiscal deficits in the past are well within control. Besides, the debt taken over from the State Discoms under the Central government sponsored Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) account for only 1.3 per cent of the State’s GSDP, compared to the much higher figures of other States. The other positive takeaway from the PRS study is that the State is doing well on raising revenue from their own taxes. While States such as Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka raise a majority of their revenue from their own taxes, TS is placed eighth in ranking raking in 55 per cent of the revenue generation from its own taxes, not too bad for a young State. It also figures among the States which are revenue surplus. In a nutshell, the research study indicates that the economy of Telangana is moving on the right path, and far from being debt-ridden as alleged by the Opposition, with the right blend of spending on developmental and welfare activities.

Source-wise Irrigation: The source-wise net area irrigated from 2008-09 to 2014-15 is shown in Table below. Net area irrigated by wells was the highest in 2015-16 (Kharif) at 86.37 percent and fell to 74.83 percent in 2013-14 and increased to 81.87% in 2014-15, while the area irrigated by canals has increased from 5.07 percent in 2012-13 to 12.68 percent in 2013-14 and decrease to 10.08% in 2014-15. During the given period, on an average, 76 percent of net irrigated area was through wells, showing the heavy dependence on good irrigation.

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Table: Percentage of Net Area Irrigated by source of Irrigation from 2008-09 to 2014-15 & 2015-16 Kharif Year Net Irrigated Source-wise Net Irrigated Area (%) Area (Lakh Ha.) Canals Tanks Wells

2008-09 18.28 11.55 13.03 72.09

2009-10 14.93 9.18 3.82 84.33

2010-11 20.04 15.76 11.87 69.63

2011-12 19.85 16.37 9.22 71.69

2012-13 17.74 5.07 8.91 83.77

2013-14 22.89 12.67 10.05 74.83

2014-15 17.26 10.08 5.62 81.87

2015-16 K 13.13 3.43 8.38 86.37

Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, .

Irrigation Intensity: Irrigation intensity (ratio of gross irrigated area to net irrigated area) under all sources of irrigation and wells is given in Table below. Irrigation intensity under wells is 1.50 in 2014-15. Expansion in Gross and Net area irrigated has taken place due to well irrigation.

Table 12: Gross and Net Irrigated Area and Irrigation Intensity from 2007-08 to 2014-15 & 2015-16 Kharif GIA under NIA under Irrigation GIA under NIA under Irrigation

Year all sources all sources intensity wells wells intensity

(lakh ha.) (lakh ha.) (all sources) (lakh ha.) (lakh ha.) (wells)

2007-08 24.46 17.49 1.40 18.23 13.14 1.39

2008-09 27.21 18.82 1.45 19.814 13.17 1.50

2009-10 21.31 14.93 1.43 18.42 12.59 1.46

2010-11 29.99 20.04 1.50 21.11 13.96 1.51

2011-12 28.64 19.85 1.44 21.57 14.23 1.52

2012-13 25.57 17.74 1.44 22.07 14.86 1.49

2013-14 31.54 22.80 1.38 23.34 17.11 1.36

2014-15 25.29 17.26 1.47 21.16 14.13 1.50

2015-16 K 13.24 13.13 1.01 11.45 11.34 1.01

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Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Hyderabad.

Telangana as the Seed Bowl of Seed is the basic and vital input that could increase crop yields substantially, provided good management practices are followed with other inputs. Availability of diverse agro-climatic regions with cool and dry weather conditions around the year made Telangana a congenial place for cultivating crops for the production of quality seed. Since Hyderabad has excellent logistic services facilities and strategically located in the middle of the country connecting East-West and North-South, there is a high potential for the State to become a 'Seed Bowl of the Country'.

The State produces around 37.42 lakh quintals of seeds of various crops every year, consisting paddy, hybrid paddy, maize, cotton and Bengal gram etc. At present, about 90-95% of hybrid rice seed production is being taken up by different seed companies in and districts. Nizamabad supplies 100 percent seed requirements of hybrid jowar and bajra for the country.

Following are the potentials of the seed industry in Telangana: • More than 60 percent of the nation's seed requirement is supplied from Telangana. • All districts of Telangana are suitable for seed production. • Production of seeds of all major crops. • Cool and dry weather conditions help in enhancing the shelf life of seeds. • Availability of efficient and economic seed processing plants and storage facilities. • More than 400 seed companies are operating in and around Hyderabad • presence of International, National and State institutes engaged in seed development such as, National Seeds Corporation(NSC), International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics(ICRISAT), Indian Institute of Rice Research(IRR), Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research(IIOR), Indian Institute of Millets Research(IIMR) Telangana State Seeds Development Corporation(TSSDC), Telangana State Seed Certification Agency(TSSCA), and State Agricultural Universities.

Taking cognisance of the potentials, has taken an initiative to develop modern infrastructural facilities such as assured power supply, provision of irrigation, seed storage godown and capacity building programmes for all stakeholders for the growth of the seed industry in Telangana. The strategies followed by the Government include:

• Delineation of the suitable seed production clusters • Strengthening of seed village programme • Promoting seed production of millets, oilseeds, forage crops etc, as a social responsibility of seed industry • Adoption of non-traditional areas by the seed industry • Revival of all State Seed Farms • Support for developing post-harvest facilities like seed processing plants, storage and transportation • Explore the additional export potential • Dedicated seed cell to co-ordinate all seed programmes • Promotion of seed production co-operative societies

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• Exploring the possibilities for development of Global Seed Valley/Hub • Promotion of Public-Private Partnership in seed production.

The Department of Agriculture prepared a seed production plan for five years, which aims at attaining 100 percent Seed Replacement Ratio (SRR) in coordination with the universities and other agencies. The government has initiated all necessary steps to strengthen the seed chain by involving various Research Institutions, Government Departments, and private seed producing agencies.

Conclusion The irrigation in Telangana which was neglected previous decades, was now under construction an prominent role in the and this can be evident by looking at the kind of projects they have started in the recent years. Which have capability of having removing decade backwardness in terms of irrigation and making Telangana no.1 in irrigation through various schemes.

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