Strategic Analyses of the National River Linking Project (NRLP) of India Series 5 Proceedings of the Second National Workshop on PROCEEDINGS Strategic Issues in Indian Irrigation Trends of public expenditure in major and medium irrigation and net irrigated area under different sources in India 60 42 50 36 30 40 24 30 18 (million ha) (million Expenditure 20 12 area irrigated Net (billionUS$,in 2000 prices) 10 6 0 0 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Expenditure Tanks Canals Groundwater Strategic Analyses of the National River Linking Project (NRLP) of India Series 5 Proceedings of the Second National Workshop on Strategic Issues in Indian Irrigation International Water Management Institute INTERNATIONAL WATER MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2009. Strategic Analyses of the National River Linking Project (NRLP) of India Series 5. Proceedings of the Second National Workshop on Strategic Issues in Indian Irrigation, New Delhi, India, 8-9 April 2009. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute. 367p. doi: 10.3910/2010.202 / irrigation management / institutional reform / surface irrigation / river basin management / water transfer / investment / irrigation schemes / policy / irrigation programs / water users associations / groundwater management / groundwater recharge / water supply / drinking water / watershed management / crops / Tamil Nadu / Rajasthan / India / ISBN 978-92-9090-719-0 Copyright © 2009, by IWMI. All rights reserved. Cover: Public expenditure data are from the Central Water Commission, Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India (accessible via cwc.gov.in/main/webpages/statistics.html). Net irrigated areas under different sources are from the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India (accessible via the dacnet.nic.in/eands/). Please direct inquiries and comments to: [email protected] Contents Acknowledgements v Preface vii Paper 1. Strategic Issues in Indian Irrigation: Overview of the Proceedings 1 Upali A. Amarasinghe and Stefanos Xenarios Paper 2. Reform or Morph? Unlocking Value in Asian Irrigation. 19 Tushaar Shah Paper 3. Cost and Benefits of the National River Linking Project: An Analysis of 29 Peninsular Links Upali A. Amarasinghe and R. Srinivasulu Paper 4. State of Irrigation in Tamil Nadu: Investments and Returns 53 Upali A. Amarasinghe, K. Palanisami, O.P. Singh and R. Sakthivadivel Paper 5. Policy Interfacing and Irrigation Development in Tamil Nadu 83 K. Palanisami, Upali A. Amarasinghe and R. Sakthivadivel Paper 6. Institutional Vacuum in Sardar-Sarovar Project: Framing 95 ‘Rules-of-the-Game’ Jayesh Talati and Tushaar Shah Paper 7. Groundwater Externalities of Large Surface Irrigation Transfers: 107 Lessons from Indira Gandhi Nahar Pariyojana, Rajasthan, India Bharat R. Sharma, K.V.G.K. Rao and Govind Sharma Paper 8. Managing Rehabilitation and Resettlement of the Involuntarily 123 Displaced Population: Lessons from Selected Hydro Projects Madar Samad, Zhankana Shah, Sridhar Acharyulu and Shreedhar Acharya Paper 9. Promoting Demand Management in Irrigation in India: Policy Options 139 and Institutional Requirements Rathinasamy Maria Saleth, Upali A. Amarasinghe, V. Ratna Reddy, K. Palanisami, R.P.S. Malik, A. Narayanamoorthy, Vishal Narain and M. Venkata Reddy iii Paper 10. Water Productivity Improvements in Indian Agriculture: Potentials, 163 Constraints and Prospects M. Dinesh Kumar, Upali A. Amarasinghe, Bharat R. Sharma, Kairav Trivedi, O.P. Singh, Alok K. Sikka and Jos C. van Dam Paper 11. Climatic Change and Groundwater: India’s Opportunities for Mitigation 175 and Adaptation Tushaar Shah Paper 12. Is It Possible to Revive Dug Wells in Hard-Rock India 197 through Recharge? Discussion from Studies in Ten Districts of the Country Sunderrajan Krishnan, Rajnarayan Indu, Tushaar Shah, Channappa Hittalamani, Banderrao Patwari, Deepak Sharma, Laxman Chauhan, Vivek Kher, Hirudia Raj, Upendrasinh Mahida, Shankar, M. and Krishna Sharma Paper 13. Addressing India’s Water Challenge 2050: The Virtual Water Trade Option 215 Shilp Verma, Doeke A. Kampman, Pieter van der Zaag, Arjen K. Hoekstra Annexes Paper A1. Assessing Net Economic Gains from Domestic and Industrial Water 233 Supply: Cases from NRLP Schemes Nirmalya Choudhury, Ankit Patel and Sanjiv Phansalkar Paper A2. State of Irrigation in Tamil Nadu: Trends and Turning Points 275 Upali A. Amarasinghe, O.P. Singh, R. Sakthivadivel and K. Palanisami Paper A3. Water Resources Management with Special Reference to Tank Irrigation 305 with Groundwater Use K. Palanisami and Ananthini Nanthakumaran Paper A4. Impact of Watershed Development Programs in Tamil Nadu 335 K. Palanisami and D. Suresh Kumar Agenda of the Workshop 355 Participants 358 iv Acknowledgements This volume of papers is the fifth and last in a series of publications under the IWMI-CPWF research on “Strategic Analyses of India’s National River Linking Project.” The project team would like to thank the authors of the respective chapters for their thoughtful contributions to the research presented in the workshop and reported in this volume. We are grateful to Dr. Colin Chartres, Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, Dr. J.S. Samra and Dr. B.M. Jha for delivering the keynote addresses in the workshop and to Dr. Ashok Gulati, Dr. M.Samad, Prof. Kanchan Chopra, Mr. Anil D. Mohile, Prof. A. Narayanamoorthy, Mr. Himanshu Thakker, Dr. L. Venkatachalam, Mr. S. Gopalakrishnan and Dr. Alok Sikka for their useful contributions by chairing or critiquing different sessions of the workshop. The project team also appreciates the guidance of the project advisory committee— the Chairman Prof. M.S. Swaminathan and others including Professors Yoginder K Alagh, Vijay S. Vyas, Kanchan Chopra, Vandana Shiva and Frank R. Rijsberman, Messrs Anil D. Mohile, S. Gopalakrsinan and Deep Joshi, and Drs. Peter McCornick and Tushaar Shah. This research project has benefited immensely from the intellectual leadership of Dr. Tushaar Shah, and the contributions of many other researchers at IWMI and in various government departments, universities and local organizations. We are grateful to all of them. Finally, we express our sincere thanks to Mr. Kingsley Kurukulasuriya, Editor; Ms. Pavithra Amunugama, Workflow Coordinator of the Publishing Unit, IWMI and Ms. Mala Ranawake, Administrative Officer, Research Division, IWMI for general coordination and logistical support; and all other IWMI and CPWF staff who helped in the various stages of this workshop and the project bringing them to a successful completion. Project Research in this book is part of the project no. 48, “Strategic Analyses of India’s National River-Linking Project (NRLP)” of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF). Partners National Rainfed Area Authority, New Delhi Banaras Hindu University, Varanesi, Uttar Pradesh The Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai Agro Economic Research Centre, Delhi University, Delhi v Centre for Rural Development, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen School of Public Policy and Governance, Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, Haryana NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad Livelihoods and Natural Resource Management Institute, Hyderabad Indwa Technologies, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Consulting Engineering Services (I), Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore Institute for Resource Analysis and Policy, Hyderabad INREM Foundation, Anand, Gujarat, India IWMI-TATA Water Policy Program, Hyderabad vi Preface In 2005, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) started a 3-year research study on “Strategic Analyses of India’s River Linking Project.” The primary focus of the research project was to inform the public and the policy planners of a balanced analysis of the benefits and costs of the different components of the National River Linking Project (NRLP). The project also conducted various research on experiences of past water development projects which can benefit new water transfers such as NRLP, and on major strategic issues in the Indian irrigation sector that require immediate attention. The second national workshop of the project, held at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi during April 8-9, presented the results of the studies on lessons that can be transferred from past to future water development projects, and strategic issues that require immediate attention for meeting India’s increasing water demand. This compendium of papers, the fifth and last of a series of publications under the IWMI- CPWF research project, includes the summary of keynote speeches and the deliberations in different sessions and the papers presented at the second national workshop. Upali A. Amarasinghe Project Leader IWMI New Delhi Office vii Strategic Issues in Indian Irrigation: Overview of the Proceedings Upali A. Amarasinghe and Stefanos Xenarios Introduction India’s National River Linking Project (NRLP), if implemented in its entirety, will form a gigantic water grid that South Asia has never witnessed in the history of its water development. However, from the outset, the proposed NRLP plan was a bone of contention among the civil society, academia, environmental community, policy planners and politicians (Alagh et al. 2006). For opponents its economic benefits will not be sufficiently higher vis-à-vis its social and environmental cost. For its proponents, it is the savior of the pending water crisis in India (NWDA 2009). However, many of the discourses