International Journal of Food, Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences ISSN: 2277-209X (Online) An Open Access, Online International Journal Available at http://www.cibtech.org/jfav.htm 2014 Vol. 4 (1) January-April, pp.116-126/Das Research Article ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF NREGA ON POND IRRIGATION: A CASE STUDY ON BLOCKS OF BIRBHUM DISTRICT, WEST BENGAL, INDIA *Mridul Das Department of Geography, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan - 731235, West Bengal, India *Author for Correspondence ABSTRACT NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005) is being eulogized by many in the academic, development and policy arena as a silver bullet for eradicating rural poverty and unemployment, but in this paper the effect of this policy on the micro irrigation practices is highlighted. The work undertaken in this policy such as digging new ponds or de-silting of ponds etc. has great impact on water availability and sustenance in the rural small water bodies. In rural India, ponds have been playing very vital role in economic and socio-cultural aspects and it also maintaining the eco-environmental sustainability. To show the viability of NREGA policy, study has done at two blocks of Birbhum district of West Bengal, selecting one from a drought prone area and other from flood affected area. Comparative study on the irrigational practices between pre and post NREGA implementing period has highlighted the pond irrigation status of the villages. The incorporation of the environment sustaining suggestions of the local people and experts will enrich such type of government’s rural development programmes. Keywords: Pond Irrigation, NREGA, Cost-Benefit Ratio, Viability of Policy INTRODUCTION Irrigation is the artificial application of water to the soil. It is very essential in the dry areas and lean periods of the season, for the growth of agricultural crops, maintenance and re-vegetation of the soil. Use of irrigation is an effect measure to enhance the production of crops and the study areas are highly primary activity based so the use of it is very vital one. In the first half of the 20th century, in a large part of West Bengal, tanks were the primary source of irrigation. These small earthen reservoirs stored runoff from the catchments and water diverted from rivers during rainy season. Nowadays various types of irrigation are practiced like river lift, canal, lake, pond, waterfall etc. (surface irrigation) and deep shallow tube well based etc. (subsurface or spot irrigation). But pond is one of the ancient and effective irrigation methods for micro irrigation (Ghosh, 2012). Among two block of Birbhum, Khoyrasole is drought prone where ponds are practices highly as sources of irrigation, but Labpur is water abundant area, where rivers and canals are primarily used for irrigation. One of the most important government implemented plan is National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the Act passed by the Lok Sabha on 23 August 2004 and was signed by the President of India on 5 September 2005. The law was initially called the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and was renamed with the prefix Mahatma Gandhi on 2 October 2009, Gandhi's birth anniversary (GOI). The scheme provides a legal guarantee for at least 100 days of paid employment in every financial year to adult members of any household willing to do unskilled manual work. Under 100 days work government highly stressed on water management i.e. water conservation and water harvesting (Digging of new ponds, percolation tanks, canal, De-silting of ponds, old canal, traditional open well etc). It has a great impact on rural pond maintenance and its water holding capacity. After implementation of this act the pond based irrigation has energized in the drought prone rural areas (Bassai and Kumar, 2010). But the expenditure of this programme for pond digging and de-silting is almost same in the two blocks of the study area. Therefore in this paper the author has tried to analyze the importance and effectiveness of pond based irrigation and the impact of NREGA on pond irrigation in the study area. © Copyright 2014 | Centre for Info Bio Technology (CIBTech) 116 International Journal of Food, Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences ISSN: 2277-209X (Online) An Open Access, Online International Journal Available at http://www.cibtech.org/jfav.htm 2014 Vol. 4 (1) January-April, pp.116-126/Das Research Article MATERIALS AND METHODS The Study Area To compare the impact of NREGA in different ecological areas, two sample blocks of Birbhum district Khoyrasole (23° 42ʹ 50.923ʺ N to 23° 54ʹ 59.07ʺ N and 87° 05ʹ 57.253ʺ E to 87° 22ʹ 07.896ʺ E) and Labpur (23° 42ʹ 4.633ʺ N to 23° 53ʹ 58.547ʺ N and 87° 43ʹ 20.162ʺ E to 87° 58ʹ 11.37ʺ E) have chosen. Khoyrasole is located at the western boundary of the district has the high rainfall during rainy season (>1400 cm.), but due to steep relief and highly porous soil rain waters are runoff or infiltrated after some times of rainfall, so this area is classed under semi-drought area. On the other hand Labpur locates at the eastern side having high rainfall (1200 cm.), flat plain, affluent water availability and flood characteristics. Obviously irrigation statuses of both the blocks vary accordingly. Figure 1 Objectives: To study the nature of irrigation practices of the study area. To evaluate the suitability of the type of the irrigation of the study area. To examine the potentiality of pond based irrigation system in the study area. To examine the impact of NREGA on pond irrigation. Methods: Pre-field: Consultation of SOI Toposheets (73 M/1, 73M/2, 73 M/5, 73 M/6, 73M/9, 73 M/10, 73 M/13), Google Images, Satellite Images, previous literatures, articles etc. To get information regarding the working plan of NREGA the website www.nrega.nic.in has consulted. © Copyright 2014 | Centre for Info Bio Technology (CIBTech) 117 International Journal of Food, Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences ISSN: 2277-209X (Online) An Open Access, Online International Journal Available at http://www.cibtech.org/jfav.htm 2014 Vol. 4 (1) January-April, pp.116-126/Das Research Article Field: A number of sample ponds have been selected from different Gram Panchayats of two blocks to find out the nature of pond based irrigation. Secondary data have been collected from District Statistical Hand books and District census handbook, Birbhum, block and revenue office, Suri, IMD, and Irrigation Dept. Suri. Post-field: To determine the temporal changing pattern of the ponds, both in number and sizes, digitization of the ponds of two entire blocks have done on the basis of the ponds of Topographical maps (1972) and images with the aid of ArcGIS software. Compilation and processing of all primary and secondary data have done for fulfilling the objectives of the study. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Status of Pond in the Study Area The temporal change of pond in the study area have detected from Toposheet (1972) and Google Earth (2013). The area and number of ponds has increased due to the implementation of 100 days programme of NREGA. Although some amount of ponds are derelicted due to lack of maintenance or clogged due to domain of human architect. Spatial distribution pattern of Ponds The pond size and their concerned area of the blocks have similarity with the normal impoundments all over world. Small impoundments have covered greater area and number relating to the bigger one (Chaney et al., 2012). The summery of size wise distribution of ponds of the study area are given in table 1 and 2. The average pond area of Khoyrasole block is 65.64 ha and ranging from 43.94 ha in Lokepur gram panchayat to 102.23 ha in Parsundi gram Panchayat. In case of Labpur block average pond area is 56.72 ha and ranging from 21.34 ha in Thiba gram panchayat to 87.67 ha in Bipratikuri gram Panchayat. Ponds area between 0.5 - 1 hectare has covered maximum area and frequency among different size of the ponds and that is applicable in both of the blocks. Which indicates private ownership of the pond and most of the ponds are very shallow and low water holding capacity. Table 1: Size wise distribution of Pond in Khoyrasole Block (2013) Size of the Ponds in Hectares Total Area in Gram <.5 .5 – 1 1 – 2 >2 Hectares Panchayats No. Area No. Area No. Area No. Area No Area 1. Babuijore 99 32.14 42 28.42 7 09.27 2 06.96 150 76.79 2. Barrah 82 24.31 26 17.00 4 05.77 1 03.93 113 51.01 3. Hazratpur 88 25.82 29 18.81 3 04.19 - - 120 48.82 4. Kendgare 98 25.38 14 08.80 4 05.18 3 11.50 119 50.86 5. Khoyrasole 86 27.91 16 10.08 3 04.25 2 04.71 107 46.95 6. Lokepur 89 24.54 24 16.67 2 02.43 - - 115 43.94 7. Nakrakonda 93 28.78 27 18.13 4 05.32 2 06.25 126 58.48 8. Parsundi 214 61.86 45 29.69 7 08.52 1 02.16 267 102.23 9. Punchra 168 47.63 29 18.86 10 14.18 1 05.45 208 46.09 10. Rupuspur 141 42.37 21 13.43 2 02.82 2 06.06 166 50.03 Source: Calculated by author from SOI Toposheet and Google Earth In case of Khoyrasole block the numbers of ponds are increased with lowering of surface but in Labpur the ponds are scarce due to high amount of stream and cannel portion .The large size ponds are mainly governed by the multi ownership and government facilitated, basically use for inland fisheries.