Economic Aspects of Irrigation Management in Major and Medium Surface Irrigation Systems in India

Progress of irrigation development in India has given rise to two major problems, among others specially in respect of major and medium irrigation systems. Firstly, the problem of paucity of resources which not only restricts taking up new projects, but also puts severe restrictions specially on operation and maintenance of the existing surface irrigation systems and completing the on-going unfinished projects. Secondly, the problem of overall poor performance which may be often the fall out of the first problem. The dismal perfonnance in operation and maintenance of most of the systems, owing mainly to the paucity of funds and low water rates, calls. for allocating more funds for the operation and maintenance costs and enhancing the water rates in order to restore the financial health of the public irrigation works which has deteriorated at a rapid rate. In this paper an attempt has been made to examine these issues with reference to cost aspect of the operation and maintenance of the existing major and medium, irrigation systems and pricing of irrigation water.