Irrigation Works in India in the Pre-independence Era of Twentieth Century

The indispensability of well planned and rapid development of irrigation was pronounced by the two great famines of 1897-98 and 18991900. The economic considerations were out-weighed for irrigation development by the need for increasing food production for sustaining the population.

The result of the large-scale expansion of irrigation works in the Indian sub-continent during the 19th and the first-half of the twentieth century has been largely due to the great efforts of irrigation engineers with the support of the governments, including the rulers of the princely states. The role of three great personalities are immemorable in the history of irrigation development during the period. They are Sir Arthur Cotton, Major P.T. Cautley, both in the 19th century and Sir M. Visveshwariah in the first-half of the 20th century. Major Cautley, a British military engineer assumed the major responsibility for the construction of the Upper Ganga Canal Project in Uttar Pradesh.

Table 1. Net Area Irrigated in the Indian Union from 1910 to 1950 (Quinquennial average) On ha = million hectares)

(Source: Irrigation Commission, 1972).

Bharata Rathna M. Visveshwariah was largely responsible for the construction of Krishnarajasagar Scheme in 1911 A.D. on River Kaveri near the city of Mysore. The dam was the largest reservoir built in India till then. The scheme created an irrigation potential of 40,000 ha and provided electricity to the people of Mysore and Bangalore. The project converted the Mandya district of Karnataka, which was once covered by shrub forests, into a prosperous region with high-yielding paddy and sugarcane (Bhavanishankar, 2000). Table 1 presents the irrigation development in India during A.D. 1910 to 1950.