BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

On rural areas farming is the primary source of living for the people. Water for irrigation is one of the
major requirement in producing good crops. In order to get water people need to fetch water manually
from the river or by using pneumatic pumps sucking out water from the well. A vast majority (80 per
cent) of the state’s rural population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. In 1995-96, the gross
irrigated area in the state was only 27.92 per cent of the gross cropped area of 96.7%. Therefore, most
farmers have to deal with uncertain and variable rainfall, which is a serious risk factor, and farmers are
always vulnerable to yield losses due to extreme climatic variations. Production of agricultural
commodities in the state has to be increased substantially to meet the future requirements. However,
during the last 20 years, the net sown area in the state remained unchanged. Further changes in future
being very unlikely, any future increase in agricultural production has to come from increase in cropping
intensities through provision of irrigation facilities (Mitra 2000). Development of modern irrigation
systems was taken up in the provinces, but was limited to small parts only. Investment in canal and lift
irrigation gained priority during the plan periods. Great emphasis was given to major and medium
irrigation systems, while public investment in surface irrigation had its own regional disparities.