IRRIGATION IN THE PUNJAB. 531 on irrigation (inclusive of Sind) was £65,000 under the head in the In some parts of the Punjab, irrigation is only one degree Irrigation less necessary than in Sind, but the sources of supply are more Punjab, numerous. In the northern tract, under the Himálayas, and 1879-84. in the upper valleys of the Five Rivers, water can be obtained by digging wells from 10 to 30 feet below the surface. In the south, towards Sind, 'inundation channels' are usual. The upland tracts which rise between the basins of the main rivers are now in course of being supplied by the perennial canals of the Government. According to the returns for 1878-79, out 1879. of a grand total of 23,523,504 acres under cultivation, 5,340,724 acres were irrigated by private individuals, and 1,808,005 acres by public channels;' total area under irrigation, 7,148,729 acres, or 30 per cent. of the cultivated area. The three principal Government works in the Punjab are the Western Jumna Canal, the Bárí Doáb Canal, and the Sirhind, The three the main branch of which, and some of its distributaries, were opened in November 1882. An account of each of these works Canals. is given in separate articles in The Imperial Gazetteer of India.1 Up to the close of 1877-78, the capital outlay on the three great Punjab Canals was £3,645,189; the total income in that year was £263,053, of which £171,504 was classified as direct, and £91,549 as indirect; the total revenue charges on works in operation were £224,316, of which £146,419 was for maintenance, and £77,897 for interest, thus showing a surplus of £38,737. On the Western Jumna Canal, taken singly, the net profit was £83,112 in 1877-78. great Punjab By the end of 1883-84, the gross revenue from the Bárí Irrigation Doáb and Western Jumna Canal, together with the Indus and Punjab, Sutlej Inundation Canals, amounted to £428,416, and the 1883-84. 1 See articles JUMNA CANAL, Eastern and Western, BARI DOAB CANAL, SIRHIND CANAL, in The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Punjab Canal finance, 1884. Punjab Canal statistics, 1884. Irrigation in the working expenses to £197,032, thus yielding a net revenue of £231,384, equal to a return of nearly 5 per cent. on the capital of the canals opened. This is exclusive of the Muzaffargarh Inundation Canal, which has no capital account, but which in 1882-83 yielded a return of £22,035, against working expenses amounting to £15,365, leaving a surplus of revenue over expenditure of £6670. Irrigation from the Sirhind Canal had only just commenced, but the revenue will increase in proportion to the rate of progress in constructing the distributary channels. This work, together with the completion of branchdistributaries, is being pushed on as rapidly as possible. The capital outlay on the three great Punjab canals, exclusive of contributions by Native States towards the construction of the Sirhind Canal, amounted at the close of 1883-84 to £5,033,284, the capital expended during the latter year being £282,524. Area irrigated from Government canals in 1883-84 :-Western Jumna Canal, 472,426 acres; Bárí Doáb Canal, 390,860 acres ; Sirhind Canal, 5030 acres; inundation canals, 783,752 acres: total, 1,652,068 acres. The ordinary irrigated area in the Punjab, from Government works as well as by private individuals, may now be taken at about 8 million acres, out of a total cultivated area of over 23 million acres. The North-Western Provinces present, in the great doáb, or N.-W. high land between the Ganges and the Jumna, a continuation Provinces. of the physical features to be found in the Punjab. The canals of local rainfall, indeed, is heavier, but before the days of artificial irrigation almost every drought resulted in a terrible famine. It is in this tract that the British Government has been perhaps most successful in averting such calamities. In Sind, irrigation is an absolute necessity; in Lower Bengal, it may be regarded almost as a luxury; in the great river basins of Upper India, it serves the twofold object of averting famines caused by drought; of introducing more valuable crops and higher methods of agriculture. Concerning private irrigation from wells in the NorthFour great Western Provinces, details are not available. The great the Doábs, Government works are the Ganges Canal, the Eastern Jumna 1878-83. Canal, the Agra Canals, and the Lower Ganges Canal.1 Up to 1878. the close of 1877-78, the total outlay had been £5,673,401. The gross income in that year was £438,136, of which £337,842 was derived from water-rates, and £100,294 from enhanced land revenue; the working expenses amounted to 1 A full account of each of these works will be found under article GANGES CANAL, The Imperial Gazetteer, vol. iii. IRRIGATION; N.-W. PROVINCES; BENGAL. 533 Canals. £143,984, leaving £294,152 for surplus profits, or 6'77 per N.-W. P. cent. on the total capital expended on works in operation. The total area irrigated in the North-Western Provinces was 1,461,428 acres. Of this total, 415,659 acres were under wheat, and 139,375 under sugar-cane. great N.-W. P. The total capital outlay on the four main canals just men- The four tioned in the North-Western Provinces up to 1882-83, was canals, £6,499,741, of which £138,677 were expended during 1882-83. 1882-83. The other canals in the N.-W. Provinces, not classed as productive works, included, in 1882-83, the following-namely, the Minor Dún Canal, the Rohilkhand and Bijnor Canal, the Bundelkhand canals, irrigation works, the Cawnpur branch of the Lower Ganges Canal, and the Betwá Canal, constructed as a famine insurance work. Total capital expended on all Government canals in the NorthWestern Provinces up to the end of 1882-83, £6,890,769, of which £232,341 was spent during the latter year. These canals may all be considered as practically complete, with the exception of the Lower Ganges and Agra Canals, in which some of the distributaries are as yet (1884) unfinished; and the Betwá Canal, which was under construction at the end of 1882-83. canal revenue in The gross revenue of the canals in the N.-W. Provinces, Total including water-rates, increased land revenue due to the canals, navigation charges in 1882-83, was £645,918; the charges N.-W.P., against revenue amounted to £215,813, thus leaving a net 1883. revenue of £430,105, or over 6 per cent. on the total capital outlay, exclusive of the Betwá Canal. Deducting from this the interest charges for the year, which amounted to £249,601, there remained a clear profit or surplus of £180,504. The total area irrigated during 1882-83 was 1,974,175 acres, of which Irrigated 1,462,023 were supplied by the Ganges and Lower Ganges area, 1883. Canals, or their branches. Of the irrigated area, 728,385 acres were under wheat; 662,693 acres under other food crops; 316,145 acres under indigo; 198,322 acres under sugar-cane, and 52,493 acres under cotton. Besides the canal irrigation, a vast area in the North-Western Provinces is supplied with water from wells, tanks, and miscellaneous works. The total area ordinarily irrigated in the North-Western Provinces (excluding Oudh) may be estimated at 7 to 8 million acres. in Oudh. No irrigation works have yet been introduced into Oudh by Irrigation Government. A fair local rainfall, the annual overflow of the rivers, and an abundance of low-lying swamps, combine to furnish a water-supply which is ample in all ordinary years. According to the Settlement returns, out of a total cultivated area of 8,276,174 acres, 2,957,377 acres, or 35 per cent., are Irrigation in Bengal Proper. irrigated by private individuals. But this figure probably includes low lands watered by natural overflow. Throughout the greater part of Bengal Proper there is scarcely any demand for artificial irrigation, but Government has undertaken to construct works in those exceptional tracts where experience has shown that drought or famine is to be feared. In the broad valleys of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, and along the deltaic seaboard, flood is a more frequent calamity than drought; and embankments here take the place of canals. The Public Works Department in Lower Bengal Embank has over 2000 miles of embankments under its charge, upon which £79,105 was expended in 1877-78, either as direct outlay or in advances to landowners. The wide expanse of Northern Bengal and Behar, stretching from the Himalayas to the Ganges, is also rarely visited by drought; although, when drought does come, the excessive density of the population brings the danger of famine very near. In Sáran District it has been found necessary to carry out a scheme for utilizing the discharge of the river Gandak. ments. The Orissa The Son The great irrigation works in Lower Bengal are two in number, and belong to two different types :-(1) In the delta of Orissa, an extensive system of canals has been constructed on the pattern of those lower down the Coromandel coast. They store up the water by means of a weir or anicut thrown across the Mahánadi river.1 The Orissa works are intended to avert the danger of both drought and flood, and also to be useful for navigation. In average seasons, i.e. in five years out of six, the local rainfall is sufficient for the rice crop, which is here the sole staple of cultivation; and therefore it is not to be expected that these canals will be directly or largely remunerative. But, on the other hand, if they save the Province from a repetition of the disastrous year 1865-66, the money will not have been expended in vain. A canal, originally designed as a branch of the Orissa works, runs through Midnapur District and debouches on the Húglí. (2) In South Behar, the flood discharge of the Son has been intercepted, after the system of engineering followed in the North-West, so as to irrigate the thirsty strip of land along the south bank of the Ganges, where distress has often been severely felt.2 In this case, also, the expenditure must be regarded rather as an insurance fund against famine than as reproductive outlay. The works are not yet complete, 1 See article MAHANADI, The Imperial Gazetteer. 2 See article SON CANALS, The Imperial Gazetteer. IRRIGATION; BENGAL AND MADRAS. 535 but the experience already gained proves that irrigation is wanted even in ordinary seasons. Up to the close of the year 1877-78, the capital expendi- Irrigation in Bengal, ture on all the State irrigation works in Lower Bengal was 1878-83. £4,653,903; the gross income for the year was £49,477; the working expenses were £70,286, and the estimated interest on 1878. capital, at 4 per cent., amounted to £203,971, thus showing a deficit of £224,780. The area irrigated was about 400,000 acres. By the end of 1882-83, the total direct capital outlay Irrigation (excluding interest) on State navigation and irrigation canals in Bengal, 1882-83. in Bengal was £5,331,726; the gross income for the year was £207,444 (including the Calcutta Canals and Nadiya river works, for which capital and revenue accounts are not kept), and the working expenses £514,898, showing a deficit of £307,454. Adding to this the amount of interest on capital, which in 1882-83 amounted to £211,550, calculated at 4 per cent., the total net deficit for the year amounted to £519,004. The four chief navigation and irrigation canals, however, returned a surplus (excluding interest) of £15,527 of revenue over working expenses. The great deficit of current expenditure over current revenue occurred in the Orissa coast canals, embankments, drainage works, etc. The area irrigated from Government canals in the Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal is about 450,000 acres. Including private works, about million acres out of a total estimated area of 54 million acres under cultivation, are irrigated in Lower Bengal. In the Madras Presidency, and generally throughout Southern Irrigation India, facilities for irrigation assume a decisive importance in in Madras determining the character of agriculture. Crops dependent on the rainfall are distinguished as 'dry crops,' comprehending the large class of millets. Rice is grown on 'wet land,' which means land capable of being irrigated. Except on the Malabar or western coast, the local rainfall is nowhere sufficiently ample, or sufficiently steady, to secure an adequate water-supply. Everywhere else, water has to be brought to the fields from rivers, from tanks, or from wells. Of the total cultivated area of Madras, 17 per cent. was returned by the Famine Commissioners in 1878 as assessed as 'wet land;' or 'Dry' and 5 millions of acres out of an estimated cultivated area of 32 millions. But the actual irrigated area from all sources, including tanks and wells, was returned by the Famine Commissioners at about 7 millions of acres. 'wet' land. native From time immemorial, the industrious population of the Petty Madras Districts has made use of all the means available works. |