Indian Agriculture--Water-Management

Indian agricultural production in most parts of the country is closely related to skillful and wise water-management practices. Most of the agricultural practices in India confined to the few monsoon months. During the monsoon season, India is usually endowed with generous rainfall; although not infrequently, this bountiful monsoon turns into a terror, causing uncontrollable floods in parts of the country. In a matter of antithesis, every few years, the monsoon is erratic and deficient, leading to drought and the possibility of famine. This explains the inextricable link between Indian Agriculture and effective water-management practices known across different parts of India since the ancient times.
According to the history of the Indian agriculture water-management practices are known to have either been taken up by the state, or by local village communities since the earliest times. Regional rulers, or local representatives of the state were generally obliged to allocate a certain percentage of the agricultural taxes on building and managing water-storage, water-harvesting and/or water-diverting structures which facilitated a second crop, and provided water for drinking and other purposes in the long dry season.
The British rule witnessed the destruction of century-old water management structures and a virtual wreckage of the knowledge systems and cultural traditions that had helped build and preserve these water-management techniques over the centuries in states such as Bihar, Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and others. Owing to this, during the colonial era, famines were frequent and famine commissions were abundant. The growth rate in food production during the 1900-1947 period was hardly 0.1 per cent. Most of the important institutional developments in agriculture emanated from the recommendations of famine commissions. The great Bengal Famine of 1942-43 provided the backdrop to India’s Independence.

The stagnant performance of agriculture in India during the colonial period was turned into a sustained growth since 1947, with a stronger performance in India especially in terms of per-capita food production.