Irrigation works in India can be classified as:
Major Irrigation:
Culturable Command Area (CCA) more than 10,000 hectares.
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Medium Irrigation:
Irrigation projects with Culturable Command Area between 2,000 and 10,000 hectares.
Minor Irrigation:
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Irrigation projects with CCA less than 2000 hectares.
At the beginning of the Tenth Plan, there were 159 major projects with a spillover cost of Rs. 58,344 crore, 242 medium projects with a spillover cost of Rs. 4,465 crore and 89 extension, renovation and modernization projects with a spill over cost of Rs. 8,253 crore.
Distribution of Irrigated Areas:
Since independence, the total irrigated area in India has increased by about four times. Today it is about 85 million hectares. About 88 per cent of the net sown area in India is under irrigation. There is a great variation in the distribution of irrigated areas in different states. In Mizoram, only 7.3 per cent of the net sown area is under irrigation, while in Punjab this percentage is 90.81.
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The proportion of net irrigated area to the net sown area is very uneven. Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Manipur have more than 40 per cent of their net sown areas under irrigation.
There is a wide variation in irrigated areas within each state. The Godavari-Krishna delta and the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, Mahanadi delta of Orissa, Kaveri delta to Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and western Bihar are intensely irrigated areas of the country.
Wells and tubewells are the major sources of irrigation. Canals rank second, while the tanks stand third. Canal irrigation has its maximum development in the Great Plains, and in the Mahanadi, Godavari-Krishna and Kaveri deltas in the eastern coastal plains. Wells and tubewells are popular in the alluvial plains. The tank irrigation is common in the eastern and southern states.
Bharat Nirman: Irrigation Sector:
Irrigation is one of the six components for development of rural infrastructure under Bharat Nirman. The irrigation component of Bharat Nirman aimed at creation of irrigation potential of 10 million hectare (Mha) in four years from 2005-06 to 2010-11.
