About the Book

The publication introduces various achievements in the field of irrigation in Rajasthan after independence and the master plan formulated to harness further available potential. The book mainly revolves round the surface water management of the multipurpose Chambal Valley Development Project and is an admixture of its historical background and a review of its financial, organizational, technical and institutional aspects. It projects the gains—economic and social—on one side and negative development on the other, creating instability and making the whole system vulnerable necessitating drastic steps to improvise the basic elements of equitable water distribution in the whole command, minimizing water losses by eradicating the malpractices adopted by the farmers and above all to involve them in guiding their own destiny toning down to the minimum the government’s spoon feeding and limiting it to an advisory role except for such matters which require technical assistance like maintenance and catch-up repairs or attending to emergencies like plugging breaches or exercising frequent technical checks to ensure that all channel of the system are carrying the required water discharge up to their tails, etc. Some recommendations have been made at the end which may be equally applicable to other similar projects and could be helpful.

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About the Author / Editor

H.S. Srivastava retired as Chief Engineer from the Irrigation Department of government of Rajasthan.

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