4 Measuring the Efficiency of Public Irrigation
Expenditure
Public investments in agriculture and irrigation have shown signs of recovery since
2003–04, though their share in total public expenditure as well as GSDPA has
continued to be almost the same, indicating low priority in the annual budgets.
A higher income going back to investments is indicative of an increase in the
availability of irrigation water and also its access, which in turn can contribute to
agriculture productivity growth. However, the outcome in terms of area irrigated by
canals in each state is not promising with a few exceptions. Till date hardly 46% of
net sown area (NSA) (141 million ha) is irrigated at the national level with Punjab,
Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar having more than 70% area under irrigation
(Fig. 2). This indicates a low dependence of farmers on surface irrigation water,
which seems plausible due to a negligible increase in the share of irrigated area by
surface water bodies over time. The net irrigated area by tubewells is almost double
as compared to that of area irrigated by canals. The area irrigated through tubewells
has increased by 2.5% per year, whereas the same under canal irrigation has hardly
Table 5 Percentage share of each state in public investments in agriculture and irrigation
States
Public investment (agriculture and irrigation)
TE 1983–84 TE 1993–94 TE 2003–04 TE 2012–13 TE 2015–16
Andhra Pradesh and
Telangana
8.51
12.23
10.37
19.76
17.53
Assam
2.91
2.70
0.93
1.62
1.74
Gujarat
7.77
9.67
7.02
10.87
13.27
Haryana
3.99
2.46
1.32
3.39
0.39
Himachal Pradesh
0.49
0.51
0.53
0.72
0.51
Jammu and Kashmir
1.46
1.35
1.16
1.81
1.31
Karnataka
5.87
11.49
14.18
10.40
10.83
Kerala
3.55
3.17
1.47
1.19
1.11
Maharashtra
12.69
17.34
23.83
18.68
15.74
Odisha
7.59
5.86
4.25
3.63
5.03
Punjab
3.11
3.78
1.41
0.90
1.24
Rajasthan
6.00
6.88
4.69
1.97
2.53
Tamil Nadu
2.59
2.23
2.85
3.83
2.79
West Bengal
1.45
1.65
1.09
1.36
2.69
Bihar-Jharkhand
9.70
4.24
4.59
4.37
4.10
MP-Chhattisgarh
9.99
8.62
9.13
10.25
9.91
Uttar
Pradesh-Uttarakhand
12.33
5.82
11.16
5.25
9.28
All 20 states
100.00
100.00
100.00
100.00
100.00
Note Public investment in irrigation includes flood control
Source Based on Finance Accounts (GoI)
56
S. Bathla et al.
Expenditure
Public investments in agriculture and irrigation have shown signs of recovery since
2003–04, though their share in total public expenditure as well as GSDPA has
continued to be almost the same, indicating low priority in the annual budgets.
A higher income going back to investments is indicative of an increase in the
availability of irrigation water and also its access, which in turn can contribute to
agriculture productivity growth. However, the outcome in terms of area irrigated by
canals in each state is not promising with a few exceptions. Till date hardly 46% of
net sown area (NSA) (141 million ha) is irrigated at the national level with Punjab,
Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar having more than 70% area under irrigation
(Fig. 2). This indicates a low dependence of farmers on surface irrigation water,
which seems plausible due to a negligible increase in the share of irrigated area by
surface water bodies over time. The net irrigated area by tubewells is almost double
as compared to that of area irrigated by canals. The area irrigated through tubewells
has increased by 2.5% per year, whereas the same under canal irrigation has hardly
Table 5 Percentage share of each state in public investments in agriculture and irrigation
States
Public investment (agriculture and irrigation)
TE 1983–84 TE 1993–94 TE 2003–04 TE 2012–13 TE 2015–16
Andhra Pradesh and
Telangana
8.51
12.23
10.37
19.76
17.53
Assam
2.91
2.70
0.93
1.62
1.74
Gujarat
7.77
9.67
7.02
10.87
13.27
Haryana
3.99
2.46
1.32
3.39
0.39
Himachal Pradesh
0.49
0.51
0.53
0.72
0.51
Jammu and Kashmir
1.46
1.35
1.16
1.81
1.31
Karnataka
5.87
11.49
14.18
10.40
10.83
Kerala
3.55
3.17
1.47
1.19
1.11
Maharashtra
12.69
17.34
23.83
18.68
15.74
Odisha
7.59
5.86
4.25
3.63
5.03
Punjab
3.11
3.78
1.41
0.90
1.24
Rajasthan
6.00
6.88
4.69
1.97
2.53
Tamil Nadu
2.59
2.23
2.85
3.83
2.79
West Bengal
1.45
1.65
1.09
1.36
2.69
Bihar-Jharkhand
9.70
4.24
4.59
4.37
4.10
MP-Chhattisgarh
9.99
8.62
9.13
10.25
9.91
Uttar
Pradesh-Uttarakhand
12.33
5.82
11.16
5.25
9.28
All 20 states
100.00
100.00
100.00
100.00
100.00
Note Public investment in irrigation includes flood control
Source Based on Finance Accounts (GoI)
56
S. Bathla et al.