5 Key Findings and Implications
In India, agriculture and irrigation are state subjects. There are historical and
political reasons behind a faster development of irrigation and adoption of high
yielding variety technology in north and north west states. These together with
biases in the sectoral policies may explain persisting inter-state disparities in public
expenditure on agriculture and irrigation to date. The northern states have reaped
the benefits of massive investments in canal networks and agricultural growth,
compared to the eastern and rain-fed states which remained neglected for long.
Concerted efforts to scale up investments in these agriculturally low per capita
income along with dedicated expenditure towards completion of existing irrigation
projects are welcoming steps to accelerate agricultural growth and productivity.
This chapter examined whether it is the failure of the public policy on resource
allocation on irrigation across the states or the states are inefficient in utilising the
available resources. This issue is addressed by quantifying the priority of respective
state governments towards agriculture and measuring the relative efficiency of
Table 9 Technical efficiency in public investment in irrigation (output-oriented index)
States
1982–83 to
1985–86
1992–93 to
1995–96
2002–03 to
2005–06
2012–13 to
2015–16
Andhra Pradesh
0.644
0.513
0.359
0.318
Assam
1.000
1.000
0.575
0.368
Gujarat
0.316
0.266
0.130
0.289
Haryana
0.692
0.582
0.543
0.566
Himachal
Pradesh
0.039
0.143
0.035
0.045
J&K
1.000
1.000
1.000
1.000
Karnataka
0.681
0.600
0.826
0.611
Kerala
0.531
0.437
0.332
0.314
Maharashtra
0.364
0.247
0.373
0.502
Odisha
0.995
0.676
1.000
0.940
Punjab
0.644
0.498
0.377
0.418
Rajasthan
0.691
0.673
0.283
0.409
Tamil Nadu
1.000
1.000
0.332
0.338
West Bengal
0.947
1.000
0.322
1.000
Bihar
0.532
0.384
0.365
0.480
Madhya
Pradesh
1.000
1.000
1.000
1.000
Uttar Pradesh
0.489
0.410
0.251
0.268
Chhattisgarh
–
–
1.000
1.000
Jharkhand
–
–
1.000
0.048
Uttarakhand
–
–
1.000
0.411
Average
0.680
0.614
0.555
0.516
62
S. Bathla et al.
In India, agriculture and irrigation are state subjects. There are historical and
political reasons behind a faster development of irrigation and adoption of high
yielding variety technology in north and north west states. These together with
biases in the sectoral policies may explain persisting inter-state disparities in public
expenditure on agriculture and irrigation to date. The northern states have reaped
the benefits of massive investments in canal networks and agricultural growth,
compared to the eastern and rain-fed states which remained neglected for long.
Concerted efforts to scale up investments in these agriculturally low per capita
income along with dedicated expenditure towards completion of existing irrigation
projects are welcoming steps to accelerate agricultural growth and productivity.
This chapter examined whether it is the failure of the public policy on resource
allocation on irrigation across the states or the states are inefficient in utilising the
available resources. This issue is addressed by quantifying the priority of respective
state governments towards agriculture and measuring the relative efficiency of
Table 9 Technical efficiency in public investment in irrigation (output-oriented index)
States
1982–83 to
1985–86
1992–93 to
1995–96
2002–03 to
2005–06
2012–13 to
2015–16
Andhra Pradesh
0.644
0.513
0.359
0.318
Assam
1.000
1.000
0.575
0.368
Gujarat
0.316
0.266
0.130
0.289
Haryana
0.692
0.582
0.543
0.566
Himachal
Pradesh
0.039
0.143
0.035
0.045
J&K
1.000
1.000
1.000
1.000
Karnataka
0.681
0.600
0.826
0.611
Kerala
0.531
0.437
0.332
0.314
Maharashtra
0.364
0.247
0.373
0.502
Odisha
0.995
0.676
1.000
0.940
Punjab
0.644
0.498
0.377
0.418
Rajasthan
0.691
0.673
0.283
0.409
Tamil Nadu
1.000
1.000
0.332
0.338
West Bengal
0.947
1.000
0.322
1.000
Bihar
0.532
0.384
0.365
0.480
Madhya
Pradesh
1.000
1.000
1.000
1.000
Uttar Pradesh
0.489
0.410
0.251
0.268
Chhattisgarh
–
–
1.000
1.000
Jharkhand
–
–
1.000
0.048
Uttarakhand
–
–
1.000
0.411
Average
0.680
0.614
0.555
0.516
62
S. Bathla et al.