Question : IRRIGATION POTENTIAL

(a) the present position of cultivable land and irrigation potential created at the end of Ninth Plan, State-wise;

(b) whether the Government propose to provide additional assistance to the State Governments so that they could develop their untapped irrigation potential;

(c) if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether certain districts in Madhya Pradesh remain drought- hit in the absence of irrigation;

(e) if so the details thereof;

(f) whether the Union Government have formulated any action plan with the cooperation of State Governments to increase irrigation capacity in the drought prone areas; and

(g) if so, the details thereof?

THE MINISTER OF WATER RESOURCES (SHRI ARJUN CHARAN SETHI)

(a) to (g) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (g) OF THE STARRED QUESTION NO. 616 TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 5.5.2003.

(a) State-wise position of cultivated land (Net Sown Area) as per Land Use Statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture for the year 1998-99 (latest) and the irrigation potential created upto the end of the Ninth Plan as per provisional assessment made by the Planning Commission is given at Annexure-I.

(b) & (c) Central assistance is provided to the State Governments in the form of block loan or block grant and the same is not tied to any specific problem or criteria. However, Government of India is providing Central Loan Assistance (CLA) to the States under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) for expeditious completion of ongoing irrigation projects. The quantum of CLA to a State is decided on the basis of the State’s matching share and capacity to absorb the funds provided. Government of India has also introduced a Fast Track Programme under the AIBP with effect from February 2002 to provide 100% loan assistance for projects which are in advanced stage and can be completed in one year’s time (two working seasons). Under the programme, CLA amounting to Rs.11541.73 crore including Rs.859.715 crore provided under the Fast Track Programme, has been released upto the end of March 2003 to 28 States for 172 major and medium projects and over 5200 minor irrigation schemes.

(d)&(e) According to criteria of drought adopted by the Central Water Commission for identification of drought prone areas 26 Talukas in 8 districts of undivided Madhya Pradesh covering 37307.93 Square Km are regarded as drought prone.

(f)&(g) Water being a State subject, schemes are planned, investigated, implemented and funded by the State Governments out of their own resources and as per their own priorities. During the Tenth Five Year Plan 79 major and 76 medium irrigation/multipurpose schemes are under construction which benefit the drought prone areas in the country fully or partially. State-wise details of the projects, benefiting drought prone areas is at Annexure-II. Besides, a special programme of drilling and construction of exploratory wells was launched during the Ninth Plan in five drought-affected States viz. Rajasthan, Orissa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh. In addition to this, National Water Development Agency have formulated National Perspective Plan for water resources development which envisages interlinking Peninsular rivers and Himalayan rivers for transfer of water from surplus basins to water deficit basins.

Annexure-I

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN THE REPLY TO PART (a) OF THE STARRED QUESTION NO.616 TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 5.5.2003

(In Thousand hectares)
Sl.No.	States/Uts	Net Sown Area (NSA)	Irrigation Potential	created upto the end	of Ninth Plan (Provisional)
1 Andhra Pradesh 10978.00 6325.50
2 Arunachal Pradesh 185.00 101.80
3 Assam 2701.00 775.60
4 Bihar 7431.00 8181.96
5 Goa 142.00 39.55
6 Gujarat 9674.00 4129.90
7 Haryana 3628.00 3796.70
8 Himachal Pradesh 549.00 169.65
9 Jammu& Kashmir 733.00 561.48
10 Karnataka 10489.00 3627.00
11 Kerala 2259.00 1166.20
12 Madhya Pradesh 19839.00 4056.50
13 Maharashtra 17732.00 5706.40
14 Manipur 140.00 167.70
15 Meghalaya 221.00 50.90
16 Mizoram 109.00 4.90
17 Nagaland 261.00 76.00
18 Orissa 6048.00 3238.00
19 Punjab 4238.00 5916.20
20 Rajasthan 16073.00 4905.88
21 Sikkim 95.00 30.70
22 Tamilnadu 5635.00 3672.80
23 Tripura 277.00 71.05
24 Uttar Pradesh 17585.00 33253.00
25 West Bengal 5440.00 5322.00
Total of all States 142462.00 95347.37	Total UTs 136.00 58.51	All India Grand Total	142598.00 95405.88

PROJECT EBENEFITING DROUGHT PRONE AREAS (STATE-WISE)

Name of State	Ongoing Projects
Major Medium
Andhra Pradesh 9 3
Bihar 4 4
Jharkhand 3 1
Gujarat 1 12
Haryana 5 0
Karnataka 10 9
Madhya Pradesh 9 2
Maharashtra 22 28
Orissa 3 2
Rajasthan 5 0
Tamilnadu 1 2
Uttar Pradesh 3 0
West Bengal 3 16
Total 79 76