Dr. T. B. S. Rajput, Emeritus Scientist, Water Technology Centre, IARI, New Delhi – 110012, India

Dr Rajput is a specialist in the field of Agricultural Water Management. He has developed several technologies for improving water use efficiency at farmers’ fields. He has published a large number of research articles in national and international journals. He is one of the highly decorated scientists of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), with highest award of agricultural research i.e. Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Dr Rajput has been teaching at PG School of IARI and has guided many MSc and PhD students. IARI and ICAR have awarded him with their best teacher awards. Dr Rajput has authored many books; two of his books on Drip Irrigation and Improving Water Use Efficiency have earned him the prestigious Gyan Vigyan and Shikshak Samman Awards of Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Human Resources Developemnt, Government of India.

Speech Title: Micro irrigation - a means of extending irrigated area in canal, tank and well commands

Abstract
India has worlds' 17 percent population and only 2.3 per cent land and 4 per cent water resources. Significant investments have been made for the development of water resources through canal network in the India particularly after the independence of the country in 1947. Out of net cultivated area of 142 Mha in India, only 45 per cent is irrigated and the remaining is rainfed. Productivity of rainfed areas is very low ranging between 1-2 T/ha. Irrigation infrastructure needs to be enlarged to meet the food requirements of ever growing population in the country. The demand for water has also been increasing consistently in non-agriculture sectors including, municipal use and industry etc. In view of the decreasing water availability for agriculture in the country, Government launched a comprehensive policy on water management namely, Prime Minister Krishi Sichai Yojna (Prime Minister Irrigation Policy, popularly known as PMKSY) in the year 2015. This scheme aims at integrating the efforts of three major Ministries of the Government (namely. Agriculture, Water Resources and Rural Development) dealing with different aspects of water management. This scheme has been initiated with overall objectives of “water to each farm” and “per drop more crop”. For achieving these objectives all the water losses need to be minimized and the limited available water needs to be put to most efficient use particularly in agriculture. Micro irrigation offers a scientific method for reducing irrigation water losses practically to a zero level. National Task Force on micro irrigation had estimated that in India more than 27 Mha areas could be brought under drip irrigation and more than 40 Mha under sprinkler irrigation in the country. Till date a little more than 8 Mha only has been brought under drip and sprinkler methods, both put together. Conventionally micro irrigation has been advocated in well irrigated areas. Integration of micro irrigation with major canal irrigation projects, particularly in their tail end reaches, are likely to become a reality soon to bring at least 10 percent command under micro irrigation as envisaged under PMKSY. Integration of micro irrigation with watershed projects particularly for utilization of harvested water as aimed under PMKSY too are likely to result in efficient utilization of available water resources in agriculture with significant savings of water for extending the effective irrigation command area. The States like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka have evolved several successful models for large scale adoption of micro irrigation in the past. In recent times, the State of Karnataka has launched the world’s largest drip irrigation project namely, Ramthal-Marol Integrated Micro Irrigation Project with 24000 ha command. The article presents the development and adoption of micro irrigation in India and discusses the different options of integrating canals and water harvesting tanks with micro irrigation for achieving the objectives of the said scheme.