Water resources in India Potentials and utilization for development

Abstract

India is the seventh largest country in the world and Asia’s second largest country, with an area of 3,287,590 km2. The Indian mainland stretches from 8°48 to 37°68N latitude and 68°78 to 97°258E longitude (Figure 1). It has a land frontier of some 15,200 km and a coastline of 7516 km. India’s northern frontiers are with Xizang (Tibet) in the Peoples Republic of China, Nepal, and Bhutan. In the northwest, India borders Pakistan; in the northeast, China and Burma; and in the east Burma. The southern peninsula extends into tropical waters of the Indian Ocean with the Bay of Bengal lying to the southeast and the Arabian Sea to the southwest. For administrative purposes India is divided into 24 states and seven union territories. Most of the Indian land mass is in the semiarid tropical belt characterized by seasonal rainfall lasting over a period of three to four months. Agriculture contributes about 46% of the gross national product (Harbans, Singh 1983) and is also the main occupation of the people and the preoccupation of the government having the responsibility to provide adequate food for a population that makes up about 16% of the world (Nanda 1991) and holds a potential agricultural which only 14% of the world’s total (Sinha and Swaminathan 1989). It has been estimated that the absolute maximum possible food production in India is 4572 million tons, which is much higher than the current production of 170 million tons. They have considered only one constraint— total potential agricultural land is limited to 143 million hectors—and assumed optimal conditions in all other aspects to arrive at the maximum food supply potential of soils of different grades. Four crops a year, adequate irrigation and nutrient availability, suitable ambient temperature, along with protection against weeds, pests, and pathogens are assumed. It is unlikely, therefore, that the theoretical potential of 4572 million tons will never be reached. Water supply for irrigation would be a major constraint (Ghosh 1987).