Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067, India
An irrigation governance index is constructed based on a comprehensive set of indicators for 20 major states of India from 2001–02 to 2015–16. Its influence on the performance of the public irrigation system is analysed. The index is also estimated separately for three dimensions of governance: institutions and regulatory mechanism; participation and accountability; and service delivery. There are large interstate variations in the governance scores and changes in their ranking over time. Massive public investments in major and medium irrigation and creation of related infrastructure have not yielded adequate outcomes measured by the net area irrigated by canals, percentage of irrigation potential utilized and gap in irrigation potential created and utilized. The results from the panel regression model show that good irrigation governance significantly improves the performance of the public irrigation system, which in turn can contribute to enhance agricultural productivity.
Public investment, irrigation potential, governance
