Minor surface irrigation development in West Bengal-An overview

Based on the data of Minor Irrigation Census (1st M.I Census-1986-87 to 4th M.I Census-2006-07) of West Bengal, this paper shows the development of Minor Surface Irrigation in different districts of West Bengal. For this purpose Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of number of Schemes, Minor Surface Irrigation Potential Created (IPC) as well as Irrigation Potential Utilization (IPU) has been calculated to show the trend of development of this sector. Analysis shows that the Created Potentiality is not utilised at optimum level. A huge gap is observed between irrigation potential created and its utilisation. Again there is inter-district variation of the gap. The districts like Coochbehar, Maldashow that the gap is too high and for the district of Hooghly it is much less. Besides, there is a inter district variation in utilization of Created Surface Irrigation Potential.