Jalayagnam

Jalayagnam or Jala Yagnam, (water worship), is a water management program in India. It has been implemented by Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, India, Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy as an election promise to the farmers of the state to bring 8.2 million acres (8.2 million acres) under irrigation in five years.

This project accords the highest priority for the development of irrigation infrastructure, particularly in backward and drought prone areas by taking up this program in a big way. Jala Yagnam includes a number of irrigation projects by construction of reservoirs and lift irrigation systems for lifting water from major rivers, particularly from Godavari, to provide immediate irrigation benefits. The Jala Yagnam program was to complete 32 major and 17 medium irrigation projects at a cost of Rs. 650 billion to provide irrigation to an extent of 7.1 million acres besides stabilization of an existing of 2,132,000 acres while providing drinking water to a population of 12 million and generating power to the tune of 1700 MW. Eight of these projects were to be completed before the kharif season of 2006.

The project requires the construction of 78 dams and is expected to displace significant numbers of people whose villages will be submerged. The irrigation development was almost stagnant for the last decade and the previous governments concentrated on hi-tech and neglected the agricultural sector, on which approximately 70% of the population depends. The fact that 26% of the population, mostly in rural areas, was living below the poverty line made Dr. Reddy wonder whether science and technology had made a significant difference in the quality of life in rural areas, compared to towns and cities. Also the suicides of many farmers from the state made Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy give more significance to the irrigation sector. Having recognized the importance of the agricultural sector for faster economic development, Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy started concentrating largely on its development and introduced several schemes for the benefit of the farmers, one of which is the Jala Yagnam project.

In the past 50 years, a total ayacut of 6.5 million acres was developed in the state. Jala Yagnam is expected to double the area under irrigation. It would constitute a major component of the Central government programme National Irrigation Mission's (NIM) target of bringing ten million hectares of land (25 million acres) in the country under the plough. The largest allocation of funds, during 2004-09, is for irrigation, as the government considers irrigation an important growth engine.

...
Wikipedia