Which is the largest source of irrigation in India in terms of net irrigated area?
- A.Canals
- B.Tanks
- C.Wells and tube wells
- D.Sprinkler systems
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, wells and tube wells. Groundwater drawn through wells and tube wells irrigates the largest part of the net irrigated area of India, and its share has risen steadily since the Green Revolution because a tube well gives water on demand, close to the field and without waiting for a canal turn. Option A is wrong because canals are the second source; they dominate the northern plains but cover less area in total than groundwater. Option B is wrong because tanks are the third source and are confined largely to peninsular India, where hard rock and seasonal rivers make them the traditional answer. Option D is wrong because sprinkler and drip systems are methods of applying water rather than sources of it, and they are applied to water drawn from a well, a canal or a tank. The heavy dependence on groundwater is also why the water table is falling in the north-west.
Read the full article: Irrigation and Major Canals of India: Exam Notes
Practice Questions
View allWhich is the longest canal in India?
- A.Upper Ganga Canal
- B.Indira Gandhi Canal
- C.Buckingham Canal
- D.Sirhind Canal
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Begun in 1958 as the Rajasthan Canal and renamed in 1984, it is the longest canal in India; its feeder and main canal together run for about six hundred and fifty kilometres and carry water from the Punjab rivers into the Thar desert of western Rajasthan.
Read the full explanation →The Indira Gandhi Canal takes off from which barrage?
- A.Harike barrage
- B.Tajewala barrage
- C.Okhla barrage
- D.Madhopur headworks
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The Harike barrage stands in Punjab at the point where the Beas joins the Sutlej, and the Indira Gandhi Canal begins there as the Rajasthan Feeder before continuing as the main canal into Rajasthan.
Read the full explanation →The Upper Ganga Canal takes off from the Ganga at:
- A.Narora
- B.Haridwar
- C.Kanpur
- D.Allahabad
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The Upper Ganga Canal was opened in 1854 and is taken from the Ganga at Haridwar, from where it runs down the Ganga–Yamuna Doab and irrigates the districts of western Uttar Pradesh; the engineer associated with its construction is Proby Cautley.
Read the full explanation →The Grand Anicut, or Kallanai, one of the oldest water diversion structures still in use, was built across which river?
- A.Krishna
- B.Godavari
- C.Cauvery
- D.Tungabhadra
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The Grand Anicut, known in Tamil as Kallanai, was thrown across the Cauvery by the Chola king Karikala in about the second century to spread the river's water over the delta, and it still serves the canals of the Cauvery delta in Tamil Nadu.
Read the full explanation →The Buckingham Canal was constructed mainly for which purpose?
- A.Irrigation of the Krishna delta
- B.Navigation along the Coromandel coast
- C.Flood control in the Godavari basin
- D.Supply of drinking water to Hyderabad
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The Buckingham Canal is a salt water navigation canal dug in the nineteenth century along the eastern coast, linking the lagoons and backwaters between Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, and it was used to carry goods and to relieve famine by moving grain.
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