Why is irrigation necessary in India?

Irrigation is essential for India for certain reasons:

(A) To reduce the dependency on monsoon rainfall which even after decades of independence still exists for agricultural production. Only 33 percent of agricultural land within India is irrigated while the rest depends on rainfall for soil moisture. Thus, for reducing dependency on monsoon, irrigation becomes necessary.

(B) To enhance agricultural production, which under rain-fed areas is low which gives a lower yield in return.

(C) To regulate the balance between food production as well as population as in India, foodgrain production tends to be very low in comparison to the enhancement in population. To provide food to enhancing population growth, increase in foodgrain production is also needed. Thus, irrigation is essential.

(D) For spatio-temporal variation in rainfall as well as the water intensive crops. In addition, it also makes multiple cropping practicable.