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Volume : III, Issue : I, February - 2013 IRRIGATION MEASURES IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY P.UTHAMAN Published By : Laxmi Book Publication Abstract : The importance of irrigation in a tropical Madras Presidency can hardly be
overrated. Subject as Madras Presidency was to monsoon rains, often precarious, water
was as precious as gold itself. Indeed it is considered to be little gold in the Madras
Presidency. In the Madras Presidency where the monsoon rains are generally
inadequate, artificial irrigation was an imperative necessity. Most of the Madras
Presidency, the nature of the cultivation depended largely on the extension of irrigation
facilities. The various sources of irrigation in the Presidency are rivers, reservoirs, tanks
and wells. In some districts, the facilities of river irrigation were greater than in others.
Tanjore was the most favoured. South Arcot was also favourably situated with regard to
river irrigation, and to a certain extent, Tirunelveli.Where irrigation from rivers was not
feasible, tanks and reservoirs constituted the mainstay of irrigation. The paper attempts
to highlight the major and minor irrigation works and irrigation measures undertaken
by the Colonial British Government in Madras Presidency through various departments
in the late half of the Nineteenth Century. It also seeks to expose the irrigation policy of
the Colonial British Government in India in general and Madras Presidency in
particular Keywords : Article : Cite This Article : P.UTHAMAN, (2013). IRRIGATION MEASURES IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. Indian Streams Research Journal, Vol. III, Issue. I, http://oldisrj.lbp.world/UploadedData/2019.pdf References : - B.O. Reynolds, College of Engineering Manual-Irrigation Works, Madras, 1906, p.1; Santoshkumar and Rajeshwari Carg, Elementary Irrigation Engineering, Delhi. 1978, p.l; H.L. Sally, Irrigation Planning for Intensive Cultivation, New York, 1902, p.4.
- G.O.No.1008. Revenue Department, dated 21 September 1882.
- Memorandum relating to Irrigation by Major P. Montgomerie, Acting Deputy Chief Engineer for Irrigation in 1867.
- Proceedings of the Government of India, No. 10, Irrigation, dated 1 February 1868; Proceedings of the Public Works Department, No. 993, Irrigation, dated 5 December 1878: Government of India's Letter No.622, dated 7 October 1878.
- G.O.No.590. Public Works Department, dated: 22 February 1877; The Chief Engineer's (Lt.Col. J. Mullins), Irrigation Memorandum, No. 100, Irrigation, dated 30 March 1878.
- Proceedings of the Government of India, No.1158-b', dated 20 March 1867; Proceedings of the Madras Government. P.W.D., No.2795, dated 11 September 1867.
- A.T.Arundel, Irrigation and Communal Labour in the Madras Presidency. Madras, 1879, p.49.
- Report of the Famine Commission, 1878, Vol. III, Madras. 1878, p.619
- Ibid.
- H.E.Clerk, the Superintendent Engineer's Preliminary report on the Investigation of protective irrigation Works under wells in the Madras Presidency, Madras, 1902; Selections from the Records of P.W.D., Government of Madras. p.119.
- Proceedings of the Public Works Department, No.993, Irrigation, dated 5 December 1878
- Report of the Indian Famine Commission , 1878, Vol. III, p.706.
- Report of the Indian Famine Commission, 1898, p.21.
- They were the Paler anicut, Poiney anicut and Cheyyar anicuts in North Arcot District. Kalingarayan anicut in Periyar District, Periyar Scheme in Madurai, Thirukoilur, and Sethiathope anicuts in South Arcot District, the Cauvery Coleroon anicut, the Cauvery Delta System and the Cauvery Mettur Project in Tanjore, South Arcot, Trichy and Salem Districts, Tambraparani System in Tirunelveli District and Kodayar System in Kanyakumari District. All these works proved as productive and protective purpose after 1900.
- John Augustus Volcker, Report of the Improvement of Indian Agriculture, New Delhi, 1986, p.3).
- M.Thirunavukkarasu, Economic History of India (1857-1956) , Bombay, 1968, p.229.
- Report on the Operation of the Agricultural Department, Madras Presidency ,1887-1888, Madras, 1889, p.2
- John Augustus Voelcker, Report on the Improvement of Indian Agriculture, p.133.
- G.T.Boag, Madras Presidency 1881-1931, Madras, 1933, p.102.
- Report of the Famine in 1896-1897, Government of Madras, Madras, 1897, p. 148.
- M.S.Randhawa, A History of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research 1929-1979, I.C.A.R., New Delhi, 1979. p.12.
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