Productive works, as their name implies, are such as may reasonably be expected to be remunerative, and they include all the larger irrigation systems. Their capital cost is provided from loan funds, and not from the relief funds mentioned above. In the seventeen years ending 1896-1897 the capital expenditure on such works was Rx. 10,954,948, including a sum of Rx. 1,742,246 paid to the Madras Irrigation Company as the price of the Kurnool-Cuddapah canal, a work which can never be financially productive, but which nevertheless did good service in the famine of 1896-1897 by irrigating 87,226 acres. In the famine year 1877-1878 the area irrigated by productive canals was 5,171,497 acres. In the famine year 1896-1897 the area was 9,571,779 acres, including an area of 123,087 acres irrigated on the Swat river canal in the Punjab. The revenue of the year 1879-1880 was nearly 6% on the capital outlay. In 1897-1898 it was 7½%. In the same seventeen years Rx. 2,099,253 were spent on the construction of protective irrigation works, not expected to be directly remunerative, but of great value during famine years. On four works of this class were spent Rx. 1,649,823, which in 1896-1897 irrigated 200,733 acres, a valuable return then, although in an ordinary year their gross revenue does not cover their working expenses. Minor works may be divided into those for which capital accounts have been kept and those where they have not. In the seventeen years ending 1896-1897, Rx. 827,214 were spent on the former, and during that year they yielded a return of 9.13%. In the same year the irrigation effected by minor works of all sorts showed the large area of 7,442,990 acres. Such are the general statistics of outlay, revenue and irrigated area up to the end of 1896-1897. The government might well be congratulated on having through artificial means ensured in that year of widespread drought and famine the cultivation of 27,326 sq. m., a large tract even in so large a country as India. And progress has been steadily made in subsequent years.

Some description will now be given of the chief of these irrigation works. Beginning with the Punjab, the province in which most progress has been made, the great Sutlej canal, which irrigates the country to the left of that river, was opened in 1882, and the Western Jumna canal (perhaps the oldest in India) was extended into the dry Hissar and Sirsa districts, and generally improved so as to increase by nearly 50% its area of irrigation between 1878 and 1897. Perhaps this is as much as can well be done with the water at command for the country between the Sutlej and the Jumna, and it is enough to secure it for ever from famine. The Bari Doab canal, which irrigates the Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Lahore districts, has been enlarged and extended so as to double its irrigation since it was projected in 1877-1878. The Chenab canal, the largest in India and the most profitable, was only begun in 1889. It was designed to command an area of about 2½ million acres, and to irrigate annually rather less than half that area. This canal flows through land that in 1889 was practically desert. From the first arrangements were made for bringing colonists in from the more congested parts of India. The colonization began in 1892. Nine years later this canal watered 1,830,525 acres. The population of the immigrant colony was 792,666, consisting mainly of thriving and prosperous peasants with occupancy rights in holdings of about 28 acres each. The direct revenue of this canal in 1906 was 26% on the capital outlay. The Jhelum canal was opened on the 30th of October, 1901. It is a smaller work than the Chenab, but it is calculated to command 1,130,000 acres, of which at least half will be watered annually. A much smaller work, but one of great interest, is the Swat river canal in the Peshawar valley. It was never expected that this would be a remunerative work, but it was thought for political reasons expedient to construct it in order to induce turbulent frontier tribes to settle down into peaceful agriculture. This has had a great measure of success, and the canal itself has proved remunerative, irrigating 123,000 acres in 1896-1897. A much greater scheme than any of the above is that of the Sind Sagar canal, projected from the left bank of the Indus opposite Kalabagh, to irrigate 1,750,000 acres at a cost of Rx. 6,000,000. Another great canal scheme for the Punjab proposed to take off from the right bank of the Sutlej, and to irrigate about 600,000 acres in the Montgomery and Multan districts, at a cost of Rx. 2,500,000. These three last projects would add 2,774,000 acres to the irrigated area of the province, and as they would flow through tracts almost unpeopled, they would afford a most valuable outlet for the congested districts of northern India. In addition to these great perennial canals, much has been done since 1878 in enlarging and extending what are known as the “inundation canals” of the Punjab, which utilize the flood waters in the rivers during the monsoon season and are dry at other times. By these canals large portions of country throughout most of the Punjab are brought under cultivation, and the area thus watered has increased from about 180,000 to 500,000 acres since 1878.

It is on inundation canals such as these that the whole cultivation of Sind depends. In 1878 the area was about 1,500,000 acres; in 1896-1897 it had increased to 2,484,000 acres. This increase was not due to famine in Sind, for that rainless province depends always on the Indus, as Egypt does on the Nile, and where there is no rainfall there can be no drought. But the famine prices obtained for agricultural produce doubtless gave an impetus to cultivation. In Sind, too, there is room for much increase of irrigation. It has been proposed to construct two new canals, the Jamrao and the Shikárpur, and to improve and extend three existing canals—Nasrat, Naulakhi and Dad. The total cost of these five projects, some of which are now in progress, was estimated at Rx. 1,596,682, and the extension of irrigation at 660,563 acres.

Turning from the basin of the Indus to that of the Ganges, the commissioners appointed to report on the famine of 1896-1897 found that in the country between the Ganges and the Jumna little was left to be done beyond the completion of some distributary channels. The East India Company’s great work, the Ganges canal, constructed between 1840 and 1854 before there was a mile of railway open in India, still holds its place unsurpassed among later irrigation work for boldness of design and completeness of execution, a lasting monument to the genius of Sir Proby Cautley, an officer of the Bengal Artillery, but a born engineer. Ever since 1870 consideration has been given to projects for irrigating the fertile province of Oudh by means of a great canal to be drawn from the river Sarda. The water is there in abundance, the land is well adapted for irrigation, but as there is a considerable rainfall, it is doubtful whether the scheme would prove remunerative, and a large section of the landowners have hitherto opposed it, as likely to waterlog the country. Among the four protective works of irrigation which were said above to have irrigated 200,733 acres in 1896-1897, one of the most important is the Betwa canal, in the parched district of Bundelkhand. This canal has cost Rx. 428,086, and causes an annual loss to the state in interest and working expenses of about Rx. 20,000. It irrigated, however, in 1896-1897 an area of 87,306 acres, raising crops valued at Rx. 231,081, or half the cost of the canal, so it may be said to have justified its construction. A similar canal from the river Ken in the same district has been constructed. Proceeding farther east, we find very satisfactory progress in the irrigation of southern Behar, effected by the costly system of canals drawn from the river Sone. In 1877-1878 these canals irrigated 241,790 acres. Rapid progress was not expected here, and 792,000 acres was calculated as being the maximum area that could be covered with the water supply available. In the five years preceding 1901-1902 the average irrigated area was 463,181 acres, and during that year the area was 555,156 acres, the maximum ever attained.

The canal system of Orissa was never expected to be remunerative, since in five years out of six the local rainfall is sufficient for the rice crop. In 1878-1879 the area irrigated was 111,250 acres, and the outlay up to date was Rx. 1,750,000. In 1900-1901 the area was 203,540 acres, the highest ever attained, and the capital outlay amounted to Rx. 2,623,703. It should be mentioned in favour of these canals that although the irrigation is not of yearly value, they supply very important water communication through a province which, from its natural configuration, is not likely to be soon intersected by railways. If, moreover, such a famine were again to occur in Orissa as that of 1866-1867, there would be no doubt of the value of these fine canals.

In the Madras presidency and in Mysore irrigation has long assumed a great importance, and the engineering works of the three great deltas of the Godavari, Kistna and Cauvery, the outcome of the genius and indefatigable enthusiasm of Sir Arthur Cotton, have always been quoted as showing what a boon irrigation is to a country. In 1878 the total area of irrigation in the Madras presidency amounted to about 5,000,000 acres. The irrigation of the eight productive systems was 1,680,178 acres, and the revenue Rx. 739,778. In 1898 there were ten of these systems, with an irrigation area, as shown by the accompanying table, of 2,685,915 acres, and a revenue of Rx. 1,163,268:

Irrigation.Area
Watered.		Total
Revenue.		Total
Expenditure.		Net
Revenue.		Capital
and
Indirect
Charges.		Percentage
of Net
Revenue
to Capital.
Major Works.Acres.Rx.Rx.Rx.Rx.
1. Godavari Delta779,435328,44368,376260,0671,297,80719.15
2. Kistna Delta520,373254,57974,142180,4371,319,16613.18
3. Pennar Weir System70,46428,1605,93723,123189,9197.59
4. Sangam System76,27732,6277,03725,590385,6013.68
5. Kurnool Canal47,00815,62212,4043,2182,171,740.15
6. Barur Tank System 4,4211,1623857774,2501.39
7. Cauvery Delta989,808434,34643,464390,882199,45844.87
8. Srivaikuntam System41,66819,3494,68014,669147,1925.45
9. Periyar Project89,14337,52610,75126,775852,914.27
10. Rushikulya Canal67,31811,4543,6787,776464,423.54
  Total2,685,9151,163,268229,954933,3147,032,4707.88
Minor Works.
23 Works for which Capital and
 Revenue Accounts are kept535,813200,55834,655165,9031,693,8784.44
Minor Works for which such
 Accounts are not kept3,131,009830,175193,295636,880....
Grand Total6,352,7372,194,001457,9041,736,097....

In the three great deltas, and the small southern one that depends on the Srivaikuntam weir over the river Tumbraparni, extension and improvement works have been carried on. The Sangam and Pennar systems depend on two weirs on the river Pennar in the Nellore district, the former about 18 m. above and the latter just below the town of Nellore. The former irrigates on the left, the latter on the right bank of the river. This district suffered severely in the famine of 1877-1878, and the irrigation works were started in consequence. The Barur tank system in the Salem district was also constructed after the famine of 1877-1878. As yet it has not fulfilled expectations. The Periyar scheme has for its object both the addition of new irrigation and the safeguarding of that which exists in the district of Madura, a plain watered by means of a great number of shallow tanks drawing their supply from a very uncertain river, the Vaigai. This river takes its rise on the eastern slopes of the Ghat range of mountains, and just opposite to it, on the western face of the range, is the source of the river Periyar. The rainfall on the west very much exceeds that on the east, and the Periyar used to find its way by a short torrent course to the sea, rendering no service to mankind. Its upper waters are now stemmed by a masonry dam 178 ft. high, forming a large lake, at the eastern end of which is a tunnel 5700 ft. long, piercing the watershed and discharging 1600 cub. ft. per second down the eastern side of the mountains into the river Vaigai. No bolder or more original work of irrigation has been carried out in India, and the credit of it is due to Colonel J. Pennycuick, C.S.I. The dam and tunnel were works of unusual difficulty. The country was roadless and uninhabited save by wild beasts, and fever and cholera made sad havoc of the working parties; but it was successfully accomplished. The last of those given in the table above was not expected to be remunerative, but it should prove a valuable protective against famine. The system consists of weirs over the rivers Gulleri, Mahanadi and Rushikulya in the backward province of Ganjam, south of Orissa. From these weirs flow canals altogether about 127 m. long, which, in connexion with two large reservoirs, are capable of irrigating 120,000 acres. In 1901 the works, though incomplete, already irrigated 67,318 acres.

In addition to all these great engineering systems, southern India is covered with minor works of irrigation, some drawn from springs in the sandy beds of rivers, some from the rainfall of ½ sq. m. ponded up in a valley. In other cases tanks are fed from neighbouring streams, and the greatest ingenuity is displayed in preventing the precious water from going to waste.

Allusion has been already made to the canals of Sind. Elsewhere in the Bombay presidency, in the Deccan and Gujarat, there are fewer facilities for irrigation than in other parts of India. The rivers are generally of uncertain volume. The cost of storage works is very great. The population is backward, and the black soil is of a nature that in ordinary years can raise fair crops of cotton, millet and maize without artificial watering. Up to the end of 1896-1897 the capital spent on the irrigation works of the Deccan and Gujarat was Rx. 2,616,959. The area irrigated that year was 262,830 acres. The most important works are the Mutha and Nira canals in the Poona district.