Revision summary
Drip and sprinkler cut evaporation and can save roughly a third to half of applied irrigation water, more on horticulture. PMKSY Per Drop More Crop is the Union vehicle for subsidy and area expansion. Gains die if free power and paddy MSP use the saved water to grow more of the same crop. Small-farmer cost, clogging, and service quality still limit spread. Recharge, diversification, and urban water reform must accompany micro-irrigation.
Model answer
Copper italics in this answer — like this — are the key facts. Each one is unpacked in the Facts & figures rail.
Introduction
India’s water crisis is a crisis of over-extraction, flood irrigation, and thirsty cropping in dry districts. Micro-irrigation — drip and sprinkler — puts water at the root or as a fine spray. It can save a large share of farm water. It cannot, by itself, refill aquifers if policy still rewards paddy on a desert tube-well.
Body
How micro-irrigation helps
- Drip feeds the root zone and cuts evaporation and conveyance loss that flood channels waste.
- Sprinkler suits cereals, pulses, and fodder on undulating land where drip laterals are costly.
- Field studies and PMKSY literature commonly show water saving of about 30 to 50 per cent, and higher on horticulture, with better nutrient use when fertigation is added.
- Less pumping means lower diesel and power demand, which eases the farm-power–groundwater loop.
- Yield and quality gains in fruits, vegetables, sugarcane, and cotton raise income per drop, which is the economic case for Per Drop More Crop under PMKSY.
To what extent it solves the crisis
- Agriculture takes the bulk of freshwater. A wide shift from flood to micro systems would delay aquifer collapse in Punjab, Haryana, western UP, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu hard-rock and alluvial belts.
- Extent is limited while free power, MSP-backed paddy–wheat, and flood canal warabandi still make wasting water rational.
- Micro-irrigation does not create new rain. Watershed works, aquifer recharge, crop diversification, and urban leak control must sit beside it.
- High capital cost, clogging, and weak after-sales service keep adoption uneven among small holders unless subsidy, clustering, and solar pumps are well designed.
- If saved water is used to expand area under the same thirsty crop, the basin gains nothing. That is the rebound risk.
Policy that stretches the gain
- Pair PDMC subsidy with crop shift, metering or at least feeder separation, and Atal Bhujal style community groundwater rules.
- Use micro-irrigation first on horticulture, sugarcane, and cotton, then on cereals where sprinkler is proven.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD M[Drip and sprinkler] --> W[Less evaporation and conveyance loss] W --> Y[Yield and fertigation] W --> P[Lower pumping] R[Rebound thirsty crops] --> X[No basin gain] M --> L[Partial solution] C[Crop shift recharge pricing] --> S[Larger water-crisis relief]
Conclusion
Micro-irrigation is one of the few farm tools that can cut water use and raise yield together. It will ease India’s crisis only as far as cropping, power, and groundwater rules stop putting the saved litre back into paddy.
Quick related
Students also ask
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What are the present challenges before crop diversification? How do emerging technologies provide an opportunity for crop diversification?
Next question on this syllabus topic (2021 · Q14). View answer →
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Can drip end India’s water crisis?
No. It is a high-return farm tool. Crisis-scale relief needs crop pattern, power, recharge, and city demand as well.
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Is sprinkler inferior to drip?
Drip is tighter on row horticulture. Sprinkler is often the practical cereal and fodder option. Both beat uncontrolled flooding.
Same topic · past papers
UPSC has asked this before
These previous-year questions sit on the same topic. Open one to practise the earlier ask.
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2016 · Q7 · GS III · 12 marks
What is water-use efficiency? Describe the role of micro-irrigation in increasing the water-use efficiency.
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