The Indira Gandhi Canal (originally, Rajasthan Canal) is the longest canal in India. It starts at the Harike Barrage near

Harike Harike is a village located in Patti Tehsil in Tarn Taran district of Punjab, India, Punjab state in India. The Postal Index Number, PIN code of Wakro is 143412. Harike is connected by two national highways, National Highway 54 (India), Nationa ...

, a few kilometers downriver from the confluence of the

Satluj The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the In ...

and

Beas Beas is a riverfront town in the Amritsar district of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Punjab, India, Punjab. Beas lies on the banks of the Beas River. Beas town is mostly located in revenue boundary of Budha Theh wit ...

rivers in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

state, and ends in irrigation facilities in the

Thar Desert The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent, Subcontinent that covers an area of and forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's Li ...

in the northwest of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

state. Previously known as the Rajasthan Canal, it was renamed the Indira Gandhi Canal on 2 November 1984 following the assassination of Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

. The canal consists of the Rajasthan feeder canal with the first in Punjab and

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

state and a further in Rajasthan. This is followed by the of the Rajasthan main canal, which is entirely within Rajasthan. The canal enters Haryana from Punjab near

Lohgarh Lohgarh is a village in Notified Area Committee of Zirakpur in district Mohali in state of Punjab in India. This is not to be confused with another namesake Lohgarh (Bilaspur) in Haryana which was capital of first Sikh state under Banda Singh ...

and runs through the western part of the

Sirsa district Sirsa district is the largest district of Haryana state. Sirsa is the district headquarters. It is located on National Highway 9 and from the capital Delhi. Etymology The district is named after its headquarters, Sirsa. The name, Sirsa is deri ...

before entering Rajasthan near Kharakhera village in the Tibbi tehsil of the

Hanumangarh district Hanumangarh district is a district in the state of Rajasthan in India. The city of Hanumangarh is the district headquarters and its largest city. District profile The district is located in the extreme north of Rajasthan. It has an area of 12 ...

. It traverses seven districts of Rajasthan: Barmer,

Bikaner Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. Bikaner city is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. Formerly the capital of ...

, Churu,

Hanumangarh Hanumangarh is a city in the Indian state of Rajasthan, situated on the banks of the river Ghaggar also identified as Ancient Sarasvati river, located about 400 km from Delhi. It is the administrative seat of Hanumangarh District. The ci ...

Jaisalmer Jaisalmer , nicknamed "The Golden city", is a city in the Indian state of Rajasthan, located west of the state capital Jaipur. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone and is crowned by the ancient Jaisalmer Fort. This fort contains a ...

Jodhpur Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the Ki ...

, and

Sriganganagar Sri Ganganagar is a planned city and the northernmost city of the Indian state of Rajasthan, near the international border of India and Pakistan. It is the administrative headquarters of Sri Ganganagar district. It is named after Maharaja Shri ...

. The main canal is long, which is 1458 RD (reduced distance). From 1458 RD, a long branch starts, known as the Sagar Mal Gopa Branch or the SMGS. From the end point of SMGS, another 92-kilometer-long sub-branch starts, the last of the Baba Ramdev sub-branch. It ends near Gunjangarh village in

district.

Design and construction

The idea of bringing the waters from the Himalayan Rivers flowing through

and into Pakistan was conceived by hydraulic engineer Kanwar Sain in the late 1940s. Sain estimated that of desert land in Bikaner and the northwest corner of Jaisalmer could be irrigated by the stored waters of Punjab rivers. In 1960, the

Indus Water Treaty The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, arranged and negotiated by the World Bank, to use the water available in the Indus River and its tributaries. It was signed in Karachi on 19 September 1960 b ...

was signed between India and Pakistan, which gave India the right to use the water from three rivers: the

and

Ravi Ravi may refer to: People * Ravi (name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Ravi (composer) (1926–2012), Indian music director * Ravi (Ivar Johansen) (born 1976), Norwegian musical artist * Ravi (music director) (1926–201 ...

. The proposed Rajasthan Canal envisioned use of of water.Ramtanu Maitra: The Indira Gandhi Canal: greening the desert in India EIR Volume 14, Number 7, February 13, 1987 The initial plan was to build the canal in two stages. Stage I consisted of a feeder canal from Harike barrage,

Firozpur Firozpur, also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in Firozpur District, Punjab, India. After the partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the India–Pakistan border with memorials to soldiers who di ...

to Masitawali (

) with the main canal of from Masitawali (

) to

Pugal Pugal is a town in the Bikaner district of Rajasthan, India. It is also the headquarters of the tehsil in the pugal Sub-division with the same name. Geography Pugal is located at . It has an average elevation of 145 metres (869 feet) ...

, (

) in

. Stage I also included constructing a distributary canal system of about in length. Stage II involved constructing a long main canal from Pugal (

) to Mohangarh (

) along with a distributary canal network of . The main canal was planned to be wide at the top and wide at the bottom with a water depth of . It was scheduled to be completed by 1971. The canal faced severe financial constraints, neglect and corruption. In 1970 the plan was revised and it was decided that the entire canal would be lined with concrete tiles. Five more lift schemes were added and the flow command of Stage II was increased by . With increased requirements, the total length of main, feeder and distribution canals was about . Stage I was completed in 1983 around 20 years behind the completion schedule.

Effect on the region

Indira Gandhi Canal Rajasthan Canal Lohgarh Sivender

After the construction of the Indira Gandhi Canal, irrigation facilities were available over an area of in

district and in Barmer district. Irrigation had already been provided in an area of in Jaisalmer district.

Mustard Mustard may refer to: Food and plants * Mustard (condiment), a paste or sauce made from mustard seeds used as a condiment * Mustard plant, one of several plants, having seeds that are used for the condiment ** Mustard seed, seeds of the mustard p ...

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

, and

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

now grow in this

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

northwestern region, replacing the soil there previously. However, many dispute the success of this canal in arid regions and question whether it has achieved its goals.

References

Sources

*Anon. 1998. Statistical Abstract Rajasthan. Directorate of Economic and Statistics, Rajasthan, Jaipur. *Balak Ram, 1999. Report on Wastelands in Hanumangarh district, Rajasthan. CAZRI, Jodhpur. * Karimkoshteh, M. H. 1995. Greening the Desert (Agro-Economic impact of IG canal). Renaissance Publication, New Delhi. *Kavadia, P.S. 1991. Problem of waterlogging in Indira Gandhi Nahar Project and outline of Action Plan to tackle it. *Singh, S. and Kar, A. 1997. Desertification Control - In the arid ecosystem of India for sustainable development. Agro-Botanical Publishers, Bikaner. *Burdak, L. R. 1982. Recent advances in Desert Afforestation, Dehradun. {{Authority control Canals in Punjab, India Interbasin transfer Canals in Rajasthan Irrigation canals 1983 establishments in Rajasthan Canals opened in 1983