History and Construction
- Sir Ganga Ram originally suggested the Indira Gandhi Canal, commonly referred to as the Rajasthan Canal, in 1920.
- The Rajasthan Canal Project was the name given to the undertaking by the Indian government in the 1950s.
- The Rajasthan Canal Construction Department started work on the project in 1958.
- Almost 125 million cubic metres of earth had to be removed for the project, and various distributaries, barrages, and other water-controlling structures had to be built.
- Workers had to use dynamite to blast the rocks in order to unearth the ground due to the difficult topography of the Thar desert.
- The project encountered numerous difficulties, such as delays and cost overruns, but was eventually finished in 1987 and given the new name Indira Gandhi Canal Project in memory of the late Indian Prime Minister.
- The barren areas of Rajasthan have been converted into rich fields thanks to the Indira Gandhi Canal, one of the world’s largest irrigation canals.
- Millions of farmers and agricultural labourers now have a means of subsistence thanks to the canal, which has also helped the region’s agro-based industries grow. The undertaking stands as an example of human tenacity and endurance in the face of difficulty.
Largest Irrigation Canal in India
Irrigation has been crucial to Indian agriculture since prehistoric times. The prosperous plains of the Ganges and Indus rivers gave rise to the Harappan and Aryan civilizations, who built canals and irrigation systems to water their fields. Nowadays, India has one of the largest networks of canals, reservoirs, and dams in the world, enabling farmers to cultivate crops in otherwise dry places.