History of irrigation reforms in India dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. A number of studies have addressed to the need and process of reforms but these largely ended with two rhythmic suggestions involving pricing of irrigation water and participatory management of the sources of irrigation. It is startling to note that most of these solutions are a century old. The authors have provided evidence that these reform solutions began from the very First Irrigation Commission Report of 1903, and continued thereafter, reappearing periodically almost after every two decades albeit with fragmentary success. This study integrates efforts of the authors incorporating more than a decade’s sustained work addressing to the question of irrigation reforms in the current context. The authors preferred not to take the usually treaded path and at the same time not totally avoiding it analytically. After taking a thorough review of irrigation sector, the authors first map the problems and locate the crevices where from the water seeps. Following this, they chart out a corridor that reaches a technology based reform process. Their methods and conclusions are based on hard empirical evidence and rigorous analytical tools. It is quite refreshing to read that some of the usual reform tenets are challenged from their basics, to hammer home the point about their sporadic success. The efforts of the authors do not stop at just pointing out the failure but they go beyond to seek refreshing and sustained solutions.
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