ABSTRACT
In most of India outside the Northwest, water rights under canal systems are no more than very generally defined. 2 The government, which owns the physical structures and the water of all systems above a certain small size, gives a general undertaking to meet the water 'needs' of the irrigated crops, but does not specify when each distributary or outlet can expect to receive water and how much water is meant to flow in it during that period. There is no operational plan that might give this information, and still less often are there irrigation "contracts," which permit irrigators to obtain legal redress if the government fails to meet the water needs of their crops.
