ABSTRACT
The impetus to build government irrigation works came partly from the high cost of well irrigation. The rate charged for irrigating foodgrains was less than the cost of delivering the water, in part because extensive irrigation entailed high distribution losses through evaporation and percolation. The cane blocks made canal irrigation more intensive and less wasteful. The officials who decided to experiment with the cane block system were swayed by the example of a few entrepreneurs making profitable use of canal water while nobody else was using it regularly. In 1901, a new set of irrigation policies was tried out, leading to a more intensive use of canal water for an expensive and thirsty cash crop, sugarcane. Ever since, sugarcane has be en the basis of increasing prosperity in the canal villages, while the majority of villages remain dry and poor.
