Indira Gandhi Nahar Pariyojana — IGNP

The Indira Gandhi Nahar Pariyojana — formerly called the Rajasthan Canal — is the single most transformative water infrastructure project in Rajasthan's history and one of the world's largest canal irrigation systems.

5.1 Basic Parameters

Parameter	Detail
Headworks / Source	Harike Barrage, at confluence of Beas and Sutlej rivers, Ferozepur (Punjab)
Rajasthan Canal inception	1958 (renamed Indira Gandhi Canal after PM Indira Gandhi's 1984 assassination)
Main canal length	649 km (Harike to Mohangarh/Gadra Road)
Total canal network length	~9,000 km including distribution canals
Irrigated command area	~19.63 lakh hectares (designed); ~15.6 lakh hectares (actual irrigated as of 2023-24)
Districts benefited	Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Bikaner, Churu, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur
Water source allocation	Rajasthan's share: 8.6 MAF (million acre feet) under Indus Waters Treaty-linked allocation from Ravi-Beas waters

Source: IGNP Bikaner Zone Office; Rajasthan Economic Review 2025-26, Chapter 10

5.2 Stage I and Stage II

Stage I:

• Length: 204 km (from Masitawali headworks to Pugal, Bikaner)
• Completion: 1972
• Command area: 5.53 lakh hectares (Ganganagar, Hanumangarh)
• Canals: Bikaner, Ferozepur Feeder — branches include the Gang Canal (built 1927 by Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner, India's first modern irrigation project)

Stage II:

• Length: 445 km (Pugal to Gadra Road, covering Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur districts)
• Status: Largely complete; some extensions ongoing
• Command area: ~14.1 lakh hectares (target); transforms core Thar Desert
• Includes the Indira Gandhi Canal Command Area Development Programme (CADA)

5.3 Significance and Impact

• Demographic: Population of the IGNP command area grew from ~0.9 lakh (1961) to over 30 lakh by 2011 — a 30-fold increase demonstrating the project's transformative power
• Agricultural transformation: Before IGNP, Jaisalmer and Bikaner produced only bajra (millet) in low-rainfall years. Post-IGNP, wheat, cotton, mustard, groundnut are cultivated
• Drinking water: The Indira Gandhi Canal provides drinking water to Jaisalmer (100% dependent on IGNP for its urban supply), Bikaner, Barmer, and Jodhpur cities through feeder pipelines
• Ecological concern: Waterlogging and soil salinity (due to over-irrigation and inadequate drainage) have damaged ~3–4 lakh hectares of the original Stage I command area; the Rajasthan government's Drainage Master Plan (2020) addresses this through subsurface drainage channels
• Wildlife conflict: Canal water has attracted wildlife (blackbucks, chinkara) and also poachers; the Desert National Park buffer zone is intersected by canal infrastructure

---