The high cost of government-imposed environmental safeguards for the Subarnarekha barrage project in West Bengal's Midnapore district threatens to make the project "unviable". The conditions,

NGOs will now be encouraged to invest in minor irrigation projects with the active participation of the beneficiaries, according to Pranab Mukherjee, deputy chairperson of the Planning Commission.

The draft irrigation management policy prepared by the Central Water Commission aims to boost agricultural yield in places where the water potential exceeds the land potential, through