A Century of Subsurface Drainage Research in India

Utility of subsurface drainageas an intervention to reclaim waterloggedsaline lands and to ensure sustainabilityof irrigated agriculture in India has beenestablished through experiments and pilotresearch conducted for over a century.While tracing the history of subsurfacedrainage in the 20th century, thispaper lists several pilots conducted in preand post independence periods. An attempthas been made to critically review thefindings emerging out of such a largenumber of pilots. Salient findings thatcould serve as design guidelines or tooperationalize the systems in an effectiveand eco-friendly manner have been puttogether for their application in future.It is believed that large scale drainageprojects would increasingly be implementedin India and many other developingcountries. In the opinion of the author,the knowledge generated in this centurywould help to design and plan subsurfacedrainage activities on which rests the foodand nutritional security of India and manyother developing nations.