Irrigation and Power Projects in India

If the last World War has not done any good to us it has exposed our utter helplessness in the matter of the three primary essentials of life-i.e., food, clothing and housing. Out of these three the most essential is food, and it is a shame that inspite of our possession of millions of acre of land and many millions of men to till it and with the mightiest of the rivers of the world at our disposal we have to depend on foreign countries for our existence or to face starvation if their help does not come. On the other hand millions of men remain unemployed for want of occupation, a vast portion of the country remains fallow for want of proper irrigation and the uncontrolled rivers cause devastation along their banks year after year. So the National Planning Committee and then our National Government have rightly given this problem their first priority among the many problems they have inherited from their predecesrors. Consequently we have today before us so many river projects all over India with estimates of several crores of rupees and with determination of the government to find men, money and experts to complete these projects. The previous government most callously and almost criminally neglected this urgent need and always with an excuse of paucity of funds. But the war has equally exposed this falacy and has proved beyond doubt that money can never keep anything in abeyance if there is the will to carry it through.