In India the farmers pay for the water, not according to the volume used, but according to the area irrigated. Different rates per acre are charged for different kinds of crops according to the varying amounts of water which they are known to require. Sugarcane, which is sown in the spring and stands for nearly a year before being cut, thus extending over the whole of the kharif and most of the rabi, is assessed at the highest rate. Next comes rice which crop, though only four or five months elapse between its sowing and reaping, requires a great quantity of water. Gardens which receive water all the year round also pay a high rate. Other kharif crops are cotton and millet. The chief rabi crops are wheat, barley and “gram.”
Every field irrigated is booked by a patwari who is provided with a “field map” and “field book” for each village (perhaps 6 or 8) in his beat. The map enables him to recognise at a glance the field in which he is standing. It has a number in the map and, by referring to this number in the field book, he finds the area of the field. The patwari is also provided with a “field register” in which he books each field which is watered, showing its area and the kind of crop grown, the date of booking and the name of the owner and tenant. He goes about entering up all new irrigation and his proceedings are subjected to rigorous check by the zilladar and Deputy Collector, and also by the engineering staff. At the end of the crop the entries are abstracted into a “demand statement” in which all the fields cultivated by one person are brought together and, the proper rates being applied to them, the sum payable by this person is arrived at. The demand statement goes to the Collector of the district, who levies the money and pays it into the Treasury to the credit of the canal concerned. There is a special charge for any land watered in an “unauthorised manner.” This includes taking water when it was another man’s turn, or taking it from an outlet which has been wilfully enlarged or--in some districts--from another man’s outlet even with his consent. The sizes of the outlets are carefully apportioned to the land allotted to them and the area which they irrigate is constantly being looked into in order to see if the size is correct or needs altering. If a man borrows water from another outlet such borrowing may or may not come to light but in any case confusion as to outlet sizes results.