Papers were presented at the World Bank Colloquium on Groundwater Irrigation, held April 12-14, 1989, in Washington, D.C.

Incluye bibliografía

Contributors -- Overview / Friedrich Kahnert and Gilbert Levine -- Key findings, recommendations, and summary / Friedrich Kahnert and Gilbert Levine -- Pt. 1. Bangladesh -- 1. National water planning in Bangladesh 1985-2005: the role of groundwater in irrigation development / G. T. Keith Pitman -- 2. Improving the access of the rural poor to groundwater irrigation in Bangladesh / M. A. Hamid -- 3. Groundwater irrigation in Bangladesh: access, competition, and performance / M. A. S. Mandal -- 4. Socialization of minor irrigation: a strategy for growth with equity / Qazi Faruque Ahmed -- Pt. 2. Nepal -- 5. Use of groundwater resources to alleviate poverty in Nepal: policy issues / S. K. Upadhyay -- 6. Improving access of the poor to groundwater in Nepal: sociopolitical and managerial issues / R. N. Deo -- Pt. 3. India -- 7. Groundwater development for economic emancipation in the lower Ganges Basin: problems, prospects, and strategies / T. Prasad -- 8. Performance of the World Bank tube wells in India / Niranjan Pant -- 9. Management of public tube wells in Uttar Pradesh / Shashi Kolavalli and Nitin Shah -- 10. Efficiency and equity impacts of groundwater markets: a review of issues, evidence, and policies / Tushaar Shah -- 11. Delivery of credit to poor farmers for groundwater irrigation: Eastern Indian experience / Shibasankar Chakraborty -- Appendix: Literature review / G. Levine, S. Abeyratne, and U. Pradhan -- Maps: The Ganges Basin: major sub-basins -- The Ganges Basin: aquifer characteristics and groundwater development

This volume reports on a concerted effort to analyze and reflect on the possible role of groundwater development in helping to address the persistent rural poverty problem in Bangladesh, Nepal, and eastern India, an area in large part coincident with the Gangetic Basin. The work was initiated by the World Bank and cosponsored by the International Irrigation Management Institute, which contributed substantially to its success. Papers were presented at the World Bank Colloquium on Groundwater Irrigation, held April 1214, 1989, in Washington, D.C. Groundwater remains the largest natural resource endowment of this region that is not yet used to its full potential, even though this potential cannot be identified with certainty for the basin as a whole or for its constituent parts. In addition to an incomplete data base, a problem common to many development challenges, a great deal of uncertainty arises from the unresolved riparian issues affecting the use of the water from the Ganges river system. These concern not only the three countries of the region but also the division of the water resources among the Indian states in the basin. Given the close interaction between surface water flows and groundwater availability, resolution of the riparian issues will place as yet unknown political limits on groundwater development in many parts of the region.