Summer monsoon in Haryana
By Ram Singh
THE knowledge of probable dates of the commencement and termination of the rainy season is very useful for crop planning under rainfed conditions. A study has been conducted to analyse the behaviour of summer monsoon during the past 41years (1958-98) in Haryana selecting three stations — Hisar, Karnal and Ambala.

Improved bajra
By P.S.Sabharwal and D.C.Nijhawan
PEARL millet commonly known as bajra is the forth most important food crop of semi-arid and arid regions of the world. It is grown on about 26 million hectares in Africa, India and other Asian countries. Out of this 42 per cent of production of bajra in the world comes from India alone. Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are the main bajra-growing states in India which accounted for nearly 91 per cent of area and 88 per cent of production.

Farm operations for July

Tale of two tubewell schemes
By G.S. Dhillon

TWO schemes covered are the Sirhind canal augmentation scheme of the late 1970s and the Sirhind feeder anti-waterlogging shallow tubewell scheme (under construction).

In the case of the former scheme, it was proposed to install 350 deep tubewells (2 cusec capacity) along 65 km of the head reach with a view to augmenting the flow of the Sirhind canal so as to overcome the chronic experience at its tail.

The other scheme is aimed as anti-waterlogging, but as the pumped water is put back into the Sirhind feeder, it can be viewed as anti-waterlogging-cum-augmentation scheme as about 250 cusecs of water will be added by the 500 shallow tubewells proposed to be sunk along 73 km length (from RD 1,37,000 to RD 3,73,500). Each tubewell equipped with a 7.5 HP submersible pump, capable of pumping some 900 litres per minute (1/2 cusec) will be located at a distance of 230 feet from the right water edge of the Sirhind feeder i.e. just outside the right bank of the Sirhind feeder. The distance between the two tubewells is kept around 500 feet and at each pump site a 7 ft x 7 ft pump house with a girder arrangement for lifting the equipment is to be provided.

As the pumped water is likely to be highly saline (with conductivity above 15,000) which is not suitable for irrigation so for its disposal the alternative adopted is to "throw” it back into the Sirhind feeder. The pumped water is likely to be of the type sulphate-chloride with ions of calcium and magnesium, which makes its use (even after dilution) dangerous to the health of soil. The scheme is aimed at “intercepting” the seepage losses taking place from the twin canal system of the Rajasthan feeder and the Sirhind feeder which flow with a “common bank” hardly 100 ft wide.

It may be mentioned here that the Sirhind feeder of 4762-cusec capacity at head, came to be built in 1958 with the view to reducing the dependence of the Sirhind command areas on the Sutlej waters. By building this channel the waters of the Ravi and the Beas were to be utilised for irrigating some 17 lakh acres of land under the Sirhind command. Both canals are lined though the efficacy of the lining remains questionable, particularly in the case of the Rajasthan feeder in which the bed of this 1,85,000 cusecs capacity channel has been provided with “Single tile lining” in the bed.

Construction agencies

In the case of the augmentation canal of the Sirhind canal, the work of construction was given to the PSTC (Punjab State Tubewell Corporation) but in the case of the anti-waterlogging tubewells of the Sirhind feeder the task was assigned to a private party with powers to procure the needed materials, machinery, pumps, etc and give “completed job” to the government that too after one-year testing and operation.

There was a shortfall in the task given to the PSTC and out of intended 350 deep tubewells, only 263 could be installed and of these 23 were ranked as “failure’ and the number of tubewells made operative stood at 240. These tubewells were to be operated for 4,000 hours in a year by the PSTC which was to be provided with requisition or indent for the water by the Superintending Engineer, Sirhind canal of the Punjab Irrigation Department. The scheme as completed was considered capable of supplying 220 cusecs of flow to the Sirhind canal waters. It may be mentioned that the inauguration of the completed scheme was done in 1978 by Mr Parkash Singh Badal (the then Chief Minister of Punjab) and the ceremony was attended by the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. The cost of the scheme as completed was put at Rs 420 lakh.

In the case of Sirhind feeder scheme, the total sanctioned amount for building 500 shallow tubewells is Rs 12.95 crore and the cost per shallow tubewell of 1/2-cusec capacity works out to be Rs 2.59 lakh. In this case the bore hole of 8-ft deep of 12 inches dia is bored into which a “casing pipe” of 8 inches dia is lowered. The lower 40 ft length is provided with “Johnston filter” and through a delivery pipe of 3 inches dia water is delivered back into the Sirhind feeder.

In the case of the Sirhind feeder scheme, by the end of March, 2000, only 140 tubewells had been energised and 15 others were waiting to be energised after attending to the mechanical and electrical faults. The number of pump houses built stood at 320.

Vigilance web

The Sirhind feeder has got entangled in the “web” of the Vigilance. The controversies include provision of inferior grade pipes instead of that shown in the design; provision of lower capacity pump 800 litres per minute instead of 900 litres as intended in the design specifications; and excess payment on account of ramps, etc. Many of the pump house buildings had got badly tilted and these are attributed to the lower bearing capacity of the waterlogged soil and these are being corrected at a cost recoverable from the contractor. The performance report of the energised tubewell is not available yet.

End of the tale

The Sirhind canal augmentation scheme got into the web as who should pay for the operation cost of the tubewells. The Irrigation Department showed nil indent for most of the time and the scheme came to a sad end. The tubewells were disposed of to local farmers wherever possible.

Moral of the story

It can be said that it is not only necessary to have an adequately designed and constructed tubewell scheme, but it is essential to make adequate provision for its long-term operation. So the Drainage Department should make arrangements for meeting the electricity bill when all the 500 anti-waterlogging tubewells start operating and consuming 50,000 kwh (electricity units) daily for two eight-hour shifts. Also the staff have to be provided so that though intermittently the operation of the tubewells is done till the canals continue to seep. It may be mentioned that the seepage amount may increase with time.

Summer monsoon in Haryana
By Ram Singh

THE knowledge of probable dates of the commencement and termination of the rainy season is very useful for crop planning under rainfed conditions. A study has been conducted to analyse the behaviour of summer monsoon during the past 41years (1958-98) in Haryana selecting three stations — Hisar, Karnal and Ambala.

The mean date of the onset of Hisar location is July 4, with ± 7 days. But in some years, it arrived as early as June 14 (1966) and as late as July 19 (1973). The onset of monsoon was early in 10 years, late in five years and normal in 25 years.

The mean date of the withdrawal of monsoon at Hisar is September 15 with ± 9 days. But in some years, it was as early as August 11 (1982) and as late as October 7 (1959, 1960, 1997). The withdrawal was early in eight years, late in eight years and normal in 24 years.

The mean date of the onset of summer monsoon at Karnal location is June 24 with ± 9 days. However, in some years, it arrived as early as June 5 (1989) and as late as July 11 (1997). Out of 41 years, monsoon was early in eight years, late in eight years and normal in 25 years.

The normal withdrawal of monsoon at Karnal is September 16 with ± 11 days. But in certain years, it was as early as August 21 (1968) and as late as October 8 (1961). The withdrawal of monsoon took place early in eight years, late in nine years and normal in 24 years in Karnal.

The mean date of the onset of monsoon rains at Ambala is June 23 ± 9 days, whereas the date of withdrawal is September ± 10 days. But in certain years, it arrived as early as June 3 (1970) and as late as July 25 (1997). Out of 41 years, the onset was early in nine years, late in six years and normal in 26 years. The withdrawal was early in seven years, late in five years and normal 29 years.

The normal rainfall in Hisar during summer monsoon period amounted to 351.4 mm. It was normal in 20 years, above normal in 11 years and below normal in 10 years.

The amount of normal rainfall at Karnal was 628 mm and this was normal in 24 years, exceeding normal in seven years and below normal in 10 years.

The normal rainfall of summer monsoon at Ambala was 735 mm with 20 years receiving normal, 12 years above normal and nine years below normal rainfall.

It may be concluded that monsoon in Haryana normally arrives between June 23 and July 4 ± 9 days and withdraws between September 15 and September 17 ± 10 days. Further, it was observed that during the past three decades the onset of monsoon in Haryana normally took place either on normal or on early dates.

Improved bajra
By P.S.Sabharwal and D.C.Nijhawan

PEARL millet commonly known as bajra is the forth most important food crop of semi-arid and arid regions of the world. It is grown on about 26 million hectares in Africa, India and other Asian countries. Out of this 42 per cent of production of bajra in the world comes from India alone. Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are the main bajra-growing states in India which accounted for nearly 91 per cent of area and 88 per cent of production.

Bajra is usually called “the poor man’s crop” because it is traditionally grown in soils of poor structure, low fertility, low water holding capacity in harsh climate (hot). And hence the production of bajra is affected and is not stable. If the farmers adopt the following points the production of bajra cannot only be increased but also made stable over the years..

Cultivar choice: The farmers should grow region-specific varieties of hybrids to stabilise production under different agro-climatic condition. Grow early maturing hybrids (for instance HHB-67 HHB-94, etc.)

Sowing and transplanting: Usually the farmers adopt direct sowing. If the sowing is delayed then transplanting is the best alternative to get good yield. Sowing should be done under optimum moisture conditions for better establishment of seedlings. Then transplant these seedlings with the onset of monsoon, preferably in the first week of July to mid-July.

Seed rate and plant density: Grain yield is directly related to plant stand. Poor the plant population low will be the grain yield. Use 4-5 kg of seed to plant a hectare land. Keep row to row and plant to plant distances of 45-50 cm and 10-15 cm, respectively, to obtain 1,75,000 to 1,90,000 plants per hectare. Adopt thinning and gap filling to attain the required number of plants.

Farm operations for July

Groundnut:

— Sowing of the rainfed crop should be completed using variety M-37. Use of bolder seed ensures high yield.

— The rainfed crop to be sown in early July must be treated with fungicide for the control of collar rot disease. For this purpose, use 5 g Thiram or 3 g Indofil M-45 per kg of kernels.

— To check the attack of termites/whitegrub, seed should be treated with Chlorpyriphos 20 EC @ 12.5 ml/kg seed kernel.

— Apply 50 kg of superphosphate, 15 kg of urea and 15 kg of muriate of potash per acre. If the source of P is other than superphosphate (single), gypsum @ 50 kg/acre may be applied. If groundnut follows, wheat which had received the recommended dose of phosphorus, omit application of superphosphate.

— The grub attack can also be reduced by applying 4 kg of Thimet 10 G or 13 kg Furadan 3 G per acre in the field at the time of sowing of groundnut.

Kharif pulses:

— Sowing of mash (Mash-338, Mash-1-1, Mash-48) and moong (PBM-1, ML-613, ML-267 and ML-5) should be completed soon as delayed sowing results in lower yields. Moong variety PBM-1 is recommended only for sowing in Bathinda, Mansa, Muktsar, Ferozepore and Sangrur districts.

— Check weeds in mash, moong or arhar by giving one or two hoeings. Alternatively in moong, use Stomp 30 EC (pendimethalin) @ 1 litre/acre pre-emergence application or Bassalin 45 EC (fluchloralin) @ 600 ml/acre as pre-plant application.

— Treat the seed with 3 g Captan per kg of seed before Sowing. Grow the mosaic resistant varieties (PBM-1, ML-613, ML-267) for the control of yellow mosaic virus.

— Semi-looper/hairy caterpillars infestation can be checked by spraying 450 ml of Fenitrothion 50 EC or 500 ml of Thiodan 35 EC or 200 ml Nuvan 85 SL in 80 litres of water per acre.

VEGETABLES

Chilli and brinjal: Apply 40 kg of CAN and 155 kg of superphosphate and 490 kg of muriate of potash per acre. Transplant 4 to 6 week-old healthy seedlings. Keep lines and plants 60 and 45 cm apart, respectively. Irrigate immediately and also on the succeeding day. Thereafter, water twice a week. After a week fill in the gaps and irrigate.

To check fruit and shoot borer attack in brinjal, spray 800 ml Thiodan 35 EC/800 kg Sevin 50 WP/100 ml of Sumicidin 20 Ec or 40 ml Ambush 50 Ec/200ml Ripcord 10 Ec/160 ml Decis 2.8 EC/800 ml Ekalux 25 Ec/550 ml Monocil 36 SL in 100-125 litres of water per acre.

Spinach: Sow 8 to 10 kg seed of the Punjab Green variety per acre in 15 to 20 cm apart lines. Apply 10 to 15 tonnes of well rotten farmyard manure per acre. Apply 40 kg of CAN, 155 kg of Superphosphate and 40 kg of muriate of potash per acre.

Onion: Prepare 15 cm high, 1.5 m wide and 10 m long beds covering 250 m area for raising seedlings of onion to transplant in an acre. Mix well rotten farmyard manure and irrigate. Sow 5 kg of seed in rows 4-5 cm apart and 0.5 cm deep. Cover with a thin layer of farmyard manure. Irrigate after 2-3 days regularly. Sow the N 53 variety or Agrifound Dark Red only.

— Progressive Farming, PAU