Irrigation in Bangladesh

The farmers irrigate their field

                                                 

Irrigation is a blessing to agriculture of any country. It turns barren land into smiling crops fields. It is irrigation that can ensure timely water supply to land. Irrigation adds to agricultural prosperity and increases the yield per acre. It also makes possible to grow improved varieties of crops. Irrigation also leads to the growth of the meas of transport and communication and the flourishing of internal and external trade. In Bangladesh, the problem of irrigation is, however, regarded from a different angle of vision. Mr. R. G. Casey, at one time a Governor of Bengal, aptly said, “ East Bengal suffer, not from scarcity of water but from too much of it’ Thus the problem here is one of the flood control, checking erosion and removing water from the marshy lands. During the rainy season, devasting floods occur and destroy standing crops. These floods can be resisted if high embankments are constructed along the banks of the big rivers. Already the Gumti bund in Comilla, the Karnafuli bund and the Meghna bund, together with the coastal embankment along the Bay of Bengal in the southern districts- Khulna, Bakerganj, Noakhali and Chittagong, have been constructed. Secondly, in order to control floods, the beds of the existing rivers should be made deep enough and the still must be removed from the mouths of rivers. For this purpose dredging is essential.

Irrigation system

        For irrigation Bangladesh mainly depends on rains and rivers. But rain is full of whims that often affect us adversely. Heavy rainfall often causes floods. On the other hand, our winter is often rainless and very dry. So our farmers never get water in proper way for cultivation. Either they get more or they get less than they need. They are just left to the mercy of nature.                        

           Out ot 24 million acres of cultivable land in Bangladesh only 6 lac acres are irrigated by various traditional methods which are extremely back-dated, time-consuming and inadequate. In recent years emphasis on irrigation by power pumps has been laid. So far about 38000 power pumps have been introduced and near about 18 lakh acres of land are said to have been brought under irrigation by the method. Some farmers of our country are also using them. But they should use them on an extensive scale so that plentiful underground water may be utilized for irrigation in dry season. There are hundreds of tanks, canals and rivers in our country.

         It is estimated that 13 million acres additional land can be irrigated here by extensive drainage, construction of diversion works and canals and pumping of surplus water. Still Bangladesh has several irrigation schemes of which the Ganges-Kodak scheme is the most important. It irrigates over 50 lac acres of land in Kushtia, Jessore and Khulna districts. But in recent years the Farrakh problem has dealt a death blow to this major irrigation scheme of Bangladesh. The Teesta Barrage project also irrigates over 1 lakh acres of land in the districts of Dinajpur, Rangpur and Bogra. To know more about 'Eyesight of Bangladesh' 
  

Moonlit night in Bangladesh

The river scenery of moonlight night

                                                  

When there was darkness all around. God said ‘ let there be light’ and there was light. Man prefers light no darkness. He likes the sun which is the ultimate source of light and heat. But to him light is more pleasing than heat. What he wants is provided by the moon. That is to say, it gives him light without heat. So the moon is so dear to him. The gentle light of the moon is so balmy and refreshing that man has always tried to have a close relationship with the moon. Though modern science has conquered the moon and shaken off the age-old beliefs and notions about it, yet ton the children it is still their maternal uncle (chand mama). To the poets and the lovers it is still the queen of the heaven. All these show how men love and like the moon.

           A moonlit night presents various charms and beauties to all. It offers beautiful and enchanting sights. The moon shines in the azure sky. She looks like a large disc of dazzling silver. The sparkling stars twinkle around the moon. The sky looks like a large canopy over flooded with light. The moon bathes the whole earth with her balmy beams. Everything appears to be coated with silver. Rivers, canals and tanks seem to laugh in the splendid moonlight. The speaks of cloud shine in the silvery light of the moon. The trees and creepers look bright and sparkling. The moon blesses the clouds and they add to the beauty of the sky. The white tinge all around on the top of trees gives to one’s mind the touch of mystery of nature.

Beautiful scenery of moonlit night

                                                 

              A moonlit night has a tremendous influence on the life of men. It is difficult for children to keep indoors They make marry playing games in open fields. Imaginative people like the poets and the lovers feel an irresistible urge for going out and becoming one with nature. They feel a thrill of joy in their hearts. Elderly men and women also cannot keep indoors. They pass hours outside in gossips and story-telling. The enchanting moonlit night makes the sorrowing mother forget the intensity of her great loss and look around to see where her lost treasure might be. A moonlit night has no less influence on birds and beasts. Birds come out of their nests or burst out into occasional notes. They are so much delighted that they cannot sleep so long as the light continues. Beasts also come out of their folds, and run to and fro. The beauty of a moonlit night in Bangladesh is seen at its best advantages in the open. Bangladesh has a network of rivers and on a moonlit night rivers present impressive sights. The sight of numerous country boats with white sails bathed in the moonlight has hardly and parallel. It is a pleasant sight to see the play of moon beams on the river. The sight of the softly flowing waters tinged with the silvery rays, has peculiar beauty of its own. The sea on a moonlit night presents more impressive spectacles. A man standing on the sea-beach is carried away by its inexpressible beauty. If we look at fields and meadows on a moonlit night they give us the idea of a fairy land. Forests and hills appear clad in a blaze of glory when the soft light of the moon floods them.      

The Rainy Season in Bangladesh

Cloudy Sky

                                                 

There are six seasons in Bangladesh. The rainy season is one of them. ‘ Asharh and Shravana’ are the months of the rainy season.

But sometimes the season lasts from the middle of June to the middle of September. The south-west monsoon, a periodical wind, that blows over Bangladesh from the Bay of Bengal, brings in the rains. The heat of summer turns a large quantity of the sea water into vapor which mixes with the air above. When the monsoon breaks out in the months of May and June, this rain bearing wind is cooled by contact with the cooler currents of air and the vapor is condensed into cloud and this causes rain.

The rain water in arom's leaf.

       During this season the sky often remains clouded. Violent blasts of wind blow. This sun remains hidden behind the clouds and it rains in torrents. Sometimes rain continues for days together. Tanks and pools that dry up in winter and summer are all filled up again. Rivers gradually rise till they overflow their banks. Some places remain under water for the greater part of the season and appear to be vast sheets of water. Everywhere roads are covered with mud. In many villages one has to go about in boats. The landscape appears green. Dry leaves fall from the trees and new ones sprout forth in their place. The rains wash away the filth that accumulates on the surface of the earth and purity the whole atmosphere. They lessen the intense heat of summer and stimulate the growth of vegetation and crops. It is the time for gathering ‘ Aush ‘ crops and planting ‘Aman’ paddy. The joy of the tillers knows no bounds if there is sufficient rain in this season. They merrily proceed towards the fields with their bullocks and p loughs, and till them                          

                                            

  The rainy season undoubtedly does us immerse good. But it brings in some inconveniences too. The country roads get covered with mud and many of them turn impassable. Outdoor games and activities become difficult. Floods in rivers cause serious damage by washing away houses and destroying crops. Boats are the only means of communication in many parts of the country. Men have to sit idle and pass much of their time indoors. Moreover, many diseases such as Malaria, diarrhea and dysentery break out during this season. The rainy is the most important and useful season in our country, because ours is an agricultural country and it depends mainly on rain for agricultural operations. If there is no periodic rain there will be scarcity of food and that will result in famine. So the discomforts and inconveniences of this season sink into insignificance, when they are compared with the immense benefit it confers. This is the most useful season in an agricultural country like ours.