How has irrigation transformed the social landscape, i.e, gap between the richer landowners and landless poor?

Irrigation causes a lot of changes on the social landscape.

Excessive irrigation increases the salinization of the soil and also affects the fertility of soil. This leads to changes cropping patterns, hence in many regions farmers are shifting to water intensive and commercial crops.

Irrigation has transformed the social landscape to a large extent by widening the gap between the rich and the poor. For irrigation many multipurpose projects have been introduces. The aim of these projects is to manage the scarcity of water. However a particular group has been sharing of benefits of these projects. This unequal distribution of water among social groups leads to differences between them.  The urban areas are benefited more with these irrigation plans and projects compared to the rural.

Irrigation projects also lead to various interstate water disputes. States are landing up in conflicts over benefit sharing and cost sharing issues of the multi-purpose irrigation project.