This key facts covers The Indira Gandhi Canal: Benefits and Costs within Hot Deserts for GCSE Geography. Revise Hot Deserts in The Living World for GCSE Geography with 15 exam-style questions and 22 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 6 of 14 in this topic. Use this key facts to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
📋 The Indira Gandhi Canal: Benefits and Costs
The Indira Gandhi Canal is the most transformative single piece of infrastructure in the Thar Desert. But it illustrates the central tension of desert development: short-term economic opportunity versus long-term environmental and social costs.
| Benefits | Costs |
|---|---|
| Irrigates approximately 2 million hectares of previously arid land | Waterlogging: over-irrigation has raised the water table in irrigated zones, bringing salt to the surface through capillary action — soil salinisation renders land infertile |
| Enabled production of wheat, cotton, mustard and groundnuts — improved food security | Reduced water flows downstream in Pakistan's Punjab province → conflict over water rights between India and Pakistan (Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 governs allocation but remains contested) |
| Allowed permanent settlement of nomadic communities → schools, healthcare facilities followed | Loss of traditional nomadic lifestyles and pastoral knowledge; communities became dependent on canal water rather than drought-resistant practices |
| Reduced famine risk in Rajasthan — last major famine in 1987 | Groundwater depletion in areas surrounding the canal corridor as farmers supplement canal water with borehole extraction |
| Created employment in construction, maintenance and associated agriculture | Climate change threatens to reduce Himalayan snowmelt that feeds the Beas and Sutlej rivers — the long-term water source for the canal is not guaranteed |
Practice questions for Hot Deserts
At which latitudes are most of the world's hot deserts found?
Explain how the Hadley Cell creates desert conditions at 20°–30° latitude.