TRANSFORMATION OF FIELD PATTERNS THROUGH IRRIGATION IN PUNJAB: A CASE STUDY OF VILLAGE BATH OF UPLAND PLAINS WITH SAND DUNESDALJIT SINGH AND RIPUDAMAN SINGHAbstract Irrigation has great bearing on land types and field patterns. Field pattern is the arrangement of agricultural fields in terms of size, shape and distribution. The chief objective of the present paper is to analyze the role of irrigation facilities in the transformation of land types and field patterns in a Punjab village in the process of its evolution within a framework of physical and human factors and to recommend strategies to avoid ill effects of over-irrigation in that context. Reconstruction of field landscape showing available irrigation facilities, land types and field patterns existing at different time periods from 1884 to 2016 have been attempted for village Bath located in the upland plains with sand dunes in Bathinda district of Malwa region of Punjab in India. The study is based on primary data and unpublished village maps showing field boundaries. Field maps of 1884 and 1914 reveal that none of the fields were under irrigation. The major land types of the fields during these phases were barani (non-irrigated rain-fed land), banjar jadid (fallow land for three cropping seasons), banjar kadim (fallow land for eight cropping seasons) and tibba (sand dune covered land) with very large size and irregular shape fields scattered all over the village territory. The post-consolidation phase field map of 1960 shows that most of the barani fields have been converted into nahari (canal irrigated) fields due to introduction of canal irrigation. The latest 2016 field map reveals that entire cultivated area and fields have been brought under irrigation in the form of nahari and chahi (tube-well irrigated) land type fields. Complete transformation of land types and field patterns due to the over irrigation has lead to many ill effects.
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