164 HAPPY INDIA 



be started some day in the Eastern Ghats, the 

 Vindhya range and the Maikal range of hills. All 

 these storage reservoirs will have as one of their 

 chief objects the use of the water for irrigation 

 after it has been used for the purpose of developing 

 power. 



It must be borne in mind that on the eastern side 

 of the Western Ghats, from there down to the sea, 

 there are large tracts on which as a general rule 

 there is rain enough to raise a crop sufficient to 

 keep the people alive, but every few years there 

 comes a drought or a partial drought, and then the 

 rainfall is not sufficient. Now, the idea of some of 

 the Government engineers who have designed these 

 great storage reservoirs is to keep a great stock of 

 water here ready in case the monsoon shall fail, 

 so that the water may then come down and help 

 to irrigate the crops. 



The rulers of India three or four hundred years 

 ago made great reservoirs, or tanks as they were 

 called, and so established their claim to be regarded 

 as friends of the people. The British Government 

 has done a great deal in making both canals and 

 tanks, but it must do still more. 



The river Indus has a great tributary coming from 

 the ae*r the Kabul river. Sir W. W. Hunter has 

 stated that the flood waters of the Kabul river are 

 equal to the flood waters of the Indus, and that 

 shows that great storage reservoirs might with 

 advantage be placed in the high land from which the 

 torrents fall into the Kabul river. Of these tribu- 



