india is essentially an agricultural country with 70 per cent of its population living in rural villages. on the average, these villages need 150 kwh of energy per day for energizing irrigation pumps, for lighting, for cooking, etc. drip irrigation of corn, wheat, cotton, millets requires about 25 m**3 of water per hectare-day whereas food irrigation of rice, sugarcane, etc. would require 50 to 60 m**3 of water per hectare-day. in addition, water requirement for live stock is 40 to 50 liters per head-day. the lifting height of water varies from a few meters to 30 m. out of the total of 143 million hectares of land under cultivation in the country, 43 million hectares - 25 per cent of the land under cultivation is irrigated. out of this irrigated area, 23 million hectares are served by tube-wells, ponds or such similar minor irrigation schemes. non-conventional and renewable energy sources have assumed considerable importance and urgency after the oil crisis. various modes of irrigation schemes based on non-conventional energy sources are discussed. 4 refs