(1) Subject to such rules as may be made under section 10, loans may be granted under this Act, by such officer as may, from time to time, be empowered in this behalf by the State Government, for the purpose of making any improvement, to any person having a right to make that improvement, or, with the consent of that person, to any other person.
    (2) "Improvement" means any work which adds to the letting value of land, and includes the following, namely:--
         (a) the construction of wells, tanks and other works for the storage, supply or distribution of water for the purposes of agriculture, or for the use of men and cattle employed in agriculture;
         (b) the preparation of land for irrigation;
         (c) the drainage, reclamation from rivers or other waters, or protection from floods or from erosion or other damage by water, of land used for agricultural purposes or wasteland which is culturable;
         (d) the reclamation, clearance, enclosure or permanent improvement of land for agricultural purposes;
         (e) the renewal or reconstruction of any of the foregoing works, or alterations therein or additions thereto; and
         (f) such other works as the State Government ¹*** may, from time to time, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be improvements for the purposes of this Act.
                                                STATE AMENDMENT
Maharashtra
In section 4, in sub-section (2), for the words "any work which adds to the letting value of land" the words "in relation, to any land, any work which adds to the value of the land and which is suitable thereto as also consistent with the purpose for which it is held" shall be substituted.
[Vide Bombay Act XXVII of 1958, s. 3]