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WATERThe Water Women:

A Case Study of Tank RestorationKARNATAKA

Keya Acharya

In 1980, an NGO called Gram Vikas (GV) began operations on a smallscale in an interior village called Honnsetthalli in Mulbagal taluk of Kolardistr ict in Karntaka. The focus of the NGO was child developmentthrough a nutr i t ional programme, but the i ssue, being inter twined wi ththe development of women in the vil lage, led them into trying

programmes to improve the lives of women in the region. Small self-helpgrou ps (SHGs) were organ ised into sa vin gs an d credit progra m m es.

Within a decade of working in the f ield, GV realised that for any realcha n ge to com e ab out in th e qu ality of women s d aily lives th at werelinked to an agrarian subsistence economy, land-productivi ty would haveto be improved. And for that to happen, ecological regeneration of theirarid a n d d egraded lan ds was n ecessa ry. Th e evolu tion of GVs SHGs in towhat i s n ow a 5 460-m ember s t ron g ind ependen t women s m ovemen tcame about from realis ing that restoring their access to water which inturn led to intr icately related improvements, would have to be their

prima ry focus .

In t rod uct ion a nd His t ory of K ola r Di s t r ic t

Kolar District, in the Eastern Dry Agro climatic Zone of the Deccanpeninsula without any perennial r ivers , is historically drought-prone.Rainfall is insufficient and unpredictable, with variat ions ranging from562.3mm in 1960 to 1 ,215mm in 1962. The average annual r emains7 5 0 m m .

The area has hence historically depended on i ts ancient irr igation water-bodies or tan ks as th ey are k n own locally, for i ts water n eeds. Des ignedto catch and s tore the run-off f rom catchment s lopes , they wereconst ructed by kings and phi lanthropis ts centur ies ago and weremainta ined by the loca l communi t i es . Karnataka has 36 ,672 t anks andKolar h as 4 ,488. Mu lbagal Taluk h as a bout 62 0 tan ks with a bout 40 0 inth e GV project ar ea.


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During the colonial period, the British took over the authority of

maintenance of these tanks from the local vil lages and placed them

within their Administration s Irr igation Department. Though the Brit ish,maintained them chiefly with their own interests in mind, local people

lost both interest an d sta ke in th e ownersh ip of th ese tan ks.

Since the post-independence era, the Administrative mindset has been

on mega projects for irrigation and large-scale agriculture. The larger

tanks of over 100-hectares in size became the property of the

Department of Major Irr igation, those up to 50 hectares came under theju r is d ict ion of th e Depa r tm en t for Min or Ir r iga tion a n d th e s m a ller on es

passed on to the Rural Depar tment which passed them on to Taluk and

Zilla Panchayats according to their size. But overall government neglect

was near-total, both due to a lack of will and foresight together with a

lack of resour ces brou ght ab out by focu sing only on mega-dam s.

The result is massive siltation from soil washed away from catchmentslopes to the extent of 60 p er cen t in ma n y cas es. Most ar e in a s tate ofutter disrepair , with dilapidated sluices and spil lways and decrepit crest

gates. While they previously supplied water for two crops earlier, the

tan ks now can su pport only on e, if at al l.

The consequent lack of percolation has had a disastrous effect on trees,

p lan t s , sh rubs and g rass in a l a rge rad ius a round these t anks bu t the

effect has been most pernicious on soils . Scanty rain and deforestation

has reduced green cover, loosening and eroding the soil, which is loamy,

sandy, gravelly and lateritic in structure. Increased wind velocity caused

by lack of trees as arresters has led to soil being blown off in large areas,exposing bedrock. Lit t le wonder then, that the area is now drought-

prone.

Moreover , as many as 1 ,900 tanks in the Sta te have been encroached

upon, mainly usurped by rich landlords (20 30 hectare landholdings)who have now dug bore wells to access groundwater due to scarcity of

surface water, growing cash crops to feed the nearby capital city s ofBangalore s m arkets , 80 km away.

Without an adequate groundwater monitoring policy and a check on the

number of bore wells that could be sunk, those who could afford themhave sunk bore wells at random, result ing in an unprecedented fall in

groundwater tables. A Department of Mines and Geology Report, 1970

sta tes water tables then being found at depths from 2 to 45 , which isdown to 500 today.

In what appears to be a replay of lack of government co-ordination, the

1970 report even s pecifies th e size of wells th at ma y us e pu mp ing en ergy


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according to their rech arge capab ilit ies a nd th e nu mb er of wells th at ma y

be s u n k in total. A groun dwat er policy however, is yet to tak e off.

Those most affected have been the poor and marginalized, with

smallholder farmers who had neither water from their tanks nor the

fina n ces to sink bore wells b ein g reduced to s u bsisten ce levels.

Local markets began registering a scarcity of traditional staples as crop

patt erns cha nged from low water cons u ming tra dit iona l cereals l ike ra gi,

to water-intensive cash and horticultural crops grown for Bangalore smarke t s .

Furthermore, incredibly short-sighted rural policies have seen a spurt of

dairy-related and si lkworm mulberry farming in the last three decades,

exacerbating the use of water in a region historically arid, and

encouraging the indiscriminate exploitation of groundwater.

It is against this backdrop that Gram Vikas saw tank restoration as its core strategy forrural development in the region. In the years preceding 1994, it had done, along with itsSHGs, par tial de-silt ing work in 3 tan ks a nd app lied th is n u trient to local

fields, had strengthened bunds through nitrogen-fixing plants and hadun der taken one ja th a on tank-restoration and ecological advocacy goingthrough 400 villages in 3 taluks. Above all, it had earned the credibility

of th e comm u nity also throu gh m aking all expenditure on tan k de-silt in g

public.

The Bir th of a Movem ent

By 1994, both Gram Vikas and i ts SHGs of women had realised that foreffective campaigning and networking on tank-restoration, the women

needed to form an allian ce.

Thus, in 1994 the Grameena Mahila Okkutta or Rural Women sFederation came about. I t became a registered Society in 1997 and now

ha s 5 460 m embers from 27 0 SHGs in th ree talu ks of Kolar Distr ict .

Though completely independent of GV it works in close alliance with it,

having gained experience in tank-de-siltation matters from GV in the

previou s years. With GVs da ta on

Extent of water sprea d ar ea of th e tan k

Extent of silting in the tank Extent of catchm ent ar ea

Extent of Comm an d ar ea of th e tan k

Farmer-wise h olding of lan d u nder th e comman d a rea of the ta nk an d

the farmers socio-econom ic p rofiles

Croppin g pattern

Wheth er the tank su rplu ses


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Extent of inability of tank (Amount of shortage of water) to meet the

crop needs

Nu mb er of open wells in th e com ma nd area

Grou n d wat er levels

The Okkuta secured a 2.3 lakh loan to desil t a 39-acre waterspread areaof Bevan ath a ta nk in 199 7. NABARD, ha ving seen t he resu lts a nd imp act

of previous tank-restoration done by these women through GV, readily

su pplied the mon ey.

The women also had previous experience through Gram Vikas meetings

to decide on the mode and operations in de-silting. Briefly these involved

coming to decisions through a series of joint meeting with farmers from

the command and catchment area of the tanks , SHG members , Gram

Pancha yat members an d Okkuta secretar ia t memb ers .

Decisions were left to the farmers entirely, to come about through joint

participation of the entire group.

The issu es discus sed an d decision ta ken related to:

Resources sh are of th e com mu nity, sh ar e of GV, sou rce of fu nd s

Form ation of comm ittee to bear th e overall respon sibility of th e project

Deciding th e mode of pa ymen t of th e sh ar e of people in t h e cost

Prioritising Works related to the tank system

Mode of de-silting (this was manual in all GV-supported de-siltingprojects)

Modes of tran sporting silt su ch a s tra ctors an d bu llock carts

Mode of per iodicity of pa ymen ts

Prioritising lan ds for tra n sp orting silt

Fixing work and wage rates for excavation of silt

Arranging for work teams (Arranging for workers from other villages incase of shortage)

Introducing a token system to keep track of tractor loads of silt

transported, for payment

Fixing responsibility for cost share recovery from farmers

(Responsibility for collecting dues from farmers was given to persons

designated as Neighbourhood Community Network (NCN) leaders whowere persons of good standing in the community and who were

prepared to undertake the responsibility of collecting dues from at

least five families each in her or his neighbourhood. Another criteria

for selecting the NCN leader was that her or his house was in the

middle of the cluster of houses of farmers receiving silt. MOUs were

signed with each NCN lead ers deta ilin g his res pon sibility an d liability,


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and reflecting the instalments due from each farmer for whom the

NCN lead er was resp ons ible)

Assess the capacity of each farmer to utilize funds and ability to repay

(the committee did this after intensive discussions. The committees

as sess ed th e capacity of people to sha re costs th at is th e percentage of

th e cost. Xerox copies of th e s ign ed MoUs were given to a ll sign at oriesand members. The discussions also covered identifying bore well

farmers and cash crop cult ivators and fix higher slabs of repaymentins ta lments for them .

Though methods have varied according to the priorities of different

tanks, a typical operational mode has been identifying farmers to whom

loans for bullock-carts were given (approximately Rs. 12,000), repayable

interest-free in two years. The interest amount had, till recently, been

taken care of by Gram Vikas and donor suppor t , but the ent i re amount

is cu rrent ly to be paid back by the Okku ta a nd the commu nity.

Th e bu llock-cart owner s ch ar ge a p rior fixed rat e of an average Rs. 30 per

cart load of si l t and Rs. 25 for transportation of this cart load to the

buyer s f ields. Men and women both work in the digging and cart inghead-loads of silt to the waiting bullock-cart and are paid daily wage

rates . Between 120 to 300 ma nu al labou rers h ave been u sed, according

to tank-size, contributing to about 40% of costs by way of labour. An

average 25,000 cubic metres of si l t has contributed to fert i l is ing up to

500 acres of lan d.

Tractors have been used by those farmers already owning them, renting

them to the Okkuta in exchange for si l t . Doddaguttahall i tanktran sported 9 000 tractor-loads of si lt!Alongside the de-silting work, the Okkuta organised an advocacy campaign. 40 womenwere selected on the criteria of being able to be away from home for an extended period(older women, widows, women with adult daughters who took over house duties) Alsocrucial to their selection was their understanding of the issue and the ability to articulateit convin cin gly. Fu rth er, ab ility to sing, lack of st age frigh t a n d a bility to

keep cool un der p rovocative qu estioning were also criteria.

The women were trained, armed with information on the state of tanks

an d th eir socio econom ic im porta n ce. Th ey were ta u ght son gs, a few or

them composed, sung and recorded on audiocasset tes by many team

mem bers them selves. They were iss u ed with u n iform saris an d ban ners ,

which they carried into visiting villages.

The team worked very hard, gett ing up at the crack of dawn, cooking

their food for the journey, riding off in a hired tempo to the villages,

singing s ongs a nd raisin g slogan s, r etu rn in g in th e evening after visi t in g

at least a d ozen villages. Cooking dinn er was a sh ared du ty.


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The Okku ta a lso sees advocacy through:

Organ izing th eme conferences of ru ral wom en where tan ks were

focussed on

Inviting dignitaries and policy-makers (including the Governor,

Speaker, Union Minister for Rural Development, State Ministers,senior officials) to the conferences in order to draw their

a t tent ion to the issu e

Motivating women groups to secure ZP and district

adm inistra tion fu n ding for tan k res toration projects

Drawing the attention of the media, both print and electronic to

the issu e .

The strategy has worked very well. Their efforts have resulted in the

forming of a Tank Development Committee in each village they visited.The team also motivated every village to send a representation to the

Secretary, Ru ral Developmen t, Governm ent of Karn ata ka , dema n ding de-sil t ing of tanks, with the Okkuta keeping up a bimonthly barrage of

representations to the Zil la Panchayat, Agriculture Department and

Gram Panchayat in this regard. The commitment of these women isextraordinary.

The campaign team members a lso par t ic ipated in a seminar a t

Dodballapur on Women & Water where they spoke forcefully and withconviction about the importance of de-si l t ing tanks. Such was their

persuasive oratory that they got many orders for help in forming SHGsto becom e part of th e movemen t.

But the Bevanatha exper ience showed the Okkuta the s teep burden on

bullock-cart owners to pay back their loan amount in two years. The

Okkut ta s General Secretary, a woman of exemplary strength, 40-year-old Papamma, says , How can the government expect us to raise themoney to clean up all these tanks? I t is not only us, but everybody else

who benefits from water com in g back into th e tan k.

I t is this pressure to pay back loans that forced the Okkuta to go to the

governm ent in a long-dra wn protra cted bat t le to get the a dm in istra tion to

help them in their tank-restoration efforts. The struggle in Minjenahalli is

representative.

The Case o f Minjena ha l l i

Minjenahalli village in interior Mulbagal has a population of 440 in 85

families of which 59 are SCs, 7 are STs, 10 are from the Backward

Classes and only 9 are from the u pper cas tes . Of the villages two tan ksMavina kere a n d Ba da van kere, th e lat ter was left exclu sively for th e lower


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castes trad it ionally it s n am e bears th at out , t ran s la t ing in to English asth e poor m an s t a n k .

As in the case of all tanks, this ones desperate condit ion madeMinejenallis 4 SHGs, part of the Okkutta, write to the Zil la Panchyat s

CEO for h elp in 19 98 . Two year s of fru itless pleas followed, th ough in1999 the Okkutta succeeded in securing a let ter from the ZP sanctioning

Rs. 2.5 lakh s for th e de-silting work.

But the funds were not re leased on the plea that the budget had beenexhausted for 1999, but would do so in 2000. The year came and went,

and st i l l no money was forthcoming. Worse, money that had actually

been sanctioned by the ZP for de-si l t ing Badavankere tank had been

diverted to work elsewhere.

In 2001, the Okkuta approached the local MLA, who is also the Speaker

in the Legislative Assembly. But even the MLAs intervention couldn tover ride ego-clashes between the ZP CEO and ZP President, with theCEO blocking the release of funds. The women then picketed the offices

of the Zilla Panchayat on a day when a meeting between the region s MPwith other officials were to take place, refusing entry to anyone unless

th eir legally allotted fun ds were releas ed.

The MP, Mr. KH Muniyappa then wrote a letter to the Deputy

Commissioner of Kolar, asking him to release the funds from the MP

Local Area Development Fund (given to each MP to be used at his

discretion), if the ZP failed to do so. Media coverage of the issue however

made the Zilla Panchayat of Kolar district release the funds.

Yet, the struggle continued, this t ime in the government s unwillingnessto allow community participation in the work of de-silting. ZP Engineers

ruled that mechanical excavators through the tenders and contracts

process would be used. The entire village joined into the effort of

gheraoing th e engineers an d tel ling th em firm ly tha t th ey would do th eirown de-silting with ZP fu n ds to pa y for th eir lab our . Th e en gin eers finally

relented.

T h e Ok k u t a T o d a y

The Federation today is a powerfu l networking body tha t h as ca u gh t th eattention of the distr ict administration. About 1000 of i ts women have

emerged as leaders at the community-level. I t organises training and

exposure trips for women, legal assistance in women s problems,conducts heal th awareness camps, manages one rura l hospi ta l a t

Yalagond an ah alli, works with th e govern m ent in its imm u n isa tion

programmes, conducts night schools and supports education for gir ls

an d h elps form ch ildren s federations .


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On the issue of tanks, i ts influence is unarguably complete. With the

need to repair tan ks f irm ly in t he pu blic agenda , Karn ata ka s governm entbegan by issuing a series of statements beginning with the Chief

Minister s 20 00-01 Bu dget Speech in which h e declared h is governm ent s

intention to de-sil t 25,000 tanks throughout the state in the coming fiveyears , wh ich figure h as now been sca led down to 5000 tan ks @1000

tan ks per year in a Tank Restoration Project called th e J ala

Sam vard ha n e Yojan a.

The J LSY will restore, throu gh Sta te as sistan ce these 5000 tan ks in 5

dis t r ic ts and hand them O&M to User Organisations in a phasedmanner. 80% of the money is being asked for from the World Bank in

2002 (which has offered 12,000 Crores for rural and urban development

to Karn ata ka, an d a waits th e Stat e tak ing init iat ives to s tart J LSY); 11%

will be the government s contribution and 9% is to be brought in from

the User Communities.

Moreover, the Deputy Commissioner of Kolar visited the Grama Vikas tank de-silting projects and offered government funds for completing

some of the projects. GV, now confident of this extraordinary body of

quie t s t rength , has asked that the money be routed to the Okkut ta sfunds. The newly appointed Project Director, a senior official from the

Min or Irrigat ion Depa rtm ent , ap pointed for the J LSY visited Gra m a Vika s

for discus sion s on th e policy, ap proach an d s trat egy to be adopted for de-

si lt ing. Base line su rveys are cur rently un derway.

However, this fight does not end with the government recognising apeoples movement. There are already different views within thegovernment over the cri teria of the selection of tanks, a factor that haspolitical interests playing its part, together with divergent views on post-

project ma na gement s t ru ctures .

In J u ne 20 00, in i ts bid to woo the WBs approval for funding, the stategovernment promulgated an ordinance creating a four-t ier structure of

Water User Co-operatives. The ordinance lacked the benefit of informed

deba te a n d wa s a Xerox copy of a s imilar piece of legislation from An dh ra

Pradesh . The d raft ing and promu lgation of th e ordina n ce was clouded in

needless secrecy. The booklets conta ining th e ru les a n d regulation s wereneither disseminated nor debated, and bundles of the booklets are

gathering dust in the offices of District Registrars of Co-operatives

Societies.

Three discussion drafts for the Department of Minor Irrigation (DMI)-

sponsored workshop (that was scheduled for August 1 but was


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postponed), two of them commissioned by the government, the other

being the World Bank Mission statement speak in divergent voices.

The World Bank Mission note appears to be more development-orientedand more people-centred than the DMI-sponsored s tudies that are

fundamentally flawed. The DMI-sponsored drafts define tanks inengin eerin g terms, an d view the p rojects a s engin eering works, a lth ough

engineering or technology component in such projects is very basic. They

view de-sil t ing of tanks in a narrow bandwidth, as a production

enhancement measure to ra ise revenue ra ther than the a l l - round

developmen t st rategy th at it a ctu ally is . In s h ort , they su ffer from tu n nel

vision.

Given India s preponderance over bureaucracy and poli t ics, no people smovement can rest once i t has reached the ears of the government. The

Grameena Mahi la Okkut ta s struggle is now gathering itself to

relen tlessly follow up on t h e govern m en t.

Tank System Restorat ion Project : A Model Budget For A Tank1 (Courtesy: Gram

Vikas)Sl Activity Head Unit Cost Am oun t (Rs.)

1 De-silting (Excavating and transport ing the si l tto fields in the catchm ent ar ea)

30,000 CMT of silt

excavated and

tra ns ported @ Rs 50

pe r CMT of silt

15,00,000

2 Soil cons ervation @ Rs 50 0 per acr e for

250 acres

1,25,000

3 Casing of the tan k bu nd 2,900 ma nda ys @ Rs

3 5 p e r man d ay

1,01,500

4 Check dam s and gully plugs to arrest soi l

erosion leading to silting of tan ks

4 u nits @ Rs 75,000

each

3,00,000

5 Agro-forest ry 12 ,500 sa plin gs for

planting in catchment

area , @ Rs 10 p er

sapling

1,25,000

6 Fodder Developm ent (trees) 2,500 sa plings @ Rs 10

per saplings

25,000

7 Repair of was te weir can al 2,900 ma nd ays @ Rs

3 5 p e r man d ay

1,01,500

8 Repair of Distribution Canals in theComma nd Area -- --

9 Fisheries

(Pur cha se of Fingerlings, nylon net s, feeds , 75,00 02

1For a tan k with average acreage of 22 a cres of waterspread, 30 .15 a cres of

comma nd a rea an d 250 acres of catchm ent , bas ed on Gram a Vika s experience

in de-silt ing 13 ta nk s p ar tially, an d a lso on th e a verage size of a village ta nk in

Mu lbagal Taluk


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ston e pillars, secu rity)

TOTAL 2 3 , 5 0 , 0 0 03

2Break-up ha s n ot been worked ou t s ince fishery was a t tempted in only one

t ank 3

The figure does not includ e overhead / adm inis t rat ion / implementa t ional

expens es which works ou t to 15 per cen t over an d ab ove the pr ojected figu re


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WATERBhandara the Lake District

MAHARASHTRA

Vijay Paranjpye

Ba c k g roun dHistorically, India`s economy has been predominantly an agriculturalone an d a gr icu ltu re h as been vulnerab le to spa t ial and tem poral vagar iesof monsoons . From t ime immemorial , the pr ime concern has been

protection of crops from unpredictable monsoons through eff icient

management of available water resources. References to an eff icientmanagement of water resources and equi ty concerns regarding thei rdis t r ibut ion, an d tha t agr icul tur e did not depen d s olely on rainfal l can befoun d in the epic Mahbh ara ta, (2 AD) an d in th e works of Magasth enese,

the Greek ambassador in the royal Gupta cour t (325 AD).The ear l ies tcanal sys tems in the country date back to the 2nd century (AD).Vijaynagar Empire gave a major impetus to irr igation development

Between 50 0 a n d 1 500 AD severa l reser voirs were crea ted in h illy terrainby building small earthen bunds in order to provide water for irr igationto the water scarce regions in Southern India. Clear ly water resource

ma n agement h as a lon g an d a r ich h is tory in India.

In the ear ly 19th century, wi th the advent of high head hydraul ic

s t ructures in the in the country, large s t ructures wi th larger s toragecapacity were buil t for irr igation as protection against the two greatfamines. By middle of the 20th century i t was fel t that larger surface

water s torage were inevitable for augmenting and stabil izing irr igationsupplies as well as for hydropower generation. Large dams were a vi talpa rt of s tr ategy ad opted a fter ind epen den ce to extend irr igation facilit ies

in order to increase food produ ct ion. As a con sequen ce, today th ere are4000 large dam s in Ind ia.

Unfortunately the r ich heri tage of tradit ional surface irr igation systemswere not supported f inancial ly under the Five Year Plans. Approaches to

water r esource management became cent ra l i zed and sec tora l and hadpractical ly no relevance to the local s i tuation as they envisaged l i t t le orno local par t icipat ion in water resource management . Central ized and

fragmented water resource management severed people`s connect ionwith t radi t ional , communi ty based, sus tainable use of water leading to


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dema nd outs t r ipping su pply, and widen in g the cha sm b etween th e water

"haves" and "have-nots". Interventions became increasingly non -su s taina ble an d iniqui tou s . Water r esource m an agement evolved over th eent i re pos t - independence per iod shows no awareness of rainwater

ha rves t in g meth ods or par t icipatory water man agement .

Th is loss of fai th in centu ries of experien ce of water m an agemen t becam einsti tut ional . In fact when talking about water the consti tut ionessen tial ly sp eak s of only r iver water s a lone a n d n ot of water a s a p ar t of

the ecological system. Riparian or appropriat ion r ights of private part iesfarmers etc. are not secured (unlike in the United States) , s ince govt.r ights are t reated as paramount . Tradi t ional sys tems that have served

for gen era tions a n d ar e st illfu n ctiona l s t ill ha ve l it t le or n o secu ri ty. Th e sou rces of su pply for th esesystems are often diverted to other uses if the irr igation departments so

des i res .For example, t radi t ional water harves t ing s t ructures rebui l t in

Rajas th an by Magsayasy award winn er Rajendra Sinh a`s Tarun Bhara tSangh have been consistently declared i l legal and demolished. This

clearly inhibits local part icipation and private investment in tradit ionalwater man agemen t .

Tradi t ional water harves t ing technology was based on an unders tandingof the constraints and impact of local ecology, geology, topographicalformation and orographic patterns on l ivelihood securi ty. Water was

t reated as a par t of ecology and cul ture and there was a s t rong inter -generation equity concern in technology adopted. Tradit ional systems

have benefi ted from collective human experience since t ime immemorial

and in that l ies thei r bigges t s t rength. The backward and forwardl inkages exis t ing in t radi t ional sys tems ensured s table output and near

full employment. Irr igation l ike in modern t imes formed an importantforward l inkage in the vil lage economy and i ts sustainabil i ty lay in thefact th at s u ch lin kages were not obliterated a n y s tage.

An evalu ation of tra dit iona l water system s will ena ble us to fin d a n swersto problems of inequity, ineff iciency, negative returns and non-

sus tainabi l i ty that current water management techniques have inf l ictedu p o n u s .

This paper will focus on the collective efforts of a Kohali Community ofBhandara dis t r ict of Maharasht ra, to ar res t the f low of water amongstsmal l hi l locks and mountain ranges , to use i t on the plains in this

region. I t deals wi th the numerous tanks found in Bhandara dis t r ict of Maharasht ra and the technical ingenui ty of the Kohal i communi ty whobui l t them almost 400 years ago and s t i l l are the larges t source of

ir r iga t ion in the Bh an dara d is t r ic t . Tha nk s to these t ank s , Bhan dara ha s


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a crop pat tern far super ior to that of the res t of the State and have the

lowest propor t ion of barren and uncul t ivable areas and fal low landstoday.

Re c on na is s a nc e : Bh a nd a r a Di s t r ic t

The entire distr ict of Bhandara fal ls within the drainage of theWainganga r iver and one of i ts principal t r ibutaries, the Bagh.

Topographically this basin is sub-divided into Madhya Wainganga r iverbasin and Nimna Wainganga r iver basin The whole country is rol l ing andopen, at an average elevation of 250 m to 300 m. The higher elevations

are seen towards the nor th-wes t and eas t , wi th a broad cent ra ldepr ession b ein g occu pied by isolated ra n ges of low hills th at r ise to lowh eigh ts a bove the a djoin in g floor-level of th e cou n tr y.

Geographically, Bhandara distr ict l ies between 20 39' and 21 38' northlat i tude a nd 79 27 ' an d 80 42 ' eas t longitu de. Sur roun ded by Balagha t

Dis t r ict of Madhya Pradesh in the nor th, Rajnandgaon Dis t r ict of Madh ya Pradesh in th e eas t , Cha ndr apu r an d Gadchi roli

Dis t r icts in th e south an d Nagpu r Dis t r ict of Mah ara sh t ra in th e west , itis one of the smallest distr icts in the State. With an to area of 9,280 Sq.Km,i t ranks 17th among the 31 dis t r icts of Maharasht ra State in terms

of popu lat ion an d r eceives a n average an nu al rain fal l between 1100 mmt o 1400 mm .

The soil of the district is highly varied, arising out of the tropical sub-hu mid weath er ing of crys tal line m etam orphic an d ign eou s r ocks Most of

the cultivable soils of the district belong to the morand a n d sihartypes,both of which are l ight and sl ightly acidic in nature. The sihar a re

considered to be the best r ice soils of the distr ict while the morand soils

ar e devoted to rab i crops l ike wh eat a n d l in seed, a n d Kh ar if jowar.

In its geological set t ing the d istr ict offers a m ar ked contr as t to th e rest of the State. The rocks underlying the distr ict are quite dissimilar to those,which u n der lie in m ost pates of the Deccan region in Mah ara sh t ra, with

considerable variety in i ts rock formations that mostly belong to thearch aean an d the Dha rwar forma t ions . The ent i re imp ervious arch eain

gensic terrain is therefore very suitable for adopting the tank irr igationtechnology.

The topography of the entire area reveals an east to west orientat ion,

s teadi ly opening out into a broad val ley southwards in the west -centralparts of the distr ict , separated from its t r ibutary valley basin byin tervening hi ll ran ges th at also act as water -par t ings between the lesser

str eam s of th e distr ict with water d ra in in g-off eas ily nat u ra l terra in .


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Im p or t a n c e o f t h e Tra d it iona l Ta nk Irr ig a t ion S y s t e mThe district of Bhandara is often called the "lake district" ofMaharasht ra, which is wel l jus t i f ied by the fact that there are as manya s :

238 large tan ks wi th a s ize of 10 h ectares an d a bove;300 7 tan ks with s ize between 1 0 to 4 hectares ;

753 4 tan ks with s ize between 2 to 4 hectares ;13,289 tan ks with s ize between 1 to 2 hectares ;19,313 tan ks wi th s ize below 1 hectare.

On an average, a s ingle tank i r r igates 10 to 50 acres , though i t var iesvery much from year to year . Tank irr igation is the oldest and the mostimpor tant source of i r r igat ion found throughout the dis t r ict .

Const ruct ion, operat ion and maintenance of these tanks was ent i rely inha n ds of the local farm ers .

Du e to th e presen ce of these ta nk s , in every teh s il of Bha n dar a d is t r ict ,the propor t ion of i r r igated area i s cons iderably higher than the Stateaverages . The impact of t anks i s such tha t today Bhandara has the

largest proport ion of irr igated land in Maharashtra, of which 78% of netir r igated a rea in the d is t r ict depen ds on 4 3,381 tan ks in a ll. Th e dis t r ictproport ions of low value crops are very low and those of the "r icher

"crops l ike r ice, tu r , wheat etc . are m u ch h igher compa red to th e res t of the s tate averages . The net cropped area in the s tate i s greater than thenet sown area in the dis t r ict , s ince a large number of lands are in the

comm an d of t an k areas .

Thu s th e t ra di tional tan k i r r igat ion s ys tem tha t was con ceived an d bu iltin place about 400 years ago with the collect ive effort of the communityclear ly ha d a s t ron g in tergenera t ional equi ty s in ce it plays an imp or tan t

role in su sta in in g the a gricu ltu ra l economy of th e distr ict even toda y. Onthe average there are 8 tanks for every inhabited vil lage. Obviously intra-generat ion equi ty was also an impor tant cr i ter ia around which tank

irr igation technology was buil t and one can clearly infer that tanks arean example of sus tainable development . These tanks that suppor t apopulat ion of today of the Bhandara dis t r ict and have survived a s tep

moth er ly t reatmen t in terms of s tate inves tmen ts a nd genera l neglect aresus tainable in a sense broader than that impl ied by a techno-economicapproach. Even af ter the ins t i tut ional mechanism suppor t ing them has

been weakened, th e tan ks s t i ll per form thei r pr incipal fu nct ions .

T y p e s o f Ta n k s The tanks are of two types: 1) Bandh ( the larger tanks) & 2) Bodi ( the

sma ller t an ks )


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Large tanks have mainly been cons t ructed in the hi l l s of the Gaikhur i

range and the Navegaon and Palasgaon hi l l s . The catchment areas of these ta nk s r an ge from 1 to 40 Sq. Km. It is interes t in g to note tha t theactual bund of Navegaon bandh is only 330 feet in length, buil t between

two hillocks a n d form s a lar ge reservoir of 15 Sq Km .

Sma ll tan ks a re mu ch larger in n u m ber . Th ese are genera lly cons t ru ctedat the slopes, foothills or on the gentle slopes of the valley side, byput t ing an ear then embankment a few meters high at i t s lower end.

Though some of these smal ler tanks fai l to supply water dur ing the hotweather or years of low rainfal l (a large no. of smaller tanks areperenn ial ) they play an im por tan t a nd vital role within Bha nd ara Dis t r ict

.Besides irr igation, these tanks are extensively used for fresh waterfisheries.

The Loc al Traditio nal Acum en

Trad it ional sys tems ha ve an advan tage of being bu ilt -up on th e accru edcollective human experiences which are passed on from one generation

to another .Most of the ta nk s in Bh an dar a Dis t r ict are su rvivin g for the pa s t 25 0 to300 years . They were solely operated, managed, and maintained by the

communi ty. I t i s commendable that such a comprehensive and wel l -in tegrated social m echa n ism at th ree differen t levels viz. Th e Gond Ruler ,The Malguzars and The Kohalis functioned with such eff iciency and has

stood the test of t ime. The system came into existence only due to acollective effort of the rulers as well as the beneficiaries. The vital rolesplayed by them is explain ed in th e followin g para grap h s.

The Gond s The entire Bhandara distr ict fal ls within the boundaries of Deogad,Mandla and Chanda kingdom of the Gond's . The Chanda king was a

powerful chief amongst the Gond kings. King Hirshah, a Gond king of the 16th century , in order to s t r engthen and spread h i s k ingdom,releas ed a "far m an "wh ich s aid,

"A pe rs on w ho clears a pa tch of fores t for colonizing w ill become a

Za m in d a r of th a t a rea a n d a pers on w h o s h a ll con s tru ct a ta n k

w ill be aw arded the land irrigated by su ch tank as a rew ard".

Thus was es tabl ished the local malguzari sys tem, through which thekingdom could generate constant revenue. I t is believed that the Kohaliswere brought to Bhandara f rom Varanas i by one of the Gond kings of Cha nd a to cap ital ize the comm u n it ies kn owledge in bu ildin g tank s . Thu s

the Gond Kings played an important role in laying down the inst i tut ionalfra m ework requ ired to evolve su ch a system .


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T he K o ha l is A sm all cas te of cu lt ivators , the Koh ali ar e foun d in th e Mar ath i sp eak in g

tracts of the Wainganga valley, comprising of Bhandara, Chanda,Gadch iroli and Balagha t dis t r icts of Mah ara sh t ra. It is th e comm u ni ty bytheir endless efforts could overcome the helpless dependency of farmers

on rains . The Kohal i communi ty wi th thei r ingenui ty and hard workcons t ruc ted numerous t anks so tha t they could harves t one as sured

crop r ice or su garcan e, in a year . Su garcan e, a water inten s ive crop wasa favor i te crop as i t was used to make gur (ja ge r r y or r a w s u ga r ), which

form ed a r eally im porta n t nu tr i t iona l su pplemen t to the local diet .

T a nk T e c hno lo g y Members of the Kohal i cas te cons t ructed the tanks as they were the

custodians of the technical and engineering tradit ional knowledge. Theyrespected households who owned maximum number of tanks . Select ionof a s i te for the cons t ruct ion of tanks was the most impor tant aspect of

tank building. This was based on 3 important cr i ter ia while selecting asi te for ta n k b u ilding.

i. There should be suff icient number of s t reams in the catchment

which could be d iver ted toward s th e tan k.

ii. The base rock should have the capaci ty of holding water and i t

shou ld n ot be porous .i i i . And, most cr i t ical ly, the bund should be of smallest possible

length and he ight so as to hold back opt imum amount of water .Th e qu an t ity of water to be impou n ded was also determinedon th e ba sis of lan d availab le for irr igation.

I t is said that Kolu Patel , who buil t the great tank of Navegaon-bandh

selected the si te by observing the level of dust and grass part icles ont rees and surrounding hi l l s . As the area i s bowl shaped water had l i t t lespace to escape dur ing rains . By making such smal l but impor tant

observat ions h e bu ilt a bu n d of su itable height

Bunds were constructed invariably with black cotton soil (Kanak ar m ati)as this soi l i s cons idered to be hard, wi th remarkable water holding

capacity. Only after selecting the most appropriate s i te, a small bund, afew feet in height was f irs t constructed .The subsequent process of

increas ing the bund height would run into several s tages , spread over anumber of year s . The water t r apped in th i s smal l t ank hardened thebund and provided s t rength to the s t ructure, this process also aided indeciding the height to be raised in the consequent years . The eventual

height of the bund was f inalized after careful observation for years andat some p laces , where water pressure on the bund was h igh , the

foundation was made by pitching stones using a mixture of soil , s tones,l ime and jaggary as a binder . The presence of dykes in the area was


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obviously really crucial to the success of the tanks. Smaller tanks were

constructed at the foot of the hills or general slope of the valley, bypu t t in g an ear th en emb an km ent , a few meters h igh a t the lower end. Thehil ls drain off the overflow from the tanks into the r ivers , mainly the

Wainganga and the Bagha. The valley f loor of the Wainganga has

practical ly no tanks because of the very gentle s lopes of the and sincethere is l i t t le scope for bunding and storage in the al luvial soil . I t isimp or tan t to note that th e need for tan ks a rose in th e fir s t place, an d thetan ks flour ished, on accoun t of there being a bsolu tely no grou nd water in

the Bha nda ra d is t r ic t .

Wa t e r Dra w i ng T e c hn i q ue The mechanism of drawing water from the reservoir for irr igation is

called Tudum or Mon ga . Different mechanisms were employed depending

on the s ize of the tank. For a smal l tank or a Bod i a s t r a ight tunnel

across the base of the bund was cons t ructed us ing s tones . A log was

placed at the m outh of this tu nn el an d p las tered with clay. Th is log wasremoved whenever water was required. For medium and large tanks as t r a ight tunnel across the base of the bund was cons t ruc ted us ings tones over which a s tai r (monghad) like s t r u ctur e was con s t ru cted, with

a hole (daccha) in each s tep. The s ize of the tank used to determine the

number of s teps to be cons t ructed. This hole was blocked wi th ei ther a

stone slab or a wooden log and carefully plastered with clay and watercou ld b e dra wn ou t by rem oving th e s tone s lab or the wooden log.

Another method employed was to use a hol low t ree t runk across thebase of the tank that was at tached perpendicular to another hol low t ree

t runk wi th holes at regular dis tance. These holes were plugged us ingwooden logs an d cou ld b e removed to dra w water from th e tan k. But th ismethod requi red fr equent r epa ir s a s th e t r ee tru nk u sed to rot an d very

few "tudum " of this kind are to be found today .The str ingent forest laws

making tree fel l ing diff icult . Hence this technique has now beenimp rovised b y us ing br ick ch an nels .

Every care was taken whi le cons t ruct ing a tank or a canal to preventdamage to the structures due to the force of f lowing water . For thisreason,"Kutans "were constructed adjoining big tanks to minimize the

force of water released from tanks, the "Kutan " were the smallers t ructures cons t ructed wi th a bund of 3 to 4 feet high which wouldar res t the s t ronger cur rent s an d prevent dam age to the pr imary bun d.

Wa t e r C o ll e c t i o n a n d Di v er s i o n C ha nne l s The maximum poss ible amount of water could be harves ted wi th thehelp of water divers ion nul lahs cons t ructed on the minor s t reams in thecatchment , which channeled water f rom the smal les t s t ream into the


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tan k. In cas es wh ere th e in flow of water wou ld exceed th e capa city of th e

tank, one more t ank was cons t ruc ted down s t r eam to t r ap the waterflowing from the Pharas or Pohari .e waste weirs to optimize the available

water . All the was te -wiers tra dit iona lly ha d a gentle s lope over wh ich th e

excess water could flow.

Th e tem ple of Bhura ji d eo is u su al ly foun d on th e tan k bu nd s .Th is God is

bel ieved to protect the bund f rom natural calamit ies and enemies and

evidently the temple of this god is found on bund of Shiregaon bandh.Similarly temple ofBh ivs en is found in most of the vil lages and the

people have a unusual r i tual , wherein dur ing droughts and delay in

m ons oon p eople ap ply cow du n g to th is god. It is b elieved th at th is wou ldan n oy the god an d to get r id of the cow du n g he would order the clou dsto shower upon him. Temples of this God are found on the Navagaon

bandh and Pa r s od is adak t an k .

T he Ma l g uza rs A 'Malguzar'was a person appointed by the King to collect revenue and

look into the overall administrat ion of an area. There was the " 16 Ana

ma lguzari sy stem "In the ent i re Bhandara dis t r ict . In cer tain cases many

forest areas were al lot ted to the people for habitat ion and cult ivationthr ough the agency of an enterpr is ing pers on kn own as `Pat il' (malguzar)

who arranged to colonize villages with families from various places.

Th e malguzarha d to deposit a f ixed am oun t to the king as d ecided by th e

Kin g hims elf. Du ring a n orm al seas on with h igh p rodu ctivity, every bodyi.e the king, the cult ivator and the malguzarwould profi t because of the

surplus . But , in cont ras t , dur ing bad season the malguzarhad t o bea r

the loss . On the face of i t the sys tem sounds discr iminatory butfunctioned eff iciently because the malguzars want ing to ensure tha t

made prof i t s , used to personal ly supervise the cons t ruct ion, bui lding,maintenance and operational act ivi t ies . This minimized the fai lure of

crop, due to water shor tage and could ensure generat ion of minimumreven u e for th e Kin g.

S y s t e m o f Op e r a t i on a n d Ma i n t e n a n c e Damages and the subsequent r epai r s to the t anks , canal s and out l e t s

were the responsibil i ty of the vil lagers and the malguzar, who wouldpersonally supervise the operations. Similarly, distr ibution of water and

conflict resolution was the collective responsibility of a venerable groupof malguzars in the vil lage. Such a committee measured the availabil i ty

of water an d chose the m ost appr opr iate way to dis t r ibu te water an d u seit rat ionally, which was binding on al l the cult ivators . This committee

used to appoint a person called "Pankar". The duty of the "Pankar" wasto release water to the cul t ivators and to ensure that the decis ion taken


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by the commit tee was implemented proper ly. Pankar 's were preferably

lan d less laborer s h avin g no interes t in water for th eir own b enefit . Everycul t ivator u sed to set as ide a sh are in his crop an d pa y pan kar 's in k ind .In case of defau lt he h ad th e r ight to deman d h is sh are from th e farm er .

On the other hand in case of any unjus t favor accorded to any par ty by

the "Pankar" , the commit tee would debar him f rom his pos t and deniedh is r igh ts an d privileges as a Pan ka r. Fu rth er an y pers on foun d gu iltyof dam aging th e can al or tan k was denied his sh are of water for tha t yearor fin ed in cas h or kind i f he h ad al ready us ed h is sh are of water , an d i f

h e fai led to do so, he was den ied h is sh ar e of water n ext year .

Those cul t ivators who worked to cons t ru ct the tan k were pr ovided wa ter

free of cost . The tanks were maintained and repaired by the beneficiarycult ivators whose efforts were in turn co-ordinated by the Malguzars.Thus Services of all sections of the village society were solicited in

maintenance of the tanks and canals . Roles and responsibi l i t ies of

benef iciary farmers regarding repai rs and maintenance were careful lydef ined. The ent i re approach to operat ion and maintenance and

management was par t icipatory and decentral ized. This i s par t icular lyimpor tant in the pos t independence context in India where product ivi tyin agr icul ture and value added by labor i s lower than anywhere in the

world. Lack of farmer part icipation in operation of the main systemcombined with poor O&M at b oth th e ma in system level an d far m level isan im porta n t cau se of low produ ctivity.

In fact , increased farmer par t icipat ion is now looked at as a means to

increase product ivi ty in agr icul ture. Const ruct ion and maintenance of

the system in consultat ion and with full part icipation with beneficiariesalso ensured product ivi ty. The s i l t (pakan) dug out the tank bed was

utilized as fertilizer in the fields. Malguzar used to decide the time for thedesil t ing exercise that would take place once in 3 or 4 years. But anycul t ivator was f ree to dig up s i l t as and when required wi th the

permission of malguzar. Cult ivators working on the tank were al lot tedfree water an d l ands in the comma nd areas of the t an ks in r e turn for thecost of their labor. There is no mention of free water or any kind of

su bs idies a n d a s t r ict O&M sys tem was in place. Obvious ly there seemsto be a fu ll- cost p ricin g of wa ter.

Abolit ion o f Pr op r ie t a r y Rig h t s Ac t 1 9 5 0 With the Br i t i sh rule in India, the Eas t India Company needed to raiserevenue dur ing i t s civi l reforms and int roduced a sys tem where tankmanagement passed into the hands of the Company's revenue off icials

an d a rm y en gineers al l over th e cou n try. Consequ ent ly tan k water , oncea property of vi l lagers now became the property of the government.I r r igat ion s t ructures were des igned, executed. operated and maintained


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entirely by the Irr igation department .Thus part icipation of the

comm u ni ty was n either solicited n or encou raged.

Th e ab olit ion of Proprietary Rights Act was ena cted in 1 95 0 a s a resu lt of

which the propr ietary r ights over the tanks was t ransfer red to the

i r r igat ion depar tment and the Zi l la Par ishads . These governmentdepar tments were ent rus ted wi th the responsibi l i ty of repai rs , andmaintenance of the tanks . These wings of the government machinerywere not equipped to address the maintenance and repai rs of the large

number of tanks exist ing in this region. As a result of which the localpopu lat ion h ad to su ffer .

In the late 60 's the government machinery took up the task of adopt ingmodern techn iques an d r eplaced m ost of the t r adi t iona l local tan ks wi thnew s t ructures to enhance the water holding capaci t ies and improve the

water dis t r ibut ion sys tem. However the new s t ructures ins tal led could

not be maintained regularly. Moreover the local vi l lagers lost thet rad it ional bonds with these s t r u ctur es s ince their pa r t icipa t ion was not

solicited. Prior to the Malguzari Abolition Act the Malguzars used tosupervi se the r epai r s and maintenance of the s t ruc tures and the waterdis t r ibut ion sys tem. Later on, du e to non-exis tence of su ch s u pervisor a t

th e local level the involvemen t of th e local people in th e m ainten an ce an drepair works an d water man agemen t came to an end.

Sus ta in ib il i t y - Why ?

A full incorporation of intra and inter generation equityconcerns -

-An average th ere were 8 tan ks for every in h ab ited village-Bui l t more than 300 years ago , the tanks s t i l l sus tain theagrarian economy of the distr ict , even after the inst i tut ional

mechanism suppor t ing them no longer exis ts ,an burgeoningpopu lat ion an d Sta te neglect

- Contr ibu te to well a bove 88 % of food pr odu ction

Par t icipatory ma na gemen t

-beneficiary part icipation in construction, operation andmaintenance ensur ing product ivi ty( in agr icul ture) andefficient demand management (of water) .The malguzari

sys tem en su red th at crops d id n ot fai l a t leas t on accoun t of ina dequa te su pply of water .-part icipation led to zero dependence on external agencies

for O&M

Since the tanks had s t rong rel igious context maintenance was

ensured and water management gained a cul tural s igni f icance.All sect ion s of th e village actively pa rticipa ted in its u pk eep et c.


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Presence of full-cost pricing of water -i.e all costs ofcons t ruct ion ,operat ion, repai rs and maintenance were paid bythe lan downers u s in g the water u s ing the water .

Ecologically safe an d su sta in ab le-tan ks h ave nea r zero negative im pa ct on th e hydr ological cycle-

as there is very little change in the hydrological cycle onaccount of the presence of these tanks compared to a large

water impounding s t ruc ture which would have andconsequently no negative externali t ies on the environment soilan d th e agrar ian economy.

Community r ights over sources of supply as well as r iparianrights were fully secured. There was no ambiguity over

ownership of impounded water- i t clearly belonged to thecomm u n ity. Th e role of th e king was only tha t of a facilitator

.

Le s s ons t o Le a r n The models and methods of harness ing water have for long formed anideal medium that have bound ethnic groups into a pol i t ical economyrigh t from th e t imes Aryan s firs t set t led in th e Gan getic Basin. They ha ve

served to integrate social, economic, political, cultural, legal andecological stakes to optimize the utilization of the community'sr esources .

The tank sys tem of Bhandara has survived over the centur ies and is anexemplary model of Sustainable Development, put in place, operated and

maintained by the people. This has resul ted in a water resourcemanagement that is relat ively safe, with no negative externali t ies on theecology and other social system, because i t has been evolved within the

cu ltu ra l, social an d en viron m ent al con text of th e local people.

The system also gives us an insight in to how an appropriate , locally

relevant water Management Sys tem governs two impor tant aspects of developm ent: firs t ly, it ens u red th e par t icipa tion of th e comm u n ity in t h eefficient use of water resource; and secondly, implicated the community

to conceptualizat ion, implementation, operational maintenance of alocally relevan t way of m an agin g their n atu ra l resou rces.

Th e Tan k Irr igation System cam e in to existen ce solely based on th e localneed: i .e. frequent fai lure of r ice crop due to undependable rains.

Embankments , medium s ized t anks and smal l bodies were cons t ruc tedpract ical ly everywhere. These tanks cons t i tute an impor tant and vi talsource of irr igation within Bhandara Distr ict . Besides irr igation, these

tanks are also extensively used for fresh water f isheries, which is asource of l ivelihood for f ishermen community residing in that area aswell as a s ou rce of proteins t o the p opu lation res iding in th is r egion.


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Fur ther the t radi t ional sys tems were bui l t us ing the t radi t ionalknowledge and techniques . The exper t i se required to bui l t such tanksand dis t r ibut ion sys tems were avai lable local ly and could handle any

kind of emer gencies imm ediately to minimize the losses.

These tanks were formally maintained and repaired by the beneficiarieswhose efforts were coordinated by the malguzars . Thus services of all

sections of the society living in village were solicited initially in tankbui ld ing and l a ter on in r epai r s and maintenance of the t anks and

can als . The p eople received lan d a n d free water su pply in the comm an dar ea in r ecognition of th eir efforts .

Th e goal of an y developm en tal act ivity is t o serve h u m an kind ; an y effortdirected towards development would not sustain i tself without acomprehensive socio-environmental ly jus t water management sys tem.

The tank sys tem was sus tainable, as the des i red pos tulates werecompat ible wi th increase in demand. In return this sys tem has

in vigorated the agrar ian econ omy of Bha nd ara s in ce it i s bas ed on equ ityand self-sufficiency, is locally relevant and within the carrying capacity ofth e region.

Pr e s e n t S it ua t ion Before the Malguzari Abolition Act were under the control of theseMalguzars. The Majori ty of the agricultural lands were then owned by

Malguzars. But, now with the Land Ceil ing Act, Malguzars have lostprop rietary r ights of tan ks a n d on m ost of th eir a gricu ltu ra l fields .

Sugarcan e u sed to be one of the impor tan t c rops in Bhan dara . Bu t nowbar r ing a few pockets of Bha nd ara nea r Tu ms ar , elsewhere su garca ne isnot harves ted at al l . There are many reasons for the same, the most

impor tant being scarci ty of water dur ing summer . Af ter 1950s thegovernm ent in creased th e length of the can als so th at m ore people cou ldavai l of the water f rom a tank. This natural ly decreased the amount of

water avai lable for each farmer . Thus sugarcane crop no longerrem ained a pr ofitab le proposit ion.

The al ienation of the people in tank building and related activi t iesresul ted in the deter iorat ion of the condi t ion of these tanks throughoutthe dis t r ict . In many places new s t ructures are non-funct ional and

people have resorted to the old tradit ional technique of water harvestingand dis t r ibut ion. At the end of 96-97 the budget for major and mediumirrigation works was to the tune of Rs.3459.98 Crores. Resources to this

tune were not available at any point , for the tanks. Despite this , in last


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few years, people have realized the importance of the old structures and

ha ve s tar ted bu ildin g t radi tional water h arves t ing s t ru ctur es .

In the past , with local management of water , i t was possible to cult ivate

two crops a year , and even water intens ive crops l ike sugarcane. But

af ter the I r r igat ion depar tment took over the management of the tanksaf ter 1955, and even increased s torage capaci ty, farmers faced waterscarci ty for even a s ingle crop on account of mismanagement of waterdis t r ibut ion. Fishin g r ights were taken away from th e farm ers a s th e Zilla

Parishad a n d t h e Paanchyat Samitis, now the legal owners of the tanks

auct ioned away f ishing r ights . No new tanks have come up in recent

t imes wi th communi ty par t icipat ion. Tanks that have come up in recentt imes are buil t by the irr igation department where there was no role for

the local communi ty, which had to pay a cess wi thout any guarantee of as su red water .

Wi nd s o f Cha ng e The wisdom and eff icacy of tradit ional water harvesting systems isapparent , in that there are several pockets in the country wheret radi t ional water harves t ing sys tems exis t . In some areas of

Maharasht ra, Rajas than, and Madhya Pradesh, people s t i l l pract ice theage-old methods of water harvesting, whereas in some places peopleh ave su ccessfu lly at tem pted r evival of su ch age-old tech n iqu es.

In April 1998,a workshop on tradit ional water harvesting systems inMaharasht ra was organised by the NGO, ECONET, Pune and IGRMS,

Bhopal in Bha nd ara , where t r adi t ional water h arves ters from a ll over th ecountry held a dialogue, s tudying and examining water harves t ingtechniques f rom al l over the country and problems faced by such

system s, an d th eir revival . Th e experiences of almost 8 0 odd p ar t icipa n ts( including Magsasay Award winner Rajendra Sinha) and the 10pa rt icipa tin g villages in Bh an da ra were almost u n iform . Most Stat e Govt.

took up the challenge of f inding answer to water scarci ty, but total lyneglected such proven t radi t ional and sus tainable solut ions , as theBhandara tank sys tem which demonstrate the pract ical ut i l i ty of people

ma n aged decen tral ized water ha rves t ing an d dis t r ibu t ion sys tems .

An urgent need to s tudy the present pract ice of water management of modern , pos t malgujari tanks was fel t by al l part icipants . A very

impor tan t conclu s ion tha t came u p as aresul t of this workshop was that autonomy to the Gram Sabha a t t he

village level to decide the affairs of water management including

maintenance, repai rs , dis t r ibut ion and cons t ruct ion of s t ructures ,catchment and dis t r ibut ion associated wi th water harves t ing anddis t r ibut ion was cr it ical to su s taina ble water resou rce ma n agement . Th is


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i s exact ly what the 73rd amendment to the Const i tut ion envisages .

Taking forward this theme of sustainabil i ty through of part icipatorycommuni ty management of tanks , repl icat ion has been at tempted invar ious par ts of the State. Several NGOs in Maharasht ra now see

communi ty par t i c ipa t ion in water management , as an answer to

droughts , and other water scarci ty problems in par t icular andsus tainable water resource management in general . For . e .g. in somepa rts of Yavatm al distr ict of Mah ar as h tra wher e grou n d wat er is severelydepleted, t radi t ional tanks have been used as percolat ion tanks to

recharge ground water , ent i rely through communi ty par t icipat ion, byNGOs with zero con tr ibu tion by th e Sta te to th e effort

Re p lica t ion : Is i t Po s s ib le ? Replication of this technology in other areas of the district will

necess i tate combining this technology wi th modern watershedma n agement techn iques an d pra ct ices , enta iling increas ing u t ilizat ion of

capacit ies already buil t , upon which social costs have already beenincur red .

T h e Aa s h t i S u c c e s s S t o r y Th e village Aas h ti, in t h e Tum sa r tahsil of Bhandara dis t r ict i s a unique

example of communi ty managed tank i r r igat ion on l ines of Bhandaratank s sys tem, in the t ru e sp ir it o f the 73rd am endm ent .

The village ha s 76 t rad it ional tan ks sprea d over an area of 987 h ectares.Ou t of a tota l cu lt ivab le lan d of 52 3.94 h ectar es, 413 .94 h ectar es of lan d

i s i r r iga ted by t anks . Out of 76 t anks , 56 t anks are under the ZillaParishad`s jurisdict ion. Only 20 are privately owned. There are three big

tan ks on th e u pper a rea of the village forming a cha in of tan ks . There a rethr ee su ch ch ains an d al l are conn ected to each other . Water dra wn from

an y tan k ca n go to an y field in th e village. Paddy an d s u garcan e are th etra dit iona l crops grown in t h e village.

After in depen den ce, th e Irr igation Depa rtm ent took over opera tion a n dma inten an ce of the ta n ks , as owners . Th ey t r ied to int r odu cetechn ological cha n ges in th e tan ks . But th is fai led. People were no lon ger

consulted in bringing about technological changes imposed

depa rtm ent ally. At th e t im e of in trodu cin g new tech n ological in pu ts ontank s an d re la ted s t ru c tures th e s t a te ha d n ot given a ny a t t en t ion

toward s th e techn ology an d kn owledge of th e people, which wa s a reasp ecific an d a pp ropr iate for local ma n agemen t. Th is cu t of people from

the ta nk s . Th e tan ks fai led an d n o more were used, du e to ir regular O &M.


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71

After their tryst of with the Irrigation department, the villagers took over

management of the tanks through Water Users Associat ions . People, nomore depen d u pon th e Ir r igat ion Depa r tm ent for O&M, bu t ha ve taken itup themselves. User fees are collected and used for the purpose. This

has ensured them an unin ter rupted , as sured supply of water . The

tradi t ional tank sys tem has given back people thei r ownership over thetanks and enabled them to sus tainably manage thei r i r r igat ionparticipatorily.

Aash t i of cou rse, h as it s s ha re of dispara te polit ical group s a n d th ere arepeoples of different castes and rel igions, but the vil lage is united on theissu e of water an d it s ma na gemen t .

Pa r t ic ip a t ion a n d t h e 7 3 rd Am e nd m e nt A m ajor pr oblem facing In dian agricultu re toda y is low produ ctivity, an dtherefore, increasingly involving farmers in operation of the main

systems would really go a long way towards improving productivi ty of agr icul ture and ef fect ive demand management . Water resourcedevelopment is currently entirely in the hands of the government. In fact

this is one of the biggest bott lenecks to water resource development.Private participation is obviously restricted only to wells, tube wells andprivate lands. The Central Water Commission regulates the choice of

technology for water resource development in the country. Tradit ionalwater harvesting technologies are very important complements to majoran d m ediu m water impoun ding techn ology. Water r esource developmen t

should include not jus t sur face water management , but a combinat ion of rainwater , grou nd water an d soil mois tu re

To ensure successful repl icat ion i t i s necessary that a new ins t i tut ionalmechanism (in place of the Ma lgu z ari system in) that is within the spir i t

of the 73r d am endm ent to the Cons t itu t ion be in s tal led . In th e Bh an dar a

case par t icipatory approach to both cons t ruct ion and O&M, wi thin the

Ma lgu z ari sys tem ensured that the sys tem survived for this long. Since

people were involved in O&M themselves, their dependency on anexternal agency ( l ike the dependence on the irr igation department in

modern day) was negligible.

Replication is now occurring in quite a few parts of Maharashtra,especial ly in and around Bhandara distr ict , in places l ike Yavatmal, oneof the most severely drought hi t distr icts in Maharashtra. Wherever

repl icat ion has occurred, management of tanks i s ent rus ted to a waterusers commit tee, ensur ing al l members have an equal r ight on water .Half of such commit tee members are women, which has ensured gender

considerations are effectively ingrained . Such committees normallyapp oint a ta nk ma na ger , (like the pank ar ) who ensu res tha t cana l water


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72

courses are cleaned, des i l ted, s luices are operated, that water i s

distr ibu ted equ ally an d in t ime to cu lt ivators , tha t pen alt ies a re collected,an d th at th ere is n o wastage. He is general ly a lan dless labour er an d h isapp ointm ent term in ates each year . Area a n d cropping pat tern is decided

by the Water Users Associat ion. Repair work on tanks is carr ied out by

the WUA itself through the irr igation charges and penalt ies . The GramPanchayat ( through the grants in aid i t receives f rom the State, underthe 73rd amendment) should supplement this ef for t f inancial ly throughthe Gram Sabh as . 10 % of Gram Pancha yat fu nds shou ld be kept as ide

for this purpose. Rules and regulat ions laid down by the people forma n agement of the ta nk s h ave received wide recogn it ion, an d a re a p ar tof the generics that Civil Society Organisations or the Government may

try to evolve on the management of tanks . Par t icipat ion has ensuredefficient use of water . Once there is an assurance of receiving propershare of water with an acceptable degree of certainty, most beneficiaries

ar e keen to join th e WUA an d a lso invest in ren ovation, rep airs etc. While

most of the modus operandi is within the framework of the 73rdam endm ent , i t is s t ipu lated tha t i r r igat ion water s hou ld be given to su ch

associat ions that are at vi l lage levels or watershed levels and not toindividuals , on a run and recover bas is . Par t icipat ion has ensured somesor t of secur i ty over supply sources and encouraged the farmer to

actively invest in a technology he understands and ensured effectivedemand management . Supply -demand mismatch so common in case of central ized designs is el iminated result ing in a better performance.

Privatizat ion th u s h as begun at people's level. Th e Sta tes role will ha veto be redefined from that of an absolute provider to that of a facil i tator ,guide, regulator and technical suppor ter wi th emphasis on publ ic

par t icipat ion, openn ess a nd accoun tabi lity.

Re fe re nc e s The Tribes an d Ca sts of th e Cent ral Provinces of Ind ia : R.V.Rus sel & Hiralal

The Distr ict Gazetteer of Bhan dara Distr ict 1978

The Censu s Han dbook of Bhan dara - 1981

Minor Irrigation Manual

Wawar - 1994 -95 (Kohli Sam aj Vikas Man da l)

Dyin g Wisdom : CSE, Delhi

Aajbh i Kha ra Ha i Talab; Anu pa m Mish ra; GPC, Delh i.

Rajasth an Ki Rajat Bu nde; Anu pam Mishra; GPC, Delhi The Imp erial Gazetteer of In dia - Secon d Edition 18 85

Govt of Maharashtra, Report on Agricultural Census - Maharasht ra S ta te , 1990-91Dept of Agriculture Pune,

Chan drapurcha Iit ihas by Shr i A.J .Rajurkar , Maha kal i Prakashan , Chan drapur .

Kohali , Dr Harish cha nd ra Borkar, Aksh ay Praka sh an , Pu ne


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WATERPeoples School Of Energy, Allekod

KERALA

Deepak Malghan

In t rod u ct ion

The primary motivation for studying the different initiatives being led by

People's School of Energy (PSE), Allekod, Kerala comes from fact that an

effor t has been made by the group and the local communi ty there to

si tua te en ergy iss u es in th e context of lar ger s ocial , polit ical processes . An

effort is also being made to understand the myriad l inkages between

energy resources and general ecology of the region. Further motivation

comes from serious endeavors to learn from other s imilar ini t iat ives in

Sou th Asia. Th is cros s-fert ilizat ion of idea s a n d inn ovations in depen den tly

provides one of the focal points for this study; especially given the fact

that one of the key aims of the Seeds program is to facil i tate cross-

fert i l izat ions between seemingly disparate endeavors in different parts of

the coun t ry.

Alm ost a ll of th e ini t iat ives in th is s tu dy a re in very early sta ges to be a bleto conclusively present these ini t iat ives as a model that is replicable in

other pa rts of th e cou n try. However, if on e si tu ates th ese ini t iat ives with in

th e larger context of social polit ical movem en ts in th e region includ in g th e

movement for local level planning and governance, the study presented

h ere is p erha ps wor thy of it s inclu s ion a s a detai led cas e s tu dy.

I will begin with the social, cultural and geographic history of the region as

well as a brief history of People's School of Energy (PSE). Next, I will

discuss the now famous ini t iat ive at Pathampara vil lage that involved the

building of the first completely community owned electric power plant inSouth India. Following a discussion on the Pathampara ini t iat ive, I wil l

discuss in it iat ives by th e grou p in water conservat ion a nd the lau n ching of

a m ovemen t to redistr ibu te excess lan ds to Adivas is in th e region. Fina lly,

I show how these seemingly disparate efforts are part of the larger goal of

the group to unders tand the impor tant l inkages between ecology, equi ty

an d su s taina bi lity.


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For the most par t , I intend to present this case s tudy as a verbat im

tra n scription of m y notes from th e field visi t (Even th e ba ckgroun d h istory

is from severa l in terviews an d tea s h op con versa tion s du ring m y visit to

the area) . A verbatim transcription preserves many of the important

detai ls that are often lost in an at tempt to s implify f ield data to make i tlegible in a received s ch ola rly tra dition .

Brief His t ory of t h e Hi l ly Re gions Arou nd Al lek od

Geographically the region that we are concerned with here is s i tuated in

the hil ly regions of Kannur distr ict in northern Kerala. Allekod is the

comm ercial h u b a n d on e of th e largest vil lages (As in other pa rts of Kerala,

the whole region is one big village - there are no fixed boundaries between

different vi l lages- vi l lage boundaries are in most cases an administrat ive

creation in this part of the country) in this region. The Allekod hilly region

is part of the hil ls that are an extension of the Western Ghats . Allekod isabout f if ty ki lometers from the distr ict headquarters at Kannur

(Cannaonore) and about thir ty ki lometers from Thaliperumba, a

comm ercial town on th e West Coast High way ju st n orth of Kan n u r.

Unti l th e en d of World War-II, th is r egion was very spa rsely popu lated an d

mostly inhabited by Advasis who had l ived among these hil ls for several

centuries. At the end of World War-II , this region was part of the greater

Malabar region that was under direct Bri t ish colonial rule. Southern

Kerala (Travancore) was an independent kingdom, not under direct

colonial administrat ion. During that period, the Travancore region faced asevere economic depression, and the region witnessed several episodes of

distress migration to the Malabar region in general and the Allekod hil ly

region in pa rt icu lar where su rplu s lan d was availab le at th rowaway

prices. A constant stream of people soon followed this first wave of settlers

in the Allekod hill region, migrating to the Allekod region from southern

Kerala. This migration continued into the f irs t ten years of independent

India.

Th is m igration , comp ara ble to the white expa n sion in th e Am erican Wild

West, led t o dra m atic cha n ges in th e ecology an d cu ltu re of th is r egion.Towards the en d of 1950 's , th e set t lers from s outh Kerala h ad ma na ged to

wipe out the original Adivasi inhabitants almost completely from several

hills in the region. The clearing of entire hill slopes of native forest and

replacemen t with planta t ion crops (Arecan u t , Ru bber a n d Coconu t) by the

settlers led to large-scale changes in the ecology of the region. This

ecological cha n ge tha t des troyed th e very bas is of th e origin al in h ab itan ts

existence drove a lot of Adivasis either into extinction or at best into


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Peoples School of Energy

73

marginal existence. In addit ion to set t lers ' clearing of native forest in the

region, the successive state and central governments of independent India

h ave encou raged an d actively prom oted (often u n der differen t economic

welfar e program s) convers ion of forest lan ds in to plan ta tion s h eld by st at e

owned planta t ion corporat ions .

The drying up of s treams and other water bodies as well as frequent

incidents of large-scale soil erosion in the last few decades is directly

l inked to complete disappearance of native forests . With al l the land

available used as plantat ions, this region of Kerala (not unlike several

other parts of the state) imports al l of i ts food grain and vegetable

requirements from outside of the region and often from places as distant

as Bangalore. The l inking of day-to-day subsistence to the cash economy

has driven several people in the region (mainly Adivasis who now work as

contract plantat ion workers) to extremes of desperation. The state

bureaucracy has largely not recognized this ecological basis of theeconomic poverty of a particular section of the society. In the official

circles, th is pa rt of Kera la is s om etimes even lab eled as econ om ica lly

developed as reflected by th e cas h in come of wealth y plant at ion owners .

This brief geographic and ecological history of the region was meant to a

serve as a broad canvas to si tuate the specif ic efforts that have been

taking place here in the past few years. These efforts hope to chart a

future that i s more social ly jus t and ecological ly sus tainable than has

been the history of this region in the last fifty years.

The Cons tr uct ion of 'People 's Power Plan t ' in Pat ha m pa ra

Vil lage

Even the relatively wealthy cash-rich villages in this region lack access to

sta te p rovided in fras tru ctu re l ike r oads a n d electr icity. Th e difficu lt terra in

in the region makes extension of conventional infrastructure to these

vil lages diff icult and in some cases impossible. In some other cases,

' technical considerations ' , of ten a euphemism for the biases of the

centralized, city-elite controlled provision of basic infrastructure services

are ci ted as rea son s for not extending in fra stru ctu re services in th e region.

Thus, a vi l lage l ike Pathampara has been denied access to electr ici ty forseveral decades under the pretext of ' technical considerations ' - in this

case the technical consideration being unacceptable voltage regulat ion as

a r esu lt of exten din g the electricity grid.

In early 1997 two engineers from Allekod, Anil Kumar and Samuel

Thomas founded the People's School of Energy with the objective of

combining research and activism to achieve local control of energy


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resources. Anil Kumar has been directly involved in the struggle against

large dams in the Narmada valley for over ten years. A lot of the initial

inspirat ion for this ini t iat ive came from his experiences with the long

st ru ggle of th e peop le of th e Narm a da valley to reta in local con trol over life

su s ta in ing na tu ra l r esources .

Pathampara i s a vi l lage of hundred and twenty famil ies about ten

kilometers from Allekod. I t is nested among the higher reaches of the

Allekod hill range at an average altitude of over 3500 feet. The population

in the vil lage is predominantly (nearly hundred percent) Roman Catholic

Christian settlers from south Kerala. Almost everybody in the village either

owns a plantat ion farm or works on one. The people in Pathampara are

relatively well off as in other villages in the region. The demographic and

economic profile of Pathampara is very typical for a village in this region.

The homogenous nature of the communi ty has cer tainly played an

important role in helping catalyze interest of the people in establishinglocal contr ol over en ergy an d wa ter resou rces.

In early 1997, the people of Pathampara decided to build a small vi l lage

power plan t with th e h elp of An il an d S am u el of th e Peoples Sch ool of

Energy. Different options for providing electricity to the villages were

considered and i t was found that making use of one of the perennial

st rea m s t o bu ild a pico h ydro plan t wou ld b e m ost cos t effective. An il a n d

Samuel did the ini t ial survey of the s t ream to determine the most

appropriate piece of hardware for the selected si te. I t turned out that the

most cost-effective technology (I will not go into the details of the actualtechn ology ha rdware h ere) option wa s n ot read ily availab le with th em.

While Anil and Samuel were charged with the task of designing the power

plant and gett ing different pieces of equipment in place, the local

commu ni ty s tar ted ra is ing the ca pital required for the con s t ru ct ion of th e

power plant. The estimated cost of the 4.5 kW (Kilo Watt) power plant,

designed to supply electr ici ty to about eighty homes as well as for s treet

l ight ing was about two hundred and seventy f ive thousand rupees (Re

2.75 lakh). Each family that was to benefi t from the project contr ibuted

between two thousand and four thousand rupees and the ent i r e amountwas collected within three months.

Meanwhile, the search for appropriate hardware for the project proved to

be rather difficult. The multi million dollar UNDP-GEF (United Nation

Development Program - Global Environment Facil i ty) sponsored program

to develop micro hydro competency in the country was of l i t t le help. The

dedicated research center established at the Universi ty of Roorkee (The


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Peoples School of Energy

75

Alternate Hydro Energy Center) was not able to provide technical

ass is tance to Ani l and Samuel . Frus t rated, Ani l and Samuel decided to

visi t Nepal where several micro hydro schemes on the l ines of that

envisaged at Pathampara have been bui l t . They were hoping to learn

directly from the experiences of communit ies and organizations in Nepal .

After a month long tr ip to Nepal , Anil and Samuel came back with theknow how to confidently manufacture the required hardware locally.

During their s tay in Nepal , they visi ted several workshops manufacturing

micro hydro equipment as wel l as a number of communi t ies that have

su ccessfu lly in sta lled m icro hydro system s.

Within two mon th s a fter An il an d S am u el got ba ck t o Allekod , th e Peoples

Power Plan t at Path am pa ra was r ead y for comm iss ioning. Th e ben eficiary

fam ilies p rovided al l th e labor for th e cons tru ction of th e power plan t . Th e

power plant was inaugurated on Chr is tmas day of 1997. A local youth

form the vil lage was trained to look after the day to day operation andmaintenance of the power p lant and the p lant has been running wi thout

any major problems in the nearly three years of i ts operation. When I

visi ted the power plant in September of 2000, i t was providing electr ici ty

for l ighting and communication (Television in some households) to about

eighty fam ilies in ad dit ion to lighting up th e chu rch a n d th e ma in street in

the village. The several families that I spoke to were generally very happy

with the reliability of their local power source. On several conventional

technical-economic parameters l ike cost per kW (kilowatt) , the

Patham para power p lan t r an ks a mong the bes t an ywhere. It is am ong the

m ost cost-effective m icro h ydro plan ts in th is p ower ra n ge.

Be y ond (a nd Beh ind ) t h e Pa t h a m p a ra Pow er Pl a n t

While the Pathampara power plant i s a note wor thy technical

ach ievemen t, for th e pu rposes of th e Seeds of Hope, wha t is even m ore

important is how this technical ini t iat ive f i ts into the broader cultural ,

poli t ical ecological and economic landscape. Pathampara power plant has

inspired several other communit ies in India to look afresh into the mostly

city biased na tu re of in fras t ru cture developmen t in th is cou n try.

At the t ime the power plant was cons t ructed, nat ional and s tate lawsexplicitly prohibited generation and distribution of electricity by non-state

agencies. During the construction of the power plant , the state electr ici ty

boar d tr ied to p reven t work on t h e ba sis th at th e cons tru ction was illegal.

The construction resumed only after a weeklong non-violent poli t ical

action by the people of the vil lage. The state was hard pressed to explain

th e illegalit ies in volved wh en th is comm u n ity h ad been den ied a ccess to

basic infrastructure facil i t ies af ter more than four decades of repeated


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promises . Whi le there were chan ges ta king place in the en t ire coun try that

would allow private generation and distribution of electricity, the new laws

were geared more towards facilitating private production of electricity on a

large scale and in an urban set t ing. For a communi ty l ike Pathampara,

legal gener a tion an d dist ribu tion of electricity contin u ed to pr esen t

significant difficulties even under the new laws. The political action bypeople of Patha mp ara as well as pains ta king research an d a dvocacy by the

Peoples S chool of En ergy h as h ad a direct a n d d ecisive in flu ence on th e

new guidelines for rural infrastructure development within the framework

of the decentral ized plan ning process b eing exper imen ted th roughou t th e

st at e of Kera la .

The Pathampara power plant has had inf luence beyond i t s immediate

surrounding commu

1 Water Women

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