SOCIO-ECONOMIC and ECOLOGICAL Conbeqiences OP WATER CONTROL PROJECTS

Working Paper No.87

SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL CONbEQIENCES OP WATER CONTROL PROJECTS. TliE CASE OP KUTTANAL in KERALA (INDIA)

K. P. Kannan

Centre for Levelopment Studies Ullcor, Trivandrum 695011

March 1979

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inhabited and pulation their to mental the and lation impact to exclusionin intensely groups,effects, iactors that seriously and on versely region.the which execution particularly and of exploited some lives adverse the > Problems the constitutedaffected. impoverished therefore, among broaderPreoccupation of institutional of ground, and v/aterlogged misplaced the different which the the nomic mostly economic, interests Surprisingly, projects, projects,the weaker however, The to and and ought have have unforeseen. v;ith sections emphasiscontention sole others constiaints, region become political set»tions, to seejn social teclinical population. spared the been preoccupation the do have though in as projects were sadly not even to of adverse and Kerala had even of received the increasingly power appear appearSeveral have 79 not the less in environaspects a this missed total Kuttanad, the po villagespopulation were toclmical given the average effects of accidental paper to of sericusly,t«have for dominant the utmost social formu area, or the to intended be rise paddy restive drained in dominant is relegated beyond designers, severe elevation a of been koil), low attention efficiency approximatelythe of the but that interest ad west crop. I.46 lying to doubt. Vembanad flooding Kottayani as projects born such by serve.interest and monsoonwith the to foiir of million of The area group out omissionthe seem man-made a one other lake dischargerivers duringarea 504 and do Paradoxically,of back period metre extending group people who, not the sq.km,the sections and below and canals. (I'ieenachil, alone. both above Alleppey of seem whose eco the of in sea are over late, the I971 to various 1,89,000 sea of level About monsoon garden 874 the districts.distributed have Pamba, level, water is sq. 80 cusecs lands iêriodsannua-lly km., sq. Manimala presently courses with km, d\iring Of over by the comprises subjected an and including the water used southAchen- the rivers Kuttanad is a densely populated area with 1,128 persons per sq.km. against the average of 549 fo^ Kerala o-nd _82^ for India in I97I0 However, the area available for human settlement being-very small - the garden lands accoant:Lng only for about 55 per cent of the total area - the efiecoive density of population is much higher^ Ke:jly 40 per cent o.:. the labour f-orce, which forms about 28 per cent of the, total population, consists of agricultural labourers. Kutt-onad has one of the highest rates of literacy in the State, 72 pe-^ comp^r to 60 per cent for Kerala. The people have a remarkable de gree of social and political consciousness and Kuttanad had witnessed several radical political struggles m.rhe presen.- century. Political and trade union organisation of the agrr- qtarted in Kiittacad? :.The ,h:.gh cultural labourers was fust , j.. • T A T^niitiral level of social and polxticar consciousness,cux ^ which enabled-one^ poor to organise andA secureoor.iTrp many trade union rights, 3.s noj, ■, o -u -iTTi-nressive measure however matched by any rmp of eccnomic progress,^ -iri the area even as early as the The high density of popuj.ation . , „ •w^XI -fVip moderate beginning of the century and the mod.er.re to hign'raoes 01 ^ growth during the ensuing period, '-•ondit"!-on.i o-cs of near--s i-agnaT.ron in the non-agrrculturar•oiiltural sectorsoo and the âbsence o± .any-. oasrci n institutional changesu 0 for ameideratingame-.-o o the economrc baclvwardxiess of «« poor reîn the najor fea^nês of he eoohon. of .lie- region. This is the haohgrcuno against ,wh.oh we exîne the i. act Of the îor water- conti-oi -■ irrai projects develoT-mer.n., implemented A summaryin Kuttanad of a^ of population -n Kuttarrxd by sex,

. occupational status is given in Table 1. ! literacy and o..iCupo. B

Efforts to develop Kuttanad as a rice growing area began idfi f than a cent.n:y ago. Since the flood waters carry a large

volumee ofo fertile^ silt,effectively it was recognised regulated, oulte much early of thetlxat low- if : r the flood waters lying d could be used to grow flooda rich control rice crop. work wereIn thelargely early- phases, reclama - Table 1 : Distribution of population In Kuttanad region by sex, llteraoy and o«upation (figures in 'OOJe)

Area(in Population Literate "^7~Z ~~ 0(50 - _ _ Agri- Pisn- Mamrfao-

Se's) io~aT"T;iT~;^I kers. 3aboii"-ttll SfAstock & non- ces workers''on- — rerso etoo householi) 143.15 1456.43 723.02 733.41 1037.53 546.52 491.01 414.16 65.26 166.73 17.85 55.57 IO8.74 I042.27

(100) (16) (40) (4) (14) (26)

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Source; Census 1971, Series-9| Kerala, Mstrj^Census Kandbj3oki_All_e2£e^cmd Kottayan, I973.

square brackets indicate the percentage of workers and non-workers out of xne total population. undertaien at the Initiative of private laimers though with the active assistance of the Ste.teM Though the area so reclaimed , steadily increased, almost all of it was used to grow only one crop of paddy a year. In the 1930's, faced with severe shortage of rice, the then Government ofTravanccrd e^tored the possrhi- lities of ralslng't^jrTrops of paddy in the reclaimed lands. The studies made then identified thej^peedyjglnage of the floods during the ncrtlseasl. monsoon season and the prevention of saline water Incursion during the summer months Into the Vem- han^ iSe'Ts the pre";^5«Ws for Intensifying paddy cultrva- tion in the region. The project however was given concrete shape only some two decades later and consisted of (a) a Spillway_at Thottappally (henceforth referred to as the Spillway) which was eventually commissioned in 1955, meantJojrain off flood wa ers, (b) a Regulator at Thanneemmuldcom (henceforth referred to as e j'Regulator)•-i \ meantj. toX checklooonir thetVip inxrusiin'trusio^ saline waieDj and., ^vill a 4P • km long linkn . 1 road^ TiPtueenbetween iixo.Alleppey ,> and Changanacherry The ^ latter two projects have had a rather chepuered oonstruotion of the Regulator started in 1956 ^ complete stage when it was commissioned by the en o 974- - Alleppey-ChanganacheiryIn -r^v road also remains^ incomplete mainly due to the non-completion of 5 connecting bridges. As we shall see later the Spillway failed to discharge the designed ra ,e of • 64,000tho cusecs food thereby level inproving Kuttanad, to be thanfar less effective in keeping down bnc had been expected.d. ,4 Ac, for the ,^,^eotedReguJlator, adversewxthin four effects, ^c-ars bothoi its commissions^. j^pnlation of the region, have on farming an which are believed to be come to surface. vear, are broadly as follows; gradually intensifyl-S year after y . ,(a), a sharp decline^ inyembanad the catch laho of along shrimps with and the fish in- brought ih cursion of san waters mixed seasonally with fresh water in the lake? (h) a phenomjnal growth in a particv lar type of acqtiatiu weed, locally known as African Payal-^ with serious adverse effects on the cultiva tion oi paadj^, ana oiaiispv^x tation and fishingj

and (o) the pollution of fresh water in the lake and other water courses In the Kuttanad area caused by the African Payal, and the interruption of the natural ebb and flow of tidal water into and from the water body with adverse effects on" the health of the population in the region. Section II deals at some length with the divergence bet ween the actual and expected effects ofthe development projects in Kuttanad as well as the reasons therefor. Problems in rais ing the paddy crop, the development of which was the sole aim of projects so far Implemented in Kuttanad, are also dealt with in this section. In Section III ve examine the problems faced by the fishermen who have been most adversely affected by the ope ration of the Eegul.tor whiA was intended .or the control of saline water incursion li.cu •tl.u region. A brief account of the problems of persons engaged in other occupations In Kuttanad is also given nere. 'faa probremb .uia. ceme up in the, course of implementation ofa recent project for laid development are Moussed in Section W. m Seotlon V, we look into some of. e important problems which should have been accorded high priority but were so far neglected (iJJce the problems of agri- « engineering and public health;. few concluding ob servations are presented in the last section. II

Imuact of development pro,iectss Rpillway at Thottappall£.

The search for a permanent solution to the problem of floods in Kuttanad started as early as 1934 by the then Govern ment of Travancore. In 1957, two Italian engineers comissioned by the Government suggested the cutting open of a flood-way clian- nel from the Vembanad lake, at Aryad just north of Alleppey, to the sea. Two years later, another suggestion to cut open o. spillway channel intoI thej_i sea atr~+ Thottappaixymvin+ta'Doallv aabout 20 kms. south of^ Alleppey was made^ -hirby anQ-n ExecumYPcutive Envineer of the Government, The latter suggestion, though anrreuted P W the Government, was not taken up till 1951* When woxk on the construction of the Spillway, with a length of 368 metres, was startedc+oT+Pri in 1951,i:^:? , the estimated^ cost of constiuction was Rs.57Ro ^7 la^nlakhs. The Spillway was commissioned in

1955.

The Spillway is•o reporTop-nnrted to have bean designed^ , after• +v, de- VitrHrrlogical studies to detemine the ex- tailed nyhvdrographic e, and hydro g existing. .. water4. tent of maximum ^ ^ ^ c.: auirc-ments of the Spillway channel to ways and the anticipaieu -nO - ^ be construct4. o+pr^ . The maximum discxiaxt,'^all of which empty into rivers ^ estimated to be about 1.99.00C the lowe^reache Of cusecs during h T,;ould escape into the Kaynmkulam these, 5,000 cusecs ^^xong the Quilon-Alleppey rocbd which lake through the opening „orden lands in Kuttanad area. >' lllW' is on a general1 1 evel with tne,,r,« gctx designed to discharge 64,000 The Spillway 0+at ThottappallyJ-J: realised, was ae wouldb have meant a speedier cusecs of water which, ^/ithin Kuttanad and, consequently, subsidence m•vc th+Vip flood levels 8

facilitated early cultivation.

When the Spillv/ay was coimnissioned in 1955, it was noticed that it could not discharge more than one-third (i.e., 20,000 cusecs) of the designed capacity. As a resxilt, the construction of the Spillway has not made any perceptible im provement in the control of floods in Kuttanad. A-number of factors seem to have contributed to the failure of the Spill way to reach the original target of flood discharge.

While designing the Spillway the problem of ''piling up of water" due to the raising of the sea level during the mon soon and the consequent foianation of a sand bar on the sea-ward side of the Spillway was not, it would appear, taken into account. The present position is such that before the monsoon assumes full fury the sand bar has to be cut open on a suffi ciently wide length before the Spillway is opened to let the flood waters drain into the sea? otherwise the sea water will find its way into the channel through the Spillway and reverse the flow of flood waters!

It has also been observed that the variations in the water level as well as the direction of the flow of water wi thin Kuttanad region during the different montlis of the years and especially during the monsoon, do not seem to have been studied in sufficient detail before deciding the.location of the Spillway. Doubts have therefore been raised whether the present location of the Spillway is the right one at all.

A much more serious factor seems to have been the de viations from the original specifications effected in the con- ion of the 1,311 metre long and 368 metre wide approach hannel to the Spillway. The present width of the channel is considerably than the original design specification due mainly to difficulties in the acquisition of land for the purpose• It has "become very difficult now to initiate corrective measures to increase "the rate of discharge of water. Not only that su"bstantial additional investments are neededi the Cochin Port Authorities also fear that if more flood waters were to be let out through the Spillway, the problem of siltation in the channels ofthe Cochin Port will be greatly aggravated.

Regulator at Thanneermukkom.

The problem of salt water incursion from the sea into Kuttanad during summer was sought to be solved by constructing a salt water barrier, 1,402 metre long and located at Thanneer- mukkom, about 22.5 km north of Alleppey. The Regulator is con structed across the lake at the point where the width of the lake narrows down to the minimum. The construction of this Regulator took an inordinately long time. The work had been . ^ started in 1955 and by 1975 only two-thirds of the construction was complete, ^lie remaining one-third was temporarily bunded with sand, clay, etc. by mobilizing local labour. Though in complete, the Regulator was commissioned by the end of 1974• Towards the end of December each year when the saline water in cursion into Vembanad lake begins, the shutters in the Regula tor are lowered and remain closed till the end of May when the pre—monsoon shov/ers reverse the flow.

The combined effect of the Spillway and the Regulator wae expected to increase the area under double crop paddy by enabling (a) the date of sowing of the first crop to be ad- vanoed in areas subject to north-ea t monsoon floods, and (b) the raising of a second (summer) crop by preventing the incur sion of saline water in the suim..er months, and using the fresh water in the Kuttanad water body for Irrigation. The cultiva tion was found to require raising and strengthening of bunds so as to Withstand the north-east monsoon floods. Whether this was due to the failure of the Spillway to reach its designed 10

dischargem cajacity w or whether it could have been found necessary even if the Spillway were successful is not clear. In any event, such a predicament was clearly not anticipated in the original project concept. It was proposed only in 1971 when a separate project for this purpose was prepared by the Government of Kere,la and entrusted to the Kerala Land Development Corporation, spe- cially created for this purpose#

InipaQt of the ReCTilator

Implicit in the design and location of the Regulator seems to have been an assumption that the entire Kuttanad area was affected by the salinity problem more or less uniformlyj at any rate, that variations in its intensity between differ ent parts of the region were not significant. OMs is clearly not in accord with facts. Ihe Kuttanad ■ area is marked by wide variations not only in soil and topographic conditions and the incidence of flooding, but also in the intensity of salinity durmg summer months. The area can be divided into eight sub divisions based on the above criteria, these can be further grouped into three broad categories representing distinct soil- topography-water conditions. They are (a) the Kayal lands, (b) the Kari lands, and (c) the Karappadam lands.

' These lands, covering approximately 8,100 hectares, were reclaimed in the southern most part of the Vembanad lake. The salinity problem affects this part of Kutta- md towards February by which time the traditional single crop paddy would have been harvested. Prevention of. saline water ly shoxild help this area to raise a second crop during summej*. (b) The Kari lands; These about are swampy areas, 6,100 hectares, v/ith totalling tion black peaty soil(with of oarbonatious wood) a high propor land areas and high acidity. s one in the northern There are two Kari and the other (Thura;voor and Vaikom-Vadayar) in the southern (Puracad) (See table 2). The extremities of Kuttanad Kari lands are not are beyond the range only of poor quality of influence of the but of saline water incursion Rcrgulator. Prevention clearly should a second crop help this during summer. area to raise

Table 2 s Distribution of Kari lands

The kari lands Hectares (approx.) 1. (a) Vaikom-Vadayar area 2,025 (b) Thuravoor area 2,025 2. Puracad area 2,025 since the Vaikom-Vadayar Thanneermukkom ■n and Thuravoor areas Regulator, the Regulator does lie north of cursion• not prevent ofr ..linesaline water into the in- them. In these areas, tidal bunds have temporaryxu to be put up, as in + ^ courses from the Vembanad the past, across the water n"I otLr lake during the dry hand, saline water from the season every year. reach Puracad Salinity incursionVembar^d lake takes placedoes not through the which is here As am across checked by a lock at inrThrikkunnathupuzha the Trivandrum-Shoranur , , ^across canal, about 10 As mentionedv earlier,. km from Kayamkulam. . thexv, soil is As hence raxsrng of lnferlor^-1 a second crop was ,,,^,ratlve at reported to the current (1977-78) level of price for paddy.

/ \ mjce KarapP'^'^"^ These comparatively Ian shallow lands ^ ToW^^r^tions' ^ coming under and covering B!.! ; ! ger area {AO 500 widely a much lar- hectares) are a distributed among 12

different parts of Kuttanad (see Table 3)„ The upper portion of the area lies 0.5 to 1.0 m. and the lower portion 1.0 to 2.3 a, below mean sea level.

Table 3 5 Distribution of Karappadoin lands.

The Kar?.ppadam lands Hectares (Approx.)

lo North Kuttanad 10,120 2. Central Kuttanad 10,120 3* Kuttanad Proper 10,120 4. Upper Kuttanad 12,145 North Kuttanad, being an area adjacent to Thanneermukkom, ^ used to be affected by the incursion of saline water during sm^- mer. Such incursion ha,d been checked even before the Regulator was coinrnissioned, by putting up temporary tidal bunds across canals and rivers. These bunds used to be opened up as soon as the harvesting was over, without waiting for the onset of the monsoon. The advantage of this method is that the salinity pro blem was effectively checked during the critical period of oaddy cultivation without adversely affecting the other occupations (notably fishing). The commissioning of the Re^ator has ob weviated shall the see need later, for itannual has createdbiuiding othea^roblems.during the dry season but as In the remaining areas of Upper ind Central Kuttanad, salinity was never the primary impediment to double cropping be cause It reached these areas only in April by which time har vesting of summer paddy would have already been completed. Even m those nertc. rif* ^ ^ P r s 01 the area experiencing salinity, the saline con tent was so little +>1Q+ •: + ^ major constraint. The more important problem of this ^:rpn -if .+ • , area, ii at all, is one of controlling floods. - .ira— 1 ■ x-r^^=-.w— •.-- liiHM —— ' ' . ' " K.H : - n

XT. X +Vics 'hpnpfi't fioQ "ths RegulcL"bo3r It would therefore seem that the hene faollltatli^ a second crop of paddy has been oonflnad naa^ to the 8,100 hectares of Kayal, lehds cM 10,120 hectares ofJorth Kuttanad, even though little is known ahout the ex en o w this has heen realised in fact. The remaining areas notsignificantly affected at because all hy thethe problemRegulatory of salineor the water e eo wa. , X •^+ +n n-^ddy cultivation in the areas, iims not a critical constraint to pc-duy . XV, that a significant portion oi tne view is supported by the fac Kuttanad area had switched over to ^ /' 1968-69strengthening when the the Eegnlator "'^^^"^^rprowlmrinvolved was not ready oi ope^ in the cultiva-^ second crop inspite o paddy were high, tion of the second crop. double»oroppiiig was profitable. ■ Detailed coS to verifyunderstand the above that impressions until 1975. could not, ^®^°^"3,^Pdeiently high and rising, the area j i - when the pad y P ,+ ..•! wps steadily increasing, and even uMer second crop in Ku increased spreading to the ^ông other things, the high ^ cost of cultivation (ar combined \ incidence of pests, anc ^ ^.norted to have considerably • TD2?X0©S j XS with a decline m pan ,, . declirê in the area \ reduced the profitability o ,' nargiral (kari) lands, nndex the second orop, P^^tic in the incidence of pests and the fall While the increaee ^jmn the commissioning in paddy price are aue to a ^ îy responsible for the V (I'-'''* +hp latter v;as axx of the Eegulator, tne African Payal. The absence extraordinarily fapW since 1974 has provided of saline water incursion a African excellent ocnditicns - prevents its reappear- Payal since saline water it 1^1 I i. i anOG to a considerable Eegulator has also , . xvie cultivation created m th 14 given rise to a numten of other problems like obstruction of transportation and fishing, breeding of mosquitoes and pollu tion of water. It was during the early 'sixties that the spread of the African Payal became a serious problem.

Several ways of removing the weed have been under consi deration." Chemical destruction, though possible, might lead to adverse effects on aquatic life, plant erops and water and hence it is not recommended. Biological destruction by intro ducing certain parasites were also thought of; but its reper cussions are however not known. Ihe current practice is to Physically remove the African Payal froii the paddy fields, but hot from water courses or lakes. On the contrary, the weeds are pushed In certain areas into the water courses from the paddy fields.

Thus the only feasible solution seems at present to be to physically remove them by m.bilising la^brur. This would certainly involve financial cost and ways of mobilising and sharing the cost will have to be found out. In places where the growth of the weed is hi^y dense; transport by country boats has become practically impossible. Boats are pulled out from the weed traps with the help motor boats. In such areas, country boatmen and fishermen are the worst hit in the circumstances. The formation by the weed of a thick velvet-like sheet on the entire water surface prevents Bun light from reaching the bottom of the water body and av- versely affects the utilisation of the nutrients for the growth o aquatic life, ^he growth .f the African Payal, coupled with e stagnation of the water body, had provided an environment Mghly suitable for the breeding of mosquitos on a larger scale than before.

ssibilities of utilising the weed as raw material for todustrialpurpcsec of ac organic fertilizer are rather remote, li

the laoisture content of the weed is over 90 tent and the oell- lilose content is only 2 per cent? the KPK content is less than 2 per cent and so it can hardly he used as a fertilizer.

In short the spread ^f African Payal has affected almost every aspect of life of all the sections of people in KuttAnad.

Alleupey - Changanacherry road.

The third project sponsored hy the Government'is the con struction of the Alleppey-Changanacherry road. Kuttanad is criss crossed with innumerahle na'bural and artificial water—ways giv ing access to eveiy part of the region through country heats and motorised hoats, hoth hig and small. Apart from the advantage of accessihility, the water traasport system is also cheap. How ever the system has the disadvantage of lack of speed. Road transport was thought to he the -quicker and hence the m^effi- cient. Therefore, a project for the construction of a long road running East-West linking two major towns, Alleppey and Ghanganacherry, was started in the early 'fifties. The project still remains incomplete on account of certain difficulties particularly the higti cost of building bridges at three places. For the present, ferry services are provided in these three places. This 12 metre wide road constructed above the flood level acts as a harrier to the free movement of flood waters from the Upper Kuttanad, an area worst affected hy floods. Con struction of this road seems to t^ve aggravated the flood pro blems in the part of.the region lying south of the road. .

Ill

Impact of the Proje^t^^ on wishing Oacunations

Kuttanad has a water4-qt •hadvbody wiinwith an abundance of nutrients, 16

receives strong sunlight whibh reaches a few metres below the water surface*" and has a temperature conducive to plentiful pro- ductxon of water-borne fauna. However, no detailed accoxint is available of the faima of this region except of the fish spe cies. It is likely that the lake bed may have a variety of very rich fauna. Accordii^g to a study conducted in 1948, the water body in Kuttanad has 52 fish speeies and to this should now be added Tllapia mossambi^, an introduced species which has established itself in this natural habitat. Some of the species identified earlier have by now become scarce or com pletely extinct in this area owing to the lowering of salinity and the thick growth of African Payal.-^

The population- of the giant fresh water-prawn and the' frog have declined during the last decade owing to excessive and indiscriminate exploitation. The giant prawn breeds in the brackish waters| changes in the salinity conditions of ihe breeding grounds are likely to have adversely affected their life cycles. ' , <

the past, frogs constituted a very abundant resource of Kuttanad. Since frog legs have a very attractive export niaiket, frog catching during monsoon has become^a highly pro fitable business in this area? this activity leads to the rapid depletion of frogs. An increase in the frcg population is considered by the farmers to be an effective check on the multiplication of the brown hopper, a species of pest which does serious damage to the paddy crop. In fact, some persons even hold the view that there exists an inverse relation bet ween the brown hopper and the frog population .

The estuaries and the backwater systems of the Kerala coast are the nurseries of several species of marine shrimps. During the early stages of their life, prawns enter the back waters and grow in them for about six months by feeding on the detritus. Shriipps are caught when they return to the.:sea. - r

•I'ne construction of the Regulator has severely reduced the back water area available for the pravms to spend their larval and growing stages of life.

Only very fevf among the 35 species ot fish identified in this area constitute important fisheries. Those species of fish which sh^w a marked preference for brackish water environment (such as ^ubasis„d^, Cerres„,s^.) have suffered a total or par^ tial decline owing to changes in the water conditions. With the change in the environment including the prevention of the inflow of saline water into the backwaters, the population of the im portant species of shrimps and other fishes is particularly ex terminated and the growth and distribution cf some other species generally restricted.

Estimates cf the quantity of fish obtained from the Vem- banad lake are not available for recent years. The Vembanad lake is the largest of the Kerala backwaters with a length of 96.5 laa extending over an area of 256 sq. km. It has a depth of 2 to 5 metres and tlie tidal influence is comparatively less. According to one estimate, the fish landings from Vembanad lake was 1,252 tons in I965, of which the Chinese net contributed 5I8 tons, stake net 695 tons and Boat seine 38 tons. The com position of fish caught from the backwaters lias been found to be as followss

Prawns 60-70 per cent Mullets 11 per cent Pearl spot 10 per cent Cat fish 9 per cent Others 1 per cent

For the entire Kerala backwaters the composition of the local catoh in 1970 was 14,000 to 17,000 tons of fish, 88,000 tons of clams and 1,70,000 tons of molluscan shells.

The fishing commTinity is perhaps tne major group whose 18

« • interests and livelihood seldom received any attention in all the developmental woik carried out in Kuttanad. Thoie are 46 fish ing villages but no reliable estimates are available on the number of persons engaged in fishingi it is believed, however, that \ their number may come to 20,000. It is reasonable to estimate that during the summer mouths, the average daily catch of shrimp from the Kuttanad area was 5 tons, which is valued at Rs.50,000/—o The shrimp fishery has failed completely since the commissioning of the Regulator. Since fishing has been adversely affected, the economic condition of the fishing commvuiity has become miserable. The prevention of the flow of sea water into the lake dxiring sum mer has led to the decline or disappearance of several fish spe cies that grow'in saline water. Various studies conducted have suggested that the growth of fish popidation in the backwaters depend very much on a number of environmental feat\ares such as temperature, salifiity, dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, etc., which are greatly influenced by the tidal rhythm. Absence of flow of water, in and out of the backwaters, leads to changes in the environmental^ features v/hich affect adversely the production of plankton and organic matter which form the food of various spe cies of fish. Decline in the catch of fish has resxilted in lack of, employment for the fishermen and their oonsequebt im poverishment, particularly because no alte-Tuative employment opportunities exist for then. During the period when the Regu lator is not closed, the growth of African Payal causes consi derable difficulty for fishingj the nets get damaged and transportation in country boats becomes difficult and often dangerous. The Regulator caused decline df the shrimp fisher ies even in areas outside the direct influence of the Regula tor. The failure in this region is dxie to the stagnant water which prevent the operation of the stake nets.

Other occupations

Apart from cultivation of paddy and fishing, there are th27e^m©re important occupations in Kuttanad; lime-shell 19

collection from the Vembanad la'ce, toddy-tapping, and retting ' and defibring of ooconut huske^ to cater to the raw material . requirement of coir industry. The last two occupations are based on the cxiltivation of coconut.

(^) Line-shell oollectlons The fishing resources of the """embanad lake in Kuttanad also include what are called molluscs - (lime-shells). The living and the dead remains of species known as Ostrea, Velorita, and Meretrix supp. are the most

abundant resources in the Kuttanad area. The sub—soil deposits .'i !l'

Usually lime-shells are collected during September to May, i.e., except during the south-west monsoon season. The annual output, estimated in 1970, is reckoned to be 1,70,000 tons.

The mo.llusc shells which provide lime, breed in saline water and the annual incursion of saline water provides the enrironment suitable for the reproduction of these molluscs. Stagnation of water duo to closure of the Regulator and, the consequent decline in salinity, prevent the settling and growth Of these shells. Itough lire uhell collection is largely car ried out manually by persons going out ml the lake m coun- i try boats, the method of lime si ell. oClleotion on a large scale by dredging is also being used by the two state-owned compani.es, . , m^r,-,Tanrnre Blectro-ohemical Industrie®. Travancore Cements, and Travancore iff'i Such dredging operations prevent the growth of mollusc shells i ill'?. because the sludge released while washing the shells is depc- C.O This method of lime shell collection sited in the same area. This mewiu ^ »¥ I a -Tpnewable resource into a II:: is a typical case of converting a renewao W:V J^n-renewable one. Themi, ff>«.Hhilitv of usingt -n-. the it dredgethrough spoil long SlK iorr, reclamation of suitable-i. areasoreas byy releasing it tnrougn xong 20

^rubber pipes merits consideration.

The effect of the closure of the Regulator during STommer months, when the incursion of saline water takes place, will be felt on the long-teim availability of the lime shells. The pre sent deposits may be available for collection for a few more years but in the long run the regeneration of the shells will be adversely affected by the closure of the Regulator.

jjjd^.defib of coconut husksi Processing coir is mainly an agro-based occupation and about 95 per cent ^ of those engaged in defibering and spinning are women. Coir processing in Kuttanad is confined to a few villages. Retting has been adversely affected because of the operation of the Regulator. While retting of raw-husks takes txhree months in '' saline water, it t^es 10-12 months in fresh water.

Besides the effects on cultivation of paddy, fishing, lime-shell collection and retting of coir described above a few other problems have also cropped up since the commission ing of the Regulator.

The closure sf the Regulator stops completely the tidal ebb and flow and results in the stagnation of the entire water body outside the Regulator. Since the period during which the Regulator remains closea does not receive any rain, the water level in canals and other water courses gous down and within a matter of a few weeks the water gets polluted. Except for a few affluent households, the only source of water for the en tire population for drinking, bathing, washing, retting of coconut husks and even for basic purposes like discharging ■ human wastes are the canals and the other water courses. Sufficient flow of water and the daily tidal ebb and flow functioned in the past as a natural drainage preventing the v/ater body froui pollution. Now that this v/ater gets polluted nuickly» results in the spread of diseases like dermatitis, ■'( .i ' i 21

jaundice, colitis and amoebic d^-sentery. dence The of these diseases extent of the has not inci yet been quantified. During Ur the five months the when the Regulator water level north remains closed, of the 'Regulator corresponding rises f:. decline by 2=5 ft. with in the southern a parts A, ■' where salt water of Kuttanad, i.e., ill' intrusion is garden prevented. Therefere, lands in even in the north of the remains Regulator, water stagnant causing seeps in and considerable damage growth of coconut to the healthy and other trees. excellent The area breeding also becomes an centre for mosquitoes. stagnant Since with a water remains thick layer of also African Payal, provides ideal the southern side conditions for breeding of mosquitoes. '] ' .(i. Though salt water incursion was for the cTiltivation a constraint in of the paddy the''past into crop, water the fields immediately t^sed to be let after harvesting. thus let in The saline prevented the growth water Pad(^ of weeds and pests was raised on them, and when very high ; 'tn lised because levels of yield of the absence were rea of weeds, a major fronted in most prcblem con other paddy lands ■" l ■i salinity in the State. Itt'l in the water Absence of ill'iS' has now provided lip to the growth conditions favourable |S|lIB# of weeds thus adversely affecting ii' I of the land. the productivity ■f i .

The entire Kuttanad area comprises marsh ill ■ decayed vegetable lands and the ;4! ' matter below JBti- percentage l'V2" of the top ..fiiiif of carbonatious soil has a high Ifii : wood. The soil has re stilting acidity been a major constraint of the in ! The traditional the cultivation ' I of paddy. i i ' i solution to this by applying problem v/as lime immediately leaching the soil after harvesting water for and letting the remaining period. in dissolution The tidal of the ebb and flow helps acidity in water the land. and its washing This way of natural away from the washing does not Regulator remains talce place when closed. Since li'i ic the top soil in content, paddy retains acid lii'f ■ I cultivation ha,s been adversely affected.

'I I 22 With the closure tf. the Regulator during suraiaer, the water level in the lake goes down significantly partly due to evapora tion loss and partly by pumping in water to the lands where a summer crop is raised after harvesting and for raising a second crop in certain areas. This has given rise to ^vater shortage in the dry lands and adversely affected the productivity of co conut trees.

Implementation of a. tp-cent Land Development Pro.lect One of the major problems faoed by the onltivat.rs in a second crop of paddy was the flooding of the fields due to breaches in the existing temporary bunds during the north-east monsoon. Since increasing the production of paddy was accorded high priority by the State Government, a scheme was drawn up in 1974 for the construction of pem.^nt but su nersible bunds. 1,966 km. long, to protect paddy fields of an area of 52,000 hectares (1,25,000 acres). The scheme was submitted to the Agricultural Refinance and Development Oor- pcraticn for refinancing a major part of the total outlay of orores. Some additional Infraetru.tural facilities were also felt necessary for which ne eeeount of Bs.4.3 orores was eane^ked. Dor the implementation of the project a new corporation known as "The Kerala land Development Corporation, Ltd. (kldc) v;as formed. o -^ers have to repay the cost of construction of . , ^he first thiree years.J^ate The in cost 15 years per acre with will a morator- vary rom p ace to place depending on the area covered and the 00 loal specifioations for protection. The estimated range of cost is given belows ii

Table 4 s Estimatedrange of cost for bund construction and allied works*

No. of Area in Range blocks acres

Upto Rs.1,000 155 54,082 . Between Rs.1,000 and Rs.1,500 129 59p716 \ Between Rs.1,5^0 and Rs.2,000 79 16,427 Above 2,000 97 ______15,945. Sources Government of Kerala, KuttajmdJD^ 1Qp" ment Trivandrurri, 1974°

The debt services charges according to the original es timates may not exceed lis.SjS/- per acre per annnm for the maxi- mnm loan amount of Bs.2,000/- per acre.

This particular project was subjected to a detailed social oost-benefit analysis by the present author.-^ The pro ject was found to be socially feasible in view of the high pro portion of labour involved botia in the construction of bunds and in .btaining the mterials for such .onstruction. However, the results of the analysis depended on two crucial assumptions, (i) the completion of the project within the stipulated period 1 r the level of yield of paddy at 50 quin- of six yeans and, tals per hectare. ItT+ waswTS shownsnow that if the yield of paddy were tor .decline to,go -av^ay, 24 quintalsy. per hectare, or a declrne• t -din ., |70i ; prices, in.the fcii-iiersfarmers wouldw find the proyeot uneconomical.. rm Both• ' OT Oved incorrect. The progress in |l:l ^ ^ these assumptions ^ n^ber of adverse effects t^Jl f implementation was ^ returns for the second crop, contributed to the decline m the Thoughw ththe idee of permanente the bundingscheme has of runpaddy into fields rough was welcomed, the implomenta i ,,ited for the very -!:• T-Pf'sons can oe .weather. A numher o 24

disappointing performance of tlis scheme. First of all, the fertility of the land in Kuttanad varies with soil type and other factors like extent of acidity in the soil. Naturally the value as well as the productivity of land varies from re gion to region. In areas such as Kari lands where the value of land is only about Rs,2,500 acre, farmers are reluctant to undertake an investment of upto Rs.2,000 per acre with a re payment obligation of Rs.230/- per acre for 15 years.

The intuitive economics of the farmers would suggest to them that it is better to incur an annual expenditure of Rs.100—120 per acre on repairs to bunds, rather than repaying double that amount annually for 15 years. The question there fore arises v/hether the improvement/constonic tion of the bund envisaged is the least—cost one. Faoomers do believe that it is a high cost work and, given the uncertainties of the second crop, they are hardly enthusiastic about the project. It should be borne in mind that public works prograiiimes whatever their type, are haonily orientgd to finding out ways and means of cost reductioni often they tend to be o.ostlier than they ought to be. In fact only 153 o^t of 458 padasekharams have Joined the scheme .so far. By January 1978, the total length of bunds already constructed was Just I34 Kms., i.e., hardly 7 per cent of the total length to be covered under the project. The area beneiitted was about 6,600 acres. The project was launched in I974 and the authorities claimed that it would be completed in about six years, i.e., by the year 1980. As things now stand, it would indeed be surprising if the KLDC completes at least one—fourth of the work by that year. It was reported that work was in progress in another 338 kms. covering an area of about 24,000 acres.

The raising of a second crop in the paddy fields has not been hampered by the absence of permanent bunds. In fact, double cropping of a large part of area was started as early as 1963. When the Kerala Land Development Corporation scheme was ''Mi'mL^mtmiBmu.-'

■'.U

on its way to implementation, CAKE, a voluntary international organization, also came up with a programme for financing (in the form of providing wheat) the bunding of fields. Such bund ing did not, however, envisage rubble pitching but only widen ing and strengthening of bunds by dvimping clay, sand, etc. The sides of the bund fa,cing the iaJce/water courses could be pro tected by planting grass and screw pine. Since this programme was much chea,per and did not involve any financial commitiiaent to the cultivators they adopted this scheme and naturally did not . want to accept the KIDG scheme with financial coniaitment for the next 15 years. The extension of the CAKE programme was ■prevented by the government by making it obligatory on the part of the cultivators to get the approval of the KLDC for any de velopmental work.

Doubts were also raised by some persons about the tech nical aspects of the bund construction. A number of breaches have been developed in many parts of the newly constructed bunds,- this has only helped to further erode the credibility of the project. Itirther, the unduly long time taken for the ccnstruoticn of tjie bunds and the misgivings about the "con tract" system adopted for execution of the work have reduced the confidence of the cultivators in the whole scheme. In theory the constructxonj.- va 'bm-kwork is-is entrustedenix to a cultivator who 4:--;r,ao.v.ipc. in a given area. However, in is a nominee of thebeneficiaries mag , „-,,p -also contractors and their style practice, such culiivaboro r, . , . . of functioning hardly differsA.ffpT-s irofrom the conventional contractors,

seme

African Payal I Contrpiand KtiliSSiiSim ntrol of Toeing In the past, periodic oo 26

achieved essentially in two ways* Pinstly, during the rainy season the flood waters passing through the Regulator would caxry large q.uantities ofthe w<-ed" into the lake and in saline water the weed gets completely decayed in a 3:1atter of days. Secondly, during the dry season, with high tides, sea water woTold flow back into Vembanad lake and as salinity increases in the .lake waters, the weeds which had remained and firther grown in this area, are again destroyed. If during the summer months the Regulator remains closed, this facility to control the weeds will be adversely affected, and unless alternative steps are taken for the large-scale removal of the weeds, peo ple in this area are lilcely to face untold difficulties.

In,general, aquatic weeds can be controlled by any one or several of manual, mechanical, chemical or biological methods. Of these, manual methods have been very effective in Kerala to control the wet-ds from isolated patches5 but because of the labour-intensive nature of the operations, large scale removal by these methods has proven to be prohibitively expensive to the farmers. Chemical methods have also been found to be effec tive in destroying the weeds, but have to be discarded on account of the potential pollution and also the financial •osts involved in large scale operations. For some years, the Kerala Agricul tural University has been conducting research on the possibili ties of biological control of these weeds. It is, however, un derstood that the results of the study so far made do not seem o indicate any effective methods for large scale control. As or mechanical control, some isolated attempts are being made Kerala to device a mechanical equipment capable of harvest ing and conveying the weed on to the banks on special barges. Unfortunately none of these equipments has so far been perfec ted and successfully demonstrated against Frican Payal infesta tions. Yet, so long as the harvested weeds Aould not be put to some special use which could justify manual methods of harvest ing, mechanical methods of control remain the only potential method of effective and economic control of this weed. It is ::jr;i!jtiHfWittiiittil,l ,■ i'- . I-'' ■ - '•

27 therefore neeessary to undertake extensive search as well as studies for various methods of mechanical control itself» while exploring ways of more economic utilisation of this weed.

Even with regard to mechanical control, it may he pointed out tlm.t since the weed exists in varying habitats ranging from small ponds and navigation canals to the vast expanses of inland . lakes and at various stages of growth, no single machine is li kely to be effective in oontrclling the weed in all areas. It is probably necessary to think in te^^s of a few different types of eguileent that oouldbe utilised to do the job of baxvesting and conveying in these4.v,,r.c.p differentdiiieien habitats. It is also necessary^ to study the nechanical•u -g. 1 properxiesm-o-nerties of the plant population, such as spread density, plant-tool behaviour, moisture extraction pro perties. etc., to help evolve suitable design parameters for these eguipaents. vmile local design and development work sh uld continuei- att ,nan accelexaccelerated Ppace, it should also be possiole...^oessfully to adapt those devices which are alreaay in other countries. TTnlike in other rice growing areas in the state - W ply cultivationdewatering inoperations Kuttanad areis madecax:ied Pos- srole only arte- i.ag equipment used in cut in the pera" which is a local adapta- this area is known as t. axial flow or propeller pumps, tion of the class oi pumps c ^ developed in this area to This pumping syste - ^ running at slow speed, as the L« diGsel engineSj match stationery u.j- irnits he.ve now been replaced prime movers,<5 Virtuallyvn s-H o ig^wer^ opers-ting cost. and1 greater4. r.4-n-rq which have lowex with electrib moiex^^ however, have observed that convenience of opera-ilon. - The^ iaimej-09electric motors hsove higher rated in spite of "the •p "bixn nutput has not increased in i the discharge ^ r horse-power values, ^ power. The farmers are proportion to the iucr ij^is experience and alsoa anxious concerned about the «dsona e-. bulk of the to have thei.1, costnc-b 01of transporting -n 28

equipment reduced to the extent possible.

If the famers have correctly observed a relatively poor performance with electric motors as the prii.ie noverj it is likely that some mis=natching of the power unit and purap has taken pla,ce. The Pe.tty and Pg.ra deyice has never been subjec ted to a scientific evaluation of its performance. It is neces sary to know whether the blades P.re properly designed, whether the unit is being operated at the proper spe eds and v/hether the power unit is oversized. A detailed laboratory study may be undertaken on this device to assess and improve its performance. Design work may also be initiated to develop higher a,nd porta ble pumping units for dewatering in the Kuttanad area. Smaller pumping units utilizing the axial flow pump principle can find application for rice irrigation in other areas also. This way substantial reduction in the cost of pumping for rice irrigation -nd drainage can be effected in Kerala.

■^IpP^hing under standing waters Ploughing under stand- in^ v/ater is a third major problem which is also a distinctive feature of paudy cultivation practices in Kuttanad. The land is flooded by letting in water from the surrounding canals, and ploughing is carried out with standing water in j:he fields, After ploughing, the water is pumped out and fresh water is again admitted from the canals. This ploughing and flushing practices help to remove the toxic substances and also bring down the acidity of the soil within tolerable limits for the crop.

In the past, the ploughing job wa„s carried out by the use of buffaloes. Definite advantages of reduced opex-ating cost of ploughing a.nd improved timeliness of operations G,long with scar city of animal power have led to the large sc3,le use of tractors for these ploughing operations. The tractors are generally fit ted with cage wheels to provide traction and tillage is carried out by the use of c\iltivator tyres. The farmers are very much aware that these tractors are not actually suited for this 29 specialised ploughing job as they are not designed for flooded conditions. A great deal of power is in fact wasted through slippage and repairs are also te coining frequent in these ma chines. There is thus an urgent need for developing low cost machines which are capable of doing specialised tillage opera tions.

Valiant efforts were made some years ago by a local innovator of Kuttanad to develop an animal drawn, drum type tillage implei^nt for ploughing under water. Unfortunately for lack of financial resouxces and encouragement, his effor s id not succeed and in fact only helped him to go bankxipt. It was reported that a loca manufacturer of and^ has evolved the concept of a swamp tractor. This tractor will con sist of a small boat or a floating platform propelled by auto matically adjusted cage wheels run by a stationery engine. The engine will also provide power toa set of rotary tyres hinged behind the unit thus achieving the tillage operation at the desired depth.

It is to be pointed out here thet the history of agricul tural meoH-hisation in most developed countries of today shows that they originated .md progressed largel: through local inno vations only. Although these village blacksmiths and other local innovators may have hd hardly arv fonnal schooling, these inventions and innovations origmo-ted from an in ™ ® knowledge of local conditions end requirements. Conseque y they are founda +to possessn.sess greatgrecni. potentialp for further development into extremely useful equxpment

pv.oT-..i f-mH of health

The health of a people is intimately related to the i: economic and social fraaework of the society concerned. u tanad, like n..any other parts of-vr Kerala,Trofil a liashas a sizeable section of very poor people. However, the area is relatively well 30 developed in terms of several other indicators. For instance, the literacy rate in Kuttanad is one of the highest in Kerala (72 per cent in 1971)? the workers engaged in agriculture, toddy-tapping, coir processing, etc. have a long history of well orga^zed trade union activity? and their political and social oonsoiousness is fairly high. However, the ueople of Kuttanad face serious problems in the matter of public health some of which are due to the effects produced by the Regulator • and the new agricultural technology. Water-supply, Sasiple surveys!/ revealed that only about one-thrrd of the households have wells. But they are invariably shallow and water often has salinity aud nuoh pollutions. Many wells, being unproteoted, are subject to the dirt from surround- washmg into it and floods which also may over-run them. Some people get at least better drinking water from long distan- ues. But for many others, the only source of water is the canals, rrvers or kayal. Occational attempts to provide tube-wells have not been very successful. Sincp n mentms a scheme for the supplye of 19d6, protected the Government water to selectedis imple- vr lages and the nearby towns of Tiruvella and Ohanganacherry. In places where protected water is available, the incidence of water-bome diseases has declined. But the progress in Implementing the water supply scheme is rather slow. The Village Panchayats have to deposit te.1,00,000 which, in view of the meagre financial resources of e ong delay betweengovernment laying institutions, of pipes and isactual quite supply prohibitive, has ed to damage of pipes in several areas and the scheme suffers om lack of effective coordination.

is e,natifying that in some places small scale water supply schemes have taken siripe outof local initiative, ma water supply schemes can be provided for other areas too. 51

by bunding across the four rivers or their tributaries. This may also control the floods. Cheap powerj perhaps» can be ob tained for these by erecting wind mills as successfully done in some places in Trivandrum district. Pending supply of pro tected water, people in the area should be trained- to piirify xvell/tank water by mixing powder in cloth bags.

Pesticides ^d chemical fertilizerss When rice culti vation was confined to only once in two years m Kuttanad, the annual floods used to bring enough fertility to the soil. And the pests were kept under check by their natural enemies, e.g., frogs or snakes. But the pursuit of high yield, indiscriminate catching of frogs, destruction of snakes, etc., have necessi tated large-scale use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. It is said that in Kuttanad area about 1,000 tons of pesticides worth about Rs.25 lakhs are used annually. Organochlorin and Organophosphorus compounds are the two main groups used. The former has both nmaediate and chronic toxicity while the latter, nrobably has only immediate bad effects. Though some of the more dangerous ones have been banned, the ban has been lifted only t mporarily. Aoute poisoning by pesticides is quite serious. But it is relatively - are and if proBptly treated, leaves (as far as is inovm) no lasting danage. However, the ill effects due to ininaation or contact with steal doses of these substances over short or long periods are not known. The residue of pes ticides and perhaps chemical fertilisers renain long in soU and ?..! 'a . Wl-ter and through food and waterSome.consequences may produce long may appearterm effects only like, for example, cancer , [■

in subsequent generations as genetic defect. 32

Disease Patteiaas Analysis of data from health institu tions located in Kuttanad showed that elementary diseases like diorrhoeaj dysentery, typhoid, woim diseases and jaundice (in fective hepatitis) accounted for 55 psn cent of. illness and respiratory disease including TB for about 25 per cent. Some other coEEicn ailments are Cue tc anaemia and scabies. Most of these are preventable by environ-ental sanitation, personal hygiene, better nutrition, immunisation and health education. Only minimum medical facilities would beneeded then.

A basic necessity for better health is sanitary latrine. About 55 per cent of the diseases are intestinal where the cau sative organism is passed in the stool to re-enter man and cause disease through water or food. Sample surveys conducted revealed that only less than a quarter of the houses have la trines. A sanitar^>- latrine in Kuttanad will cost about Rs.500/- because of loose soil and high water level. This clearly is not in the priority list for the majority and hence people are not likely to take to sanitary latrines in the near future. It is therefore all the more important to provide safe water. Research work shoxild also be undertaken for developing cheap sanitaz^ latrines suitable for Kuttanad.

Contamination of water is more in summer 3,^(1 gets in tensified diiring haivest when lakhs of people cone many stay for a few weeks. In 5)ite of all these, cholera, etc., are not so severe as in the past. This is more due to milder Variety of cholera now present than better health services or hygiene.

ffutritionj Majority of the people in Kuttanad are under nourished, especially diiring the off-season. Families of agri cultural labourers constitute the main component of the poorer sections closely followed by families of workers in allied occu pations like fishing, lime—shell collection, coir defibering, etc. While wage rates of agricultural workers are highe^^ the 55 rest of Kerala, the available number of days of employment are rather small? hence tte total earnings among these households are also low. According to a recent study open unemploy ment among the labour households was as high as 53 per cent. Even among those who were employed, a person on the average got V70rk for a little over one-third of the nmber of days in a year. No wonder then that the majority is under-nourished. It is significant here to quote thq findings of the above-men- 9/ tioned study.

"As is to be expected, the intake of_food among_the sample families as reported by the diet survey is deplorably low. The average intaJce of -energy wor^ out to 66 per cent of the requisite minM of 2,200 calories pL capita per day as per the of the sun/ey? it amounted to 54 per^ce sequent roimd. It may also be bome m mind owing to the peculiar eooloeical features of Kuttano, , the farm operations are more arduous and entaii ffreater expenditure of energy? and therefore, th minimum calorie noim adopted by us^ may be on tto low side. We noted that even with sucn a modest norm, Verierhia'h Proportion Sn the ofcontrary, the members the average are deficient intake fin ca- _ iTlblve the minimum reoommendedj moreover, a high proportion of the proteins is derived from animal pro ducts, especially fish. "Thet2 iSnce conclusion of-.under~nutrition emerging from the and present malnutrition study is^that _ is a reflection of the very low level of income which in S: rrgLr:£ortas\ernPn the forefront of the new agricultural technology is signific..-n .

T ng Ohs ervation£ rrL=rir.—: - » 34

Kuttaxiad have affected all the sub-systems of the environment, viz., physical, biological and human Throxigh changes in the quantily of water in terms of level and discharge during summer and in its quality in tems of growth of nutrients and level of salinity, the physical sub—system has been affected, adversely and perceptibly. This has, in turn, interfered with the biolo gical sub—system affecting adversely the availability anH com position of the fish population and the rapid spread of aquatic weeds like the African Payal. The changes in the physical and biological sub—systems, have had their impact on the human sub system as wells the fisheimen in the region, as a group, have been the worst hit 5 but other sections have been affeoted. The general population, particularly the poorer sections, has been experiencing problems of transportation and public health. A number of factors, both technical and institutional, have con tributed to such a state of affairs.

A number of technical flaws in design and sonstiruotion, could be pointed out. The location and desi^ of the Spillway de cided upon without adequate examination of the oceanographic and hydrological features of the area is a case in point. Equally se rious have been the defects in the design ^d operation of the Re gulator, particularly the occiorrence of saline water incursion at different places at different points of time in the Vembanad lake and consequent spread of water in the surrounding paddy fields. The design and execution of projects was vested exclusively with techiiical experts and non~teclrin.tcal parameters were totally ig nored. But the reasons for the neglect of non-technical para meters does not seem to be entirely accidentalj it has strong institutional undercurrents and the backing of the political and economic power of the local vested interests.

Since the construction of the approach channel to the required specifications needed the acqiiisition of land belong ing to the powerful farmers, who refused to oblige, the project authorities had to reduce the channel to a size much smaller than warranted by technological requirements. This constitutes one of- the main reasons for the discharge of flood waters

36 intensifioatlonof paddy cultivation were expected, by the agrl- oultural labourere, to lead to increases in their employment. It is, therefore, one of the reasons why afp:icultural labour ers looked upon the projects with high hopes of increased em ployment and earnings. Only when the adverse ecological effects the projects surfaced themselves and began ruining the addi- tronal paddy crop did region were awakened . to the Wrds and dire consequences of these projects. The lives of the people had begun to be in danger long before the paddy crop was first affected. But the point to be emp srzed here rs that no attempt, even after the experience Of these adverse effects, has been made to examine them beyond ^e rcutme scrartiny of engineering details. A proper perspec development in which the broader economic, social and e^rronmental factors play a crucial part is conspicuous by r s a sence. The need to go beyond engineering and narrow eco- ^.rcs rs self-evident. It is not enough to bring out the costs and returns, either, private or social. That private profit- a llrty caloulatron is not the relevant criterion in the eva- l^tron of public projects, is accepted in principle by mai^, but seldom recognised in practice. Even social benefit-cost oalculaticns which help to provide a broader framework for project analysis do .not go beyond attempts at systematic in- ooi^ration mto the analysis of both direct and indirect effects, n toe one srdo, social benefit-cost analyses are beset with a ^ er of quantification and valuation probl.was; on the other, y are inadequate for understanding the impact of the projects n erms of their interaction with other projects and social an economic processes at work in a given region. Public pro ject analysis being a cmioial problem in the planning process, y i^terdisciplxnary approach in which the technclcgical, economic, social and enviromental factors are analysed within a oommon perspeetive of development, might help to provide a realistic picture cf wh-:i+ i-o hwt x , the acceptaBility cf a project ®^ywctdd revolvehappen. roundIt is issues evident -tiiat <«<>■*■•■' I imiiiii iittiiiiiiiniiiii i r

55 through the Spillway on a much lower scale than required. The neglect of non-technical parameters and the cutting down of the size of the projects to suit the convenience of powerful sections of the population takes us directly to the question of institutional constraints on developmental efforts.

So long as intensification of paddy cultivation remained remimerative, farmers, v/ho constitute the dominant section of the local population, showed little concern for the economic and ecological consequences of the operation of the Regulator on other sections, particularly the fishern,en (constituting about 20,000 families), coir workers and other small communi ties of workers. Once the additional crop ceased to be profit able and the ecological effects ofthe Regulator mounted and affected the farmers themselves, a big hue and cry ensued, about the harmful consequences of the Regulator in whose con struction the engineers and contractors, not to speaJc of the politicians, had enjoyed the full support and active cooperation of the farmers.

The construction of pernanent outer bunas for the paddy fields had been a long-felt need. However, the project was ste,rted at a ttoe when paddy prices startea falling. Itather, technioal drawbaoks to design and oonstruotion of tto high- cost nature of the project were guioUy detected .vnd the pro ject turned unpopular auoug the feiieer While agricultural•„,-ltiical labourers in Kuttanad belongpolitical to the poorer sectionse of the population,^ „ n-r-icultural they eX labour» unions. wnxoh, . ^ 37 loxcfcforce organised under stron-o - C 1^. Respite' an enormous more .se . , 4. +V1C1 enrly 'forties. datesuch back to ^ ^ ^ ^iturn-l labourers, they, as a group, liave as the sections of the in the number of population "benefited,union rightsthe in- v;hich bear the brunt of th-e sections been able, socia-lthis costshe.s led and to the a reductiondifferent of the projects on the overall impact eludingsections higher: wage ^ ^ levelsemployment of living per labourer.ofthe different of the population. These in thethe nuBber of g,,ttanadare intended primarily for political the issues meaningful resolution of which, Thecratic three projects execu. in the framework of c. de pluralistic society, would require tion of the the active participa people. Academicians and technicians dering an invaluable service woiiLd be ren honest to the people if they could make attempts to articulate properly ^ volved and the variety of issues offer meaningful alternatives. in

ft r-Vnnwl ed^:ement ■mis paper is based on a report prepared by the for the Kerala Sastra Sahitya author nove.nent Parishad, a voluntary science in Kerala, who sponsored a study the people of Kuttanad at the request of ^ to focus the attention of the ties on the ecolosioal and other authorr- region. Association of problens faced by then in the - a 4- a nunber of persons -r.r,tn-flp a better understandingfron diffe^nt '"M!nr"ThriuthoI Luld like to record of the rl valdyanathou. C. P. S».uel, his grateful thanks r Sanucl dohn Abrah^ K I. Id^la, K. J. Bb-thew, and K. N. S. Hair, for atr variouss ot..fces'tcges of the study. their help Agcpinathan special word Hair offor thanks their due to A. -v-aidyanathan ana is valuable coi^ents and ^ ^ ller +hi'^ paper JSth version of tn wnicn j.- P Agricultural annual conference o Econo- ■a January 18-20, 1979. mics held at Jorii> , How- ever, ^ views expressed the author alone is responsib-e . and errors, if any# nvr- : M.-vwi

Notes and References

1. For a detailed account of the history of land reclamations in Kuttanado see. Pillaio Y. R.9 and Panikar, Pc Go K. land Reclaniation in Kerala, Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1965 o 2. The botanical najie of this weed is Salviiâ Aurioulate. This non-flowering plant belongs to tte faorly bf "ater feros It is believed to have come from Africa because this is widely found in the watenâys of Zambia, Kenya an Rhodesia.small plant Unlike with leavesthe water spread hyacinth, on the s^face wnich spreo^ds at a rapid rate and becomes denser and thicker. t A detailed account of the different species of fish and the Sef;re;e;kd £ a SenfL^ at the Indi® Institute for Regional development Studies, Kottayam, Beoenber, 977- A Details of the environmental features of the Vembanad back- wawxto aSd the productionqtp p-fven of in piston Jhingran, VoG.,nrganro Jisn marter ana India, Hindustan Publishing Corporltmrnndia) 1975. pp.325-55i» xr p "Kuttanad Development Projects An Econo- ^Sation'S'Indian micOctober-deoember Evaiuaxion , 1975. Vol. XM, Mo.m 4.a • r. • +o nntp that the Kerala Agricultural Uni- 6. It is gratifying scheme to .search, identify and versity L agricultural eciuipment. encouro-ge local xnnovc- rc wpro c-rried out by the Department of 7. These sample surveys Medical College, Kottayam. Social -end Preventi/e f- Head of the above De- I am grateful to Dr. ; n Hours ^vith me discussing the r''??rpioSemfS Kuttanad U for mahing available to me t£"es^t of the sample surveys. , Tncome and Food intake among 8. Panikar, PoG.K households'', Economic and Poll- selectedSelected Agricultâi nos.JI. -hipniL UppklVoWeeKly., Speci-ibpeci"X 52 and 53• ^ ^ "the environmental implica— r 10.in For an illustrative,,.a+er development account Pôa o tiireereference sub-systems, to the tions of ^^^®^^Hries in terms of the tteee developing countries MAP 0? TS1BANAD MCUBMUmB SHDMIHO ;

THGS HATtmB OF TH® BOTTO, DSFTH AJIB i||!|1! 'm%, ;tfe' .iAXsXKtPI AJ® THE KOTOANAD ABM

ilr1 I Q B«p-ai iJi awtfds iIII!:I: KUdn rigwra® iudioate ' Mil Ballnitjr

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IE! Bid^tor

Iftitw-ad -i&Tm 39 see, Asit K. Biswas, "Environmental Implicrtions of Water for J)eveloping Countries" in Carl Widstrand Ecological Effects of Water Bevelou- 1 in Developing Countriea„ Pergamon Press, 1978. or^2s-tioL''?rj?^^ origin of agricultural labour of ^ Kerala is given in A.V.Jose, "Tb- Qv-iVip K^rSa"" oooral Scientisx. W0.60,Agricultural July, I977. Labourers in ^ fsaail jjAoiiii*' C

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