Working P&per No. 147

An approach to the Study ofGrrigation: Caseofakumari District

D. N$rayana K. N'rayanan Nair V.C. 4 . Utnarn

Centre for ~evr$~opmenkStudies Ulloor, Trivaddrum-695 011 This study would not.have Wken shape without the active

cooperntion of the Irripntion orpi,hisntion in ICanyakumari di8tric.t.

In particular we would like to men/tion the names of M/S. Abdul Aeiz

and Jnana ;iaj (Executive Engineers), T.S. Bmachandran and R. Nataraj (Assistant Executive Engineers) , ygaraji (Hend draughtsman)

R. Nnrrrynnnn and R. ~ohnnnchandrnnl(Junion En@ineors). Wo aro grnto- ful to all of them and their suppokjing personnel for their valuable

help at different stages of our Ve are also grateful to seve-

ral farmers, KandottanTs, representbtives of the water-user's asso- I I ciations and members of the polikiP? 1 parties, spread over the I( district for sharing their views,1 opc the irrigattion system.

We are grateful to Prof. !I?;I$.K. Panikar, Director, Centre

for Development Stusies, for hislk$~d,encoure~er;entand financial

support in conducting this study,; lqur thanks are also due to

Dr. K.N. Raj, Dr. h.Vaidyanathan'.ad4 Dr. G.N. Rao for their helpful

commun~tson an cnrlicr drnft. Howd~orthc responsibility of tho . views expressed in this papers are $olely.ours. h approach fo the ddudy of Irrigation: I Case of Kanye'iari District

1 yho ob;jec.bivoof .t,llis pupkr is to dcvolop tm intograted I approach for analysing-the. ~. physical, techno-economic, organisational and institutionel aspects of irriga ion systems. The need for such . . i" u.n approach arises from our innde&pte understanding.of the forcgs . brini nhout chnnges in the irrigation system nnd the manner in which agrarian economic units respond to these I I .:. ;. 2,. However, 'i study of this Lind is not very easy .because of the complexities involved in disent ngling thg interrelationship II enong the various components of anjirrigation system. In order to surmount.this difficulty, we need t.;4. formulate certain analytical devices which mckc clear distinctio s among the components of the -t ,. ' . system and %:.en proieed to il&astri'-4the same ..withconcrete case stu- ! .. dies., This is exactly what yepropa do hire., We ha& taken .- .. . . Ksnyskumari District: for the:case study.I' . is district was chosen . . I mainly because scarcity.of wit& and,'I kc.,, consoquont crop fi~ilurosaro .,. frequent in the tail-end areas here iq,rec.ont'I years.

' 3. , While jliugrq bat' use~uln? of' OUT approach, the folllow- . in&? limitations of the study d mi& Firs&, it is

hns icIl.1 ly n qutrl.i.ln -Live quuzxtitativo analysis . . is sttempted anywhere in quantitative analysis I . . , , of magnitudes czrried out :is -me+.... , to. . . of the concerned quantitative exercises minly becr~usethe ;sheer work involved is enormous. Seccndlj., wu li~rvw11ot gono in rlcl~thinto thc +2volutiou or Llie syston~and Llie dilL'c- rent aspects of the politicnl economy nssociated with it. Purther,some

8ystematicstudy of the agrarian structure in terms of 1:md ownership , , ,. ... ! I and tenancy on the one hand and the'caste structure on the ather across j I the' command area would have.been usdful in understanding the influence

of these factors on the irrigation This is a. definite and

important limitation of our stu&y. our paper, in its present form

should be treated as- an initial ap$ to the study of irrigation.

4. The remaining part paper is arranged in the follow-

ing order. Section I1 attempts mulating certain nnolyticzl devi-

ces. SecFion 111 provides D of the irrigation

system in Kmyakumari move from 'the abstract I1 to the specific case

study. In section IV, of water sccrcity

in the distSict in'

takes up the Very important puestiol/of farmers' res~onseto vnler .. secrcity. The last section briefly outlines the issues that ere thrown 1. up in the earlier sections which calj for further xescnrch.,,

11. A fremework for Anel$sing Irrigation Systems 1.. An important task in anal1 sing irrigation systems is to clearly define the ,inter relation a&ng the 'component factors of the 't irrigation system, viewed in its totsi ity. This section mekes s pre- liminary afteropt' in that di.rection. ke begin with the basics of agricul- . . ,. . ture and place the role of irrigation!I in ,agriculture in its proper pers- .. / . pictive. ~hekwe move on to the irrigation system end its component factors. 2. We begin with the basi{sl of agriculture. The starting . .... 8.. point of all agriculture is life,'dnd the siistenance of life units dep- I , : ends 'on its interaction with its e vironment. It is through this intcr- 9 . , llc tion thlzt lif o draw3 ' i tu sustonanco from. its environment. AY royurds ,. , I any given set of life units this edvi~onment.may broadly be conceived nr the having two constituents, the physical and/biologicnl.- Ey physical envj

., .! ronment, we mean, the soil, water, tempercture ...... Segimes . ,.,., . (ind by bioloyicnl., ,we mcnn, -the of lifo as the case'muy be. , . . . Agriculture is .basically man's of the environment' inorder . I ;,,, to facilitate the ~rowthof life udits. ~his%maytake various forms: : . . I., .. . conditioning the soil, conditionin6A the availability,of plant nutrients,

: 4 . ?.. . . :. , ., , , Similar condi etc. Thcs~?&re with rogard to the '!physical pvironmont., , ,., . , . 1 . : ,, . timing may also be thought of with regard to the biological environment

With this let us go on to $lie quost!ion of irrigation. J

3. One important of, the environment is with . . , . rc'@rd to wntcr. his 'is whct got!s)iy tho name or irrigation . Narrowly

. . put irrigation is the providing of &$sured and codtrolled supply of water

i/ : '/ to panThere are three irnportuni I aspects to it: (1) Sources end , . I' . .. techniques of irripation: (2) in~t~~utions,,knd(3) organition Let , . us Lulto them up ono Gone. : I I . ~ ., .. $ I . -1.7 Needless to ndd that this de ip{tlon also incorporites the question of drainage. Sources and techniqluks of irrigatic

4. The sources of irrigatidn! nlt~ybe lnnny such as procipitntion,

riverflws, springs, underground .q$t&retc. As to the techniques these

aregoverned by two importent fsctdlisi First and foremost is the source if water in relation to the loc&tionjof fields an& the second is .the

crop water requirement. The intelidction of thcse two fcctors govern, though on a purely technical level !(for the actual selection will

oftourse, be governed by definite institutions) the type of irrigc-

tion that can be. adopted.

5. Broadly the techniques of irrigction may be brought under

two heads: ~rnqityflow types dnd rifting tjrpes. 'What are. common to- . . these are the.socia1 activities of construction.- ti once for all acti- . . 3 I ~ity,regular repair, maintenance, replacement z'.'and regulation of the

flow of water in to the fields. Wiiat distinguishes one type from. zno-

ther is tho source of motive power; .Gravity flbw ns the name suggests,

bus its source.of power as the for e of gravity whereas any form of

lifting calls for the re&& supp y of other,, moiive power. Here the . iI.. crucial factor governing the 'natube of tho lift' is the depth of the 3/ source of wnter -

6. Here it needs to be noted that in a given environment the . .. crops that can be grown s;e clearly limitid. . ~urther,given the , , 1 agricultural technique& 6r. the.:methods of cultivation, the crop water ,. . . . . their timing ahd::quantun - are determined. These . . . , .. , -2/.: The boundary' between repair dhd' replacemen/t is rather hazy nnd one often .does not. kit& where. repair ends and replacement begins. -3 It may be int6resting to note tha'k the evolution of the steun engine, which ushered in. th.e.~.IndustrialRevolution'had one of -'a- ---a- r- ;r--.rlnnmsm'+.a.in.,+.);&-area of lifting. together with thc source and type oflirrigation immediately throw up , 11 interesting quantitative among the factors involved. - Eor ins-huce -#hex %liere exists definitb quan- titctive I catchment, loss, crop water requirements, and the area that cultivation.

7. Again star-king 'with a.daf idite .enoiroment and crop configu- . . rntlun, irri~utionmeans definite changos in the envi- . . . . ronment. These changes in turn ma.y ake the envfronmont 'conducive to . . . . I . . the growth 09 plants rvhich othkrwis would not have groM in'the envi- I ronment or they may make the environment unsuitable for the plants I vhich wcrc unrlior being grown tho;c. Thoso rin woll as othor ronsons

my call for crop shifts with the i?troduction of irrigation.: Crop . .. shifts can elso take place in.a subiequent stage of .irrigation due to

" . Purthcr cl~ngesin it, me change involved here is from an assured supply of controlled moisture to thd ion-availability of it - water - . scaxity in otiiri- .rux; -32 ,;2- :o=?~quent shifts in crops. The sfrik- , .

,. ~ ing diffe. ancc? bet,$eeen this. crqi shift an6 the earlier one is that , . this has teken ?lace in response ,to./watersinrcity.in an. irrigated

are&.

4,. What hak been-at.lempte(i. so far is to .'placef irrigation .-1 on c propcr frame. The end points 'kore aro the environment, crop . .1.

configuration .?nd'sgricultural. . on the one side and the

. , sources of water cn the other. gamut of irrigetdon is set I . . witliin thosc end points.

1nst.itutional aspects , . 9. IrrigationitE as 'mu$ as +$1 .is man! s conditioning of the ezvironment of plant life consists.4' social activities; The first . . and once ,or all activity'is,.thf: of Lhe irrigation work. Tl~o,tnnka nround construclio~~mro il;l~o conccp.Liur~ul' 1.11~ irri~t~L.i~t~t

work, ie. decisions regarding its ocation, ca_oacity, design etc., ::nd

its execution ie, the constructio~(itse1f'.I Somebody takes these deci-

s'ions and takes up the constructio;..I TO illustrate this the body nay f b0, on0 df tho wings of t-hc a group of villnp cornrnunjt,ic:s UI. may be an individual. This or may not have any role once the

Construction is over.

10. The 'regular .activities! of the irrigetion. system pertain to repair, maintenance and replacehent of the Bystem, ie. keeping the irrigation work in an 'ongoing' stbte and the allocation of water to the fields. 811 these activities t in as much as they are social acti- viiies, are governed by definite social rules.2/ Let us elaborate on these institutionsof irrigation:

11. We begin with a three way rule of associntion: Water 14Men 1% 11 i? ~iblds

These rubes, elassociate wst~~with men, water with fields and fields with men. Thc rulcs thot fields wiLh men are those regarding private property on 1,a such fall outside the con- cerns of irrigation, though they b:re ~ one of the bases of it. With this,the rulesthat bssociate fields are either direct or

run through men. Let us take

i&.,,. (-- -4/ Rules sanctioned-by the .sp lety for the present it is enough to remembe'r that sb&iety ig a mere collectivity) governing definite social gctivities an2 sssociationsare what we call institutions?I 12. We, begin with rules which, associate water with men (which I beans the institution of private property in water). The rules that I ,bsociate water directly with men, 'ie. men hzve 'rightf over water

:has to be in terms of 'timet, ie. so many hours of flow at such a level.

If the level is fixed, then it is basically a rule that provides so mnny hours of flow. Thisftimef may I have a direct rclntion with tho fmlds thesc 'men' own or may not. For the latter the best illustra-

tion is the Sonjo of TanganYika (GI&~). .i I. 13. As rc.P.rdin~t.ho rula wl ~chrolatos water d2rectly to tho 1 fields these may take two firms: (,) time b~sedallocation and

(b) order based allocation.

(6) Time-based allocation: . Iln.,this case time units are calcu- ,. . latcd on the basis of availebility' of water, area to be irrigated 1. ,. , , and crops grown etc; say .flow of X /ipys is required to irrigate the ... entlre land. Within this X each fie d is glven its due 'time' say -8 . . betwcen such .and such hours on sbch bnd such da~sof the week.

(b) case fields are ordered . . sttirting from any onc of: the f icl& immediately 'below the

, , I sluice qr the 'middle field. water is allocated . . . . to the fi'elds rs per fulfilling the needs of the

' field higher in the order.

, 1-1. I-L rririy bo noL0d .Lba.L ,~111, joLncr.lrlp ol' lurrd, iu. Lhu ru?u LlruL

associates men with fields may in ilt elf be such that'for every field 'I b . . at the higher order there exists aIt corresponding field at thelower . . order so that equity is to water (see ~each). 'I 15. It may, further be nqted that a set of rules m-ry be valid

aa of a given state oncompassin4 avnilability uf wuterquuntum und time ! Structure, cropping pattern, cropping intensity, techniques of cu1tj.-

Vfbtion odthe one hand and the dgrarian structura, hierarchy of sociill

groups, .such as bastes on .the other. Thus it is conceiv;.lblc I to have one dot of rules during normal availability of water and unc- ther set .of rules' during scarce periods. These are the broad institu- tional aspects pertaining to irl'igation.

0r~anisatidnn.1aspects

16. As developed the insditutional issues immediately lead us to two further sets of problems. / / In as much &s, these are only rules governing actual.. .carrying out of these

activities perform specific activities or parts there ofz' . Thus to exist a set of persons to ccrry out the ncBiviti,os and \do 'the assignments. At the slrmc- time the .above to be framed which again calls for

8 'boidy' to do and providing necessary alternatives

with social activities, we grnfiunlly novod on to the set oblrblos yhich govorn the(. uctivities, the 'bodies' which frame assign ssecific activities to men, and a set of men activities.

17. continuing along the {bodies' responsible for framing the rules, these bodies are defined &th respkct to tho irrigation work l and part thereof. , If it is 'n smdll tank or a srnn,ll divcrsion.weix s

The set of men Gitb.defin1t.e tasks assigned may be c-lled the. organisstion . of. irrigatiorf,. 8. single community isinw.l-ved-and. what ver &oes on is vithin this commu- ' */: - nity. The moment the irrightion whi- ckters to more than a single co- , , mmunlty a larger organisation becomes'\ necess..ry, , II This can take two forms:

11 (r,) a body built frQm 'below' - tho concorncd commu- I nities jointly frame the: rules and i~~plementthem, no outside body enters the scene.

(b) a body from 'abdve' - in this case a body larger than the collectivity of communities concerned is I involved in framingand implementing the rules. I -~ The best illustration is the state and its irri- . ., gation wing.

.. ,, a ,. I, .,,. . , , 18. These forms; in a..sense, qet linked with the issue .raised 1.. .. :. . :'. earlier, ' viz. t,he body-res.p.onsible for conceiving and executing the , . 1 , ,, - irrigation work. When the irrigntio work itself is.conceived and . I oxccuted by the concerned communitle~,I the occasion for any.outside, .. . , , ''1 .i . . body to make an entry does not arise, ..When 'the construction is..taken . . ,. , !. up by I: bocly outside the comrnuniiies concerned, it may result in' that 1 '.' body having a definite say in the mhtenance of the system, alloca- ! tion of water and related issues. ~dismay t'ake such a f orm that the I I different communities may simply buy water from the larger tiotly. Such 81 struct,~~ruelm lond 00 sonso of involvomnnt of

%he communities because of the concrete expre- ssion of which is the water rate as H11 as its allocation by the larger body. then moved cu tc irridatioz. -Ti>*sonrcs rnd type 3f irrigction tuge- . .. I thcr with %he cro2yi-g istfc7:r ;u& r.gricrilturii1 techniques, it vas

shown, thrcvs up interest.iog qunat~trtivc1 r+l.ntions: hfter touching

upon thoso bcsic tvchnic31 dotails $r; navad on to the conu.bruction ui'

the irrigation vork and the regulcr: zctivitisi of mnin%euance an6 i~llo- ..% cation of Ater.' In the context of the regtilar acfivities we touchefi 1. . upon the rules vhich govern these activities an2 cellad then the ins- . .

' 20; In the followi'ng begin by describing the tota- lity'of i=r,igation as the specific case of Kanya- kuklri. Then.ve 80 on questions pe,rtnining to this system and its working. iII The ~rri~at'ionSysLein iib ~anyakumariDistrict

1. The objective of provide a brief sketch

of the-irrigation network its construction,

the organisation institutions' of , ' .' . , irrigation. An dnalysis of this lridcl will hopefully provide us the I

bnckpounc' for taking up def inite ' is~suesrelating to the deteriorn-

tian in the efficiency of the system1. in the recent past and the res-

I ponses of the farmers to this.changiny situation.

Tho Physicnl Environment nnd1: Paddy ~ultivctlon

I 2. The District of Kanyakumari: The district of Kanyakumari is

situated at the southern tip of the Indian sub-continent lying bet-

wean 770.05' and 77O.36' bf the eastern longitude and 80.03' and 8O.35' of the northern lititudh. T~Ldistrict is bounded by TiAnel-

veli district in the north and north by Kerala in the north-west

and has sea in the west and south.

3. The district was farmed by/;ransferring four Taluks from

Travancore-Cochin state on the eve ok the reorganisation of the ,states. i Thcy were Agasteswaram, Thovala, iai Vilavancode. Tho dip-

trict has been named after the sacre

4. Kanyakumari, like the neigh.ourlng1. districts - of Kerala,'cnn , 8 be divided in to three natural portion of

l.hu, ~liat.ric t co~uprisi~l~ur thrr

Xalknlam taluks nnd also the teluli constitute the wes$ern ghats. In he sen-coast which is flat forming fhe lowlands. In between the high- ,I Ihntls nnfl tho lowl.nnds, there existsta strip of undulatinc valley k-itl:

/aI few streams rushing through if towards the sea. But as we move in :I. 1 /:o.uth-easterly direction from Kerala, the above 6istinctions . .

'gst, . blurred . Hore the country vow much resembles the

aoi~hbouring Tirunolvoli. On the,' wholo, tho region slopes

gently in sodhern as well as western directions. 1

I 5- Rainfall in Kanyakumari: Most of the high ranges in Ganyc-

kumari receive an annual rainfall of,between 65 inches and 100 inches . . I on an average and are mainly' forest knd plantation areas. The rein- I fall in the mid and low linds varies1 between 65 inches and 35 inches on the average. As we move towards1' ;the tip of the sub-continent rain- fall becdrnes' scanty. Coming to of rainfall over the months of the year it needs to district re- eeives rainfall during both the and north- oost. Thus the distric+ months of tllc i year. When the rainfall peaks, one in June and If I In! I be devided into two halves of five! jonths each, with the April-Septem- bor half rccoiving about 45 parconti]I. PI the tutd... r.nnu111. roinfnll (lnd I the September-January half receividd another 50 percent of the total rainfall. The three months of Jendary,'I Februnry and March together receive about I percefi%' of the totiid rainfell. It is important to note I I that the number of rainy days in August-Septernher is quite low. I

6. 16 sum, what one observe is a greduatcd ascent till June and then a sharp fall with only a fcui rainy days in August-September, I another sharp ascent' is seen in'octrlber-~ovembdr and a sharp fall . . I afterwcrds. Consequently thn tvo hkivos of five months each ore

demarcated rcthcz sharply,,

7. Crop2Fzfi y.+.tern: The temperature regimes, acil, and rain-

fall pcttern are generally fcvourablei to the cultivation of paddy,

coconut, plantations, tobacco and p&es in the low and mid land regions I of the district, Rubber is en important plantation crop grown in the I highland creils of thhc district. or the district as a wholo, the cro- 1 ppiq pattern is dominated by paddy which occupies roughly about 45

percent 02 ",he gross cropped area.

Crop ;in. httorn in knnyn~curnnri district --_CC_? u Crops grown !Area As 5 of gross (O~Oha) cropped area ,. .A Paddy i2.03 45.82

Tapioca 9.80

' Coccnuf 13.39 Rcbbor. 9.85 Other crops 21.14 Gross cropped area 100.00

Souxe: Government of Tamil. Naciu /~easonand Crop Report (1975-761, Departnont of Statistics1 adras 1976. I

mry a great deal. The water for n paddy crop over

the season of ahout five three acre-feet and 1 Ii I six acre-feet (Grist) and the miniGpc/lrequirements in most of the regi- I ' \. onu i:j conrtii!urod i,o bo rrbout Pu~lr'1.r.oro foot.. In Knnyrrlrumnri d~atrict most of the aid and low lands rec!en.ean annual rainfall of less than ; 65 inches. This,it needs to be notd,Ii is received in about ten months ,I . ! and the rolnfall ir. any period c-ive months, is not more than 45 ' II ches which clearly of paddy cultivation

n vnst, trrrct,s oi' rt~~lvly011 i.tlit~l'~.tll.

a# irrigation in for raising a

ingle crop of paddy.

Sources and ~,ypc$/ olf Irri~s!,:i.on-.------18 I

9. Tho qu,estion of . .irrignt takes us to the sour- .. pea of water in the district.. . The of course, is pre- 6/ sfpitation of rainfall and oeconda riverf1ows.-

10. Rivers of the district: I Before going into the question of irrigation it is necessary to give 4 brief description of the rivors of ~an~akumoridistrict. The majo of the district is ICodayar l or Tambraparni. It has two major t 1ibutaries, Chittar I and Chittar 11. Prom the upper reaches df Zodapr ti;C about the point where Paraliyar meets it, iZ forms the boundary bet%,'en Kalkulam and Vilavancode Taluk-.; rI Prom thorc dn Tambrnpnr~iSlows tl;opgh the honrt o: Vilnvuncodc . It joins the Arabian sea a::, ~engaptitta9bn. l'hr. are two small rive in the'district; Valliyar and ~azha~ar.Valliyar originates at the the

Velirnolai x.d joins the see nt Xa~ijripattman. Pzehayer originates at o plnce near Shoralaco~cand flows ip an easturly direction baiure turning south and joining the sen.

11. Tank Irrigction - some tbchnicnl relations: In a stretch of about 50 hs. from the tip of thesubcontinent to the border of I Kerala one finds only about three ribers. With so few rivers flowing

Since the area irrignted through'lift irrigation accounts for only 5 per cent of the gross irrigatei a=ea; grr,und we.ter sources are excluded from tho study. I , i rough t!le district vast trdcts of plain. lands remain far removed fron

erivcrs. For slch la& the 6nly Bource of water is rainfall. Thus I i becomes necessary in these lands to have tanks which are used for , . . 1 , . '~llectin~the rainwater and' storing it for, later usi.. As.touched ... $0.~in the earlier section there khdt definite quantitative relations

fftween the 'luantm of.rainfall, thc ank surf ace area and the area

Y~atc:ui lit brou~htundor cultivation.1 Lct us mbkc an attempt at for-

. .,.I ulatinp these relations. I ,: , ,, Let 9 bc the surface Area of the tank. Let' X be the area of t e ayacut. Assume the annual rain all to b'e Rp and tho in:lin tho crop6 souuon to Lo Rf, I

Then, Y.RfL . = , X (C,- Rfa).I ...... (1) laere (1-L) is the 1oss.factor accounting -for evaporation and othcr losses from the tank.^ 6, is the crop-water requiremen!t, L (1 ) Can be written as follows: C HfB W - ! I Y - - ....r,...... I I (2) X R* . L This is the general relation where jh'I I only source of water for the I I .. tcnk is rainfall. This can be refine /by bringing in other iegenera- ,. , , , I ... tion flows, or L as a function of X ...... etc. .~utfor the present, I we confine oursolves to the most gene

I 12. Now let us take a concreqe say paddy. Let us take

C = 48 acre inches. Rf = 50 inches. Y ' Rfs = 25 inches. L = 0.6

I:i~li ILIILIRU vr~.lllnl$ill (2) IL~I.>V

mhis relaticin thus points to the fact {hat in e region where the rain-

::111 is about 50 itches, to grow paddy 'in100 acres.it is necessary to 16

chatchment of ubout 80 acres. If the lands are I '1 uro inlorsporayd wlLh riulds cul.cl~~t~v~~l,CI)~!lju LI,ILS:II

8s the surface area of the tank.

13. It is important to 'g ;sp'the significance of' the ielction 'b/ ,.. , (2) above, In this 'con$ext we m k''point out t,ho rule of thumb follow(!rl hi, !, by the, Irrigation Department of bbyllon. we quote E.R. Leach.

The whole of P&I &iya ' bultivr-ticn area taken together, t idus the freehold acre land plus 'land, amounted in 1954 to This is approximately the same eed by the'miin tank when full. not an u,ccident. The I rri- regulations on rule of thumb that an area

: is %t,maybe noted that the!% $, Zone ' . of Ceylon, comparable. to parts, of this district. ', ... . /. / . , 14. Tho above ralation h;as very important implication& tb the . . >. 1. . , calculus of increasing procluctionl. Increase in production, gi*e? the te'c~in!~ue of production, .can on1.1 be brought about by bringing more area under cultivction. This be achieved either by growing a

second cro;. in the already existilq land or by bringing more ilrea.un2er

I I tho single crop. In both the csshs more water is required which in .I; * I turn calls for an increase in thp catchment area. Within a given unit I . , consisting of. a. tank ahd iis aydcut let us see. whether bringing som I h , qrea.under ,Q second.crop is poss'ble. , AS per the relation*iq.rk6d out I ' above for every acre put under a second crop about 0.8'acrewill be

lost as tank surface area. Conse'quently the desired,increase in pro-

8 ., duction may not come about. Thus,, this calls for other ways of enlar,;-

ing'the catchment. So much ?egar1+g tanks for the present. 15. Diversion-Weirs: The nLove discussion pertains to the plain

areas far removed from the rivers Near the rivers the river water I nay be utilised for,irrigation:-...:,Since , - in_ very-many p?.aces the rivsr- ' ,. ' .. : I beds are not,at a much lower level than the fieids-irri-gation is done

,a , , ! mainly kith the. help of di,:ersioniweirs or anicuts. As the name sugg- ,I I ests the'diversion weirsdivert $qfl as~u~ydflow in' the ,river into the

fields. The use of diversion on ,the rahf all'diff erenticls , . across regions anq the flows over time. In . . other'words; diversion. . spatibl differentials

in rainfail.and flows.

16. Another that they do not

store water, they Then the extent of ,, , ., . .. t,he ayscut sets ,of flows: rain- , ...... fall and . " ,.: : . , . .

.:, ;

,!. ~, . .!,.

.. . ., ;. . : I mound trans>lanta,tion and 'anktherj around yoring panicle if ormtition follo- . . '. , , . l1 wed hy booting. The minima'df ,the ratio .between the'two: sets of flows I 1 . :. . 2 . , I ', would determine the extent ol' thk hyncut. Consoqucntly.huch of tho sur- I ', . . I, I plus 'flow in the river over the crop. season goes' tb' wa3te. One way of

., > utilising the surplus flow'ih the panals, and ndt ov6r the anicut is by . . . . :. .. : , .. . . . linking these cn.nsls with tAnks,which, then, can be used as bnsic sto- ' i.,, , , .

1'L~go r~se.rvoirs. i3von with this l=n1~4~otho piLh discllargoa ovur Llru .I , . . . anicut goes to waste. such storage dams at the head ziaches the gravity-flow net work consis+ing of tanks, dams is complete. 1rriAd t ion

17. Description offhe Sybtom: Now iet us go on to att6rnp.t

des&iption'of the system as it/hxists at present and then attempt its

evolution. There are four &oroke dam in the aistrict: Pechiparni

across the 'river Kod:rynr, Perinc mi across tho river Pnrnliynr nnc! .: +I. Chittar I and I1 across the major tributaries of Kodnysr. The water; *~f

the pechiparai is taken along th Left Bank C~nu-1'to the Puthen dam

across the Pnraliyer. Puthen darn,1 is the main he.?.d yorks of the entire I system ,where the waters of pechisarai and,Perinchcni meet. At the hwd- works those waters are,flown in9 the pandiam Kal and Padmnnabhapurtlm Puthennr. The Pandian Ka1 after1 running for about one and a hclf rnilcs

forks iito tyo at chellanthuritby, one on the left side called thr . . Thovaln channel and another on the right side called the Regulatorkcl.

he' Pddma'nabhapuram Puthennr irrigates vast tracts of lad in Knlkulr:.~

faluq. , Thovalai channel extends,up to Tirunelveli by the name cf P?~:lh.!- .o* the way I ., , pururn chan&l/irrigating- Gast area in Agastccswararn. The Re~:ulzi;lor

Kal after'running fqr about a miie bifurcates into two at Sherr.lscodc,

one on the right is called the Anandanar Channel and another on the lefl I is the Pazhayar. It is important, to. noie that Pezhayar c-rries the

(~oe111.4 ~bovc) This is mtrdc tho entire, drainnp. . of the valley. I possible by the specific physical features of the district. The coin . irrigation channel under the is the Nanjil nadu kthensr tnk-

ing off at Chat&&thoor this there are ten other anicuts acr&s the course before it drains into the . . sea.

18. The waters of Chitwr I and I1 are flown into the Left

Bahk Canal' of the Kodayar at tb third mile and drawn off at the sixth e by the Pattanam Kol channei. 'Phi channel irrigates vast areas .u ng betwee2 the Ttimbrapqnl, and kdu ,channel io Kalkulam. , .

19. Besides the above

ligcr calizd the

drly lands. Thcrc II irrigating abmt

the Seyyar

20. In sum, the sptei Ssnks, diversion weirs, sto-

Page dems and numerous Viewed from the end.cf

Bytyacut so find three types of... rainfed tanks, channel-fed tanks and, channel tanks depend solely on 1

rainfzll -.rY~zcssi:, '.'?n Fcnn.al-fed. raihall is supplemented by

Ehannel su; ,ly and lastly che~iiel aye fully fed from the . , . 'dm and :micut. Owingto these pec d!11 rltles the problems of tb.e three

types of ayecut art, difZer'ent. thesa questiong lot us hriefll IJo over t,ho evolution o$lthe system.

21. -Evolution of the 'system: We have no: hfi.nite information regarding the construction of! the numeFousI .' tad& existingin the dio- I trict. As regnrds. the anicut and dams/oqe does get somc details. , ..

22. The Pnndian dam and thc Pandian [

King of Llw Kul,tLlta ~rnd Ilnjasimhn,. tho 1Jundinn Kin&!, IL.~thu uriicut.

across the river Puraii, the, anicut was demolished by the Porces of the

King of Kupaks'. After that one P,.& mention being made of the constru- 'r ction of anicuts,, channels and tan9 from abovt the beginning of the

16th contury.

23. We give below extracts fkom the Trovancore Lend Revenue

Manual Vol. IV. merely to prwide an idea about the developrncnts in the sphere. of irrigetion.

8/ the Puthen darn and the Paclmanabhapurarn In 910 ME;- Puthenar channel wbre constructed with the object of extending to the taluks of Kalkularn and Eranicl the benefits irrigation which bad been provided for Nanij inad9'bb) the hndim Dam end channel constru- cted about 8 centu~iespreviously. These works were restored in 1060 M!E ...... (p.88) I 1. he constitution of the. village and talulc organisa- tion, as itobtained at this period, as well as the functions ~lovel.opir/~on tho Proverticrrrs arc cl.c:rrly eqlained in a var4ola dated 29th Thy 921 M.T.3. The ' ~roverticirwas to L-ttend to the irrigation works in his exc-vation of tanks, conversion of wet, and maintenance of channels and

~y'xircular meonorn 1037

dated 25th September i4.E) a separate &partrncnt of created for South Travan- core and placed special offjcer styled 'Assistant .. . . (p. 450) -8/ Appr. 1735 A.D. -9/ The area consisting of ~hov++aand ~gasteeswaram'Taluk. 24. It is clear from the above excerpts thnt the state was res- , prasible lor the construction of thisi irrigationworks. Consequently, , . avr the past centuries a large network of ~'tora~o'darns,diversion weirs, chcnnel and tanks has evolved in this district. The state in as =ach

11s it, wbs rcsponsiblc for the' conutrt{ction of these works also took over t.he regular activities like mui&,enance and allocation of water.

The ryots had abs~lutelyno role, in e maintenance or allocation of

'.. water. Thus, there exists an organisationi: undex the state with irri- ! [intion ,%s its solo rcsponsibility. d,w let us go into the structure of -1 this organisation. '1

The Irrigation 0 Ranisation

25. The Public Works DepartmJ nt is directly in charge of irri- I gstion in this district as elsewhere., The District Collector is the overall hcaZ of the edministr&tive w,?n,g.1. The head of the PbrD set up is the Executive Engineer. Under hin tl re are different subdivisions and each subdivision has many The head of the subdivisic8D is the Assistant Executive that1of the section off ice is tho Junior Engineer. Under the Engineer there are Supervisors,

Liisltcrs nntl Wutchrncn in that t is this sot up which is rospon- sible for the overall maintenance o~f,$heI b physical system and allocationI . . of water upto the channel Beyond the distributaries, ie. at the micro lovel, allocation of water to the

Yields is done by thc Kundottun. n not part 01 .Llic 1W net U~J. UIJ il ep2ointed by the We may represent District ~bllector d Executive Engineer Jj Assistant Executive Engineer .G P!4D set up Junior Bnkinrer Farmers .k ~u~arvi'sor4: Laskek &I Vatchman 4 Krrndo t t,an

Further, some local organisoi' tlons also play a role in the main- tenance of the system. Tanks with /an ayacut of less than 100 acres are maintained by the block officbs.

I 26. The major subdivision4 !of th~eie in Kanyakumari Dt. are

AE parai & Pcrinchani darns, and Puthon (~herupaloor) hd Xo'rks - (No Irrigation) I AE - am Chittar I & I1 Chittar - Pattanem- (~uzhithurai) ka$ scheme and Eanyakumnri Br. Chl. of NeA ar. Executive Enginee (~qprcoil)

AE anabhapuram Chl. Thiruvithamcode Chl. (Thuckalay) (Only irrigation)

AE - ~hdPlalaChl. Anhnendanar Chl. Pazhcyar & (Nagemoil) N.P~ Channel .- only irri~ation TBe Workinq 104 (the System

27. For the ICcaaysr r wil?. norsl.@&lybe released on

June:. and closed on is [email protected] two paddy

orops which is quite t of the cquntry. The exact

vorkini! is govorncci by dofiniCb rules the detcils of which may be.found

in the appen&ix.

is 28. Once rater/rcleased in th'e main canal, wcrter is supposed to -. be rulo~~scdinto the distributories fbom the tail end onwards. This

eilsures water at all distributories. After that each person at diffe-

rent levels of the oreanisation becomes a zoint for the transmission of

nesse-ges in two directions. ..Kendottaas are et an,extreme end of this

chain and Z.S is at' th'e other end. ~dndottangoes wound his fields

cnd interzcts with the watchman. If more water is flowing through the

block thar required Yandottnn inform the watchman ,to reduce supplies, .

if the wete,r thnt is flowing 13 ir'ss ;Randottan Uskj for more. The watch- i.,' ban informs the laskaz and supervisoj i,n that.order. If within the

section the allosation~canbe adjustc'd the process ends there. If more ~. water is required,for the section as a whole the section officerapproa-

chcs tho is: ~md..thusuf,to thc EE. A CUC~lovcl tho Iwr8on8 concornod

toke into cccountthe crop !rater requirements1 together with the I' i ' rainfall pattern in the region the messages passed on

to them by .';he su:ordinates and The crucial , . factor regulpting tho release und conuoquunLly . , at different channel heads"and level of water

at the storage clams and the seen these

interactions, and consoquent tion' phen~men~with the Kandottnn as the definite end point. As

already mentioned this organi?bti,on carries out tasks wlthln a del ~II~LC~

'environment' consisting of the on the one side and the District

Collector on the other. Now le into the intiraction of thecnvi-

ronment with tho FWD.

29. Obviously the purpo44 of the interaction of the environinext 'is for obtaining definite suppl1 es i at definite channels and distributo- ries and the men involved are t di!e armers of t,hose regions. Now the farmers may interact with any hierarchy. Lt whijt 1e-x:l

they interact depends on the requirement, the qucntun

and the negative response at This can go up to the I District Collector who in turn dlilsc'usses the situation with the EE cnti

a decision is taken. The forms interaction may be many. It nay bc individuals or groups directly ap' b roaching the Aifferent points or m::y be through definite nssocintion olr fnrrnors or t.hror!,d~ po1itic:l pnr1.i~~.

Thus $n a nutshell, the upon rainfnll and the consequent demands on the other.

I 30. Along vith the allocbtion of water the departmcntbns -to "I.. attend'to the. maintenance of the ph,hysi&l system, viz. channel bi.&s, .,< If the work required is imme- bunds', sluices; shut.ters.and~. . . head orks. ,. ' diate, then supply is withheld add the work attended to. These pertein I to works which..call fbr immediate attention. All other meintenaoce . ', I ,, . .: ,, . ,. works are supposed to be done during February 28 to June 1 vhen the dims remain closed. This,, in brief, gives.the working of the system. - I 31. Now, let us attempt at ge 1.1iBg some idea regarding the rules *ollowd in allocatinc' water. Asriiebdy mentioned at the micro level' .I /I it is carried out by the Kandottan,$o he detni'ls of which we shall

wmt. later. In normal times water llowed to flow on all. chknels

wd distribntories atrequired leve in scarcity times 'tuzi~'

sysl,~.m is i~do.r,tcd:md it is worlccc!, basis of' aytrcu.t nnd i .I gi,ep of crop growth., 'The t?nks linked to tho system are supposed to be fed by the surplus waters of the ca znnels. In the Pattanakkal I wchemo turn system is being adopted evjep in normal times because.of the I puculi!rr c.ondi.Lions .prcvuiling over thore. Firstly, tho ayacut iu

still very 'young' and the soil .is velryI porous being close to the I

ssn-coast.. , Secondly, the duty (acredge that csn be cultivated per I cosec drawn. in channel) considered whhe designing the scheme' is much.

!lighor th&n wha-L is attainable under !such soil conclitions.

.The Kandottan

32. Having attempted 5. sketch of the organization, working, .,

and tho 'environment' of the IW let us go into the micro level, ic-. thc world surrounding the 7.Kdid&'tlan. an dot tan. is the person res- pon~i.l,lc Tor the rnnintcl~ance of the Jistributory and for allt~~atl~n of wztcr'to the fields, It may be or :lch&el. In the case of a. . . . ., unit mid he does not come into c.ontaqt with the personnel of the IWD x.llc~rc~~~sin thc cast of 12 channel-fed I(tank or channel distributary he necds -to interict with the watchman d f the FWD who is directly above him. The ayacut area corning under tfjeI.... jurlsdlctlon of n Kandotten varies between 50 acres and 150 acres. 33. Duties of the He is supposed to go ':round the

pielas twice a day in the evening and. report to -bhc watch-

hen regarding the levels. He hn.s to wster to the fields cccor&- .. . , . . .. , Pog to the needs of , the fie,lds an? i , sugposed to close all leakages en,: ,4

'breaches of the different distributo ies. : He has to watch the field I.

during tho day/niyht and prevent nny'kcattlr., , from dbmi~&in(~tl~o crops. 'i' 34. During normal dimes he' releasesi water to the fields as 3rd I when the' need arises. During ' scarc 'ty' conditions If ield order' all:.-

~atioliis practised. In all the are s which wc visited the field just '11 bel'ow. the sluice was. . ranked one and the lower 'fields got the 'later

ronks. Water was allocated from rank one onwards. If 'turn' systen is I being followed upstream 'turn' system is fOllowed here as well. Thc

first field got its turn only after completing a full cycle of all the

fields. Interestingly, in one pledel of the East Kinor of Anlzndmar,

turn system was not followed within eventhough tnrn system was follow^: upstreams ie. nt ouery 'turn1 of' clistributory concorned ritcr war allocated to rank one onwards and not, to the field where water had sto- pped at the earlier 'turn'.

35. There does

the Kandottan. In most of v8tOr or the other being

, / ?. ttan. Only in one I by the vi$lage

Further, in mnny ploccs Kandottan found , i. mostly in tail-end areas;

ii. in areas where physical I participation was low or where predominantly absentee cnltiv$tion2 was practised. I

iii. ownership'cf land belonged todifferent castes.

the K:~ndottenwe fuud remarkable unifbrmity as 'to. the .- mode of romunc- I ration. We ernphas&e the,fact that itlis only the mode and no+'the ! eetual quantum; actlial quantum does ~aiy'in.-~elatioxito the,.aresof the i ' . .. 1 ny::cut undar his jurisdiction. The mC,le of pr-ymont &as 'alwnys in -7. : grain and it varied 'between 4 and 6 m+akkals of paddy per acre per

crop (maralckcl is a 'volume measure. is .equal to three . . pclcitas snd one pakka is approximately In most of the I I i;l.%cesit is 4 maraiclcals of paddy. ~hbpayment in grain is important l it being ti subsisto.nce crop. This is h1mrl.v borne out by the fact I that the Kandottan disapGared the mome1 Pt, the crop grown changed from poddy to sdne;.other croy like bawnns :o tci?icca. Purther, whenever 'I i. ....~ I the harvest failed no payment was made $0 tha Kwxiottan.' 'That comple-. .

tes our ixcount of the totality of iilikiiion inits technical' organi-

IV. Causes of water scd+ity in recent Years ! I

1. During the been quite fre- quent in the tn'il-end Tho files in the

Exucutive Engineers ol'l'lcu l~urtalu- ing to wator season. Fur-'

%her numercus astheir central cobcern. .kt times the prob$sm had become so serious that conflicts within and between communities took such forr~sas to

CIIUUO tltbngur Lo liru cnd properly. 1 This is tllc curiLoxL in wll~cll 1111:

causes of water scarcity are analysed.

2. he dimensions of waterscarcity may be geujied by a survey i of the commnnd arons. ,Most of the,tail-on6 aroas lost' l;c:th the crc'ps

in 1980-81 and some areas had partjalfailuresduriny the two prcced-

ing crop seasoqs. Ve Oould see .this through the response of -the far- I mars. In many areas farmers had sfiifted over to the cul'tivction of

8 I. tapioca and plantains sf ter succebsive crop fcilures and were shif tin,? ,i . back to paddy after seeing plentiful water in the first season of 1981-32. i Tlius the problem has come to bc . fq. one region or thd other since 1975.

3. Causes of Water ~carcifd: The causes of water scarcity may

be brought under two heads:

(i A fall in the avhilabi~(t$of water per unit area in the

total system.

(ii) Miss-allocation of a su~ply,ie., overdrawl by I . . . . Borne le~diII~'to'SCQ.r~ityelsewher+. ,Let us take the latter cmse first. . 'I,, . . As is alwhys the case, the'locatidqafI I .advant.age is with the ryots at

the appor rmchos of the chunnelsJ 1 it is often said that they mstc {II water nnd also drav.w&tei their tanks .to be used for the

subsequent crops. Further, the ryots who .own land at the . . upper reaches of the

ar0 opposed to the, . . . . at the lower

.fined to the sharini of water ,liu%,.n/lso 411 walks of life: This is na, issue which, we have not b'nvestignted so ,far and it calls 29

man in-depth study. With this, we: qdss on to the fall in the I8 milability of water.

Fall in the Availabilitgldf Water to Fields I f

I T~Cwholo quosLion of fib11 ii /t)w avt~ilebilityof wator can

C put in temp of the key eq=&tion O; Wl~l,viz. Y.Rf .L ...... ( I ) is equation is derived through

rocipittrtion of wliicli a rortf~in vaporation, percslstion etc.

0 total Rrecipitat;on, we get an equaii'on for total avai1aDi;ity of , 1'; as, P.Rf: - Y.Rf (loss' factor) which., . was ?ut as Y.R f .L. i section 3. Consoquently 1 - Loss factor = L or (1 I L) is the loso I Note 01. (I-L)~ 1 . On the other hand, if Cw is the Crop water I !:eq!:ir:rrrr i the area of the aysrut Iand, I2 the raiifall in the ., fsJ :corrosponEl-~gseason, then X (c, R I)' is the crop water'requirement. - fs Since we are concerned with two crops, C, may be replaced by 2,G and Rfs by Rf. Consequently, the equation becomes,, Y.Rf.L = R,)...... (2) X(2Cw i In this equation, the right hand side epresents the total cropwater requirement and the left hand side represents- i the. availability of wator. i Wa:,o~ scarcity occurs when, I., J x (xw- llf) > Y.:R,{~L or oquivlrloni.ly + .L 5. The above equation brings o:ut the causes of water scarcity

clearly. As C, and Y may be assumed as given constants,water sco.rcity can occur owing to the following cabses:

(1) an increase X given R and L. ie., a consistent f. incre se in area :;iven the qucntum of rain- fall and

and L, ie., a fall in rain- than push down the ayacut area and

(3) a fall in L rise in (1 - L), given X and R 7 ie. an idcre in the loss factor given the f quantum of raghall and thd ayacut area. These causes singly or in combinatPI b can lead to serious problems of i water scarcity. Let.us .analy*-ei'e..thf$-for-.therecent period.

6. The Area Pactor: irrigated area was around 55 thou- sand acres in the mid fifties.Ihe grOsllIt, showed a marginal decline in the ~econdhalf of the fifties und an increasingI tronil in tl~esixties.

The increasing trend which'continue up to 1972 showed a sharp decline bI thereafter. The three year moving veragei of. the ' gross irrigated

area already. bring out these trends (see table 4..1). Therefore expan-

sion of irrigated area could not be,& cause of scarcity of irriyc~tion water in recent years. Areaunder Irri~ationin! Ksnyekumnri District

0)3 Saurceoar Year Tank Total Gross Irri- Moving hvo-

Source: Various Issues of ,kc la' son and Crop Reports. 7. Rainfall Pattern: There are serious difficulties in arriv-

ing at nny overall... rainfall figure .for the district as s wlicle based . .. on observations for fifteen or twedty locations. For our limited pur-

. ~ pose of arriiiing af some coqclusion as reparding -?he quantum of rain- I . . ! fall and its seasonal variation in rcccnt yeo.rs compared to t4hc imne- diato past, we havo adopted the fol11dwing methoil:

8. Comparhble monthly rainfail is pvnil~ble..forabout fifteen I locations in the district. W! taken ct period of ?ifteen years . ; ending 1980 and ialculuted the rainfall for these locctions. . . Keeping the crop season in season is taken to be the . . period from April to August season from Septernber,to

December. Median values of seasonal rainfali is ariived at and the this we obtainseven positive and seven the negitive 1o/ signs in'the last six years. for bofq the seasons.:-

~~ ~ -10/ We have done this in manner. Let the seasonal for location A for fifteen years b following, 10, .15, 12, 25, 4, 8, 40, 12, 11, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13.. The median value is' 11. vklues fall below it and seven above. The are the following:- 1 + + +,-, 0, +7, -4,' -2, -1, +1, +2. Let us take observations. We' find thzt three of them'I are positive and three are negative. Table 4.2-

S1. Number of neaatlve Number of +ve, Location No. -ve combination I seas4n I1 seas'on ++ +- -- -+

2 Eulasekaram 4 ':I, 4 1, 1 3 1 . . 3 Puthen Dam 2 2 11. 2'

4 Seethapal 53~. ' 0 , 13 2 5 Thedikirsnkonam 4 4 0 l3,1 6 ~haralacode 4 2 1 02- 3, 7 Nagcrc oil 4. 2 0. 11 4 ! 8 Mylzdy 5 2 0 11 4 9 Kottarern 5 2 0 11 4 10 Adayamadoi 4 2 2 022 I1 Mulagumoodu 4r 1 1 2' 0 1 3 12 " Eraniel 1 5 '0 23 1 13 Bslamore 3 1 202 3' 14 kramboly i /I 0 12 3 5 .I E 3 ~. . 15 Thirupara~pu j I. 1 1 10 4

. , !' 9; We give the locations in table 4.2. It may be lust six years had aprepon- deranco of firs4 season Further, if we take ' , the catchment sroas, in about them theru is (I yrepondorunco . ., of rainfall falling .in both Interestingly Pechipara I I ! seems to be an exception. Thus, from the limited analysis of rain- ! , , . fall iat,a, it sooms that the receAt period was rainfall deficient. I 'ilc cannot go any further to givei exact quantitative details regard- ing the deficiency. But the prep/mderance of rainfall deficiencies in the first season must have contributed to the fall in the avail&- bility of water in the system. Human Component of Ithe Loss Factoz I

10. Having touched upon a+ut area and quantum of rain- - .. I fall.,..-what. ... - is:.left.,. o,ut. is_.,the..los.s..'lactor. I., It is determined by two . . I set6 :of aonditions: . .( i)-'natural' (!ii) Human. The natural set per-

tainsto yorcolation, soopaRo, cvnIhrntion c~nd+,l.r. o.r;~.po-trc~ns~~i.rcl- I tion losses wh:ich depend on soil tybe, temperature regines and vege-

tative ~rokth. The human set of conditions pertains, to two:

ti) lack of maintenance of the irrigation work and (ii) laxity in

'regulating water at different o? the system. We have no I ! reasen to believe that the natural aomponent of loss factor has I ., changed substantially during the'short time span under consideration.

Chis' le'eves the human: component of 1bss f ector which can be classified 1 I' under,two heads namely lack of main'tenance end laxity in regulating ! water.

I 11. Lnclc of maintcnnnce. The repair nnd maintenance work

of the irrigation project have not een'regular and adequnte in

recent years.' A casual visitpr ca the effects of it, the far-

mers complain about it and the &D accept it.

12. Apart Prom a general we have been able to

document\ in some depth, the mainte undertaken for two im-

portant canals in and NP channels in the

seventies'. :'~hese of 21000

.acres which is 'roughly '/3 of,the W/ea under the ~odnynr

. ~ Projec*. During the recent pnst, of -these chanhels

were geting ditefid&ted due to la# 6f vlequ~trr@ir And rnainiA-

nance. Consequently, there was re scarcity if irrigation water in the aynout areas. The reason forljhis wate: scarcity was a subject

of clebate in.t.he'Tarn&l .Nadu L&~isi$tfdeAssembly iq,,.July 1981. -In a

report sent in response to the ques.%4e raised' in tk.b A.sembly, -&he I ~xe~utive:',~n~inaerof ++hs:dishict . 'p++ented.. a ~ooddesc.ription of

thc stnte of maintenance Of theso c:k?cl/l's n~idbis..cxplahutions for I the past failures in executing rnain't+b,nce work. The Executive Engi-

'I. neerst description of the state of bn(ibtenance of these canals is

reproduced in table 4.3.

It is evident from table 4.3 thak the maintenunce work of the Thovala channel was practically nil1 ri' ring.the second half of,the seventies. Even during the first half, the works undertaken were on a fragmented basis. The story of the,NPl channel also runs almost nlc.ng tho scne lines. It is more interesting to note that the Exe- cutive Engineersf report also indicated that the conditions of other ch~nnelsin the district were not dif i erent from that of Thovala and XF chnnnels.

14. An important reason cited by the Executive Engineer for the lock of m:lintcnlmco of tho Irrigation,Works id1 tho district wr~stho shortening of the closure period of the project,. But changes in the I closure period of the Project in rece4 't years were necessitated by the deficiency of the first. seasoxi' mjnfail leading to the postpon- mnt of the sowing and plantinn cpor3'. dons of the first crop by n few veelcs than whct&,vas being done eadlier under conditions of nor- msl minfnll. Such changes in the crolp calender naturally affect the time period of th6 second crop and resblted in the reduction in the State of Maintenan'pI, of the Thovala and N.P. Chanhels (1973-80)

1973-74 5697 Due to short clo- sure periods silt was removed in cer- tain places only: $513 Do. . I! Owing to drought conditions greater maintenance work was '1 done in major reaches i under drought relief i programme. 1 Nil 24b46 Do. Nil ~k1 Silt removal was not done soparotely duc to the execution of flood ! dnmage works . 2500 Water was allowed in the channels upto March 1979 and hence no silt removal w:~ I $me in short reaches.

1 Q79-80 Nil Nil No work was done due 1 I to allowing water in I the channels upto I 23-3-80. I Source: L.B.Q. Pile, P.W.D. office, Nagarcoil. I closure period of the irrigation project.I The manner in which it has affected the annuirl maintenance work1 inI best ili..trate$ izi the follow- wing extract from the ~xecutiveEngqterls report: "The, irrigation season in the district commences from the middle i:.f May ad oxtends upto 3rd week of Merch (ie., from the month oP Chittirai and Pazguni). krater is aliowea in the channel$ from .is+ of June to 30th of September for first crop and it is continued uptq. March times', even though the la>t date, cf supply is up 'to only during these short gap perioQs 3s the positions of silt deposits have to be locdted and lcvelshave to bc taken for ihe entire channel lcqgth'toI prepare the esti- mates for the removal of silts.:' At the same time action has to ba taken to mepare estimtesJ for repairs of the 'dariie$es -LO tho rnaSOntrry koFkiks; &ak closing works' and re- whenever it is found have to be scru-

after setting ngencies works have to be got completed for the next season. works have 'to be water. As per silt is over be verified ved only at All these

15. Whilo wo aKroo, to a-ccrtr\iplextont, with tl~oroilsons citod by the Executive Engineer for the sho falls in the maintenance work , of the Project,, our view is that it ieipossible to complete the work '/I. . . within the available time span which id any case is not less than t)ne :rnd half months. 13ut a nc~osscrr~ldonditionrejuirod for this I is that the IwD sh~ldactivate its mdchincry for the speedy exe- cution of the maintenance work. This in turn calls for a certain dc~roeof concern among the officials in the organ'isation (especia- liy those who are in the leadership) about the consequences which the farmers have to bear in the cpntext of weter scarcity. It is a woll known fnct thn.t ollch 'commit"n3r officinl~nru rnr<#lyTurlrl~! ILIIIIJIII, the irrigation organisations anywbere in India. Corruption is rum-

pant in irzigation Projectr an.? the speed with which irrigation 'I' works are undertaken and completed! depends to a great extent on the

mount of monoy tho officinls rcalizo by way of l'fuuir ~ILCILY~~.Gcrlc-

rally expenditure on the mnintenance work of canals involves only

smaller amounts compared to the construction work for irrigation Pro-

jects and thus the "feedback" the officials can reallse is also lowcr. I Therefore, the. incentive,for the Irrigation bureaucracy to execute timely and regular maintenance work will' be lower. Further if they

', have to work in dn environmeni in )which the! public is keeping an eye I on'their activities, they will be totally reluctant to undertake any 1 maintenance work. Whether .a situ!"1 'tion of this kind is responsible for the reluctance shown hy organisation in Ifanyakumari . . district is, something But some of the available evidence co'nseruences of past corruption as 5 major cause kbq the lack of ma'intenance of the irrigation project in recent year',s1. 1

16. An important reason cited by knowledgeable people on this subject was the of the vigilance department.

It seems they were very active the activities of Pvn

(Irrigation) iq the early seventikS ind they booked many Engineers 1 I who were responsible for the exe utan of the Thovala channel and +i -

-11/ Por a detailed discussion df the extent and spread of corru- ption in irrigation projecjs see R.Wade (1982). the Chittar Pattanamkal scheme on charges of malpractices and 1 2/ irregularities.- The Technical staff who have been booked were known

for their efficient and hard work. c&sequent upm these charges and

proceedings most of the'technical sta f are not willing to take'up

flny major construction work. Further many technics1 personnel are ~. unwilling to work in tho, district' andjhaveI been obtaining transfers to . . plwes outside. This has hi: the mitidtenance work !f the system seri- I 0l;sly. I 17 RorulntXon of watcr: Havi 1g touchod upon tho mnintonanco of the chennels, let us take up the q of regulntiontof water.

As mentioned at the very outset, the {hree important criteria for re- gulation are the crop water requireme &, rainfall and availability ..,., ,, For an efficient.i regulation oP water of water at the head works. I based on tiiese criteria, it is neceis'apy to enkre: ('a) proper inte- I raction among the irrigation pirsonhel at different locations of the I I systc;m and (b) timely repair of the Fegplation devices.li&e shutters and locks.

18. Inorder to ensure proper /intl3raction amon8 tho pcrsonnol

at differcmt points of the system it,11 'essential to have an effi- cient,communication net-work among 'thFkeI points. such communication

links were established in .the ~oda~arbystem from its very beginning. llo:rtls wcrc built ,,long tho crmrrl buntlsl for tho rnovcmo"t of vehiclos so as to facilitatec eff icie~tsupervision of the activities of regu- leting watcr along diffeyent points. &o, EWD was ovningand operat-

1 The case is still' pending befdre the Madras High Court., - ' Therefore we are unabl'k to provide a detailed account of t,he story behind it. ing a Telephone network, connectind. the crucial points in the system

l'ok Lho oaay and timely possing UP mossugcs.

,' 19. Unfortunately encroachnGnt of channel and tank bunds has

emerged as a very serious problem overi the years.2' On most of the

channcl bunds thc ronds hnvc bocomc so narrow ,thn.t the vchiclcs crin

hardly move along them. Elsewhere, one finds huts beine built o.nd

cultivation being carried out on blinds. The FdD does not have thc

. . necessary powers to evict thep. Eyen when some steps are initicterl

political pressure come in.the way. This ceuscs .serious problems for

the eady and timely inspection of the activities for water rcgula-

tion.

29. The Telephone network oderated by the PWD were functioninc

efficiently until it was taken ov r by the Post and Telegraph Depart- ment in the mid seventies. The P ~nd; T Department were not attending to the,repair work of the system qn! timc. Bcsides, tho oquiymcnt

-- ~ -13/ The' seriousness of th:e cen be understood from the following letter sent Executive Engi- neer Nagarcoil to the Exec 3ssuin(; notices to the encroa- But for the removal of encroachers, police necesscry to'avcrt any possiblc clash and troubles. nearly 150 huts have been erected in the Bunglow Campus. The the usufructus the iosee has also police requisiti- Police and the district Collector have not' been compiled with till date and also at the Government hosp'tal incape. As our stuff are distributed to'thevarious r ches of,the channels, the sect- ion office cannot individual\! y take any'action in the evict-

ions taken for deletion and. at lerge. Unless a separate squad is tangible action can be taken in see, Lgricul- culturists which, were cs%ablished three decadbs back: is now practically diffi- I cult to operate. No attempt is mabe to replace them so far. The

outcome of.this neglect o'f the communication lines has become so I serious that it is difficult even Tor the Executive Engineer's Office

. . to interact wtth their section offices. Cons'equent upon this break- ! clown of communication links a lot bf water goes waste. Tnko an oxm- I ple. A certain watchmnn is on ,duty on the ithblbck and he observes . . that it is mining 'in his area of.: work, consequently he does not . . I need any water in his block. Thil;, information needs to be passed

on to the section office and from !here to other points. He fails

to contact the s.e.ction..offi& bwinb'%o failure of the'l'elephones. He

can pzss the 'message only by to the section office which he

cannot do (When it rains) as, to keep a:close' vatch on the

canal nctwo~kand take necessary depending on the intensity

of rainfall. With such problems points one could yery well

1 imcgine the water that goes waste.]

21. Lack of regular repair$'and replacement of broken locks .. . I ...... has also affected the in recent years. In many *. ~rcnsthe sluices db shu~~crsAd even whke

. ...a . , ,. . ' 1!4/and they are tampered +,th by the disirict are of 2he *&&-LO& typ+, 1 ., ., . .) by ryots and, during scal'city' 'time's '!s$tters are lift uncared fog-the PWD.

thc scrw -girdle type (S.G.)

cult to operate. The P.bs. operate and need d loch'to prevent unauthorised P.Lo cnn be tempered with in.scarcity cannot. On the other hand during the canal even if the watchmen be. The present Executive of 82, many

arrangement. In sluices wheie

simply not

23.In..the.:fcregoing analysiy we have touched upon all the basic causes of the scarcity of water. l~hou&, rainfall has been deficient in the recent past, we find that ihe human corllponent of the loss factor'has became quite significarit over the years. This is a very important aspect of all irrigatior;, works and has long-term effects on the working of the sxsten.

V. Water Scarcity: ~dsponsesof the Farmers

I 1. In section 4 we had'briefly gone over the cause of water

Scarcity in the tail-end areas. In this section we propose to deal with the responses of the farmers,to water scarcity and sone case

studies of particular ayacuts.

Water,Scnrcity: Responses

I 2. Introduction: Responsesi here,-are definite cbnn~esin,

various direction6 to meet the dituation arising out of water scor- city. ~aturallythe:,.puestion wilI arise as to the di&ction of chan- ges. These, changes are broadly relating to the

sources of water and she hand and the crop end on the other.L5'~hese may brdadly be listed as follows:

Relating to the source of water an& irrigbtion works.

(i) definite changes may be krought abow%;iin,.the rules of allocation of water given the reducdd' APtdilability.

(ii) changes may also be brou/ght about in the irrigation -4ork like repair, extension...... etc. so as to increase the avoilahilitiY of water. ( iii) other irrigation works may bo tclcon up so as to cxp1oi.t other sources of water.

Crop 2nd changes may bc attempted in the cropping intensity, cropping

pattern and timing. These m&y be taliel up singly dr in varidus com-

binntions. We study these responses t rough definite categories which b! nay broadly be brought under two heads? .A bi) Individual Vs. Collecti e

(ii) Short-run Vs. Long-run< 1.

3. These cateyuries are called tyo sets of factors. The first set of factors has nt-'its 'bk set the social aspect of ngri- culture, viz. the ixstitution of I'rivateI Property in land and the rulesof inclusion/exclusion associate.; vith it. The second set of . ~. . ,..

factors has at ils b&o the spiitiici+je/s. I of agricultural production

such as agricultural Seasons nnddurat n of 'crops; the definite rain- \[.':' fall plrttorn and tho consequent sourdoblnnd quantum of vnter.

4. Individual Vs. Collective keeionses: With private property in land (th. rules of csscciation of l&ds of section Z)! mcn are conferred definite, rights unit of land.

-15/ conceptually along with '@nt=cned two bets, changes /..y be thought, of in the trictions in the area to be cultivated. Such a crucially, depends on the rainfall pattern and elevent in the cnse of Kanyakumari . Consequently the individual c~uld~carryI out certain activities within

11 in uni t n.f irrntl. Wltun f Itin irtrli r II~IIIL~ Iroconlon p1rr.L uf 11 on1loe l. ir i.1.y I on the basis of certain rights water, he is called upon to fulfill certain of the agri-

cultuml oper,@tions,' cropping ,., .. , cropping intensity ...... stc. , . I. ". as spocifith'by tho callectivit of thc immediate implications

1. I of scatcity, i.e. non-avbilabi f adequate water is that the bind- ing force which makes for the is weakened. Consequently, the individual, if he chooses, Bct individually in exploiting

other sources of.water within !lit of land or to .o in for i diff- erent cropping pattern which mig, not have been.permitted otherwise. This is the sense in which the d between individual and colle- ctive response is drawn.

5. Shorf-run VS. LOUR-run hesponses: .The distinction between 1 short run and long-run is celled 4or on a differant basis than the above. As touched upon in sectioI 2, the rules of elloc~tionare worked out on the basis of the izlrigation work, availability of water at diffe;ent time points on the o:;,ei: hand and the. cropping pattern on i. the other. The notion of a shorttun is called for when scope for

change in one direction ar'the ot1,erI as., elaborated in 2 above are just I I not available. Tekefor example the case of a standing crop. ' Change in the direction of cropping pattern or timing is ruled out and the I availability of water,'in the irrigation work is givm In this situz- tion change can only be brought adout in its allocation. Thus for us short-run simply means within a clop lieason'. Consequently lcng-run points to something-longer than'alsinfile1 crop season. Having attemy- fed the distinctions we' go on to take up the responses. 6. lndividual Responses: Y 4 begin with tho individual res- ponses for the simple season that 3his does .ot depend on the speci-

ficity of the irrigation work from which the c~llectivitydraws vater.

In t'he short-run he could at best emir alrea6y existing walls in his - . .-. - .-- I :ml RO Ii i field in for 1.ifting water imm this wall or come to somo under- : /!. standing with his neighbour if heihas a well.' In the long-run he could i go fora shift in the crop .thereby growingI a less water requiring crop or digging'wells'and of'one type or the other,

Theshift could be of i.e.shifting over toI a loso waterrequiring crop and then reverting to the original crop as the it 'couldbe of a permanent. nature. This

7. In the toil-end areas, wdich'I we visited in .the course of our . , .. ' survey, we found bo.Lh tem;orary antiIL ermanent crcp shifts. Temporary I . . shif-th were mainly from pdddy to. dpioca and plani.ains. In Nov.-, Dec. I 1981 aftor seeing abundant water in: the May - Sept. season they were slowly shifting back to paddy. Alll the permanent shifts were to Coco- I nut. This mcy not". .ontirely Je-_because of the scarcity of water. , There mu .two 'othc,~forces olwrntinp hero,i viz. 'nbsontco'. cultivntion.wd relctive e'cononies. coconut is prdbably more remuneretive as compared to'+ddy in certain regions and it.:calls for much less of intensive, application of labour or close .attehtion.

8. During the field visits we found a large number of wells and pump hokes in many of the tailkd ireas. It ndeds to be noted that such r'esponses can be had onl$ from relatively well to do farmers as they call for large lumps ofjiupestment. Thus uQe ma.y.ex~ecta cortain pattern in the individu~blresponses. The well-to-do going in for changes in the direction df exploiting other sources of water keeping the crops fixed and the t so well-to-do cnd the poor going in for crop shift. We did not any systematic verification of this durin~our survey.

9. Collective Responses: aving covered the individual res- ponses, we go into the collective responses. The collective respon- SeS, as mentioned at the very outbet,I may be viewed in two directions,

i' i' L viz. as changes along the work and the rules of allocation on the one hand and alohg on the other. But the changes along the crop dnd as also in the direction of alternative sources of supply fall within the individual sphere %of activity conse-

quent up6n .property in land. ' Thus that leaves changes in the irrigation work and rules of) alloyntionas the only collective resyon- ses for the present discussion. However the distinction between shorx- run and long-run may fruitfully be used in bringing out these responses.

10. S3ort-run Responses: As mentioned at the very outset ! short-mn refars to the situation (?rhere thc crop is standing and the 1 , total availability of water is fixed. In such a situation each commu- nity demands more vater for itselfl from the agency, when there exists an agency for allocaf.ing water. 14his 'demand' may take many forms.

In some cases the cobmunities mad-make representations and in some other cases they may simply bribq lone/many of the key personnel. If some marginal improvements can b hold by repairing the channel distri- butariei they may take up that bg ull. But all these responses are in, the s'ihere: of thecommunity's relation with the outside, i.e.

with the kgency concerned with the bhannel distributory bringing

w.z'ier, Within, they may respond to water scircity by changing the

rules of allocation. Mostly these take the form of 'turn' systems.

Yhon such rulcs of clloca.tion are viblated conflicts ensue. Thus

conflicts and proper rules of allocation of water nre t.uo sides of

the same coin. Lack of proper rules I f alloca%ion lend to conflicts : .:, O . .. ',! I which jn turn lead tb the framing of) rules of allocation. Or, vii- . .; . lntion of existing rules may lead to-i, conflicts. There may exist

bodies within tho community who reso ve 'these conflicts pr. these may . . .I:I be taken to the supre-corhinunity bodies.like the police and the courts. This broadly is the modality of shor responses. , . I '.. . 11. It needs to be $tressed representations ,. . may be of c over, i.e. . . whfn the , . . . , ,

12. As is clour from the wh'ich follow confljcts . .. hove arisen mainly because of of existing rules of alloca- , tiqn. We see that' in pone of thes4 $ses does there exist a proper I ' body which resolves theye conflict;.'I ive? when &age ievel comni- ttoos exist they are found to be incppableI, of resolving conflicts.

13. Lonp-run Responses: Whbn the scarcity conditions become frequent, i.e. when consecutive crop1seasons experience scarcity con- ! ditions farmers realise .that the cau!ses of :scarcity are deep rooted. It is then that farme'rs find it necessary to make representations to

tho ngencies rosponsible for irrigation and dcman

14. As is clear from the base stdy taken up beloi the men hwr! ing these organisations hold larier areas compared to their brethern.

: .) Further the emergence of these okganisdtions has chcnged the mode of their dealing with the P.W.D. The aealings at tho level of the J.X. .. . , 1 -. .: \ or supervisor nndwstchmen are increasinglyl reduced and the der.lin!:s I are m ade at the level of A.E. aipj E.E.

15 (c) The interaction irrigation community with fts . . outside for water during is n'ot.as simple ss depictcd sbove. '~hesemay be at the modes of interaction qay also be very into th6m in cny detail

. ~ heBut r; points.

16. The district thehead of the. rcnrcnue arlminis-

head of the tho;t, level . ..'.. ,.

,

. ., .

. . tain representatives and politicaq leaders may take i* upcn'thenisel- ves to press these..demsnds at pr;ge.;r quarters with an eye on the supp- ort of the farmers, in elections.

17. Though the above prov/ide/s the broad sketch the actual work- ing depends on the balance of vakilnks forces. Some aspects of it ma1 8, be found in Wade (1982). Though'tb$ treatment in Xade is interestin~ it lacks proper 'rootings'. mportant to keep .in mind the rot,%- ings for the simple reason that ir.hgation administrafion has to work in definite environments and these are not similar. Any effort by the I A.E. or E.3 to provide more water to the tail-end arsas for pecuaiary - I gains isbeset with various danger?. Firstly, any actual implementa- tion depends on the co-operation of the ldwerlevel staff in the depart: . , rnent who npy have definite' long-term1;. interests . in definite localities

Consequently they may sabotage anilefforts by'the AEts or EErs. This I is all the more con~licate'd.if. the subordinate staff are fully aware of the per.~.lties and are prepar,,rl 'for it. Even +.he operators who transmit messages and note down the readings can play crucial roles. ' I They may note down the correct rea4 ing but transmit,something very- diff ercnt. These 'can only be lounq ,out bx chjcking for discropnncic>s in tho vo.rious buolc~crnd is not nlv]ty~very oi~yybccc~uso tho com~uni- i I' cation among Us and with the EE a1.e not always very smooth. Ji I 18. Secondly the farmers in ma.y not. like. more water hcin~rclensed to thc tail-end nroa be n nioro likin&!.ol- it may have other 'bases' such as etc. - and . . they may resort to breaching the b adminis- tration does not hnve be very responsive to their requekts. (&.e:pn..l3 in sec IV) Retelic- I tory monnuron by tho concorrrod po(rrnnno1 of the irri~ationadminis- tration may be risky for' the farmbrs 'may ,go -to the ,extent of thrcn- I tenimg the person concerned and ik it comes t? the worst they may I even physicdlly immobiliie him. 1 The above is .only by way of presen+b- !!. . , I., in^ tho co~n~loxi~~of tho issuo c:d tho tlimnsions involved. With 1' this we mcve over to case studie$'of specific irrigation communitie~.

A Bainfeed Tadk & Its Ayacut I 19. Rou~hLayout of the Pi'elds: The tank is situated in the

Vadassery Pakuthy near Nagercoil TOM. The surface area of the ta~Jc is about thirty acres whereas.the actual catchment is much larger owing to the few hills to the no& of the tank all the dri;innge of which flows info this tank. If has an iyacut of about thirty acres , . I stretched betveen the tank on thd. horthern side and the Anandnar cho nnel on the southern and. . eastern i sides. On the eastern side the cha- nnel is separated from the ficldb by a stretch of rocky uncu1l;ivat;le land. On the southern side ,the;fields have a common boundary with I the channel. Consequently some &f th&f ields could lift water f ron! the. cha=nel ii situation demandb! Bspecially note the location OI tho field ABCD. Further, this /fFb,ld draws water from two distribu- . . tories ,of the tank at the pointkj l)i'nnd C (Gee F1 at:the end .o.f the paper).

I' 20: .The cultivators.:' of the fields are under tennncy and the..cultivatars near. It has a judicial mixture of Pillairs, tlie community and Nadar's, the.person cuiti-

vating fieid ABCD is a from'~a~ercoi1town: (~or'dis- . , tribution of

21 (a) The eppointment of thblKandottan: The Kandottan is appoin- tcd by tho community of cultivate . Thoro are meetings of theso cul- tivators to. . discuss and the last' meeting was held ,. , oi Nov. 19, 1978. the then exgsting Kandottan . . was dismissed and o .The reasons.for dismiss-

ing the Iiandottan were two:

(i) he had diverted om the tank to the fields'lying outside its ecuniary gains.

(ii) the nioney Office 16'for the re- pair w.ork done by con+ttee was drawn by thb Randottan and not the villaee committee.

22. Though the village tee hizs appointed a new Kandottan,

the old Bondottan sortinu'es his duties ii part of the area.

This peculi~r,situation has arise! because of thefact that the old - Kandottan was looking after a few fields the Gwners of which were

1 I residing far away from the fields,. Thus as regarils these fields he

is tho roprescntiltivo of tho ovners,2'and he continuos to pe,rform

thcsc activities and the village committee has no powers to do nny- thing about it.

1- 6/ The government agency responsible for the, maintenance of the tnnlc. The village committee had taken up the ropoir work tnrl,i.cipnting rlnlny on tho pl.r!t of tho Block OfCico. -17/ We htxve found in all the breas which we visited that the Kan- dottan not only performs rey activities as regc~rdingwater but also takes up the additio responsibility of looking after e few fields the owners of are absent. Normally in such fields weeding and such are performed by the Iinndottan and his labourers. 23.(b) Origins of the Kandottan: Here wo could ~etsane hint:

as to the origins of the Kandottan. The old man of the villngo say

that till about fifty years back there was no Kandottan. All the lnnil was owned by Pillai's and they fczmed n sin~lecommunity, so there wqs

no needjfor a Kandottan. Kandottkn becnme necessary whon morc rncn 1~-

longing to other communities or people rosiding far away from the ficlc's I started acquiririg land. In the &st forty five or fifty years thw have seen only four Kaudottnns.

24. Rules of Allocation of water:

(a) Normal Times: In nor times water is allocated for plou- ghing from the field near the sldice downwards. Once the ploughing is over, if it is 'dry' sowing no w fie$ is released for about thirty days, when water is released the ieloder allocation is followed till water reaches all fields. Then +@rds water is allocated to fields where the level is beiow a certaihl norm.

25. (b) Scarcity Times: In! ~~brcit~conaitionswater 'is alloca- , ', t'ed as per rules Bn& it stipulates that water of the.farmers come to the ;:cr/the/fields- to regu- lato iroter and they do not always1d;dhere to tho rules.

26. Water Scarcity and Its distory: It needs to be mentioned that for the farmers here crop fai ure owing to water scarcity is a recent phenomena. Recalling from $mory they say that they had no crop-failures in the seventy years receding the 1976-80 pcrind. From

1976 onwards watcr scarcity nnd cro.61I failures have become frequent.

They attribute it.to the leaking buhds of the tank which has n history of its own. 27. About five years he government agency responsible

for the maintenance of tanks to build a new bound to the tank. It ;as built .with cement . . two months after the comple- . , . . tion of the.work the bund Obviously much money has . .

'changed ' hands in the name of then scarcity has, become

par%::df the system.. Last ;. of the original bund but

seems,, the. .~ leak is the of the 'tank.

2 Conflicts: In this c!. no major conflict owing to scar-

city of water was reported, Ing t ad we came across an interesting

case.

The .tenant who is.cultivat&g the field .4BCfi,. let us call him X, , , !'. hails from'Nagarcoi1 to-. Be sqwed the first crop, i.e. the May - .. . . , , . .. . So$. crop (~anni'poo-r)much oar ier .than tho others. Normallythis . 1 , 8, , .~. ciop is sown.tdryf, i,.e.,after sowing no water is given for about

.twenty five days. : .,Consequent ,upin his early sowin2 ii became nece- . . skry for him to &raw wntcr earl$. Ho openod tho sh~ttorof tho sluice ! ' on the twenty fir'st day after sowing. This affected the others, who , ,' had sown by then, by wetting the 1 fields on both sides. of the channel . .!. (note the location of the field)/ They told the Kandottan,to close I tho sllut,ter nnil Knndottnn did acpordinnly.. Immediately x came' and ! I quarelled with tho Kandottan. L.ter on when the shutter was opened, -4 he demanded-water earlier than h$s turn. The Kandottan refused to

oblige. X drew water forcefully and the Kanclottnn opposed it. There ensredl a scuffle and X's son h$tl $he Kandottan with a spade. So

much regarding the event (we mad ~qtethat the former Kandottzn and

X were partners in shnring the lsbdils which lend to the dismissal

of the former).

they were powerless to do anythin . By then X, anticipating trouble, ' 13 had approached the police and lodbed a complaint saying thet his son beaten had been badly/ by the Kandott tn and some others. At the tune of our visit the case was..still in tbe court.

30. As is clear this conflibt had no relsbion with scarcity con- I ditions. But the set of events w'ichf gaverise to this conflict poiill i' i' to'something very significant. But to understand the significance of this conflict we need to go balk'i to the basics of agriculture.

31. Rules .of ~llocationand dp-1. Change: Oui. starting point for agriculture was the life-environment separation. In the given

' I environment' (inciuding irrigation as part of that) there ecists a ,k spectrum of'crops that can ,be gro?. Someparticular combination with respective techniques of production has come to be when the rules of allocation were being frahd. The rules were framed tak- ' ing this pattern into account. 1fi a different pattern or different

*echnipue can be accommodated withbut violating the rules or if the

'community as a wholc a2cpts a new Lattern then there is no scope for conflicts. Otherwise agricultural changes may lead to the violation of rules and the consequent conflkcts. 32, In the. c3se -&cuc:~u.duysd !cq4ve X had gone in for a paddy-

vegetables, -. paddy patterb where& jh&'lbeheral,. pattern was paddy-paddy.

This change by X called.for th&'dra$ai'lof water much earlier than the stipulatad time which affccted:tho ~aqqycrop of the others and that is '. why the problem aroqe.

, ., 33. . Conflict Resolution:. . . ,. Thou@ Ithere exists,a vil'lage coii- ,.. . ttes, .id.'found tdat it was conflicts su'&h as the abovi and these ;ere taken bodies like the police and the courts.

L Channel. - Bed.Ayacut , ,,

34. The layout of the fields a d the distribution oq,operatio- I I' nal holdings may be found in P2 and T2 respectively which are attached

at the end.

35. gdes of dilocatiod of water

~ ~ . , . ,. (a) Normal Times: -.,-- *.nr-.lr..--.l-"..~....* In: normal 'times during plQughing water is illocntod from ficld numbor ono.onwnrds'. Onco ploughing ia ovcr water is allocated to ,thbso fiolde in which tho lovol of water.. falls ,below a certain .norm.

(b) Scarcity ~imes:In scardtytimes turn.system is followed starting fr,om field numbek on?.. a we&aches"upto field number n in' one tu'm; in the next turn water is allocated.from n onwnrcls.

36. ,~onfiicts

(a) The 1976 case: In an esyecially water'scarce season the

twn &tern was bejng followed. ~ieldnumber one drew water during .the first 'turn' as it was his right ut before allocation upto

field number ten was completed field udpor onc wantcd to draw alpin. I Held number nine objected to it. T1: ,n f ield number one who is from 11 I 11 b nearby village brought his men and ,was preparing to draw water force- 0 I iully. Field' number nine .is from a diaciiti'onally large land hold in^ i/ I family with' enough men to support hiul. Sincc thc two partics werc I equally poised the actual event was d/ekayed to avoid unwanted conse- I puences. The Kandottan had intervenehi tomoderate to the extent possi- ble. Things did not go out of hand ly because of the bounty of

nature-it rained just when field one was preparing to draw

voter forcefully.

I 37 (b). The 1980 Case: ' Turn systfm was being followed as it

!vas 9 scarce season. The ~akdottan allocating water to the i; fields in the order 1 to 10;. just then' the farmer of field number 9 I . . whose family was mainly responsidle fok a&inti& this Kandottan asked for preferential treatmenti The I'Kandottan : said that he would be following the rules .Bnd could not gi against them. Then the far- ' .j. ,. . mer asked him to stop his idrk;. The ~ckdott'anagreed to stop the I . 8 ,vork instead of ,contesting. . it. Thus tve Kandottan was replaced.

38. Conflict Resolution: There ar no'. set procedu.res for resol- . - 'i I ving oonflicts within the cc&&ty. -'The individuals go to the court . . ! or approach the polic>%hen cdnflicts,doI . , arise. But in olden days, ; i say till about fifty years back the village elders (Mududam in Tamil) vere respected as arbitrators. In tho 4e days whenever conflicts I arose they used to meet infaontof the jihurch and send word to the accused a~".otkars through the lage barber. They used to discuss

.the matter .and proncjunce a which usedto be honoured by all.

. , Channel-Fec? !Fa& And its &.%cut

-.--* . I 39.. Rough laycut of the Fields & Chnnnelr On cine side of the I tnnk is situated the tank and on' the other-the fields (see ~3).The ayacut is approximately 45 acres. The channel which feeds the tank ...... , joins it- on one of its sides after crossing a road. The channel-fed : I ayacut is on the other side of the road. Our focus, here, is on the interaction between the tank ayacut and channel tbyacut. Before tak- ing it up let us clarify the pi;-ture' within the tank iyacut.

I 40. Appointment of the Eandottan: The. village .elders, thore are three of them, appoint %he ~Kandottan.I .They also take up all I ' ... I . matters pertaining to his w@rkfng and any conflict is resolved by them. 1 One of theia, en old maof abc it eighty, is highly respected and his I selfless dedication is a~~reciltedby everyone. in the viIlage. '

The present YandottanLs bther w~sa bniottan. 8e badse~ed . ... -,. the villago for itbout twoivo d enrs nnd tho prcsent one has already cclmpleted about seven yenrs. .. %

41. Rules of. Idlocatio~

. ~ (6) Normal Times: normal times' water is allocated' fo thosc f iolds which in nced of xatcr. , .. (b) Scnrcity scarcity times turn systuol In followed the field nearest to the sluice J 1 42. Conflicts and Co lict Resolution: No major conflicts hare bsdn reported firstly 4 cause most of the farmers !are from the illage adjacent to the tank and because of the old. mnn of

ighty. Further, unlike other th0s.e who are responsible I or the appointment of'the preferential treatment , re the old man does not ask for reference. So 'within', the

llocntion of vnter gocs on rnthor

43. Interaction with the bommdity upstream: For every two days

bud a night allocated to the direct f ayacut the tank gets a night's t .. . supply. There is no dispute as to But there are n few , , I 'Cultivators along the channel who water on the nights allocated

'for the tahk. In order to prevent what is normally done is to

wntch the channel during the night. Tdis is done. . by the farmers of the Tank-fed fields by taking turns.

44. A further problem .is that of; the channel itself. Accord- ling to the rules the channel leading the tank should have a width

of twelve feet. The farmers oli both have encrqached upon the

beds of the channel and now it is not even two feet wide at places. I ~urih~normal times no one bothers about encroachment o water theft;

all, these ,arise during scarcity times. I

45. There does not seem to be any agency responsiblefor tak-

I : -. I ing care of these problems.,.., . The ?WD,at best, "specifies the rules .. .. .,. - *!..&:.;:.. . but it is poverless to im$ement them'.

Water-User's Association

\ 1 46. IntrodgcjjAz: In the I of our visits to the.tai1-end

areas in ~nuyakumariwe heard rr~uswater-user's rssociations . According1;r we made an atte~nptat visiting many of the organisers.

Among the five which we visited were one man organisations.

Two of them were found to be but fpr their presi- - dents. Two other seemed to the 'pwer' of their

approach them seemed to have a

Finally, we "ere left

11. with one which had il proper organklatlonal structure, mimbership ...etc. I I I li We shall take up this particular Pirganisetion for discussion. 17. Membershi?: The farrye;/- drawing water from a certain branch . Any of achannel are eligible. , to of this aseociation. . , I . land owner ' or tenant. . . becomes a member of the , associaticin fee. The seasonal . . subscription o. below per crop

and an The totai member- , . ship as of Dec. 1981 was G.9.

. . 48. ' Executive Committee: ~lcommittiecbnsisting of thirty mem- ...... i . bers looks after .the working of the association. This committee has

. ~ " , ;,:-, ; a prnsiaent c secretary and a'treasurer. The General Body meets once . . , - ~,. n ycrrr. Tho tenuro of the co&i${eo is for thrco ycara. Any comon , member can become the member of the cornittee.

39. Functions of the ~ssociation: *he funitions are mainly

snt.t.ers ralntinl: to walier. Thoso ;are in tha' nature of mnkina repro-

I sentations to the government agencieg, dS~lingwith the regulation . . , . of water and maintenance of the. t channels and follov up the same. . . In cases pf emergency instead of for the gdverimont agency to take up repair, maintenance---e t,i . they take up the task. .L 50. It is one of their functi &to attend the meetings of cul-

bivators being held at the Collectok's Office every fourth Saturday . . . . oi the month. Eurther, they attend ,e 'half-yearly irrigat=on seminars. - , k gibe be;ow a sample of theques<*iofa swer from ~n6such seminar hell I 7 In Novr 24 j i 1980. . . Qfi* lh tho last crop part of tbb Lea did not get water a& in 'part of the area crops failed.

Ans. Water wis supplied to the #kt possible and to the extent

of area possible.

Qn. When you adopt the turn sys em due to breakage of shutters at fthe higher reaches water did not reach us. !I1 Ans. =ereby promised that we will/ repair the damaged ones and

Rupply water to the extent possible.

Qn. men water is released on thb first of June only. When it ,' , ! .. r,,:, teaches James TOM (lowest point .of the~~channel)the shutters should be spened.

Ans. It will be met.

Qn. TO repair all the shutters ahsent water for the next crop.

Ans. It will be done.

Qn. Repairs should be attended tq immediately. Ans. It will be done.

51. , Interaction with the 'PWD: den and Now: Earlier when more pter was ,needed in a region some peopl&from that region used to join .. .. 1, . boae*ter and make representitiois ;o the! FWD. lor this prpose the Kandottan wuld he asked to coldect money from each cultivator and had

it over to the headsan. They ub led to go to Nagarcoil and. meet the cor-

cerned persons.

The above was not very effective. They used

to briho the FWD as well. For this purpose the Kan-

"&batan-. . was a1 ong with his own. But even

tri$$ .. . ,used .to receive ahequate water.

With the .emergence of.the ldssociation people from aifferent areas I II a;e. br,ought 'together a&i$ association which makes the represan- ..: ...... tation whic~~.ca~riesmore level' is the representation

made would depend on the 'need!' l+d some assessment of the abiiity of .,,, the concerned authority to mee$itlie demand. lo have. niaiA id6a about

the inner mrk'ing of 'he mD [?io= stafiare still kept in good

humo'ur.'~ut system of bribery a :changed ?ver td .donations towards ,.. ,

52.. Land ownership ~attarhof the Members: It was found that

about thirty percent... of. tho .members had than two.acres of land , . ',, either owned or cultivated. Invariably' the presidents and secretaries .. .. -.. I :. of all the association~~'ownedmo'ri land then bulk of the members. At

, '- !.. .: I... least in three 6ases out of five1 the.presidents owned more than five ,. ,,, '3 ,<.I, .'I . . I '4 : orrev (which is 'far above the ayerage size of holdings). For the parti- 1 culcr assocint:ion .the det'ails aqe given in the tables be.10~. Distribution of ~perktionalBoldinns nera ~wps I -. I Paddy 1 Paddy and others -,------___---_A------Size Frequency #: .3 and Classes \ 1,-0.99 F-l:99 2-2.99 above Tntnl ...... ------..- - 1' I .... Faddy ------..---I\------I------I 0 "' 4 0 '. , 14 0 0 0 4

3 end 3 and above -35 . above 8 10 10 3 31 319 =I==== I - 53. . Emergence of the Association: The idea of the association i vaa conceived in 1975 which was a scarcity year. It so happendd that . , ,1 !me of, t,he farmer's bmther who was :in the military returned that paxti- . . . ~:ula*year and. he felt2 that to be done. to mitigate . . .the hardships of. the

.;hen on successive

llearcity of water.

and it w&s re~r~anised.'Here the from a foreign retu-

med man and some retired school is a relatively , .. hig landowner.

Soie ~oncljdions

54. ~houghwebegan by totality of responses to water scarcity ve did not The individual respop-

80.9, vii. ciop shift and are touched upon but . . . not gone into. ' These are aread Tor future work. Our own'.concern in I. . , .this:section'was with the , , conflicts'and water- user's associations as Interestingly,

.. . tho case study of the .upan important issue which,has What is at issue

:i here is the individual nature . . ., ,' .. of its use deyiates from . . . .. , .. , a certain implications- :. to aaricultural change.

55. Another'importent that ncy be dravn from the case studies is' the problems F&.o$ution. These' seem to be reaching the police ahd not be the best places for resolving these conflicts. i 9 ; 56. Finally, the activities of the vkrious wqter-user.*s associa- .. ,'.! ! .:. . tions wjll. be. intensifying with the ageing of the works. The health of , , . ,.I.,,, the system, then, would.depend'onthe force with which they press their ... , .; dcrgsnds nnd the concern vith wp'ich the PWD responds to it.

1. The objective of our exercise, as we stated in the introdu-

ction was to ovolvo nn approach to the study of irrigation in its tota- lity. lror thia, wo lorrnulcrtr! u f run~owor-l~lur i~rrcrlyairrg irriyution sym- terns and then applSed this to the specific case of Kanyakumari. In this process, we have come up withl7 many inte>esting issues which call for ,I further work. This section bdiefly highlights such issues. 2. In section two, the irri~ot~ionsyatcm in its

pofslity, we made clear the technical, organisatio- I bal and institutional aspects of it:. issue thrown up with !' bese dist..nctions was instit.utions of irrigation

h tho arou?d various forcas in u,p-icul-

beand the to agricultural change.

Bough a propef develbpment of this ;t. de calls for the study of the

i~olution,id the 'iystem is well. as th.e c,hanges'in the agrarian stru- . . &&'and agticultural. tkchniques, been. able to provide. . only, glimpses through our dm'study. important area which needs hher investigation.

Section three made ar. attempft at viewing the system as it 3, ...( exists. in. . Kany'skumari' through %he ~nalkticsl,frame of section;;. .. two. It I' . is here that .we moyed from the ebstradlt to the $y&em in the ,concrete I :. . . so as to' provide a base for takina up :fiefinite questions regarding the .f ' evolution of the system, kat~.iscarci,.y etc . Though -a base was built , . . Id take up k3,-us' &c~s,'itllr'om fo'chs in the latter sections'was limited the quest.koh of water. scarF ity. ./. 4. In section four, the causes pi' watbr scircity were truccd, , . s. : ,. to a.minor extent to the deiibient rainfall, and more importantly, to

. , 1. .~...... '2. the lapses of the %;on the one hand and the wasteful use of water by ,.. ... the ryots, especiilly at the upper reabhes bf the channels on the other. . i . . , ...... The question of rainfall.could have be n taken up on E much more rigo- . .e rous way, if only we had attempfed. . a sybtematic quantitative exercise. This could have settled whatever ambigbity that exists now. Such an sxercise lupefully would have additional. insights into the

efficiency of the system. aside, the reeulation of wkter I -by FWD and the use of water enough of the cause of water scarcity.

5. Regarding the use of wator from the headworks to the fields a proper allocation if wntbr by the to a great extent. But it is important. to note that I:in most of the upland areas where there is no scarcity of water there arc+ no Kandottans add farmers tend to . .. I misuse water. Even in locations' where Kandottans. exist, they are app- I . . I ointed':not,,becau& of.,the farmi&'' concern with the proper use of .water, ;i . . 1'. ., .! : .. . : . . but 'b&tauae of the problems arising out of the agrarian structure, The ni-.tu're. of these "pioblcms. . qnd the :m.anner in which they riff ect the insti- , , . I tutions of irriiation cull for further worlc. I

6. The men who arc ,respondidle for the allocation of water in the irrization system lack formal &inin& in their speciplised work. In I the case of the Kandottan, he hag a traditional understanding of the . . croI, wctei roquirements and is cpncerned1 about tho quit; in allocat- ing the available water among th.&'~armers. This motivates him to Carry I out the job efficiently . But .i$the case of the.FWD,'the story is different. Many of the subordin te steff have absolutely no training in tho re~ulntionof water. Thi\ is equally true of the Gngineers. They are more thorough with phys'cal work than with allocation of water.

Unfortunately .the mnintenance of the physical structure is also poor. fI. .Th,is &rises mainly because of way .the. work. is executed by the dopa- . , .. - .. rtment and the elements which them to take up work. It is ., . here that the EW7) finds. i'tself in a host,ile nocinl onvirnntnc~~~l..Tho

:result is that they are unwilling to take u? work and the funds for . . .regular maintenance and repair gradually get reduced. In this context . . 1 sn importcnt point which the %I) holds npinst the ryots is the lattcrs I lick of involvemont in' tho oporatt'ion dnd mbi;:i;cnonco of tho aystum. I! I %ether this phenomenon is because of the historical specificities of beregion is ~omethi~whibh fo! further researc,h. Bouerer, our . , tills om limited review of the' earlierdays, the fyots in of the working of the these tasks now- .But

/vste them to do so. the command area.

7. In eection'five, analytical distinctions between individual and watcr scarcity. The basis of this in land and the import-

Lnce of it control and reguaation

That this had import-

upon in one of the

:ase studies. But this aspect again, calls for further research. lost of the other case studies are condinedI to the question of confli- !ts and their resolution. In the trad'tional4 irrigation communities, ~here'werebuilt in mechanisms for resd lving conflicts at the commu- lity lev'el itself. But., when these trakitional irrigation communities rere replaced by the modern irrigation '[s ystem, there was no built in ! levice for resolving conflicts. The cobsequences of this is that those who are rich and more clo~eto the bureaucr:.cy and the political system manipulate the system to their favour. H..w exactly these forces work and the manner in which it gts1 reflected in the functioning of the system needs much more cerefu and detailed work.

8. In sum, the study out various directions of work than it has attempted to that sense the study is only . the groun2work for moving directions. References

1. Grey, R0bert.F. (1963'). The Sonjo of Tanganyika

(An Anthropolegical studyi of an Irrigation.- Based

Satiety). Oxford: oxford University Press.

2. Grist, D.13. (1965). Ilice, London: Longmane

3. Leach, Sdmund. (1 961 )!. Pul Eliya: A Village in I Ceylon. Cambridge: Fambridge University Press. ! 3. Wade, aobert. "The System of Administrative

(1982).j. < and Politicn.1 Cmrru~;$.on: Canal Irrigatisn in South .,

I 5. Travnncoro Land Manual, Vol. N (1916).

Trivandrum: The of Trsvancore. .. -. . . . . 'ItuLes of ~e~ulatiodof- Peelcbipparal and Perunchani Reservoi

I' ' These reservoirs will be under the contrcl of the ~xecutive

Encineer who will be the oontralluqI. officer.

The Head sluices of the Peechiyparai and ~ewchnniL&es will - I' I be re o~enedsimultaneousljj for !irrigation on the 1 st June for Iienni

crop. Yhenever a postponment df the da%e of opening is warranted for . . specini reasons, the EE may podtpone. the openin'g date in consultation I with the Collector.

The requirement of theT'iyst;emshall primarily be drawn from

Peechipparai reservoir, subjec~.fo,a.limitof 5s-cusecs-which is

do~i;~ne,d..full .-.supply 'diicherge of the Kodayar .LBC.. The -63orclge of . -. I . , ~erunchaniDam shall supplemen$ the supply from, &chippa.rai dm t.0 mect the balance requirement.

If and when the perunch$i, Rerersoir surplu~s;"the contro- .. . . ,...... lling o'fficer shall regulate t hi.e discharges from the Reservoir so as to allow o,nly the total requir 7laen6 minus the surplus ,dischkg~of Ferunchimi dam. The regu~atiodshall normally done twice a day

8.00 AM or.;. ~- 6 PM. Tho neppXion flrrnl~fill 4.11~PI I Lllun Utrm lIurid aluieua litill l~cliL ci the rates noted belov.

Period P.P. ~hanndlSystem Pandian Channel System

Dischargps ,, . . ., . . .. ,Di,scharps...... , I ------in Cusecs- 1 Duty --- . in ~usecs------~uty . I , . . . June 1 st Half 207 100. . 550 70 .. .. June 2nd half July. August ;September 1st half

september +O

October. . .. half October half to December end January February

Rules of- Be~ulation':1qI I the Branch Channels

1. The sluices the ayacut 'undbr each of the sluices is supply. ' ,.., ...... I The bss"stant Engin&er 7 ...... 2. All 'sluices feedihg should be kept closed till. the cultivation operations: lands have been started and are nearing completion and the tank Sluices shculd be owned and the tanks given the fil 3. If there is acute deniand'1 for waterin tanks, no sluice should be kept open in full and fid up the tanks during the first I fortnight of the Kanni crop seadon; but kept throttled and supply, ...... given through diversion chal to ( tank ayacuts... direct instead ,. ..I...... > ... ': jl of filling the tank and thro,uq lee sl~icewithout detriment to the ., . . . .. , .:. 'i

supply to the converted , All preferences should 1 Ii be given to the iirect channel, 4e;d ayacuts and only after meeting this demand;. the tank fed landsI ?bp looked 'into..

4. In case, the about to surplus in the .months . . . . of June and July,. care should aken,to fill up the tanks to avoid wastage by surplusing reservci!r .

5. On no account be let into. .. Pa~h8yarbelov, the Chattuputhur dam, without theI I specific order of the Executive I 1, . , Engineer as .the..'tanks unde.r tho..,Paehayar--sjstemire not entitled for ! I Kodayar water except at times. ..of! aeclared drought conditions., . When-. ! ;. . . made these tanks, caremust be taken to note ever such supply is to . .I. ! : down the quantity of supply made1 so as to assess water rate and conse-

quently, collection of water cess from the benefit 6f concession given

to' them.

6. Pochippnrni and Pcrunchahi rosorvoirs should not bo. roo- . , pened for Irrigation if the levei of water in the reservoir are below the ruling levelling ('viz)I 30.00 at tho end of May and 25.00 I in Septemk-r.

1 . 7. TLLIIICAy~~cuLduru cu1111oJt usk TUr WLL'LU~'LO . . Till 111 tile tunhs I as a matter of right unless the4 stand on par with .the direct tapcut' !I in respect of payment of water 4ss and water will be given to their tanks as and when the supply con itions in both the reservcirs are 1 Bneouraginq. On no account should. t dy ro.isc crons undor-: lho tnnlrfi

If the storage condition in the tank 's unsatisfactcry or if the

nonsoonic conditions are gloomy. these lands

inspite of these, they do so at government will hot undcrtnkc nny responsibility

8. At times of acute draught,,I lt urn systems will be adopted giving preference to channel fed lands only. 1.t times of such exi- gencies tank ayacutdars should wait an watch the change over in the aeasonal conditions and then take up cultivations.i I

9. Closure period from 1st Mar Ih to 31st May.. During this I, period the scowl vent to Puthen-,darn shy11 be kept open.

Re~ulationof Branches add Distributaries 1. 1. 1. The supply through branch cdannels and distributaries

~houldbe made according to the extentof new (conversion) and wet uyacut irrigated by them plus the transmission loses.

2. All the sluices feeding the tanks should be closed till the puddlin~ and transplantation operations in the projcct land wcrc i completed and thk only the tank sluice's should be opened 'and supply given if necessary.

3. If there is acute demand forwater in tanks no sluice I 8hould be kept open in full to fill up khe tanks duzing the 1st fort- night of the first cropseason. Technical ~ekdihsof the Kdayar system

I The [Sbora~eDams* . . ~ekddchaniDam

Dam Details Before -After Improvement Length of masonry dam in ft. (Gravity type with drainage 1224 gallery) Top of the level (above M.S.L) + 309 Maximum Water level (do) + 306 Full reservoir lev01 {do) + 300 Sluice sill level - 229 Capacity

Water spread area nt PRL sq. miles 3.34 Capacity at FRL Gross in Mcft. Net in Mcft. Dead in Mcft.

Average annual yield

Catchment area in sq-M 61 -87 Average annual rainfall in inches 88..28 Mx. flood discharge in cusecs 31000 Average ennual yield at dam site in Mcft. 7700

Surplus arranflcments

Lcligth of spill way section in ft. 142 Length of flush escape in ft. 179 Surplus regulator vents -4Nos. 40' x15' Designed'dischnrge in Cusecs 31 600 31 600 Year of ronstruction 1948 - 1953 1964 - 1969 Cost of d3.5 in Rs. (in lakhs) 43 -71 19.00 IIc:III slujcc 2 Nos, 61-0" x 88-0"

* The perimchani and pechidprai dams were improved between 1964 and 1969. Dam Details Before -After /improvement

Length ,,f masonry dam in"ft; (gravity, type-ru ble in surky 1396 1396 Mortar solib masonry without drainad4 gallory1 Top of dnm level (above MSL) n.i.~ (do) FRL ( 50) 81uicB sill level

~eterspread area (in aq. mile 5.47 5.85 ~aoacit~at PRL Gross in Mcf t. 4465 5 306 Net 3509 4350 Dead. 956 956 Sluice sill level 254.00 Over sluice level 204.00 Dead average 50.00

Avera~eAnnual yield

Catchment area in sq.miles 80 .OO 80.00 Average annual raiP fall (inches) 85-66 85.66 Maximum flood discharge in Cusecs 39000 39000 Average annual yield in Mcft. 14200 14200

' Surplus arra&ements

Length of surplus weir in ft. 736 surplus regulator vent8 G nos. 10'0" x 15'-0" Designed discharge in cusecs 39000 39000 Penr of construction 1896-1 907 1964 - 1969 Construction of dam in Rs. (in lalds) 26.10 15.00

Chittar ~&mI & I1 Dam .Details Chittar I. -I I Length of Dnm in ft. (Earthen Dam) Top of dam ievel (8bove MsL) MVL FRL Sluice sill level vii

Capacity Chittar I -I1 Water spre~darea at FRL in sq. 'biles 1.13 1.60 Capacity atPiiL Gross in Mcft. Net in Mcft. Dead in Mcf t.

Bverane- Annucl Yield . . Catchment area in sq.miles Average annual rainfall in inches Maximum floo3 aischnrge in cusecs

Surplus arrsnRemcnt.s

Surplus regulatorshutters 2:.nns. 4 nos. (40'0" X 151-0" (20'0" X 4'0'') (+ -interconnec$ing chl) Year of construction 1964 1964 Cost of construction Estimated cost 189.49 lakhs.

Length Sill Bed width

11 ~anai&item

The irrigation mainly begit# at rhthen dam and then diverts into Pandian kal and ?admanabhapu=km Euthenar channel.

I'rimli~ui Krll

.. , This Kal with'a head'work =onsists of 5 vents of 5' - On x 6'- 3", after ruhning1(/2 miles forks into,two at Chellanthurithy one on the left side called ns Thovalai channel1 and another.on the*ight side

~111110d1,s ILU~U~ILLUL* li!r.l.

Thsvalei Channel

it is--a contgur channel-havinga length.of.30miles 3 furlongs.

At the tail end'it,forksinto two branches!caJled.Nilnpparai channel viii

and Maruthuvalmalai channel. This dhnnnel has been improved under

C.P. Scheme to incrense the capacity from 206 c/s to 356 c/s. The

hvdmlow of the channel and its branches are as follows.

Before After Improvement

No. of vents at the hen& works 2110s. 8'0" x 6'0" 3 nos. 8' x 6'0" Bed width'. (at hoadrench) 11.75 11.75 Full supply, depths (do) :.. 4.80 4. Discharging capacity (do) 206 c/s 356 c/s

'Ayacut M Pg. Pt . Ayncut 1. Thcvala channel (main) 30 3 9704.72 2. Nilapparai chl: 3 4 505 1763.85 3. Maruthuvalmalai chl. 0 7 000 - 4. (i) East major 2 0 11 0 635.37 (ii) East minor 1 3 33 1 335.88 (iii) West Branch 1 6 365 404.90 12864.72

Radhnpuram canal

Besides the above; to irrik& labout 17,000 acres of single

prop dry in Timelvely Dt. a 'new ckhaa namely Radhapuram canal with I a carrybg capacity..qf '150 c/s has excavated, branching off from "/2 - 250 'of the existing in addition to' its present carrying capacity.of of the channel is

20 miles and 4 The entire . . canal system has been lined with ceLbnt concrete.

Re~ulatorKal The Regulator Kal after runnibe for about a mile bifurcetes

into two at Shoralacode, one on the ight is called as Anandanar chl. a ir which is/contour chl. aqd another 04 the left is called Pazhayar, which carries,the entire drainage of the valley.

No. oh ient's::at the head: 1 2 : . 8' - 0" x 6' - 0" (2) 2 VS ,8'- .On x 7' 0" rw.. . - Ayacut kyacut

Anandanar chl. It, 5 29 3901.57 acros Pazhayar (inclding hT P Chl.) 17 2 340

Anandanar Chl.

It is a contour chl. rupning for a length of '16 M ft. 29'. There bre. several branches and I sub-branches. The hydrology of the channel and its branches ani s b-branches are as follows: i. . . No. of vents at the healla. s 4 Nos. 4'- 0'1 X 4' - 0" Bc ' width . 15' - 0". Fuli supply. level .3.5', isc charging capacity 108 c/s Ayacut 9901.67 acres. -Anandanar System Ayacut acres hapdanar Main 4ll.I -81 1. West branch chl. 786 09 2. . Anandan Kal (A K ml) 455'.85 3. Krishnacoil branch 4 8 02 4: dsaripallan chl. 6i8167 5. East m~in ,358.41 ( i) Athilcadai. chal,. 373.75 : (if) Kottar chl. 535.81 ( iii ) Ther.ga,pttopr, kh$J. 697.40 6. Kzrmillai chl. 987.00 (i) ' Krishnaputhoor. bkbnch 470.30 (ii) ~hembatteoda>

Padmanabhapwram Puthannr Chl . (P.~.chl) The head sluice of this phannel conshts of a 5 cents of t 5' - 0" x 6' - 3". ~hiruvitdamcodeand Erattakar taking off from

5/13 and 10/7 of thin ,ohl. nro tho two mnjor di~.tributnrioa. Tho hydrology ofthe channel.nnd its ayacut are, as follows: Bed wid.th: (at head reach) 24' - O!! F.S.D.. Discharging capacity Afnctrb M P Z't , ~~ZCII~(acrrs)

1. P.Pb .Chi. 18 4 330 4592.44 2. Erathakurai chl. syntom 4 2 130 6907.06 3 Thiruvithancode Chl system 16 0 70 8202.87 1 9702.37

Erattakaini chl. (IS.IC.K~~)

Tho head sluice of this chamiel'consists of 2 vents of size i 7' -OW x 4' - 6". There are several branch channels and subchannels . , as given here under......

Bed width (at head reach) 12' 0" FeSrD ( DO ) 3' 0" Discharge 137 c/s Ayacut -M -F -Ft . Ayacut (area) 1 b E.K.Kul main 4 2 130 1124.99 (a) Madathattuvilai 2 1 005 386.27 (b) Kand'araivilai channel 1 6 260 472.76 (c) Mallancode chl. 16 287 361.03 (d) Kodappakuzhi chl. 3 0 000 1078.77

Muttam chl. 21 4 055 1420.30 Rajakkamangalam chl. (main) 000 1301 .79 (i) Santhapuram chl. 6 650 408.52 (ii) Munchirai chl. 334 170.86 (iii) Azhakanvilni chl. 5 166 - 181.77 -~birukanco-de Branch Channel The head sluice of this chr nnil consists of the vents of

2 nos. of size 4' 0" x 4' ON. Th re are several branch channel and subchandel~. The hydrology of thI channel and the ayacut are as Bed width (a.h.r) P.S.D. (2 Discharge ( " ) II I Ayacut Ayacut (acres)

1 . Thiruvithancode main 2896.85 2. Eraniel branch chl. 3141.19 3. Neyyar branch chl. 395.83 4. Cheramangalam major 370.67 5. -do- minor ,288.21 6. Colachel 451.24 7. Thickanamcode branch 555.88 8202.87

The details regarding pattanmkal cpuld not be included. xii

Appendix C

A copy of the Appointment rder given to the Kandottan by the com&$'ty3 of cultivators

(Free. ..Translation! dq.the Tamil Original)

A m,eoting of the cultivators of ~uth&uhm tank fed area Vadassery Pdkutty) was convened under the Pillai in the year 1978, October 31, .Monday at 12 O'clock. It was resolved in the mee$i,'r$ to dismiss the old Kandottan and appoint a new one.

The old Kandottan, viz. ~aiy.pan,s/o Chadayan, a nrrtive of Kaniyakulam parayadi, is herely d smissed and Solomon, s/o Andy of Kaniyakulam Parayadi is appointeb Fin his place.

Duties of and Rewardls to the Kandottan

Duties

1. The Kandottan must build b temporary shed near the tank to look after the fields during the rainy and harvesting seasons. During such times he must regulate Qhe inflow and.outflow of water to the tank an& the fields. Besideshs must protect the.fields from the thieves.

2. It is his duty to prevent the livestock from grazing on the bunds of the paddy fields. Howbver, he is allowcd to cut the grass on the bund for his own use.

3. Kandottan should not indulge in any activity which is detri- mcntol to the intcrests of the landowners or cultivatore. If ho does not follow theso rules he will bo dlsmiosed forthwith and he does not have any right to continue in this job.

Rewards The Kandottan shall be paid $ (five) mnrakkals of paddy per acre per crop by tho landownors of ,the area. If they fail to pay the above mentioned quantity of grain hi! should report tho mnttor to tho othcr landownors or cultivators and get the reward with their help. xiii

--Names and signs-Lures of the members* who participated in the meetin Velappan ~elayq&d& Mahalingam Paniv di"~ichai S. Gopalan Itha Prakash E. Sivalinga Nadar Boothalingam A. Nahur Neeran Saip It. Neelakantan Pillai Ganesan P. Ratnan S. Vsravelu V. Tharashi muthu Rangam lillai Chettappa Pillai 30. . Velappen Bhagavathi Ammai 3 Kumara Das Ranaswamy 3@. Puthukuaathan Mardswsmy Umaya Parvat i 3?. Muthyya 3f. Dorairaj Velayyan 37. Chidambaram Maharaja Pillai - 361 Ptiramadas . I Subhayyar Arumugham Pillai

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