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Please be advised that this information was generated on 2021-10-11 and may be subject to change. Neglect and Restoration of Minor rrigation Tanks in Krishna District, India A local-level case study of motivation, capacity and partnership interventions

Haranath Tadepally

Maruthibala Publishers

Neglect and Restoration of Minor Irrigation Tanks in Krishna District, India A local-level case study of motivation, capacity and partnership interventions

Verwaarlozing en herstel van kleinschalige irrigatie in Krishna district, India Een case study over motivates, capaciteit en partnerschap interventies op dorpsniveau

een wetenschappelijke proeve op het gebied van de Sociale Wetenschappen

PROEFSCHRIFT

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen volgens besluit van het College van Decanen in het openbaar te verdedigen op maandag 30 augustus 1999 des namiddags om 3.30 uur door

Haranath Tadepally geboren op 1 November 1956 in Tenali, Guntur, India

Maruthibala Publishers, Nuzvid, India. Promotor: Prof. Dr. ir. W. T. de Groot

Manuscriptcommissie:

Prof. Dr. W.G. Wolters

Prof. Dr. G. J. Huizer

Dr. F. J. Schuurman

This research has been sponsored by Oekumenisches Studienwerk e.V., Bochum, Germany. Neglect and Restoration of Minor Irrigation Tanks in Krishna District, India

A local-level case study of motivation, capacity and partnership interventions

A scientific essay in the Social Sciences

Doctoral dissertation to obtain the degree of doctor from the University of Nijmegen according to the decision of the Council of Deans to be defended in public on Monday, 30th August 1999 at 3.30 pm by

Haranath Tadepally born in Tenali, Guntur, India on 1st November, 1956.

Maruthibala Publishers, Nuzvid, India. Promotor: Prof. Dr. ir. W. T. de Groot

Manuscriptcommissie :

Prof. Dr. W.G. Wolters

Prof. Dr. G. J. Huizer

Dr. F. J. Schuurman

This research has been sponsored by Oekumenisches Studienwerk e.V., Bochum, Germany. Table of Contents

List of Tables, Maps, Boxes and Figures χ Abbreviations xiii Glossary xvi Preface xxi A word of appreciation xxii

1 Research problem and structure of the study 1 1.1 Genesis of the study 1 1.2 Tank Irrigation and its present status in Andhra Pradesh 2 1.3 Research problem and research questions 8 1.4 Common property resources 8 1.5 Structure of the study 10

2 Tank irrigation systems 13 2.1 Introduction and structure of the chapter 13 2.2. Overview of Indian Agriculture 13 2.3 Trends in shifting technologies and practices 15 2.4 Major Vs Minor irrigation systems 16 2.5 Rainfall 19 2.6 Functions of tanks 21 2.7 Tank irrigation management 26 2.8 Conclusions 32

3 Tank irrigation in Andhra Pradesh, Krishna, Nuzvid and Agiripalli 35 3.1 Introduction and structure of the chapter 35 3.2 A glimpse of Andhra Pradesh 35 3.3 A glimpse of Krishna District 37 3.4 Nuzvid and Agiripalli 39 3.5 Tank irrigation in A.P., Krishna, Nuzvid and Agiripalli 45 3.6 Problems associated with tank irrigation management 52

4 Research methodology 55 4.1 Introduction and structure of the chapter 55 4.2 Data gathering 55 4.2.1 Interviews 56 4.2.2 Secondary data 57 4.2.3 Data gathering and intervention 58 4.3 Sampling 58 4.3.1 Study villages 58 4.3.2 Village-level respondents 59 4.3.3 Selection of interventions 60

ν 4.3.4 Supra-local respondents 61 4.4 Data analysis 61

An economic approach to the (non-) restoration of tanks 65 5.1 Introduction and structure of the chapter 65 5.2 Types of cost-benefit analysis 67 5.3 The Tank restoration process 68 5.3.1 Assumptions 69 5.4 The economics of tank restoration: the costs 71 5.4.1 Initial contacts, motivation, planning and resource mobilisation 71 5.4.2 Catchment treatment 71 5.4.3. Bed and bund treatment 74 5.4.4 Command area main channels 76 5.4.5 Supervision and monitoring 76 5.4.6 Audit and unforeseen expenditure 77 5.4.7 Some cost comparisons 77 5.5 The economics of tank desilting: the benefits 79 5.5.1 Carrying functions 79 5.5.2 Joint production functions 80 5.5.3 Natural production functions 83 5.5.4 Signification functions 86 5.5.5 Habitat functions: Second home for migratory birds 86 5.5.6 External functions: control of floods 87 5.6 Conclusions 87 5.6.1 The Panchayat level 87 5.6.2 The state/national level 87 5.6.3 Command Area Farmer level 89 5.6.4 Individual level and collective action 90 5.6.5 Bankability 90

The villages and their collective social capital 93 6.1 Introduction and structure of the chapter 93 6.2 The collective social capital 94 6.2.1 Social capital indicators 95 6.3 An overview of the study villages 97 6.4 Profiles and collective social capital of study villages 101 6.4.1 Devaragunta 102 6.4.2 Enamadala 105 6.4.3 Gogulampadu 109 6.4.4 Gollapalli 111 6.4.5 Kanasanapalli 116 6.4.6 Morsapudi 121 6.4.7 Mukkollupadu 123 6.4.8 Polasanipalli 127

VI 6.4.9 Rajavaram 131 6.4.10 Ramannagudem 133 6.4.11 Tadepally 138 6.4.12 Vadlamanu 140 6.5 Summary of collective social capital indicators 144

Social aspects of non-restoration 145 7.1 Introduction and structure of the chapter 145 7.2. Likert scale statement analysis 145 7.3 Village-level Likert scale averages analysis 146 7.3.1 Devaragunta 148 7.3.2 Enamadala 148 7.3.3 Gogulampadu 150 7.3.4 Gollapalli 150 7.3.5 Kanasanapalli 151 7.3.6 Morsapudi 152 7.3.7 Mukkollupadu 152 7.3.8 Polasanipalli 153 7.3.9 Rajavaram 153 7.3.10 Ramannagudem 154 7.3.11 Tadepally 154 7.3.12 Vadlamanu 155 7.3.13 Summary 155 7.4 Category-wise Likert scale statement analysis 156 7.4.1 Command Area Farmers (CAF) 156 7.4.2 Non-Command Area Farmers (NCAF) 156 7.4.3 Village Presidents 159 7.4.4 Water Managers 159 7.4.5 Old people 160 7.4.6 Water User Association's Presidents (WUA-P) 160 7.4.7 Non-Govemmental Organisations 160 7.4.8 Politicians 161 7.4.9 Officials 162 7.4.10 Informal Leaders 162 7.4.11 Summary 163 164 7.5 Political factors contributing to non-restoration 7.5.1 Pre-Act situation 164 7.5.2 The Panchayat Raj Act of 1994 167 167 7.5.3 The Water Users Association Act of 1997 7.6 Comparison of collective social capital and self-perceived village capacity 169 7.7 Comparison of self-stated motivations and economic motivations assessed through CBA 171 7.8 Conclusions 175

vu Case studies of tank restoration interventions 177 8.1 Introduction and structure of the chapter 177 8.2 The concept of participation and style of operation 178 8.3. Initial learning experiences 183 8.3.1 Ongole experiment 183 8.3.2 Buddham lift irrigation scheme 186 8.3.3 Villages in Partnership (VIP) 191 8.3.4 Tank restoration, Chittoor Consortium approach 195 8.4. Society for Human Integrity and Prosperity (SHIP) 197 8.4.1 The ideological premises of SHIP 198 8.4.2 The initial activities 198 8.4.3 The partnership approach 201 8.4.4 Tank restoration process 203 8.5 SHIP's interventions on tank restoration in Nuzvid and Agiripalli 207 8.5.1 Devaragunta 208 8.5.2 Enamadala 209 8.5.3 Gogulampadu 210 8.5.4 Gollapalli 210 8.5.5 Kanasanapalli 211 8.5.6 Morsapudi 213 8.5.7 Mukkollupadu 214 8.5.8 Polasanipalli 216 8.5.9 Rajavaram 217 8.5.10 Ramannagudem 218 8.5.11 Tadepally 220 8.5.12 Vadlamanu 221 8.5.13 Summary : intervention effort and success/failure scores 222 8.6 Evaluation of the approach of SHIP by the communities and an outsider 223 8.6.1 Evaluation by the communities 223 8.6.2 Evaluation by an outsider 225

Final analysis and conclusions 229 9.1 Introduction and structure of the Chapter 229 9.2 Analysis of non-restoration 229 9.2.1 Economic factors contributing to non-restoration 230 9.2.2 Political factors contributing to non-restoration 230 9.2.3. Social factors contributing to the non-restoration 231 9.3 Overview of the independent and dependent variables of the success/failure analysis 234 9.4 Single factor analysis 237 9.4.1 Correlation between collective social capital and success/failure scores 237 9.4.2 Correlation between self-perceived capacity and success/failure scores 239

Ш 9.4.3 Correlation between CBA assessment (total) and success/failure scores 240 9.4.4 Correlation between self-assessed motivation and success/failure scores 241 9.4.5 Correlation between CBA assessment (costs) and success/failure scores 242 9.4.6 Correlation between intensity of SHIP'S effort and success/failure scores 243 9.5 Multiple factor analysis 245 9.5.1 The multiple factor approach 245 9.5.2 Collective social capital and CBA (cost) 246 9.5.3 Collective social capital and quickness of response 248 9.6 Overall conclusions 251 9.7 Exploring a new approach 255 9.7.1 SHIP* s future strategy 255 9.7.2 Bank financing for tank restoration 256 9.8 The vision of Mahatma Gandhi 257

Appendix 1 Review of Five-Year Plans 259 Appendix 2 The rise and fall of Kudimaramath (tank system maintenance) 261 Appendix 3 Interview schedule - Village-level respondents 265 Appendix 4 Likert scale statements 267 Appendix 5 Interview schedule - Supra-local respondents 269 Appendix 6 The economics of a brick kiln 270 Appendix 7 The economics of mangalore tiles 271 Appendix 8 The economics of cultivating paddy in one acre 272 Appendix 9 Forest encroachments - a case study of Enamadala 273

References 279 Summary in Dutch (Samenvatting) 283 Curriculum vitae 289

IX List of Tables, Maps, Boxes, and Figures

Tables

Table 2.1 Pattern of Land utilisation for the country 14 Table 2.2 National Investment during the plan periods 18 Table 2.3 Area irrigated by water source 18 Table 2.4 Annual precipitation in Nuzvid division from 1926 -1997 20 Table.2.5 Daily average rainfall from 1926 to 1998- Nuzvid division 21 Table 3.1 Demographic profile of the State (AP), the District (K), and the Nuzvid (NZD) and Agiripalli (AGP) mandais 42 Table 3.2 Classification of occupations 44 Table 3.3 Total area irrigated by mode of irrigation- Andhra Pradesh 47 Table 3.4 Region-wise distribution of number of Tanks controlled by Public Works and Panchayat Raj Departments, and their total command area 47 Table 3.5 Particulars of Minor Irrigation Tanks under Minor Irrigation Department, Vijayawada Circle 48 Table 3.6 Tanks under the control of Panchayat Raj Department, Krishna district 49 Table 3.7 Amount received and expenditures of minor irrigation section of the Panchayat Raj Department, Nuzvid division from 1991 for undertaking tank maintenance works 50 Table 4.1 Village-wise categories and number of respondents 60 Table 4.2 Distribution of supra-local respondents 61 Table 5.1 Tank restoration programme: the costs 78 Table 5.2 Tank restoration programme: the benefits 88 Table 6.1 Socio-demogTaphic data of study villages 98 Table 6.2 Distribution of Respondents by land holding 99 Table 6.3 Livestock ownership of respondents 100 Table 6.4 General status of the respondents 101 Table 6.5 Consolidated statement of scores of villages on collective social capital 144 Table 7.1 Village-level Likert scale statement averages 147 Table 7.2 Village-level scores on 'motivations & self-perceived capacity' 149 Table 7.3 Overall perceptions of village-level respondents 155 Table 7.4 Category-wise averages on Likert scale statements 157 Table 7.5 Category wise scores on 'motivations and self-perceived/village capacity 158 Table 7.6 Summary of the motivations and self-perceived/village capacity 163 Table 7.7 Self-perceived capacity and Collective social capital of the study villages 170 Table 7.8 CBA assessment and self-stated motivations of the study villages 172 Table 7.9 Tank restoration programme (costs & benefits) 173 Table 8.1 Styles of intervention 181 Table 8.2 Mechanistic and Organic models of interventions 182 Table 8.3 Gist of Village-level scores on success/failure of SHIP'S intervention 223 Table 9.1 Consolidated village-level scores on dependent and independent variables 235

χ Table 9.2 Consolidated retabulated village-level scores on dependent and independent variables Table 9.3 Reassigned values of CBA (costs) on five-point scale Table 9.4 Multiple variable scores Table 9.5 Multiple variable factor - quickness of response

Maps

Map 2.1 Topography map of Nuzvid division with concentration of tanks Map 3.1 Map of Andhra Pradesh and Krishna district Map 3.2 Map of Nuzvid division with study villages Map 6.1 Village map of Devaragunta Map 6.2 Village map of Enamadala Map 6.3 Village map of Chintalavalli main village, includes Gogulampad Map 6.4 Village map of Gollapalli Map 6.5 Village map of Kanasanapalli Map 6.6. Village map of Morsapudi Map 6.7 Village map of Mukkollupadu Map 6.8 Village map of Polasanipalli Map 6.9 Village map of Rajavaram included in Boddhanapalli Map 6.10 Village map of Ramannagudem Map 6.11 Village map of Tadepally Map 6.12 Village map of Vadlamanu

Boxes

Box 1.1 Review of irrigation systems in Andhra Pradesh Box 2.1 Functions of Tanks in Nature Box 5.1 Farmers' society maintaining lake earns profit, sets an example Box 6.1 Social capital indicators of Devaragunta Box 6.2 Social capital indicators of Enamadala Box 6.3 Social capital indicators of Gogulampadu Box 6.4 Social capital indicators of Gollapalli Box 6.5 Social capital indicators of Kanasanapalli Box 6.6 Social capital indicators of Morsapudi Box 6.7 Social capital indicators of Mukkollupadu Box 6.8 Social capital indicators of Polasanipalli Box 6.9 Social capital indicators of Rajavaram Box 6.10 Social capital indicators of Ramannagudem Box 6.11 Social capital indicators of Tadepally Box 6.12 Social capital indicators of Vadlamanu Box 7.1 CM. announces package to strengthen local bodies Box 8.1 Buddham Lift Irrigation Project: Salient economic features Box 8.2 Comparison of benefits before and after

XI Box 8.3 Guidelines for silt removal from tanks 194 Box 8.4 Points for a dialogue with the farmers 207 Box A.l The 'success' story of encroachers 273

Figures

Figure 1.1 Tank system and its components 3 Figure 2.1 Functions of tanks 23 Figure 7.1 Scattergram of Self-perceived capacity and Collective social capital 171 Figure 7.2 Scattergram of Motivations and CB A assessment (total) 174 Figure 7.3 Scattergram of Motivations and CB A assessment (costs) 174 Figure 9.1 Scattergram of Collective social capital and success/failure scores 238 Figure 9.2 Scattergram of Self-perceived capacity and success/failure scores 240 Figure 9.3 Scattergram of CB A assessment (total) and success/failure scores 241 Figure 9.4 Scattergram of Self-assessed motivation and success/failure scores 241 Figure 9.5 Scattergram of CB A assessment (costs) and success/failure scores 243 Figure 9.6 Scattergram of Intensity of SHIP'S effort and success/failure scores 244 Figure 9.7 Scattergram of Minimum scores and success/failure scores 247 Figure 9.8 Scattergram of MIN (CSC, QR) and success/failure scores 251

Xll Abbreviations

A Average ADTC Agricultural Development and Training Centre AFPRO Action for Food Production AG. Agriculture AGP Agiripalli AGS Academy of Gandhian Studies ANM Auxiliary Nurse cum Mid-wife A.P Andhra Pradesh AWARE Action for Welfare Awakening in Rural Environment BP Blood Pressure BPL Below Poverty Line BZA Vijayawada С College CAF Command Area Farmer CAP Capacity CAPART Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology CARITAS A missionary organisation with units in most countries CBA Cost-Benefit Analysis CEBEMO Dutch co-financing Agency, later known as Bilance CIDA Canadian International Development Agency CM Chief Minister CPI Communist Party of India CPSH + PR Carrying, Production, Signification, Habitat + Processing, Regulation CSC Collective Social Capital CSE Centre for Science and Environment C.S.O Central Statistical Office cu.mt. Cubic metres D Domestic, Dispensary DNA Data Not Available DWACRA Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas E Electricity E.E.C European Economic Community FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation FCI Food Corporation of India GATE German Appropriate Technology Exchange GO Governmental Organisation GOI Government of India GPC Gandhi Peace Centre GTZ German Technology Cooperation H High ha Hectares (10,000 sq.mt.) HH High High

XUl HP Hand Pump, Horse Power I&CAD Irrigation and Command Area Development ID Irrigated Dry IRDAS Institute of Resource Management and Social Development IW Irrigated Wet JC Junior College JFM Joint Forest Management К Krishna L Low LF Leadership Factor LL Low Low M Middle, Minus (counted as costs in CBA) MGBS Manila Grameena Bank Samithi MH Maternity Home MIN Minimum MM Millimetres, counted as double costs in CBA MDO. Mandai Development Officer M.L.A. Member of Legislative Assembly MOT Motivation M.P.P. Mandai Pr aja Parishad M.R.O Mandai Revenue Officer mt. Metres NA Not Applicable NABARD National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development NCAF Non-Command Area Farmer NGO Non-Governmental Organisation NRCJ National Research Council Journal NSP Nagarjuna Sagar Project NSS National Service Scheme NZD Nuzvid Ρ Profit PIL Public Interest Litigation PP Counted as double profit in CBA PHC Primary Health Centre p.m. Pro memori, i.e. existing but not counted P.O. Post Office P.T.O. Posts & Telegraph Office PRD Panchayat Raj Department PWD Public Works Department QR Quickness of Response R.C.C. Reinforced Cement Concrete RLEGP Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme RMP Registered Medical Practitioner SC Supreme Court

xiv S/F Success/failure SHIP Society for Human Integrity and Prosperity S.No. Study number Τ Tap TV Television UNRISD United Nations Research Institute for Sustainable Development VDC Village Development Council VDO Village Development Officer VDM Village Development Manager VIP Villages In Partnership VRO Village Reconstruction Organisation W Well WB World Bank WUA Water User Association WUA-P Water User Association President Ζ Zero costs Z.P.P. Zilla Praja Parishad Z.P.P-P. Zilla Praja Parishad President

XV Glossary agricole community tank management system in Pondichery amildar an official andhra name of the land, an aryan race anganawadi child care centre anicut dykes or embankments; diversion dams arthashastra the theory of political economy; also title of a book on this subject by Kautilya ayacut command area of tanks; irrigated area under a tank ayacutdars command area farmers bajra millet banjar waste; unproductive land bhajan devotional songs Bharata Desamu land ruled by King Bharata brahmalingal cheruvu the largest tank in Agiripalli mandai bukkarayasamudram tank named after Bukkaraya in Rayalaseema region bund dam; embankment cheruvu irrigation tank in south India is known as cheruvu; it is a huge earthen dam built across a stream cheruvulu irrigation tanks, plural of cheruvu cbetla that belonging to trees circa rmaramath repairs undertaken by the government damanna name of a person damsooi a practise that symbolises equal opportunity for productivity dasabandha this term occurs in the medieval inscriptions of south India, which means a deduction of one-tenth of the revenue towards compensation for some public work, such as construction of a tank dasabandham long-term grant; British documents note that in the past, cultivators were encouraged to construct tanks through the grant of either rent- free land or an assignment of a portion of the land revenue for maintenance and repairs; these were known as dasabandam irrigation sources dasabandham ¡nam award granted to an individual who constructed a tank, well or a river channel, by means of which the revenue of the state was augmented; the extent and value of the award was in proportion to the capital expended on the work and the revenue obtained deepavali festival of lights celebrated in India devaras village gods dhotis attire of men in rural India dubbu kattu a bundle of paddy given to water manager for his services dusserah a hindu festival in honour of Goddess Kali eri In Tamil Nadu a tank is called eri

xvi eri merah a special tax, contributed in kind by the owners of irrigated land towards the maintenance of irrigation sources eriayam a special cess collected from ryots for maintenance of tanks eripa thi gifts of land for maintenance of tanks golia a sub-strata of Hindu society, shepherd goutham gramabivruiddhi seva sangham goutham village development service society gram village gram kosh village fund gram panchayat council of elected or nominated villagers gram sabha assembly of all inhabitants of a village gram swaraj village independence gramasiri a voluntary organisation working in Guntur district gullies channels hanuman monkey god hussain sagar tank constructed by Nizam Hussain in Hyderabad to supply drinking water to its inhabitants ibrahimpattanam cheruvu tank located 25 km from Hyderabad on Nagarjunasagar road inam award; land grants ipomoea cornia a weed seen widely in Krishna district jatara: a village festival jo war sorghum kabaddi a popular rural sport played all over India kalam unit to measure paddy kalamkari an art of boutique printing in Krishna district kallam a place used for manufacturing bricks kaluva feeder channels kanya unmarried woman kapeerabad a locality in Ramannagudem village karanam village accountant karanams village revenue officials who were responsible and accountable for 'enforcing' the participation of the village community karuvel a fuel wood used in Tamil Nadu kharif monsoon/summer crop kothula kunta village tank in Devaragunta village kuchacha made of mud; temporary kuchipudi an art of dance originating from Krishna district kudimaramath voluntary labour kudivaram a practice of tank system maintenance by the community kuridi cheruvu a village tank in Ramannagudem kunta a system, prevalent in south India, of storing surface rainwater in a percolation tank to recharge the groundwater table and control floods laissez-faire easy going attitude

xvii laxman brother of Lord Sri Rama

Mahabharatha great epic of India mahila mandal/s a women's association/s maistry an irrigation official whose job was to survey the state of all tanks and channels; this term is used in Tamil Nadu mandai village development council; an administrative unit in A.P. mandai a group of revenue villages (introduced in 1985) maniyakar village official medivaram a community practice of tank system maintenance in Andhra Pradesh merkals a volume measure miralam tank tank constructed by King Mir Alam mirasi property in the soil mirasidars one who organised and notified the day on which the work of clearing channels had to be taken up; sharers in privileged rights over village territory munsiffs village revenue officials who were responsible and accountable for enforcing the participation of the village community nadi river nadu a region neerakatti a person who regulates the water neerakattu water distributor, responsible for operating tanks so that farmers get equitable share of water nizam sagar tank constructed by Nizam of Golconda nuvu gingelly oil-seed (sesamum indicum) oddu a system, mostly prevalent in south India, in which a strong masonry wall using lime or cement was made across a stream or river to raise water to a certain height and then divert it to irrigate agricultural lands osman sagar tank constructed by King Osman padayatra march pakala cheruvu tank located near village Pakala in Warangal district panchayat a council of five members/village administrative unit pathas sasthra engineering science used in construction of tanks patta title deed pattadar somebody who has been given a patta pedda big, large, huge polamma name of a woman Polasanipalli village named after Polamma in Nuzvid mandai ponku a light wood used in making the toys (Gyeocarpus Jacqimmi) porumamillatank tank located near Porumamilla village in Cuddapah district pucca concrete puranas sacred texts of Hinduism, composed in the first millennium AD and containing traditional material referring back to an earlier period

х ш raavi cheruvu a village tank in Kanasanapalli rabi winter crop rachba banda a meeting point in the village ragi A high quality dry crop raiyatwari a revenue settlement made with the actual cultivators (ryots) raj community lands and service lands; kingdom; rule; administration ramulu a village tank in Gogulampadu revu a system of collecting stream water, usually found in south India; a small check dam made of stone, clay and grass which diverted water into a nearby well through a connecting channel ryots cultivators sabha assembly sabhaparva section accounting for conduct of the assembly sabhapathi chairperson sagaram in the Eastern ghats there are a few real lakes but along the coast and further inland, shallow depressions occur which get filled, in some cases with freshwater and in others with brackish water; these are known as sagarams or tamparas samiti/samithi a committee sani mistress sarees attire of Indian women sarpanch head of a village, local elected leader satya truth shramdan voluntary labour sita wife of Lord Sri Rama sultan muslim emperor talaab lake Tenali a town in Guntur district telugu language spoken by people of Andhra Pradesh thimmarayasamudram a tank named after the person Thimmaraya in Rayalaseema region Vadlamanu one of the study villages located in Agiripalli mandai vadrangi carpenter vadrangi manu the place of carpenters vana samrakshana samithi forest protection council vedic during the time of vedas veedu place vinayaka elephant god also known as Ganesh winnowing a process in which the milch animals spend time in water to either increase or stabilise their production yadava a sub-strata of Hindu society, cowherd zamindar landlord; owner of lands zamindari rule of landlords zilla district zilla parishad elected council at the district level

xix

Preface

"These youngsters do not love their village Cheruvulu (tanks) anymore?" lamented an elderly person from Mukkollupadu village when the author visited the village in connection with organising a village meeting. He was addressing a core issue of the villages, which developed their habitation and community culture, evolved over the centuries around these water bodies. India, with nearly 800,000 such water bodies, has the innate potential of abundant natural resources which can play a predominant role in shaping its economy.

Why are the minor irrigation structures neglected in a country like India, which is mainly monsoon fed and agriculture oriented? Why are the communities not interested in taking up the responsibility of maintaining their village tanks? How can this issue be addressed so that the irrigation potential created can be optimised and communities' revert to the age-old practices of tank maintenance?

The present study is an attempt to look at some of the factors that contributed to the degradation and neglect of these water bodies. Working with the Society for Human Integrity and Prosperity (SHIP) in the dry land regions of Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh, the author was able to initiate a few tank restoration activities involving the villagers which resulted in evolving a partnership approach to address this issue. The experience and insights gained through the long dialogues with the farmers opened the doors of hope for the future. Since the tanks are a common property, it was prudent from all accounts for SHIP to focus constantly on the collective action at the village-level. Therefore, the author's bias towards viewing the village as an integral part of the whole needs special attention from the readers. Tanks, in the opinion of the author, transcend the seemingly existing divisions in the village and can be an entry point for bringing the communities together.

Since the problem is very complex and gigantic, it calls for the effort of every actor associated with the tank irrigation system, either directly or indirectly, to become part of a long sustaining process.

If the ideas, concerns and aspirations in this paper can inspire a few to become part of a movement to revive the legacy of the tank irrigation system in India, the author would be most gratified. Education is the key to consciousness and consciousness leads to action and action in the right direction means success.

xxi xxii A word of appreciation

A doctoral dissertation is not complete without the direct/indirect contribution of many. However, the contributions of certain people to the process needs special mention because of their relevance and significance in accomplishing the task.

First and foremost the thousands of villagers in Krishna, specially Nuzvid and Agiripalli mandais, who made me sensitive to focus my energies on natural resource management such as land, water and forests in the area. This resulted in creating a data base on tank irrigation system.

My wife Prasuna, daughter Sri Charitha Madhurima and son Priyatham Hara Charan Kumar for extending the moral support and the strength which gave me the energy to see the process through.

Dr.Walter Jahn (Germany), and Mr.Tim Thompson (Wales) for fostering me to link it up with a scientific research that could lead to a doctoral study.

Peter Lanzet and Dr.Manfred Wadehn (EZE, Germany) for generously recommending my name to Oekumenisches Studien Werk (OSW), Bochum, Germany for a scholarship.

Dr.Rudolph Ficker, Director and all the friends at OSW for all the encouragement and support they extended by accommodating my application for a scholarship.

Prof. Dr. James Björkman, Deputy Rector of ISS, the Hague, for establishing my contact with CML, Leiden through Prof.Dr.Wouter T. de Groot, who became my mentor and Chief Promotor.

Prof.Dr. Wouter T. de Groot, Chief Promotor, for all the time, energy and wisdom he shared with me and the insights he provided for a harmony between theory and practice.

The friends and the secretarial staff of CML, Leiden University, and KUN, Nijmegen, for extending all the support services. Annelies Oskam, Marion Godfroy at CML, and Alita van Velzen, Harrie Harings and Nicolette Hollands at KUN, need a special mention for all the excellent logistical support that they extended all through my stay in the Netherlands.

The Leiden University Fund and Cathollogen Fund for extending financial assistance to buy a note book computer which enabled my prudent use of time.

The late Dr.K. Radhakrishna, who was instrumental in sharpening my thought processes and who encouraged me to pursue the doctoral programme.

Prof. Dr. James Björkman and Dr. G.R.S.Rao, Hyderabad, for offering their valuable comments and suggestions.

Chris and Christina Lawson for their help in editing the English.

XXlll My former colleagues and Members of the Governing Body of SHIP who took strenuous efforts in sharing the burden of documenting the minutes of the village meetings and developed the data base.

My former colleagues at the Gandhi Peace Centre and the Academy of Gandhian Studies, Hyderabad for providing initial encouragement.

All the friends at GATE-GTZ (Eschbonn, Germany) who supported the Motivation Education initiative of SHIP which helped in amassing an ocean of information from the fanners.

All the farmers, respondents for the case studies and interviews, who shared their wisdom and knowledge. My friend Rambabu Ahmed for assisting me in data collection and Sri Ramulu for all the art work he rendered. The staff at the Central Survey Office, Hyderabad, for providing me with all the village maps and A.P. State Remote Sensing Institute, Hyderabad, for the topographical maps.

My father, brothers and sisters who extended their spiritual and moral support and assisted me in my studies in one way or the other.

Mrs. Diny van Dijl, for her motherly affection and making my stay comfortable at her home while I was in Nijmegen.

The Lord Almighty, who gave me a wonderful opportunity to lead a second life which made it possible to complete the work. In 1997,1 had a severe heart attack and underwent a major bypass surgery. Dr.Raghavender Rao, Nuzvid, and the surgeons from City Cardiac Research Centre, Vijayawada, who operated me and gave this new life need a mention here.

And finally, all my friends from across the globe who stood by me and encouraged me to complete the studies and offered their support. I owe its completion to all of you.

This humble effort is dedicated to the millions of farmers of India.

xxiv Chapter 1

Research problem and structure of the study

1.1 Genesis of the Study

During the rainy season in 1987, as I was travelling from Vijayawada to Nuzvid, I was stuck in a heavy downpour. I took shelter under a tree. As I observed, water flowed everywhere, carrying silt downstream and ultimately to the sea. I hardly paid any attention to this aspect. During subsequent discussions with the fanners in village meetings held from 1987 onwards, I was confronted by a number of questions by the farmers. The questions may be summarised as:

A. Our minor irrigation tanks are silting up and dilapidated. Yet we appear unable to do anything about it. Do you know why, and can you do something about it? B. The tanks were controlled in the past by communities and subsequently by the Zamindars and now, officially, by the state. But no action is undertaken by the state. Should we and can we take the responsibility? C. The rain water invariably inundates the low-lying areas, before it merges into the sea. Is there no way that we can make better use of this precious resource?

At the very outset, these questions disturbed my thoughts and I began to unfold the mystery behind it both intellectually and through my work with SHIP, an NGO involved with development processes in Krishna district. The result is the present dissertation, which goes into the question of why tanks are dilapidated, and documents and analyses the experiences of the process of the restoration of minor irrigation tanks that the organisation went through during the past decade. 2 Chapter 1

1.2 Tank irrigation and its present status in Andhra Pradesh

Bharata Desamu, the land ruled by King Bharatha during the рте-vedic period, (now known as India), grew around water bodies that criss-crossed the nation.1 These water bodies are often referred to as Cheruvulu fin Andhra Pradesh), talaab (in most parts of the country). The closest term in English language that can to some extent convey the meaning is 'Tank'.

Tanks are earthen reservoirs strategically located in the dry upland areas to store rain water. The system boundaries of tank irrigation include the catchment area, tank bed and command area (see figure 1.1).

Catchment area: it comprises the rainfall zone, feeder channels, water inlets and silt traps located along the feeder channels to arrest soil erosion.

Tank bed area: this pertains to actual water stored in the tank, tank bund, sluice gates and outlets/excess water weirs.

Command area: this includes the field channels that serve the agricultural fields and the area covered under irrigation by the tank.

Tanks are also classified as 'system' and 'non-system' tanks, based on the source of water supply. Tanks depending purely on rainfall are called non-system tanks, while those depending on perennial surface water sources such as reservoirs, rivers, etc., in addition to rainfall, are called system tanks. In Nuzvid town, for instance, the Pedda cheruvu (big tank), when it fills with water and overflows, caters for nearly 40 tanks downstream. Tanks are categorised also on the basis of size of the command area.

Tank irrigation is an age-old phenomenon.2 The great epic Mahabharatha Sabhaparva (Chapter V.Stanza 67) makes reference to tanks:

I hope your realm has reservoirs large and full of water located in the different parts of the land so that agriculture does not depend merely on the caprice of a rain god.

History of Indian Agriculture Vol.3 Quoted from the seminar documents circulated by Andhra University, Vizag. (p 77) Chapter I

Figure 1.1 Tank system and its components

Tank System Catchment + Bed + Command area

1. Catchment zone 2. Feeder channels 3. Bed area 4. Sluice gate 5. Outlet 6. Field channels 7. Command area 8. Tank bund 9. Village 4 Chapter 1 Kautilya's 'Arthashastra' (10th century A.D.). the most authoritative treatise on the ancient political economy of India, states that the King shall construct reservoirs for providing a perennial water supply and that to private individuals who construct reservoirs on their own accord, the King shall provide sites, roads, timbers, etc., without any charge until the private owners realise profits of twice the initial expenditure incurred.

In erstwhile India, the prosperity of the Kingdoms was often equated with the degree of concern shown towards these ancient structures. In an agro-based rural economy, the importance of tank irrigation need not be over emphasized. What is the present status of these structures? According to Koteswara Rao (Chief Engineer, Minor Irrigation Dept., A.P.State Government), 'only fifty percent of these structures are put to actual use at present'. In a land which once took pride in being agriculture-oriented, why this declining trend in using the potential of available water resources?

As part of the semi-structured interviews conducted for the present study, the respondents were asked to share their views on the tank irrigation system in the district and the state. Some of the responses are quoted below. • The former executive engineer of Minor irrigation department (PWD), Vijayawada division, feels that "tank irrigation is familiar since centuries back from the Kakateeya regime. Upland areas mainly depend upon natural rainfall either for irrigation or for domestic and drinking water. In the Vijayawada division of Krishna district there are nearly 275 minor irrigation structures with a command area of more than 40 ha situated in 23 upland mandais covering a command area about 36,375 ha. Many of the tanks were formed during the British rule and a few tanks were formed between 1960 - 1969". • Prof.K.Purushotham Reddy, environmental activist, believes that "tanks symbolise the experiences of the people of the country. The concept of tanks is based on the necessity of the people to store water for future needs. It is symbolic and sustainable. It is time tested and now part of the traditional wisdom of the people of India". • B.V.Subbarao, environmentalist, says that "historical evidence proves that irrigation systems were mastered long back. Local communities developed technical nomenclature and rules of water management. Apart from scientific/technical management systems, these communities evolved specific norms for managing watershed zones (catchment areas) in collaboration with command area farmers. Procedures were laid out to ensure equitable distribution of irrigation waters by the local community". The engineering technique was that practised in the construction of tank Research problem and structure of the study 5 structures was called Pathas Sasthra.3 According to 'Pathas Sasthra' the tankconstruction would need a person well versed in hydrology, hard soil in the tank bed, a good source of water, a depression and fertile and level ground as ayacut. It should not have water oozing out of the bunds, saline soil, high ground in the middle of the tank bed, scanty water supply, or be located in too estuarine an area to be irrigated. Many of the old structures are of great ingenuity. The Zamindars, Kings and feudal landlords played a major role in the development of tank irrigation. They held control over a group of villages and owed allegiance to a King. They were bound to maintain solidarity by paying a fixed sum annually to the King. In order to increase their revenue they constructed tanks with the help of soldiers in peacetime. They collected the taxes and were responsible to maintain the tanks.

The tank irrigation system, historically, can be viewed as having gone through four different phases:

Phase I: The time from the рте-vedic period to the seizure of power by the British in 1857, when the major portion of the country was brought under their rule. During this phase, construction of tanks was patronised by the Kings, Emperors, private individuals and Zamindars. The maintenance of the tanks and water distribution to a great extent remained with the local community. The local communities exercised full authority over these structures and often took pride in managing them. Through experience, each community evolved its own system of maintenance and water management. As stated earlier, the Kings and the Zamindars ensured that the community maintained these structures and where the communities did not respond favourably, private contractors were employed to ensure proper maintenance of the structures. ( Refer to sections 2.7 and 2.8 for traditional tank maintenance and water management.)

Phase II: The colonial era (British rule) which lasted till 1947, when India became an independent country. During this period, major emphasis was laid on tank maintenance by the Public Works Department and water was managed by the local communities. During this phase, as in the case of kudimaramath (refer to Appendix 2), the then existing practices of maintenance and water management faced a lot of changes and slowly some of the age-old techniques were given up by the community. The authority to control the tank irrigation systems was systematically taken over by the colonial powers. This was the beginning of the downfall of traditional tank irrigation systems in India.

History of Agriculture in India, 1982, vol.11 6 Chapter 1 Phase III: In the post-independent era, after 1947, the State took over the responsibility of construction, maintenance and management of tanks. The emphasis was on construction of major dams, major and medium irrigation projects and borewell irrigation in the command areas of minor irrigation schemes (such as tanks). Subsequently, the deterioration of tank irrigation systems that began with colonial rule continued and the degradation of many tanks reached its height. Although where little water is being stored in these dilapidated tanks, the water managers (Neerakatti; refer to Chapter 2) continue to manage the water distribution.

Phase IV: Recognising the tragedy of these common property resources and the urgency to revive the tank irrigation system, the then party in Government in 1994, decided to entrust the management of tanks to the panchayat and shift the authority from the state to the village panchayats. Therefore, the 73rd Constitutional Amendment was introduced through which the panchayats were given the mandate for 29 areas of development including minor irrigation tanks within the boundary of the panchayat. In Andhra Pradesh state, the process of implementing the act was delayed as described in Chapter 8.

A review of the performance of irrigation systems in Andhra Pradesh, prepared by the Institute of Resource Management and Social Development (IRDAS) states that maintenance, which is to be carried out by the Irrigation and Command Area Development (I & CAD) Department, is usually deficient, thus resulting in losses and decline of irrigated areas. Box 1.1 presents a review of the same. This is corroborated by Koteswera Rao (Chief Engineer, Minor Irrigation Department, Andhra Pradesh State Government), who states that only fifty per cent of these structures are put to actual use at present. The same picture appears to hold for India as a whole. What is the cause of this declining trend in using the potential of available water resources?

Palanisami (1990) states that since India=s independence, the development of tank irrigation has stagnated. Several factors have contributed to this, he says. Firstly, the developments of major and medium surface irrigation projects, and of groundwater, have received political and economic priority. Exploitation of favourable sites for surface projects has helped major and medium surface irrigation development to expand on a large scale, and groundwater development has been favoured by the introduction of diesel and electric pump technology and the availability of institutional finance.Tan k irrigation has been neglected both by the government and the local community. From 1960 to 1983 alone, the exploitation of the groundwater has been so fast that it rose from 30 % to 42 % of irrigation nationally, and the proportion of the tank irrigation declined from 19 % Research problem and structure of the study 7 to 12 % nationally.

In addition, according to Palanisami, other factors, such as heavy siltation of the tank and feeder channels, encroachment on the tank foreshore area, deforestation in the catchment area, poor functioning of the tank sluice, defective tank structures and weak organisation of farmers have contributed to the decline in tank performance. Tank siltation has reduced the water storage capacity by about 15% on average, and in some tanks heavy siltation has almost eliminated the storage capacity. In conjunction with this siltation, during the last few decades farmers lave slowly encroached on the tank storage areas. Box 1.1. Review of irrigation systems in Andhra Pradesh Major & Medium Irrigation: Most major and medium irrigation schemes were designed and implemented for famine relief and extensive irrigation in order to benefit the largest number of farmers with a limited amount of water. In all major and medium irrigation schemes, farmers located in the upper reaches have access to more water than those located in the lower reaches, thus resulting in a gap between the potential created and the actual areas irrigated. The major reasons for this inequitable distribution are: a) insufficient water availability for the type of crops grown by fanners, b) poor maintenance, and c) inadequate water management. For example, though many areas have been localised for irrigated dry (ID) crops, farmers are actually planting irrigated wet (IW) crops, thus resulting in an overall shortage of water. Poor maintenance has reduced conveyance capacity of canal and increased seepage losses, thus leading to inadequate water supply to the lower reaches. Finally, in the absence of well established and agreed system operation plans, most farmers take water on a >first come first served = basis resulting in inadequate water availability and erratic water distribution in the tail end areas. An aggravating factor has been the management of these schemes by the Irrigation & Command Area Development (I& CAD) Department without proper involvement of the beneficiaries, thus leading to the inability of its staff to enforce existing Acts and Regulations compounded by the inevitable lack of accountability. Minor Irrigation: Generally the management of minor tank irrigation schemes is better due to involvement of farmers. In addition, overall performance of most minor irrigation tanks is more sensitive to droughts and cyclones due to their small size. Yet, it may be said that they are the life-line to the village communities. They help not only in providing food to villagers but also have a favourable impact on the environment. Ground (Well) Water: In contrast to surface water irrigation, ground water irrigation has been mostly developed by the private sector with the assistance of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and a) the State Ground Water Department and A.P. State Irrigation Development Corporation (created in 1974), and b) the Panchayat Raj Department. Individual farmers and, in some cases, groups of farmers tap groundwater mostly by excavating shallow open wells in weathered hard rock formations. There are at present about 1.5 million such wells in A.P. The area irrigated by these wells has steadily increased from 0.80 million ha in 1971-72 to almost 2.203 million ha in 1995-96. Most of these wells are directly managed by their owners who pay for the full operation and maintenance of their ground water irrigation systems at the prevailing subsidised electricity costs. 8 Chapter 1

1.3 Research problem and research questions

Empirical evidence and the experience of the researcher indicates that minor tank maintenance and restoration, continue to be neglected by both the state and the community. The village tanks, which once were the pride of the community, no longer seem to serve the purpose for which they were created. The village communities, which in the past took pride in restoring and managing the village based irrigation structures, do not seem to have motivation and/or capacity in maintaining these structures. Why? What are the problems that contribute to this neglect and degradation of tanks and what can be done at the local level to restore and revive these irrigation structures?

This can be structured as the following set of research questions:

1. Why are the tanks not restored? 1 a. what economic factors contribute to the non-restoration? 1 b. what political factors or policies contribute to the non-restoration? 1 с what social factors contribute to the non-restoration? 2. What may be reasons of success /failure of interventions such as those of SHIP? 3. What new approach may be based on these lessons, connected to the factors that contribute to non-restoration?

1.4 Common property resources

Tanks are a community asset and the research question, therefore, relates to common property theory.

According the National Research Council Journal (1986 - p.3), common property resources include fisheries, wildlife, surface and ground water, range and forests. It is important to delineate the characteristics shared by these resources, and to distinguish between the resource and the property rights regime in which the resource is held. They share important characteristics such as excludability and subtractability. Excludability or control of access of potential users may be costly, and in the extreme virtually impossible, for example encroachment of bed the area. Subtractability means that each user is capable of subtracting from the welfare of other users. Even if users cooperate to enhance the productivity of their resource, for instance by desilting the tank, the nature of the resource is such that the level of exploitation by one user adversely affects the ability of another user to exploit the resource. Subtractability is the source of the potential divergence between an Research problem and structure of the study 9 individual farmer and collective rationality. If one user pumps more water from an aquifer, other users will experience an increase in pumping costs as aggregate use approaches or exceeds recharge capacity. Thus, as also stressed by Olson (1965), Hardin (1968) and many others, common property resources are vulnerable to become a 'tragedy of the commons', when more and more members of the resource group become free riders. The crux of successful common property institutions, examples of which are given by Ostrom (1987), therefore is to prevent free riding behaviour. That many of such institutions can be successful over long periods of time is evident from Ostrom and from MacCay (1988) who states that the persistence of common property resources is not an historical accident; these arrangements build on knowledge of the resource and cultural norms that have evolved and been tested over time.

Ostrom (1987) states that the social and political characteristics of the users of the resource and how they relate to the larger political system affect the ability of the local groups to organise the management of the communal property. Regier and Grima (1985) define communal property, as the resource that is held by an identifiable community of interdependent users. These users exclude outsiders while regulating use by members of the local community. Within the community, rights to the resources are unlikely to be either exclusive or transferable; they are often rights of equal access and use. For example, water-users associations for many ground water and irrigation systems can be included in this category. The rights of the group may be legally recognised. In other cases the rightsar e de facto, depending on the benign neglect of the state. Major threats for common property institutions come from external rather than internal forces.

In India it was the British and then the State which took over the responsibility of these structures. Wade (1986) argues that state governance does not necessarily ensure sustainable use of common property resources. Chapgain feels that when responsibility for control is taken away, there is little doubt that the village loses something in terms of its own sense of responsibility. Bromley (1989) further adds to this contention that when local-level institutional arrangements were undermined or destroyed, the erstwhile common property regimes gradually converted into open access in which the rule of capture drove each to get as much as possible before others did. The dissolution of traditional local institutional arrangements has not been followed by the establishment of more effective institutions, and national governments have not adequately substituted for these former resource management regimes.

This is the background for working on the research questions. Question la will look into the economic merits of tank restoration, distinguishing between the 10 Chapter I collective and the private levels, exploring the motivational structure that is the 'tragedy of the commons' condition. Question lb leads into the issue of why the institutional capacity of the panchayat is pre-empted by the state. Question lc provides a, inter alia, on the institutional capacity (>collective social capital=) of the communities. Responses to Question 2 will go into both the motivational (collective/private) factors and capacity factors of tank restoration, and for Question 3, the approach for tank restoration will be based on combining the institutional capacity of the panchayats with the collective-level motivation provided by the bankability of tank restoration.

1.5 Structure of the study

The present study examines the factors that contribute to the neglect and degradation of tank irrigation system in Krishna district in particular, and the State of Andhra Pradesh in general. It further looks into partnership interventions to revive these structures. Up to Chapter 4, the text provides background information supporting the questions raised. Chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8 attempt to answer these questions. Chapter 9 analyses the success and failures of interventions and draws conclusions at the local and national level.

Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the tank irrigation system, the concepts, status of tank irrigation, concepts on common property resources and the research questions addressed by this study.

Chapter 2 mainly focuses on the Indian agricultural scenario, the emerging trends in shifting technologies and practices, a comparison between the major ys minor irrigation systems, the availability of rain water and then deals with the functions of tanks in nature, and the management and maintenance systems of the past and the present. The Chapter concludes with a brief summary.

Chapter 3 leads the reader to understand the study area, the present status of tank irrigation in Andhra Pradesh, Krishna, Nuzvid and Agiripalli and summarises the problems associated with tank maintenance and management.

Chapter 4 presents the description of the methodology used for collecting the data from primary and secondary sources, the tools of analysis used and the treatment of the Likert scale statements and finally the treatment of the data.

Chapter 5 addresses research Question la, focussing on an economic approach to the non-restoration problem. A hypothetical tank is treated with cost-benefit Research problem and structure of the study 11 analysis to examine the costs and benefits that accrue at the individual farmer level, community and larger context.

Chapter 6 relates primarily to research Question lc. It provides the profiles of the study villages, with a special focus on 'Collective social capital' as perceived by the researcher using social capital indicators. The profiles provide an insight into the general characteristics of the village, the unique features, if any, and then end up with the social capital indicators. The chapter ends with a summary of these indicators.

Chapter 7 provides an analysis of Likert scale interviews at the village-level and supra-local level to understand further social factors that contribute for non- restoration of tanks (Question lc). It further looks into the political factors that might have influenced this non-restoration at the village-level and state level (Question lb). The motivation and the self-perceived capacity of the villagers, as stated through the Likert scale statements are then compared with the outcome of the CBA assessment of Chapter 5 and the collective social capital indicators of Chapter 6. The Chapter ends with the conclusions drawn out of this analysis.

Chapter 8 addresses the theoretical framework on the concept, types of interventions, participation and approaches. Most of the data of this Chapter comes from village-level work of SHIP, an NGO working for the socio-economic and spiritual well-being of the rural communities. Section 3 of the Chapter presents selected case studies/experiments which influenced the interventions of SHIP. Each case study ends with the lessons learned from it. Section 4 introduces SHIP, its ideology, the partnership approach and restoration processes. Section 5 details the interventions undertaken by SHIP with reference to tank restoration processes in the study villages. Each village intervention ends with ranking on a five-point scale of intensity of SHIP ' s motivation effort and the degree of success/failure. The last section of the Chapter presents the summary of the evaluation of SHIP'S interventions by the communities and by an outsider.

Chapter 9 attempts the final analysis of the success and failures of interventions. All independent and dependent variables are taken out from Chapters 6, 7 and 8. They include capacity factors (researcher-assessed and self-assessed), motivational factors (researcher-assessed and self-assessed), the intensity of SHIP ' s intervention and as the dependent variable the success/failure scores. The analysis is made on two levels: 1) single factor analysis, and 2) multiple factor analysis. The conclusions are then presented at the end. They include the future prospects of tank restoration. 12 Chapter 1 The Appendices provide a review of Fi ve-Year Plans, the details ofkudimaramath (tank maintenance system), the forest encroachment problem in the study village, the interview schedule and the economics of bricks, tiles and cultivating paddy in one acre.

A chapter by chapter review is presented in English and Dutch in the end. Chapter 2

Tank irrigation systems

2.1 Introduction and structure of the chapter

This background chapter deals with an overview of Indian agriculture, trends in shifting technologies and practices, the two schools of thought on major vs minor irrigation, tank irrigation in general, types of irrigation, tank system components, functions of tanks in nature, tank irrigation water management and maintenance of the tanks. This chapter also provides insights into the past traditions of tank irrigation system and in the present developments. One particular system of maintenance is summarised and the detailed account is presented in Appendix 2. As a technical basis, the types of irrigation are treated first.

2.2 Overview of Indian agriculture

In the race to cope with the pace of development, the 1950 government headed by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, was attracted by western development models and adapted the same to India. These models focussed on heavy industrialisation, mass production, an open market, centralised structures and huge investments in infrastructure. The choice was between the western capitalist economy or the Soviet Union's socialist economy. India opted for a mixed economy wherein the essential services are controlled by the public sector and consumer industry is controlled by the private sector. In this process, agriculture, which is the backbone 14 Chapter 2 of the Indian economy, was given attention in all the plans. However, the thrust was more on large scale irrigation structures. Pandit Nehru said "Big dams are the temples of modern India". True to this belief, the country spent billions of rupees in constructing major dams across major Indian rivers which contributed a great deal in increasing food production from 135 million metric tonnes to approximately 225 million metric tonnes to date, making India the second largest rice producing country in the world. The agricultural experts believe that with all the investment and thrust in increasing production, 2/3 rd of the available cultivable land is now put to effective use. See Table 2.1.

Table: 2.1 Pattern of Land Utilisation for the country ('000 hectares).

Reported area for land utilisation 304,863 100 % Forests 68,421 22.44 % Not available for cultivation 41,010 13.45 % Permanent pastures & grazing lands 11,176 3.67 % Tree crops & groves 3,657 1.19% Culturable waste land 14,468 4.75 % Fallow land 9,703 3.18% Current fallow lands 14,333 4.70% Net area sown 142,095 46.61 % Area sown more than once 44,325 Total cropped area 186,420

Source: Statistical Abstract, Central Statistical Office, GOI, New Delhi.

The total area reported for land utilisation is 304,863 million hectares of which 22% is designated forest land and 13 % is not available for cultivation. Of the remaining 64 % of land available, 73 % is the net area sown. About 31% of the net sown area is sown more than once. It is clear from these figures that not much more potential is present for expanding the cultivated area. The greatest potential is in improving the intensity of agriculture and growing more than one crop per year. One of the former government officials from the revenue department once said emphatically that "the future millionaires of India shall be from the agriculture sector". There is an element of optimism in what he says which is based on the history of Indian agriculture. Surely there are many others who believe in what he says. Tank irrigation systems 15

According to CSE (1985), India receives on an average 1136 mm of annual rainfall. In periods of heavy rains, the reservoirs overflow, because no dredging operations have been undertaken since the major dams were constructed. The CSE report indicates that on an average 2.5 cm of top soil silt erodes and deposits into various reservoirs, ponds, lakes and tanks. This over a period of time reduces the capacity of the reservoirs. In 1998, when the state of Andhra Pradesh received incessant rains, the Srisailam reservoir built across river Krishna could not cope with the inflow of the water it received. People living downstream of the river were evacuated fearing inundation.

All over the country, the concern rises concerning the siltation of reservoirs. The rainy season is only for four months and with reservoirs silted up, how can we preserve the rainwater? If agriculture is to be remunerative to the small and marginal farmers, then it becomes increasingly important to focus on all the available irrigation structures and their proper restoration.

2.3 Trends in shifting technologies and practices

The farmers always took pride in owning farm animals and producing their own seeds, be it kharif (wet) or rabi (dry) crops. During the interviews and village meetings we were told that a portion of the crop used to be either harvested 10 days before or after the harvest so as to be used as seeds for the coming crop. Due to the invention of modern varieties and centralised nurseries, this practice faded away into history. It is a rare sight to see farmers producing their own seeds. The present practice is buying seeds or seedlings either from the government or from a trader. The same is true in the use of oxen for ploughing operations. Tractors replaced these old practices. This is more so in recent years as the number of tractors is on the increase. District cooperative banks and nationalised banks provide soft loans for the purchase of a tractor; it has become a viable investment since an enterprising farmer can recover the investment over a period of four to five years after realising the expenses incurred and using it for his own agricultural operations. In my involvement with the villages in Krishna district I have not come across a single village that is without a tractor.

In a pilot study conducted by SHIP focussing on the local varieties that are cultivated, farmers from the older generation remembered having at least 10 to 12 varieties of rice produced locally. Each region has its specialised variety. The late Dr.Richaria, an agricultural scientist, said that there used to be 70,000 rice varieties in the country. His centre in Raipur, Madhya Pradesh, is trying to preserve all the available rice varieties and they have succeeded in collecting about 10,000 16 Chapter 2 varieties. Today, there are only a few varieties in circulation. Intensive agriculture demanded the need for increased use of chemical fertilizers. With the use of fertilizers came the pests and the use of pesticides. Farmyard manure for which there used to be a great demand in the old days has become a rare commodity. Of late, realising the ill effects of excessive use of chemical fertilizers, many farmers in the research region are returning to the old practice of farmyard manure.

In post-independent India, the shift was from subsistence agriculture to commercial agriculture. Intensive agriculture increased in some parts of the country where irrigation was made available through canals or boreholes. The choice of crops drifted from self-consuming food production to market oriented production. Agriculture has become more competitive for landlords and less remunerative to the small and marginal farmers.

2.4 Major vs Minor irrigation systems

It is evident from the review of the objectives and focus of the Five-Year Plans, see Appendix 1, that the thrust of development efforts has been towards industrialisation. Since India is predominantly agriculture oriented, investment was made on large-scale irrigation structures. One school of thought subscribes to the idea that if the country would like to keep pace with the development trends of the world, then it must necessarily invest in major projects which can increase the pace of growth by bringing additional acreage under cultivation. According to B.V. Subbarao, environmentalist, ' the beginning of the post independent era has set objectives in achieving self-sufficiency in food grain production. This objective was strengthened by planners and engineers in developing major irrigation systems. By the mid-seventies, the country achieved self-sufficiency in food grain production. But today, the adverse effects of major irrigation systems are recognised'.

Another school of thought believes that 'small is beautiful'. Small-scale or minor irrigation structures played a vital role in Indian agriculture, and investment in major dams should not be at the expense of minor irrigation tanks, this school of thought asserts. Nearly 45 - 50% of the cultivated land lies under tank irrigation, but these are highly neglected. Prof. Purushotham Reddy, who pioneered many environmental movements in the state of Andhra Pradesh, feels:1

Quoted from his interview responses of the study Tank irrigation systems 17

"Tanks symbolise the experiences of the people of the country. The concept of tanks is based on the necessity of the people to store water for future needs. It is symbolic and sustainable. It is time-tested and now part of the traditional wisdom of the people of our country".

Minor irrigation structures are defined as an irrigation scheme having a culturable command area of up to 2,000 hectares. A minor irrigation unit is to be identified with reference to source of water, pattern of lift, ownership etc. This definition embraces the irrigation under wells, tube wells, filter points, and tanks. They are characterised by less capital, shorter gestation periods and easier mobilisation of local labour than major irrigation works. The benefits of minor irrigation are thus extendable to every corner of all rural, tribal and drought-prone areas.2 Dasarath Reddy, involved in restoring tanks in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, believes that it is difficult to imagine 'India without tanks'.3

A brief review of how much has been invested in major/ medium and minor irrigation structures in the five-year plans at the national level reveals that the thrust of all the plans was on major/medium irrigation structures; see Table 2.2.

Thus, the total investment in irrigation has been 406,033 million Rupees. Of this, 36 % went to minor irrigation. This includes the investment in wells, tube wells etc. The investment in tanks was negligible. Investment per hectare of irrigation potential created was: Major and medium irrigation: Rs.1,526 to Rs 73,556 (1st to 7th Plan) per hectare and Minor irrigation: Rs.569 to Rs 7,078 (1st to 7th plan)4. This indicates that investment in minor irrigation is in fact much more efficient than in major irrigation.

TJureau of Economics and Statistics documents (1996), Hyderabad. 3 Quoted from his interview responses of the study 4 Interview responses of B.V.Subbarao. 18 Chapter 2 Table: 2.2 National Investment during the plan periods (in million Rupees)

Plan Major/mediu Minor First Plan 3,800 660 Second Plan 3,800 1,615 Third Plan 5,810 4,432 Annual Plan 4,340 5,607 Fourth Plan 12,370 11,740 Annual Plan 24,420 14,112 Fifth Plan 20,560 9,870 Sixth Plan 75,160 32,395 Seventh Plan 111,070 64,269 Total 261,330 144,703

Source: Eighth Five Year Plan Draft, GOL

Table: 2.3 Area irrigated by water source ('000 hectares). (Figures are for the entire country)

S.No Year Canals Tanks Wells Other sources 1 1949 - 50 6,853 3,434 5,539 4,326 2 1959 - 60 8,752 4,648 7,083 3,513 3 1969 - 70 11,363 4,417 11,189 3,437 4 1979 - 80 13,914 3,482 17,817 3,265 5 1986 - 87 15,841 2,983 21,046 3,179

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi.5

It is evident from Table 2.3 that there is a decline in the area irrigated under tanks. On the other hand, there is an increase in the area irrigated under canals and wells. This truly reflects the thrust of the planned effort. One can see an enormous increase in the area irrigated under borewells which are part of the process of privatisation. These wells often receive a large subsidy and loan on nominal interest. It is quite natural that if water is available in the boreholes of a tank's command area, why should a command area farmer take responsibility for the

5Taken from 'Dying Wisdom' published by CSE, New Delhi 1997. Tank irrigation systems 19 common property? Even if water in the tank would be necessary to seep to the borewells, still the stage is set for a tragedy of the commons. This borewell culture, introduced some time in the mid-sixties, swept the country. There are places, for example, like Gogulampadu which is one of the study villages, with an estimated 200 boreholes in a command area of 600 acres. (Farmers interviews- 1998) Since the mechanism to recharge the groundwater, which is often performed by the village tank, is neglected, farmers are forced to deepen their borewells year after year. It is no surprise that they go down to 130 metres nowadays to draw water. In the dry regions of the country this goes even down to 300 metres. The plight is unimaginable.

2.5 Rainfall

In tank irrigation system rainfall plays an important role. The precipitation of the area was taken into account while the tanks were constructed in the olden days. During the interaction with the farmers, the researcher often heard that the rainfall is insufficient and sparsely distributed during the year. Hence, they cannot have good crops. SHIP gathered the day to day rainfall data for Nuzvid from 1926 onwards. The summary of the total rainfall received in each year is presented in Table.2.4. It is evident from the figuresthat , even in the worst drought years, the average rainfall was not below 500 mm in a year. Usually the rainy season is from June to October and that is when heavy rains occur. The major function of tanks in this area is to store the rain water and provide it for irrigation. If the tanks are dilapidated, the water will overflow to the low-lying areas. We need to take everypossible measure so that the water is not let off into the sea. In 1998 Andhra Pradesh was badly hit by cyclones and incessant rains. The major reservoirs exhausted their storage capacity, the dilapidated tanks got breached and hence the low-lying areas along the coast were flooded.. If all the tanks were restored to their capacity, the water could have been stored in these structures and the benefits of irrigation accrued to the farmers primarily and to the state by and large. This was not an isolated case that happened last year. From 1977-1997, almost every third year there have been floods inundating vast tracts of fields and ultimately, the water findingit s way to the sea. Particularly in 1993 the state was hit by severe cyclones and, since the reservoirs could not take the water, in a matter of four hours the quantity of water discharged into the sea could have been sufficient to irrigate the entire arable lands in the state of Andhra Pradesh to reap two full crops of paddy. Obviously, the restoration of minor irrigation tanks is not a minor issue. 20 Chapter 2 Table: 2.4. Annual precipitation in Nuzvid division from 1926 -1997 (in mm)

Year RainfaU Year RainfaU Year Rainfall 7926 781.05 1950 949.71 1974 756.60 1927 1,059.18 1951 899.16 1975 1333.00 1928 842.52 1952 566.67 1976 1,08338 1929 813.05 1953 857.25 1977 957.80 1930 1,315.97 1954 751.84 1978 1,15230 1931 1,175.51 1955 983.74 1979 600.40 1932 917.44 1956 1,254.51 1980 1,263.50 1933 1,085 34 1957 1,003.55 1981 872.10 1934 765.67 1958 1357.63 1982 842.40 1935 685.80 1959 891.30 1983 1,287.10 1936 964.95 1960 600.06 1984 501.70 1937 624.08 1961 1,075.34 1985 1,003.70 1938 1,00838 1962 1,187.85 1986 1190.80 1939 1,072.64 1963 1,191.10 1987 879.60 1940 76530 1964 1,005.40 1988 1,026.70 1941 1,033.78 1965 973.00 1989 1,470.80 1942 1,036.83 1966 949.80 1990 1,285.20 1943 1,070.86 1967 651.10 1991 948.90 1944 1,130.05 1968 802.20 1992 750.70 1945 824.48 1969 1,423.90 1993 733.80 1946 1,097.53 1970 1,186.50 1994 918.50 1947 1302.00 1971 1,065.60 1995 1,210.10 1948 870.46 1972 880.30 1996 821.40 1949 1,126.24 1973 823.30 1997 687.72

Source: Mandai Statistical Office, Mandai Revenue Office, Nuzvid.

In Table 2.5 are presented the daily average precipitation in Nuzvid division from 1926 to 1998. As can be seen from the Table, the real precipitation is in the months between June to September, which is the monsoon season. Although the monsoon ends in September, in October and November, the averages are relatively high, due to the fact that the cyclones occur during these months, roughly every two years. Tank irrigation systems 21 Table. 2.5 Daily average rainfall from 1926 to 1998- Nuzvid division (in mm)

S.No Month Rainfall 1 January 0.15 2 February 0.06 3 March 0.24 4 April 0.36 5 May 0.86 6 June 2.15 7 July 3.97 8 August 3.77 9 September 3.25 10 October 2.39 11 November 2.55 12 December 0.12

Source: Mandai Revenue Office, Nuzvid

In an interview with Dr. Narayan, it was noted that India is a monsoon fed country, and the rainfall is dispersed geographically. While the figures may account for a good rainfall, for harnessing the rainwater is essential. It is not the total rainfall per se that matters, but the extent of availability of water for irrigation that counts most. In a country like India it is necessary to preserve every drop of water, especially in dry regions, so that optimum benefits can avail. For example, not even 10 per cent of the river Godavari's water were being properly utilised. Therefore, every effort is needed and all possible sources of storage should be fully tapped, if the country is to improve its agricultural production and thereby its economy.

2.6 Functions of Tanks

I knew as a child that a tank is used for swimming, that animals spend time in the tank, that water is brought from the tank for domestic purposes etc. My real education and exposure came from the farmers who listed a number of uses of tanks. Mike Fiengold and Subbarao, who often spent considerable time during the early stages, enlarged the list. In 1996, while attending a course with Wageningen Agricultural University, I was to present a paper on the 'cost-benefit analysis of tank restoration'. I used the CPSH+PR classification developed by De Groot (1992) to look into the functions in a more systematic manner which would help 22 Chapter 2 in identifying the benefits that accrue under a well-functioning tank.

The degree to which the environment is an active factor in the people-environment relationship may be used (as a classificatory principle) to define the six function types in the CPSH+PR classification. In this way, the functions are defined as follows below. They have been arranged in steps from the most passive to the most active role of the environment.

• Carrying functions are characterised by the environment providing nothing more than space, substrate or backdrop for human activities. The carrying functions associatedwith tanb are that they provide raw material, i.e., the silt for manufacturing bricL·, tiles, pottery and local cement; provide a link between the villages (often, it is the bund which functions as a link road), and provide space for water sports, boating, recreation etc. • Joint production functions are defined by the types of relationships in which human decisions and inputs remain a dominant factor, but in which the environment is also actively involved, providing, for instance, soil fertility and the will-to-develop (telos) inherent in plants and animals. The joint production functions related to tanks are that they help in re-charging the ground water and the availability of surface water in the tank, resulting in increased agricultural production of the command area; that the livestock spend at least a couple of hours in the tank which helps them to stabilise the milk yield during the dry season and maintain the fertility cycle; that the silt application in the fields helps in reducing the production costs and increasing the yield; that water in the tanks is an attraction to frogs which are friends of farmers in controlling the insects; and the water spread area can be used to grow jute (a raw material used for making bags). Tank irrigation systems 23 Figure. 2.1 Functions of tanks Chapter 2

Natural production functions are characterised by the fact that the environment produces (or has produced in history) largely on its own; human beings are only the harvesters. Harvesting, in this function category, is confined to physical entities (oil, wildlife etc.). The water in the tanL· helps in controlling the temperature and humidity; the drinking water wells, which are often located on the edge of the tank get re-charged; the washermen community use the tank for washing clothes; the tanL· provide the space for undertaking fishing, growing of food and fuel-wood species; and the external part of the bund can be used for growing fodder varieties, which apart f rom providing food for livestock, also helps in arresting soil erosion. Signification functions are defined by the fact that the environment again largely 'produces' on its own and human beings are only the 'harvesters'. But 'harvesting ' now lies in the cognitive and spiritual realms, e.g those of science, cultural orientation and spiritual participation. The term 'signification' has been chosen as a reference to both the relatively superficial concept of 'to signal' and the deeper concept of 'to signify'. It was observed that most of the tanL· are associated with a festival which is celebrated with much enthusiasm and which contributed in developing a new culture and value system in the society; since the tanL· are a common property, they help in fostering social coherence, develop local leadership and organisational capacity etc., and finally, they contribute in generating a feeling of security in the sociol-economic-political spheres. Habitat functions are those of which not humans but the other intrinsically valuable inhabitants of the earth are the prime beneficiaries; habitat function is the provision of their ecological home. During winter, when the tanks are full with water, it is a natural sight to see many migratory birds resting on the water which becomes their second home. Sometimes birds from Siberia can be seen in these tanL·. Processing functions are characterised by all the relationships in which people benefit from the capacity of the environment to undo the harm or risk inherent in human actions. In many of these functions (e.g dilution, sequestration). The environment is relatively passive. In others (e.g. chemical transformation or the processing of organic waste) the environment plays a more active role. Regulation functions refer to the capacity of components of the environment to dampen harmful influences from other components. Often, this takes the form of a shield against too high levels of something, e.g cosmic radiation or floods. In other instances, it is the dampening of processes that tend to go too fast or fluctuate too widely, e.g soil erosion, the development of pests or river flowfluctuations. When tanL· are properly Tank irrigation systems 25 maintained and restored, they help in arresting floods in downstream and mitigating drought in dryland/upland areas.

The processing and regulation functions underlay the others. Hence, in systematic analysis such as the cost-benefit analysis of Chapter 5, in order to prevent double counting only the processing and regulation functions that express themselves outside the area under analysis should be counted.

As part of the interviews with the farmers and other respondents, information was elicited on the functions of tanks. A great majority of them stated that tanks help in the following areas: • provide water for irrigation; • support activities like fishing, brick kilns, tiles and local cement production; • the tank silt is an excellent manure for the command area farms; • water is used for drinking, bathing and washing; • ground water is recharged • plantations can be made in the bed and bund area; and • promoted community unity and cohesion.

The former president of Mukkollupadu village in long conversations with the researcher stated another result of the application of silt to the command area fields. He said the quality of produce in its richnesso f taste and natural nutrient value is of paramount importance. According to him when one consumes the food produced with silt as a manure, people look healthy, strong, energetic and can take any amount of hard work. This healthy food minimises the risk of ailments and the need to take medicines. Reliable evidence is needed to strengthen his contention.

The following box and figure give an overview of the total of tanks functions. The same structure will be used in the cost-benefit analysis of Chapter 5. 26 Chapter 2

Box 2.1. Tanks in Nature

Carrying Functions: * Provide raw materials for bricks, tiles, pottery, local cement production * Provide links between villages * Recreation source for water sports, boating, etc. Joint Production Functions: * Agricultural production in command areas either through re-charge of ground water through percolation, and/or through surface irrigation * Water for live-stock (animals) * Increased yields in command area through soil improvement by silt application * Increased population of frogs to combat pests in crops. * Production of jute-raw material used for making gunny bags. Natural Production Functions: * Help in controlling the temperature and humidity in atmosphere * Provide water for drinking or washing * Assist in increasing food and fuel production —fishing, production of green manure, bio-mass growing of crops like chestnut, black thumma etc. * Help in fodder production - khas-khas grass Signification Functions: * Contributed in developing a new culture and value system in the society * Help in fostering social coherence, leadership development, organisational capacity etc. * Help in generating a feeling of security in the socio-economic-political spheres Habitat Functions: * Function as a second home for migratory birds. Regulation Functions (external): * Help in arresting floods and drought downstream.

The functions of tanks in nature are depicted in figure 2.1. These concepts and drawings are used by SHIP motivators in their village meetings to motivate the farmers to take up tank restoration and revive past traditions.

2.7 Tank irrigation management

Tank irrigation management carries with it two elements, (1) the maintenance of the physical structures and (2) the water distribution. The management of tanks by the local communities varied from place to place and region to region. Generally in the entire country a few distinct practices prevailed. These practices Tank irrigation systems 27 are called Kudimaramath, Dasabandha, and Neerakatti. They experienced upheavals when there was a change of King or ruler. Different communities in various parts adopted mechanisms and systems for both tank system maintenance and water distribution. For instance, Damoosi, a practise that symbolises equal opportunity for productivity (Wamana, Vol.5, No.3), is practised in parts of Kamataka State. Dasabandham, meaning a deduction of one-tenth of the revenue towards compensation for construction of a tank, is a long-term grant. British documents note that in the past, cultivators were encouraged to construct tanks through the grant of either rent-free land or an assignment of a portion of the land revenue for maintenance and repairs. These were, then, known as dasabandham irrigation sources. Dasabandham inam is an award granted to an individual who constructed a tank, well or a river channel, by means of which the revenue of the state was augmented. The extent and value of the award was in proportion to the capital expended on the work and the revenue obtained. Neerakatti, a person who regulates the water distribution, is practised in Krishna district and some other parts of the state. There are extensive studies made on these practices and this study will present the excerpts from such study in toto to give the reader a glimpse of how the transformation took place from time to time (see Annexure 2).

2.7.1 Water distribution systems - Neerakatti (Water Manager)

Tank irrigation always was guided by the procedures, rules and regulations evolved by the community. Since the state took over the formal authority of all these bodies, the responsibility of the community was limited to the extent of using the water for irrigation and for other purposes. Though the community does not hold the control of the tank, or for that matter any of the natural resources, the presence of a water manager in dryland areas under tank irrigation seems to be predominant. This is very true in the case of Nuzvid sub-division which has about 250 tanks; almost every tank that has even limited capacity to retain rainwater has a water manager, 'Neerakatti', as he is usually referred to. In Nuzvid and Agiripalli Mandais, the motivators of SHIP documented the practices of Neerakatti in different villages. All the twelve water managers were interviewed. This section summarises the functions, role, nature and scope of the Neerakatti as pronounced by the farmers. These functions are more or less the same for all the water managers in the study villages.

Kalaturu village Neerakatti system

There are six tanks in this village. However, only two tanks, with a command area of 54 and 91 acres, have a water manager. The lands under the command area 28 Chapter 2 belong to farmers from three villages. The farmers appointed the water manager. He has been the water manager during the past ten years. His responsibilities include: • be at the tank from 07.00 hrs to 18.00 hrs daily when the water is there • regulate the sluice gate, i.e., to close it and open it when needed • follow the orders of the individual farmer to open and close the gates • keep watch on the tank, irrespective of rainfall, and regulate the tank • keep watch on the fields, preventing grazing and stealing of grass for animals • close the gate when it is raining to allow storage of water • keep watch of the harvest of the farmers during the night, • prevent the unauthorised use of water by the farmers • apprise the farmers about the repairs needed for the gates well in advance • be responsible for water in the tank during the season.

He is paid in kind at the time of harvest. He gets 80 kg of paddy per hectare. If the farmer is generous, he gets a bit more. He also gets the dry straw which he can use for his animals or sell to the people. When there is crop failure, the farmers decide to pay him the daily wage for the months he worked as a water manager, which is Rs.30 per day. According to the water manager himself, he prefers payment in kind.

Kanasanapalli water management system

There is only one tank in this village which is called Raavi Tank (a peepul tree is located on the banks of the tank). Sri.Ammisetti Mangarao (45) is the water manager and has been working for 20 years. A total of 75 acres is under cultivation under this tank. Only paddy is grown in this area and during the summer and rest of the year, the fields are used as grazing lands. Because of the late arrival of rains in 1994, only 40 acres of paddy was irrigated under the tank.

The water manager gets paid about 100 kg of paddy per hectare and a bundle of hay. If there are no rains, he does not get anything. When it rains, his duty is to close the sluice gates and irrigate the fields. The field is irrigated thrice during the season. First, when transplantation takes place, second, at the time of Dubbukattu and finally, when the crop begins to flower. He will also take care to bridge the breaches on the field channels in the command area. After harvesting the paddy, he keeps vigil in the nights to prevent stealing and grazing. He stays in the field till late evening.

Below this tank, until five years ago, the water was sufficient for three irrigations. Tank irrigarìon systems 29

Once the tank was full with water, irrigation was allowed and the tank filled again with rain water. This year, the tank was full once and water was let into the fields, but there was a failure of the monsoon which resulted in the low production. Normally, a farmer produces 75 bags of paddy per hectare, but this year it was difficult to get even 45 bags per hectare.

In one of the village meetings which the researcher attended, the water manager was very enthusiastic about tank restoration. Since his grandfather's generation they have been doing the same service as water managers for this village. I asked him 'how do you know how much water is available and how do you decide to distribute the same to the farmers?' His response was:

"I was observing my father since my childhood days and there was never an occasion of conflict in the village because of my father's ability to distribute water to the fields. I developed an instinct and intuition that guides me in the work. I stand at one corner of the tank and judge from there, using my self as the measuring instrument, as to how much water is available and for how long I can release the water and for how many acres. If the water is up to my chest level, I conclude that each farmer under the command area can get for one hour to wet his fields. So, I inform them that this is what we have and this is what they can get. So far, I never had any difficulty with the farmers nor was I wrong with my judgements. It is the experience that I gained over the years and the wisdom that I got it from my parents that guides me in discharging my duties loyally, fairly and truthfully to this village. The farmers take care of my needs and in case of emergency I approach them and they extend any possible assistance to me and my family".

I enjoyed listening to him and learnt in the process many things about water management by the community. The government, in spite of having full authority over the tanks, hardly interferes when it comes to water distribution. As long as the tradition of Neerakatti continues, in many villages conflicts, tension, and rifts can be minimised to a great extent.

Benefits of having a water manager

In the interviews, the following have been mentioned: a. water can be regulated b. farmers get an assurance of irrigation с farmers become more careful in using the water and wastage can be avoided d. water stealing from the tank can be controlled 30 Chapter 2 e. it needs three hours to wet one acre and the farmer saves this time f. having a water manager helps in increasing the acreage of production

Disadvantages of not having a water manager

In Tadepally village a question was asked what happens if there is no water manager for a tank? The responses of the farmers with a tank which does not employ a water manager are summarised here. • If there are no adequate rains, a big farmer engages a labourer to work on the sluice gates by paying Rs.50 per day as daily wage • A farmer who requires water will engage a labourer and wets his crop for three to three and half hours. The adjacent farmer continues to have water to his field and requests another farmer in the command area to close the sluice gate before returning home. This farmer may leave without closing the gate if it becomes dark. By the time the farmers return to the fieldth e next day, all the water has flowed out of the tank to the low-lying areas. Either he hires an oil engine to supply the water to his field from a nearby stream or open ponds or curses the government for their lack of responsibility. This situation often results in conflicts and rifts between and among farmers. • The farmers often pray to the rain god for timely rains and when all the hopes are vanished resign and become pessimistic.

A further probe was made then as to why the farmers do not go for a water manager? The response was first, they are not sure that their tank will be filled with water; secondly, since boreholes are available why worry about the tank?; thirdly, they want the N.S.P. canal water to be diverted to the tank so that their tank is full with water and they can enjoy the benefits. This reflects an attitude of apathy towards common properties.

2.7.2. Tank system maintenance

Contrary to the water distribution, the maintenance of the tank system's physical structures is problematic. The role played by the British administration and the set­ up created by them almost 150 years ago seems to be still followed with some marginal or no changes at all. During the past in different pockets of the country practices such as kudivaram, medivaram, kudimaramath were practised. In the latter system of maintenance, the community assembles just after the harvest of rabi crop and plans the desilting activity. Every farmer was expected to take an Tank irrigation systems 31 active part in the process by way of physical participation or by compensating with a cash contribution. This was possible since the authority to control the tanks rested with the community. Sanctions were imposed on those who did not contribute to the collective good of the community.

Sometimes, these mechanisms are linked to a religious belief. In one case, for instance, the researcher was told by his NGO colleagues from Rajasthan there existed a unique system of tank maintenance. There was a big tank and on its bund is located a temple which is visited by many pilgrims. The belief there is that those who visit the temple, if they carry silt, according to their capacity, from the bed and leave it on the bund, it will bring good fortune for them and the local deity will bless them. It was reported that thousands of people visit this temple every year and each one irrespective of status, creed or sex adheres to this practice. Naturally, the tank is desilted and kept alive. Not a single supervisor is employed and no administration costs involved and yet the maintenance is assured year after year. Similarly, in South India, the kudivaram and kudimaramath practices continued for years, until the British administration claimed its stake over these common properties. The process of this deterioration is elaborated in Appendix 2 from a study made by Ramanathan6.

Reviewing the kudimaramath system of tank maintenance, it can be seen that there existed three consecutive systems that contributed to the rise and fall of kudimaramath. In the firstsystem , no taxes were levied from the community, but the community participated in the activity through voluntary labour. In the second system, a water tax was levied from the community, but labour contributions from the community were paid back to the community for undertaking kudimaramath. This second system worked well under Zamindars, because the water tax was separate from the other taxes, so that a clear obligation of the Zamindars existed, and the community had a credible threat against the Zamindar if he neglected the tank, namely, to reject paying the water tax. In the third system, taxes were collected and the community was expected to work voluntarily. This was the situation as perceived by the farmers in the colonial time, after 1850. Because farmers were unable to organise a credible threat against the British, nothing could be done if the administration neglected the tanks. This situation is emulated to this day.

6Adopted from 'Dying Wisdom' published by CSE, New Delhi. 32 Chapter 2 2.8 Conclusions

Tank irrigation (see Figure 2.2 for concentration of tanks in the study area) contributed significantly to the growth of agriculture and civilisation in India. Communities evolved different systems of maintenance and water management and took proper care of these structures, since they had the authority to control them. The tragedy of the commons, the tank in this case, began with the shift of this authority from the community to the state.

In post-Independent India, these were further neglected and the concentration was more on creating major and medium irrigation structures. In a country which has a vast number of minor irrigation structures and where the availability of water is seasonal, it becomes necessary to preserve every drop of rainwater and restore the minor irrigation tanks.

Thus, historical evidence points out that as long as the tanks were managed by the local communities alone or in conjunction with the local Zamindars, they were well maintained. When did deterioration begin is a logical question to which any researcher would attempt to find out the answers. Reviewing the literature on the subject, it became clear that the deterioration process began when the authority to manage was taken away from the communities. This process began during the early times of British rule in India when the colonisers were interested in wealth at any cost. They levied taxes on everything that has an economic value. Since tanks formed a major source of irrigation for Indian agriculture, it was quite natural that they imposed taxes on this sector. The process of deterioration intensified in independent India where the major emphasis was laid on major, medium and bore well irrigation.

It is clear that there is a need to revive some of the maintenance practices of the past so that the fruits of tank restoration can be enjoyed by the community, thus improving the economy of the village, the region and the state as a whole. Chapter 3, will focus on the situation of the minor tank irrigation structures in the state, the district and the two mandais which form the core of the study. Tank irrigation systems 33 Map 2.1 Topography map of Nuzvid division with concentration of tanks

«VBT СООД АШ иЛ ANDHRA PRADESH No. 45 Я 34 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Tank irrigation in Andhra Pradesh, Krishna, Nuzvid and Agiripalli

3.1 Introduction and structure of the chapter

This Chapter provides the background information about the State, the District, and the two mandais which are the prime focus of the study. This helps in seeing the context in which the problems are identified and the interventions sought. The Chapter presents the statistics pertaining to minor irrigation, which are relevant for the argument that the state has a large number of tanks which should be utilised fully to increase the irrigation potential. The Chapter concludes with the presentation of the problems associated with minor irrigation structures which form the basis for the field data, which are treated in subsequent Chapters.

3.2 A glimpse of Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh was formed on 1st November 1956 under the recommendation of the States Reorganisation Commission. It is the first state to be formed on a linguistic basis. The word Andhra is equally applicable to the land, the people and the language, although the language in course of time developed a name of its own - Telugu. The Andhras, originally an Aryan race, migrated to the south of the 36 Chapter 3 Map 3.1 Map of Andhra Pradesh and Krishna district Andhra Pradesh Tank irrigation in A.P., Krishna, Nuzvid and Agiripalli 37 Vindhyas where they mixed with the non-Aryan stocks.1

The state comprises of three distinct regions-Telangana, Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra. According to the 1991 census, the population is 67 million. The state has a diversified farming base with a rich variety of crops. The agricultural sector accounts for 50 % of the state's income and provides a livelihood to 70 % of the population (Manorama Year Book 1996). The fifth largest state of India, both in terms of size and population, it is considered the 'rice bowl of India'. The Krishna and Godavari are the perennial rivers of the state and the other important rivers are Pennar, Nagavalli and Vamsadhara. All these riversar e rainfed, and are of great economic significance because of their rich hydro power and the irrigation potential created.

33 A glimpse of Krishna District

Krishna district derives its name from the River Krishna which flows all along the west before it merges into sea. The district had a glorious past under various kings who finally were defeated by the Muslim invaders and the British in 1761. Masulipatnam, which has a natural harbour, was made the capital of the district. Since 1794 the district had a collector who was directly responsible to the Board of Revenue of the British Administration. Until the state was formed in 1956, the entire coastal Andhra was under the Madras Presidency. Within the district there were many feudal landlords who owed their allegiance to the British Empire. These were abolished in 1950, but the reference to the Zamindaris is made even today. Nuzvid is one such Zamindari and the family still exists. The district is naturally divided into two zones: the Delta and the Upland area. The upland area cqnsists of a slightly undulating area bisected by the low ranges of the Eastern Ghats.

The soils in the district are 'black cotton', sand clay loams and red loams constituting 5.8 %, 22.3 % and 19.4 %, while a small belt of sandy soils (0.7 %) constitute fringes on the sea coast. The normal rainfall of the district is 1028 mm per year of which two-thirds is received through the south-west monsoon. The monsoon breaks in the middle of June and brings rains up to the middle of October.

The district is famous for its Kondapalli toys made out of light wood known as Ponku (Gyeocarpus Jacqimmi), the Goddess Kanakadurga Temple at Vijayawada,

Manorama Year book 1996 (p 613) 38 Chapter 3

Map 3.2 Map of Nuzvid division with study villages

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DvautlMMlki две iau««u< *.а»а »<Т« A4rt«»N> *»e*w To »©«»«ли-· Яі ГАМ к.» "I'm· a • мотами г"о ШГ .NUtviP ПА*.рЛ<- Ш CWSlfllfW-í-l МАмТЛЫ» leant Mtu.1 •ЪЫЬЯЬЪЪЫ- Ь ,1.. ENA^AVAL* ,у (ЯосиипРАОо U <*tC.LAp*U.( ; Í- KAN*S M* i WILT;T. ТЧоКТГРСГМ •, Ч-~ТЧй %ваО »Abvj ν S Τ*' » J ν-ι ί*ί' Я. ^Α1Α\»ΛΑ4 \ »6· βΑΜΑτ*κΑ4\>«Μ·, IV. Τ Al* «U-V , .1.· NAVí.AMA»»i>. Tank irrigation in A.P.,Krishna, Nuzvid and Agiripalli 39 the Kalamkari boutique printing art of Pedana and the business centre at Vijayawada which connects with the entire country through a well-knitt rail network. The district is also famous for Kuchipudi Dance art, which originated from here. The K.C.P. sugar factory located at Vuyyuru is considered to be one of the most advanced factories in Asia technologically.

3.4 Nuzvid and Agiripalli

The most prominent and perhaps the oldest family among the territorial landlords of the Kistna2 District is the family of the Zamindars of Nuzvid, who rose by their fighting qualities in troublesome times, and wielded a deep influence over a vast area. The ancestors of the present Zamindar family were the Commanders-in- Chief of the Army of the then rulers. The town has a history of 400 years.A legend says that one day Rajah Vijaya Bahadur Appa Rao was riding with his followers on a hunting expedition and came to a field of gingelly oil-seed (Sesamum indicum) in which a goat was making a most valiant defence against the attacks of a wolf. "Here is a place of a good omen where the feeble goat successfully resists the mighty wolf', said the Rajah, and on that spot he erected his fort, from whence comes the name, Nuzvid, from nuvu chetla veedu, "the place of the oil seed plants".3

Nuzvid is located 84 km from the district capital Masulipattanam towards the west and 50 km from Vijayawada, towards the northwest. Nuzvid town is the headquarters of one of the four major subdivisions of the district. The subdivision is divided into mandais (administrative units) and headed by a Revenue Divisional Officer. It is a hinter land for mango cultivation. See Table 3.1 for demographic and general statistics about the Nuzvid mandai area.

The town has a postgraduate centre, an engineering college, a degree college and a few junior colleges. It is well-connected with communication and transport facilities to all the major cities in the district and state. When the railway line was introduced, the plan was to connect Visakhapattanam via Nuzvid. The then Zamindars were not in favour of it, hence the railway station is located 23 km away from the town and it is called Nuzvid Road. Being an upland area, the sub-division has many tanks of varying sizes. Most of these tanks are interconnected with one

TTiis is the original spelling from the book under reference. See footnote 3.

Manual of the Kistna District in the Presidency of Madras by Gordon Mackenzie, Asian Education Services Madras 1990. Page no 296 40 Chapter 3 another. The overflow of one tank serves as the inflow of another tank. The Nagarjuna Sagar Project (N.S.P.) left canal traverses through most parts of the division. Once the area had a dense forest and was the home for many wild animals. Today, the green cover has dwindled and is encroached upon.

The present generation of the Zamindar family takes an active part in the educational sector and politics. M.R.Apparao, the octogenarian, is chiefly responsible for improving the educational facilities in the area. He served as a Minister in the State Cabinet and held the positions of Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University and Chairman of various committees set up by the state from time to time. Mahatma Gandhi visited the town in 1939 and the locality where the present Zamindar resides is known as Gandhi Nagar. Dusserah, a festival in honour of Goddess Kali/KanakaDurga is an important festival of this town. In olden days, the Zamindars were taken in a procession on elephants in the streets of the town. Street plays, dramas, music competitions, sports and games competitions are held during this festival. The entire town is decorated with lights and people from the nearby villages flock around.

The sub division has about 500,000 hectares of mango gardens. The major revenue (cash income) comes from the mango orchards. In 1995, according to newspaper reports, the gross turnover of the mango orchards was estimated to be 1,600 million Rupees. At least 90% of the produce is exported to the major cities of India.

Agiripalli is located 23 kms towards south of Nuzvid and 30 kms north of Vijayawada. According to Pitchaiah, the Mandai Praja Parishad President and V. Krishna Rao, the name Agiripalli means, A+giri+pally (a=that; giri=mountains; pa//y=settlement/habitat). Literally this means that settlement where the mountains are located. The other explanation is A+kiri+pally (a=that; kiri=pigs; pa//y=settlement/habitat). The town was once the seat of Sanskrit scholars and until recently there was a Sanskrit school located here. Like Nuzvid, Agiripalli also has many tanks and is rich in flora. It is surrounded by a number of hillocks covered with bushes and shrubs. Brahmalingal Cheruvu, so far the largest and widest tank covering hundreds of hectares of water is located five km from the Mandai headquarters. Lord Shobhanachala Swamy is the residing deity of this Mandai. The heart of the town is a beautiful rectangular pond which supplied drinking water to the inhabitants until the tap water was introduced. The pond was constructed in the year 1869 by the then Zamindar Shobhanadri Apparao. On a full moon day after the festival of lights (Deepavali), which falls in the month of October/November, there is a big local festival that is celebrated with a fanfare. After the introduction of the Mandai system in 1985, Agiripalli became a Mandai with 23 revenue villages under its governance. Tank irrigation in A.P.,Krishna, Nuzvidand Agiripalli 41 The information in Table 3.1 with respect to Nuzvid and Agiripalli mandais is representative of an average mandai in the district. Krishna district constitutes 5.86 % of the population of the State, while Nuzvid and Agiripalli mandais account for 1.41 % and 1.29 % of the district respectively. The percentage of literate people in the district is higher than the state average. This can be attributed to the fact that the Krishna delta region has historically been the seat of knowledge and learning. Among the two mandais, Agiripalli is relatively high in its literacy percentage rate. It was the seat of Sanskrit scholars until recently.

The land use pattern also does not differ much between the two mandais. One important aspect that the figures throw light on is the fact that there is potential to create assured irrigation to 19,533 ha by storing the rain water in the tanks. In an upland area it should become necessary to concentrate on tank restoration. As is evident from the sources of irrigation, tank irrigation caters to only a negligible percentage of land. On the other hand, irrigation under open wells and tube wells is relatively high.

Forest is 22.76 % in A.P., 7.26 % in Krishna, and 1.27% and 1.18 % in Nuzvid and Agiripalli mandais respectively. Even these limited forest resources are being encroached upon.

Table 3.2 provides the information on the occupations in the State, district and mandais. As can be seen, the number of female agricultural labourers is twice the number of their opposite sex at the district level, while it is almost equal in the two mandais. Even at the state level, the women's work force constitutes 50 % and 65 % in the non-workers category. Apparently, the non-working force of women at all levels seems to remain relatively high. It is a potential human resource that needs to be fully explored for the collective good of the larger society. 42 Chapter 3 Table 3.1. Demographic profile of the State (AP), the District (K), and the Nuzvid (NZD) and Agiripalli (AGP) mandais.

No Particulars A.P. К NZD AGP DEMOGRAPHIC 01 Population 66,508,008 3,898,833 57,853 50,261 02 Scheduled castes % 16 17 22 22 03 Scheduled tribes % 6 2 5 1 04 Households 13,474,576 798,247 12,491 11,414 05 Number of villages 28,000 974 25 23 06 Literacy rate % 44 53 31 33 07 Among males % 55 61 36 39 08 Among females % 33 46 26 28 LAND USE ( hectares) 09 Total Area 27,440,000 872,700 22,730 22,190 10 Forests 6,246,000 63,340 2,881 2,612 11 Not available for cultivation 4,864,000 112,000 2,414 1,966 12 Permanent pastures & grazing lands 779,000 19,000 1,260 1,402 13 Tree crops & groves 253,000 9,100 210 220 14 Culturable waste & barren land 794,000 107,400 361 219 15 Fallow land other than current 1,567,000 34,600 279 4,081 16 Current fallow land 2,575,000 30,000 4,675 320 17 Net area sown 10,362,000 497,300 12,415 11,348 18 Land available for cultivation 16,330,000 697,400 12,647 11,502 19 Un-irrigated 12,440,000 359,461 9,533 10,050 20 Irrigated by source: Tanks 633,000 34,110 360 435 21 Open wells 1,442,000 14,507 1,147 609 22 Canals 1,659,000 258,235 0 0 23 Tube wells 0 17,253 1,559 408 24 Other sources 156,000 13,834 0 0

Sources: Statistical Abstract of India, 1997, Central Statistical Organisation, Department of Statistics, Ministry of Planning and Programme Implementation, Government of India, for Tank irrigation in A.P.,Krishna, Nuzvid and Agiripalli 43

statistics on Andhra Pradesh4; Krishna District Census book, published by A.P. Government for Krishna district and Krishna District Profile-1993-94, Published by the Chief Planning Officer, Krishna district for Nuzvid and Agiripalli mandais. Any difference may be attributed to the sources.

Forests: these include all lands classified as forest under any legal enactment or administered as forest whether state owned or private, whether wooded or maintained as potential forest land. The area of crops raised in the forest, the grazing lands or areas open for grazing within the forest, are also included under this head. Culturable waste: this includes all land available for cultivation but not yet brought under cultivation or current fallows, i.e. land which was once under cultivation, but has not been cultivated during the preceding five years or more. Such lands may be either fallow or covered with shrubs and jungles which are not put to any use. These may be assessed or unassessed and may be in isolated blocks within cultivated holdings. Lands under thatching grass, bamboo bushes and other groves for fuels, etc., which are not included under orchards or forests, also come under this head. All grazing lands, whether they are permanent pastures or not, village common and grazing lands are included under this column. Area not available for cultivation: this includes barren and uncultivatable lands and land put to non-agricultural uses. All lands covered under buildings, roads, railways, rivers, canals etc., are considered as lands under non-agricultural uses. Barren and uncultivatable lands include mountains, rocks, deserts, etc., which cannot be brought under cultivation except at very high cost. Irrigated and un-irrigated: all agricultural lands put together should correspond to the net area sown plus the current fallows. Area sown more than once in the same year are counted only once; this also includes orchards. 44 Chapter 3 Table. 3.2. Classification of Occupations (all figures in percentages)

S.No Nature of Activity A Ρ Krishna Nuzvid Apiripalli Occupations: General 1 Main workers 4S 43 48 46 2 Males SS S7 S8 S9 3 Females 34 29 37 33 4 Non-Workers SS S7 SO S3 S Males 4S 43 41 41 fi Females fiS 71 60 fiS Tvpes of activities 7 Cultivators 27 13 8 9 8 Males 31 20 14 1fi 9 Females 22 6 1 1 in Agricultural labourers 41 49 32 30 11 Males 31 30 32 31 12 Females SO 70 31 29 13 I .ivestock. forestry etc. 2 2 2 2 14 Males 2 2 2 2 IS Females 1 1 1 0 16 Mining and quarrying 1 0 1 0 17 Males 1 0 0 0 18 Females 0 0 1 0 IQ Household industry 4 2 1 1 20 Males 3 2 1 1 21 Females S 3 1 1 22 Other than household S S 2 2 23 Males 7 8 3 2 24 Females 3 2 1 0 2S Construction 2 2 0 1 26 Males 2 2 0 1 27 Females 1 1 0 0 28 Trade & commerce. 6 7 2 2 29 Males 9 11 2 3 30 Females 3 3 1 1 31 Transport

* Main workers includes a small percentage of marginal workers

Source. Krishna district census book 1991. Tank irrigation in A.P.,Krishna, Nuzvid and Agiripalli 45 3.5 Tank irrigation in A.P., Krishna, Nuzvid and Agiripalli Mandais

Tanks are concentrated in South India The history of tank irrigation dates back to Vedic times. Kings who ruled the south contributed a great deal in constructing tanks. The technicians under the kings of Vijayanagara empire mastered the tank building technique. The Brahma Ungala cheruvu in Agiripalli, the Thimmaraya samudram, Bukkarayasamudram, Porumamilla Tank in Rayalaseema region, and Ibrahimpattanam cheruvu, HussainSagar, Nizam Sagar, Pakala cheruvu, Osman Sagar, MirAlam Tank, in Telangana region, to name a few, are the living legends of the past glory.

The Zamindar of Nuzvid, while inaugurating the first desilting work undertaken by SHIP, explained to the gathering that during the days of their ancestors, farmers refused to pay the taxes if the tanks were not maintained by the Zamindar (see also section 2.7). After Independence, the government had taken the responsibility of providing irrigation facilities and maintaining these structures which resulted in a lopsided approach to minor irrigation sources, particularly tank irrigation.

What is the present status of these ancient and modern structures that were built in the recent past? This question was asked to all the respondents of the present study's interviews. Most of the respondents from the study villages recognise that the tanks are in a dilapidated condition. The politicians, officials and NGO's were very candid in expressing their views about the present status of tank irrigation in the region or state.

The local M.L.A feels that "minor and major irrigation tanks are badly neglected. No government funds were provided during the last fifteen years. The sources of the tanks are not protected either by the farmers or by the government. The sources are under occupation by the adjacent farmers. The sources for the tanks will be protected by the government by passing an act providing severe punishment in the act. The present procedure results in civil litigation and delaying tactics. All the farmers must contribute by means of taxes for the desilting of tanks. Tank bed encroachments must be evicted".

B.V. Subbarao, (environmentalist) says that "the tank system is highly neglected over 60 years, in spite of the fact that 50 % of the irrigated area falls under tank irrigation in the region, 45 % of irrigated area under tanks in the state, 55-60 % of the area in peninsular India and 45- 50% of the area in the country".

Table 3.3 presents the declining trends in tank irrigation and a steep increase in 46 Chapter 3 borewell irrigation. These figuresar e after Andhra Pradesh has become a separate state. During the periods between 1958-1987 canal irrigation increased by 43 %, well irrigation increased by 300 % whereas tank irrigation declined by 35 %. In one of the village meetings, one farmer, while comparing the well and tank irrigation, said that borewell irrigation is like a current account where you keep on withdrawing the money, seldom concerned about the future. The tank irrigation on the other hand is like a savings account which helps one to meet the future needs. In another village, one illiterate farmer speaking about the borewells said that we are injecting mother earth with borewells and drawing water without any concern how much it pains mother earth since we hardly give anything back to her. These feelings expressed by the farmers speak for themselves on the state of affairs of the present tank irrigation scenario of the state.

In 1994, the Government of India, by introducing the 73rd amendment to the Constitution, empowered the Panchayats by giving them a mandate to exercise authority over more than 29 subjects; tank irrigation is one among them. In 1997, the Government of Andhra Pradesh introduced 'The Andhra Pradesh Farmers Management of Irrigation Systems Act' which entitles the farmers to form "Water User's Associations" (WUA's) to control and manage their water resources. While it is an appreciable move to entrust the management of these structures to the local farmers, a wide gulf exists between the act and reality. In reality, the WUAs that came into existence after the Act cover only those irrigation structures that have a command area over 40 hectares. The Act by its definition should cover all the irrigation systems, but all the tanks that are under the control of the Panchayat Raj Department (tanks with less than 40 hectares of command area) are excluded from this Act. Table 3.4 presents the statistics on the tanks controlled by the PWD and the Water User's Associations formed for these tanks, while Table 3.5 presents the tanks controlled by Panchayat Raj and the command areas covered under these structures. Tank irrigation in A.P., Krishna, Nuzvid and Agiripalli 47 Table 3.3. Total area irrigated by mode of irrigation - Andhra Pradesh ('000 hectares)

S.No Year Canals Tanks Wells Other sources 1 1958-59 1,249 1,191 294 116 2 1962-63 1,255 1,331 433 163 3 1967-68 1,284 1,220 457 128 4 1971-72 1,521 813 568 96 5 1976-77 1,604 1,089 776 93 6 1980-81 1,693 900 776 93 7 1986-87 1,780 777 883 110

Source: Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Govt, of India, New Delhi, as quoted in 'Dying Wisdom', CSE report published in 1997. Table: 3.4. Region-wise distribution of number of Tanks controlled by Public Works and Panchayat Raj Departments, and their total command area

S.No Region PWD P.Raj Total area (Hectares) 1 Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Vizag 1,806 19,625 359,720 East & West Godavari, Krishna, 2 1,266 3,156 170,895 Guntur, Ongole 3 Nellore 793 670 116,299 Anantapur, Chittoor, Cuddapah, 4 1,575 10,509 217,243 Kurnool Mahaboobnagar, Nalgonda, 5 1,325 10,805 204,672 Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy Medak, Adilabad, Karimnagar, 6 2,749 18,560 411,366 Nizamabad, Warangal, Khammam Total 9,515 63,325 1,480,195

Source. Statistical abstract of Andhra Pradesh 1993-94 48 Chapter 3 As can be seen from Table 3.4, out of 72,840 tanks in the state nearly 87 % are officially controlled by the Panchayat Raj department. The coastal Andhra region which comprises 9 districts accounts for 27, 316 tanks controlled by PWD and PRE) with a command area of 646,914 hectares; Rayalaseema region which comprises four districts accounts for 12,084 tanks with a command area of 217,243 hectares; and Telangana region which has 10 districts has 33,439 tanks with a total command area of 616,038 hectares. The large number of tanks in the regions of Rayalaseema and Telangana is put to little use and the process of desertification is fast encroaching.

Table: 3.5. Particulars of Minor Irrigation Tanks under Minor Irrigation Department, Vijayawada Circle

S.No Name of the Mandai WUA's Hectares

1. Agiripalli 15 2,372 2 A.Konduru 13 946 3 Bapulapadu 14 931 4 Chandarlapadu 7 3,235 5 Châtrai 19 1,995 6 G.Konduru 18 2,926 7 Gampalagudem 19 1,633 8 Gannavaram 16 2,931 9 Ibrahimpatnam 5 934 10 Jaggaiahpeta 4 2,372 11 Kanchikacherla 7 1,840 12 Musunuru 18 1,907 13 Mylavaram 14 2,562 14 Nandigama 2 843 15 Nuzvid 26 1,899 16 Penugranchiprolu 2 148 17 Reddigudem 21 2,334 18 Tiruvuru 17 3,419 19 Unguturu 1 59 20 Vatsavai 4 310 21 Veerulapadu 11 1,477 22 Vijayawada Rural 7 1,293 23 Vissannapeta 23 2,073 Total 283 40,439

Source: Office of the Executive Engineer, Minor Irrigation Department, Vijayawada Circle. Tank irrigation in A.P.,Krishna, Nuzvid and Agiripalli 49 Nuzvid and Agiripalli mandais put together have 41 WUAs covering 2,722 hectares of command area. In the 12 villages covered under the present study, there are only three WUAs functioning, namely in Enamadala, Gollapalli and Mukkollupadu. On the other hand, if we examine the minor irrigation tanks controlled by Panchayat Raj Department (see Table 3.6) not a single tank is having aWUA.

In an interview with one of the irrigation officials at Nuzvid, the official often repeated that the government is handing over the irrigation systems to the farmers and it is now their responsibility to manage these resources. The statement further strengthens the attitude of the state towards minor irrigation structures. In the first place, the state took over the control of these structures, a process which began with the colonial rule in India and for various political, social and economic reasons contributed towards their deterioration; now the state wants to entrust the tanks to the community in a condition that will take years for the community to restore.

Table. 3.6. Tanks under the control of Panchayat Raj Department, Krishna district (All figures in hectares)

S.No Name of the Mandai 0-10 10-25 25-40 Total Area covered 1 Agiripalli 26 32 14 72 1,095.40 2 A.Konduru 12 3 8 23 386.29 3 Bapulapadu 7 21 8 36 630.51 4 Chandarlapadu 0 2 1 3 72.41 5 Châtrai 50 31 11 92 1,095.09 6 G.Konduru * 2 11 3 20 342.06 7 Gampalagudem 10 23 2 35 504.35 8 Gannavaram 7 14 8 29 523.30 9 Ibrahimpatnam 0 3 0 3 63.23 10 Jaggaiahpeta * 1 3 5 88.54 11 Kanchikacherla 0 0 2 2 83.40 12 Musunuru 28 27 13 68 1,037.46 13 Mvlavaram 15 12 0 27 315.20 14 Nandigama 1 1 1 3 44.59 15 Nuzvid 19 25 14 58 1,030.85 16 Penugranchiprolu 0 1 0 1 14.57 50 Chapter 3

17 Reddigudem 18 17 13 48 780.19 18 Tiruvuru 19 22 6 47 672.37 19 Unguturu 0 1 2 3 79.17 20 Vatsavai * 1 5 3 13 237.86 21 Veerulapadu 0 2 3 5 122.54 22 Vijayawada Rural 2 5 3 10 173.89 23 Vissannapeta 15 29 12 56 975.01 Total *5 233 290 127 659 10368 78

Source. Office of the Executive Engineer, P.R.Department, Nuzvid & Vijayawada

It is indicative that these 659 structures are neither covered by the Panchayat Raj Department nor the new Act that came into force in 1998. Table 3.7 presents the amount received and expenditures of the minor irrigation section of the Panchayat Raj Department, Nuzvid, spent on tanks below 40 ha.

Table: 3.7. Amount received and expenditures of minor irrigation section of the Panchayat Raj Department, Nuzvid division from 1991 for undertaking tank maintenance works. (All figures in Rupees)

S.No Year Amount Received Expenditure 1 1991-92 100,000 Nil 2 1992-93 Nil 314,121 3 1993-94 895,000 626,000 4 1994-95 Nil 484,000 5 1995-96 NU 387,000 6 1996-97 1,272,000 604,000 7 1997-98 931,000 56,000 Total 3,198,000 2,471,124

Source: Office of the Executive Engineer, Panchayat Raj, Nuzvid.

5There is a difference of 9 tanks in the distribution of categories for which data is not readily available from the sources, however, the extent of acreage covered by all these tanks in the upper Krishna remains the same. Tank irrigation in A.P.,Krishna, Nuzvid and Agiripalli 51 In seven years the total allotment for maintenance, repairs and restoring the 496 tanks under Nuzvid division has been only 3.1 million rupees i.e. Rs 921 per tank per year. So far the department could execute works to a tune of 2.4 million rupees. This is a clear indication of inadequate allocation of resources and utilisation for tanks controlled by the Panchayat Raj institutions.

During the discussions with the Office Manager of the Panchayat Raj Department how tanks are selected for maintenance work was discussed. He said that often these decisions are taken at the Division level Planning Committee review meetings and the chance of these decisions being influenced by the political parties is not ruled out. As to the nature of works to be carried out, the following receive priority. • revetment; • bund strengthening; • feeder channel clearance; • sluice gate repairs; • excess water weir repairs; and • inlet channels.

Invariably all the other components such as desilting and catchment treatment, that require attention in tank restoration are left out. The normal procedure for taking up the activities is that tenders are called for from contractors, who are classified according to their experience and financialbackup , and the contractor who bids the lowest gets the opportunity to execute the work. The civil engineers are expected to oversee the estimations and actual work and recommend to the Panchayat Raj Department for release of funds. The release of funds is based on the progress of work carried out. There is wide scope for corruption and favouritism while sanctioning these works and releasing money to the contractors. All the estimates are based on the Standard Schedule of Rates decided by the State government.

Since I was interested to know how much it would cost to restore a tank in all its dimensions if the works were undertaken by the contractor, I consulted a few of them in Nuzvid. I gave them the full list of tank restoration components that is reproduced in Chapter 5, and suggested that they prepare the estimates for this total. They indicated that they would require at least one to two million rupees to undertake all the work. This figure, of course, reinforces the attitude of the farmers when they say that tank restoration is too expensive and they cannot afford it. In reality, intelligent tank restoration costs much less if carried out by the community, as shown in Chapter 5. 52 Chapter 3 3.6 Problems associated with tank irrigation management

In our village-level meetings, we asked farmers which problems are associated with tank maintenance. A great majority of the farmers felt that their tank is neglected. No adequate resources are being allocated for its maintenance nor for its restoration. Sometimes, the contractors come and do some patchwork, getting the bills sanctioned by bribing the officials. Ultimately, the losers are the farmers in the command area. Often these works are carried out just before the rainy season and in haste. Once there is a downpour everything washes away again and it is back to square one. The other problem compounded with tank maintenance is the drilling of boreholes in the command area which contributes to the farmers developing an apathy towards the tank. "Water is available in the borehole in our fields, so why should we be concerned about the tanks maintenance or restoration?" It is true, as seen in this Chapter, that since the establishment of the State Irrigation Corporation, the number of boreholes drilled has increased by leaps and bounds. For example, in one of the study villages (Gogulampadu) which has 245 hectares of command area, there are 200 borewells. And in Ramannagudem village, 70 borewells were drilled with the state patronising them with subsidy and soft term loans. Since the groundwater is extracted without a replenishment, the farmers are forced to go deeper and deeper to draw the water.One of the other major problems that seems to affect tank irrigation is the spreading of ipomoea weed in the feeder channels and bed area. This has become a menace in the sense that it occupies the space in the tank that is meant to store the water. Thus the water overflows to low-lying areas near the coast.

There are twenty five tile factories in and around Nuzvid town, which draw silt from the tanks. These factories only pay a nominal amount to the government as tax and enjoy the silt from the tanks. The panchayat does not get a rupee and there is no legal control exercised by the panchayat on these factories. The factories in their desire to extract the fine silt mine the bed area according to their needs. This is of course fine in a general sense, but there is no systematic mining of the bed area for silt. Often travelling in these areas one can notice big potholes dug by the factories, which are not connected and do not bring water to where it should be, i.e. at the tank's sluicegate.

Other respondents, the supra-local ones (see Chapter 4), gave additional information, such as listed below.

• John Kurien, General Manager, of Minor Irrigation, NABARD bank feels that the problems are twofold; those related to the distribution system network (proper channel size based on holdings, water retention capacity, Tank irrigation in A.P.,Krishna, Nuzvid and Agiripalli 53 silt profiles, consumptive use of crops) and those related to timely maintenance of structures like bunds, weirs, system weirs, sluices and field channels by the community or government.

• Subbarao, environmentalist, believes that the root cause of the problem is "eroded local management systems compounded by the changing social, cultural and political systems which have cumulatively undermined the traditional water management institutions".

• Prof. Purushotham Reddy, environmental activist, opines that problems arise when the society degenerates and people become selfish. The catchment area forest should not be disturbed or else the tanks get silted up. Society should maintain it, since the society is the beneficiary.

• The Deputy Executive Engineer, Minor Irrigation, Nuzvid division, asserts that the foreshore of the tank and supply channels are being subjected to unauthorised occupation. Due to encroachments, the tanks are not getting adequate supplies. Whenever the tank receives heavy floods, unauthorised occupants are breaching the tank bund to safeguard the lands which they have occupied in the foreshore. Ipomoea comía spreads over the tank beds, which become silted up .

• The local MLA says that before independence, the sources of the tanks were well-protected and there was no encroachment. The strengthening of bunds and the deepening of the tanks were carried out. After independence the budget allotments were too low and even of that small amount, the benefit does not go to the tanks but rather to the contractors.

• Dasarath, NGO leader from Chittoor, asserts that the water nowadays is not sufficient for two crops. Because of siltation, the available water is not even good for one crop. The tanks bed areas are being encroached by villagers for a livelihood. Due to lack of resources it is quite possible that the tanks may erode in course of time.

This reinforces the statement of the problem given in Chapter 1. 54 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Research methodology

4.1 Introduction and structure of the Chapter

This Chapter deals with the methodology adopted for this study. It presents the details of primary and secondary data gathering, sampling of the study and data analyses. The interview schedule administered at the village-level and supra-local level is presented in Appendices 3 and 5. The full text of the Likert scale statements is given in Appendix 4.

It can be stated here that what the researcher attempted is to look into the experience of SHIP in tank restoration using the concept of partnership in a more systematic and scientific manner. Therefore the scope of the study is limited to the extent of a case study in essence, while an effort was also attempted to see the implications to a larger and wider context. Hence the methodology, the design of the interview schedule, the primary and secondary data and finally the treatment of the data are centred around the premise of documenting a case study.

4.2 Data gathering

Data were gathered at primary and secondary levels. The primary level includes semi-structured interviews; Likert scale opinion statements; economic data for cost-benefit analysis; social capital data, the minutes of the village meetings 56 Chapter 4 organised by SHIP from 1988 onwards, the reports of the village-level motivators, and case studies of restoration/participation at the primary and secondary levels. The secondary data sources comprise a review of related literature, articles published in various national and international journals/magazines, books, Acts in relation to Panchayat Raj, irrigation, agriculture, forest conservation, and the evaluation report on SHIP'S interventions by an outsider.

4.2.1 Interviews

The study used a semi-structured interview schedule for gathering the data from the farmers, non-farmers, officials, non-officials and politicians. The semi- structured interview was based on the use of an interview guide. This was a written list of questions and topics that need to be covered in a particular order. (Bernard 1997:209)

The interview guide was tested with 12 informants in a pilot study and changes were incorporated. It is divided into two parts. Part one focussed on the respondent's background information and the second part comprised the open- ended questions. Appendix 3 shows the version administered to the farmers. For the interviews of politicians, representatives of NGOs, officials and non-officials, a similar pattern was adopted in the interview schedule with a few changes in the basic information as can be seen from Appendix 5.

The structured interviews were composed of 36 opinion statements, using a five- point Likert scale to measure the internal state of people attitudes, emotions, and orientations (Bernard 1997). Appendix 4 which presents the statements enlisted on the Likert scale, were based on the interaction with farmers, officials and NGO representatives undertaken by SHIP from 1988 to 1995. This part of the interview was administered to all the respondents of the study. These opinion statements were administered in a mixed way and later classified into five categories: • general • physical • political • economic and • tank policies

The statements for interviews at the village level were translated and verified for the accuracy of the meaning with a language scholar. The process was explained to the respondents. The statements were read and the responses of the respondent were accordingly recorded. Research methodology 57 The primary data for undertaking the cost-benefit analysis mainly came from the tank restoration work records and bookkeeping of the motivator and the researcher. Interviews and the general experience of SHIP were another source. In Chapter 5, the sources of all data will be accounted for separately.

Data for social capital assessment mainly emanated from the minutes of the village meetings, the reports of the motivators, interviews, and the village profiles.

4.2.2 Secondary data

It was a considerable task to gather the statistics from various sources that include the PWD Department, Minor Irrigation Department, Panchayat Raj Department, Mandai Statistical Department, Collector's Office, Chief Planning Officer, Village Development Officer, Statistical Bureau of the State Government etc., in order to understand various aspects related to tank irrigation in the division, district and the state. One of the major problems to surmount is the bifurcation of the irrigation system in general and tank irrigation system in particular. This process of bifurcation which began with the British administration, as is evident in the case of kudimaramath (see Appendix 2), continues to daunt the country. While the physical and technical aspects are controlled by the civil engineering departments of PWD and Panchayat Raj, the revenue collection and control are exercised by the Revenue Department. To begin with SHIP persistently made efforts to build a data base of its own of the villages that are covered through its intervention.

I contacted the above departments to gather the information on the specified villages and I was referred from department to department until I was told that the Village Development Officer can provide the information concerned. Rather unfortunately, the revenue administration at the village level underwent drastic changes during the mid 80's. The whole system of Village Karanams (Village Revenue/Statistical Officer) and Village Munsiffs (Village Administrator/Police Officer), who were hither to maintaining all the records and were available round the clock for assistance, was replaced with the appointment of the Village Development Officer (VDO) through the state administration, who in the majority of cases is an outsider and does not live in the village. The VDO has too many tasks to perform and since he is the primary contact with the village, all the departments of the Mandai involve him in various activities. With the result, that he is left with a little time or no time for tank irrigation. The whole scenario of tank irrigation at the Mandai level is the replica of the situation in the region, state and the country. After all the struggles, enough statical data were gathered to write Chapters 2 and 3. 58 Chapter 4 4.2.3 Data gathering and intervention

Data have been gathered by the researcher and members of his organisation (SHIP) in the villages while at the same time, most of the villages were also visited by the same persons as part of SHIP'S effort for tank restoration. As described in detail in Chapter 8, this effort was mostly of a motivating and 'catalyst' type, with village meetings as the most important means of communication. It could be assumed, therefore, that the village-level data could be biased by this intervention. At the extreme, it could be imagined that the villagers would like so much that SHIP should stay that they would say yes to every question of the researcher - or the reverse, the villagers being so tired of SHIP that they would say no to every question. Did such bias occur in reality?

First, it must be seen that many of the data gathered are in fact immune to this bias, because they are observations of fact rather than of opinions. This holds for all data used for the cost-benefit analysis, all data for the assessment of Collective Social Capital, all data for the assessment of success and failure, and so on. In fact, the only susceptible data are those gatherd through the Likert scales (Chapter 7). For these, it has been checked if some pattern of saying yes or saying no is visible that would warrant suspicion of bias. This appeared not to be the case. As may be seen in Table 7.1, for instance, no villages say yes or no to everything, and many questions show a pattern of some villages tending to yes, others to no. This is not a pattern consistent with a bias due to the ongoing effort of SHIP.

4.3 Sampling

Sampling for this study concerned four aspects: 1) selection of villages for case studies, 2) selection of respondents within the selected villages, 3) selection of intervention case studies and 4) selection of supra-local interview respondents.

4.3.1 Study villages

For the selection of village case studies a total number of 12 was seen as the maximum that could be handled by a study such as this on a level that guaranteed sufficient insight to the researcher. Within this number, diversity was sought with respect to the type and level of involvement of the organisation, SHIP. This way, the following set was arrived at: • three villages (Ramannagudem, Gollapalli, and Mukkollupadu) where SHIP actually undertook the tank restoration process; • one village (Kanasanapalli) where SHIP motivated the community and the Research methodology 59 community took the responsibility to restore their tank; • four villages (Rajavaram, Vadlamanu, Tadepally and Morsapudi) where SHIP initiated the dialogue with the farmers through the village meetings and the process is at various stages; • three villages (Gogulampadu, Polasanipalli and Devaragunta) where SHIP organised meetings but the restoration of tanks was undertaken by the Government; and • one village (Enamadala) which is involved with forest encroachments where SHIP facilitated the process of Joint Forest Management (JFM) activity, (see Chapter 1), but did not focus on irrigation matters.

4.3.2 Village-level respondents

For the selection of village-level respondents, a stratified random sampling was used in each village. At the village-level interviews, the respondents were classified as command area farmers, non-command area farmers, water managers, village presidents, WUA's presidents or old people. The command area farmer is one who has a land holding in a particular tank's command area. He may also own a piece of land outside the boundaries of the tank's command area. Because the number varied slightly per village, the total number of village-level respondents arrived at was 126. The interviews in 12 villages were carried out by two experienced community motivators. The two motivators were oriented by the researcher and at the end of each day the data gathered were looked into for any discrepancies or missing elements. The questionnaire for village level interviews was administered in the local language, Telugu. Table 4.1 gives the break up of the village-wise category of respondents. 60 Chapter 4

Table 4.1. Village-wise categories and number of respondents

S.No Village 1 2 3 4 5 6 TOTAL 1 Devaragunta 4 3 1 1 2 0 11 2 Enamadala 5 1 1 1 2 1 11 3 Gogulampadu 5 3 0 1 0 0 9 4 Gollapalli 2 3 2 1 1 1 10 5 Kanasanapalli 3 2 1 1 1 0 8 6 Morsapudi 3 3 1 1 2 0 10 7 Mukkollupadu 6 4 1 2 3 1 17 8 Polasanipalli 4 5 1 1 1 0 12 9 Rajavaram 3 2 1 0 2 0 8 10 Ramannagudem 4 3 1 1 2 0 11 11 Tadepally 5 2 1 1 2 0 11 12 Vadlamanu 3 2 1 1 1 0 8 Total 47 33 12 12 19 3 126

Legend: 1 - Command Area Farmers (CAF); 2 - Non-Command Area Farmers (NCAF); 3 - Village Presidents; 4 - Water Managers; 5 - Old People; and 6 - Water User Association Presidents (WUA-P).

4.3.3 Selection of interventions

The selection of intervention case studies took place on the basis of diversity, data accessibility and data validity. The data for case studies of tank restoration/participation, presented in Chapter 8, was gathered from primary and secondary sources. The researcher conducted personal interviews with the project leaders who restored the tanks through their interventions. Secondary data for these case studies was used to substantiate the interviews. The following case studies were considered for the study: • Community lift irrigation schemes implemented in Ongole district; • Buddham lift irrigation project implemented by Gramasiri, a voluntary organisation working in Guntur district; • The partnership approach experimented in Mahaboobnagar district undertaken by Villages In Partnership (VIP), a voluntary organisation; • Tank rehabilitation in Chittoor district by a consortium of voluntary organisations. The researcher was involved in this project in his capacity as the then Executive Secretary of the Academy of Gandhian Studies; and • SHIP's own interventions in the Nuzvid and Agiripalli mandais of Krishna district. Research methodology 61 4.3.4 Supra-local respondents

The supra-local respondents were selected on the basis of criteria of relevance to the (non-) restoration of tanks and expected knowledgeability. The interview schedule was also sent to officials, non-officials, politicians and NGO representatives directly by the researcher. The politicians outside the village include, Mandai Praja Parishad Presidents of the two mandais included in the study, the Zilla Praja Parishad President of the district, the MLA of Nuzvid constituency, the former MLA representing the Congress I, Members of Parliament of Masulipattanam and Vijayawada constituency, the Congress Legislature Party leader in the State Assembly, the Minister for Minor Irrigation and the Chief Minister of the state. At the Official level, the Dy. Executive Engineer, Minor Irrigation, Nuzvid Division, the Executive Engineers of Panchayat Raj Department, Nuzvid and Vijayawada Divisions, the Revenue Divisional Officer, Nuzvid Division, the District Collector, Krishna District, Chief Engineer Minor Irrigation, A.P. State, General Manager, Minor Irrigation, NABARD, Principal Secretaries of Minor Irrigation, Agriculture, Forestry and Environment departments, of the state government were sent out the questionnaire and some of the officials and politicians were personally approached by the researcher. The non-governmental organisations' representatives were selected on the basis of their involvement with tank restoration in the state. The persistent efforts of the researcher resulted in 14 filled-out questionnaires out of 30 from the supra-local respondents. Table 4.2 presents the distribution of supra-local respondents.

Table: 4.2. Distribution of supra-local respondents

S.No. Category Number 1 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) 3 2 Politicians 3 3 Officials 4 4 Informal Leaders 4 Total 14

4.4 Data analyses

Data have been treated qualitatively, which may be found, for instance, in the quotations from village meetings in Chapter 8. On the whole, however, data have 62 Chapter 4 been treated in a semi-quantitative matter, that is to say, using the conceptual structures of quantitative analysis but applying these in a common-sense way, without taking recourse to computerised analyses that are, to my feeling, more sophisticated than the data allow. As an example, social capital as assessed by the researcher and social capital as assessed by the villagers themselves have been quantified, using informal criteria, on an ordinal scale. From a scattergram depicting these two assessments of the 12 villages it may be seen whether these assessments appear to be correlated or not.

The only place where the data had to be fitted into a quantitative straightjacket is in the cost-benefit analysis presented in Chapter 5. Making the cost-benefit analysis has been deemed to be important for scientific ('tragedy of the commons' ) and practical (bankability) reasons. All estimations are thoroughly accounted for in Chapter 5, and data that did not cross the threshold of responsible estimation have been left unqualified ('p.m').

The following may be said about some the analyses separately.

On the village level, the Likert scale scores have been averaged to arrive at the overall village scores by way of unweighted averaging, in spite of the stratified character of the sample. In other words, given the fact that the sample is made up of on an average of 3 command area farmers, 3 non-command area farmers and 4 irrigation-related opinion makers, it is assumed that their opinions weigh 3:3:4 for the purpose of tank (non-) restoration. No hard data exists of whether this is actually true but it has been thought that it is at least more true than weighing them according to the relative distribution of the categories over the village (which would be, say, 100 : 40 : 4 in an average village).

As explained in more detail in Chapter 6, an intuitive notion of the capacity of villages for managing common properties has been assumed to co-determine success and failure of interventions for tank rehabilitation. This concept ('collective social capital' as it is called in Chapter 6) has been measured by assessing villages on the following dimensions. • village having its own local festival; • absence of litigations; • record of cooperative work at the village level; • density of spontaneous groups such as a choir, teams for local sports, cultural teams, games associations, voluntary organisations etc.; and • absence of political party divisions, (This indicates the cooperative attitude of the villagers despite their individual political affiliations to different parties and willingness to see the village development effort above politics). Research methodology 63

Villages have been given a simple yes (= 1) or no (= 0) score on these dimensions; the total (varying from 0 to 5) has been set as an ordinal-level indicator of institutional capacity.

Likert scale statements have been analysed in a similar manner. After rearranging them into two groups that indicate motivation and social capacity respectively, the scores on these statements have been interpreted as giving a high or low indication of motivation of capacity and then added up to arrive at a total of (self-assessed) capacity, again on a five-point scale.

Statistically, the correlation between the ordinal variables has been analysed through Kendall's tau, in SPSS. 64 Chapter 4 Chapter 5

An economic approach to the (non-) restoration of tanks

5.1 Introduction and structure of the Chapter

This chapter attempts to look into the economic factors that contribute to the non- restoration of tanks by the individual farmer or the community as a whole. In SHIP'S experience of desilting four tanks in Nuzvid Mandai we discovered that it costs Rs.20 per cubic metre of desilting. SHIP undertook only partial restoration. In our decade of experience we hardly came across an initiative or an experiment that undertook comprehensive restoration of tanks. This naturally raises the point of how much it would cost to restore a tank in all its aspects and what the benefits of such a comprehensive restoration would be. This includes different phases which are explained in the later sections of this chapter. Since the tanks vary in size and capacity and the needs of restoration differ from tank to tank, it was prudent to attempt to work out a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of the restoration of a hypothetical tank with average features.

The CBA serves the following purposes: 1) to explain the non-restoration as a problem of collective action, 2) to serve as an input to motivate the primary actors of the tank restoration process, and 3) to explore the economic viability of tank restoration so that national banks could subscribe to it.

The first purpose relates to what is generally assumed to be the key reason of non- restoration, which is, in the term coined by Hardin (1968), the 'tragedy of the commons'. This tragedy is that although it would be profitable for the community 66 Chapter 5 to produce a common good, such as a well-working tank, the common good is in fact not produced because it is not profitable for anybody separately. If an individual command area farmer would restore the tank he would have to bear all cost because the tank can only be restored as a whole; the farmer would receive only his own, i.e. a minor portion of the benefits. This holds for every farmer individually. Hence, who would restore the tank? (See for instance, De Groot and Persoon 1999, based on Olson, 1965).

This chapter will investigate whether this is really true. The question in this is not whether tank restoration is unprofitable for the individual farmer to undertake, as it obviously is. Rather, the question is whether tank restoration is profitable for the farmers as a collective. This is far less obvious otherwise the non-restoration would be economically rational and also seen at the community level.

The second purpose will be to establish a quantitative basis to motivate the farmers at the village level that it is truly beneficial to undertake restoration at the collective level. The basis for motivating the farmers is important since there is scepticism about the economics and an attitude of dependency on the state to restore the tanks. This is evident from the following example. In one of our visits to Gollapalli, we asked a villager, to whom does the tank belong? The response was that the tank belongs to the government and hence it should be the state's duty to restore and maintain it. His response reflects the attitude of the community by and large which depends on the state to restore and maintain the village tanks. It is at this juncture that a CBA at the community level will strengthen the motivators of SHIP to prove the point that the community has a lot to gain if the tanks are restored and maintained by them. (Provided, of course, that the CBA indeed shows the profitability).

The third objective concerns the "bankability". The argument is often heard from the bureaucratic and political circles that restoring the tanks involves heavy expenditure and the state government does not have these resources to handle this issue. If the state is lacking the resources, the question is why should not the financial institutions such as banks, which have adopted a policy of 'service area approach', take up this as a major thrust. Prior to the nationalisation of banks in 1969 by the late Mrs.Gandhi, the banks were only catering to the private sector and the rich. The nationalisation opened the doors of the banks to the poor and the service area approach adopted by the banks during the early 90's made it mandatory to address the needs of the people in their service area. This means that if tank restoration is indeed profitable at the community level, no policies stand in the way of making tank restoration a bankable scheme. An economic approach to the (non)-restoration oftanL· 67

5.2 Types of Cost-benefit analysis

The term 'cost-benefit analysis' (CBA) will be used here in a most general sense, namely, the assessment of the net advantage of an investment (Dasgupta and Pearce 1972:1). This is necessary in order to distinguish between the various types and system levels of CBA that need to be distinguished due to the objective of this chapter (ref. below), but brings in the difficulty that, in common economic language, CBA is often seen only as a tool for government-level decision-making concerning public works. This entails that, logically, all costs and all benefits of an investment should be accounted for. We are primarily interested in a community level, however, and costs or benefits accruing to outsiders should count for less. In fact, we need to treat the community as if it were a commercial firm considering an investment, which implies the ignoring of external and non-financial costs and benefits. Such a calculation is sometimes also called cost-benefit analysis (e.g. DiMento 1987), but called 'enterprise choice' by Ellis (1993) or 'cash flow analysis' or 'corporate accounting' by others. These approaches are purely commercial and individual-level, however. Thus, it is necessary here to first discuss what type of CBA is in fact needed in view of the purposes explained in the previous section.

A first distinction then is between the economic and financial accounting. Economic accounting takes in all types of cost and benefits, while financial accounting only accounts for the monetary components. If a cost item is taxed or subsidized, for instance, financial accounting takes these monetary values because that is what you pay; economic accounting will take the real (untaxed, unsubsidized) cost. Alternatively, when labour can be got for free, its cost is zero in financial accounting; economic accounting assumes that labour is always a cost and accounts for it, for instance, by multiplying the number of labour-days by the 'shadow price' of labour on the labour market (e.g. Mishan, 1971). The research field of how to account for impacts on the environment (e.g. Hanley and Spash 1993) thus is also part of the economic type of to CBA.

A second dimension of distinction concerns the system level of analysis. This should be an issue even in regular CBA because external effects also exist between nations, but nothing of substance has been found in the literature. For our purposes, three system levels of analysis could be distinguished: • individual farmer or household • community (village or village subgroup) • nation (the 'all-India analysis').

For the village level, for instance, farmers' labour spent for restoring the tanks is 68 Chapter 5 an internal cost, a payment of silt-receiving farmers to the desilting group is an internal transfer, the hiring of a tractor from the PWD is an external cost, and the benefit of flood risk reduction to other communities is an external benefit.

What should be the system level of a CBA that suits the three purposes of the present study? For the explanatory purpose (1), it should be the community level, as explained already. In view, further, of SHIP's strategy to treat the village as one (Chapter 8), it should be the village (panchayat) level within the 'community' category. For the communication purpose (2), the village level is obviously the proper level too, because it will be the village to which the profitability will have to be explained. The same holds for the bankability purpose (3), because the bankability will concern loans from local bank branches to panchayats, and not, for instance, the World Bank lending to India , or local individual credit.

How should the two dimensions be mixed in a proper CBA? In other words, at a certain system level, what should be accounted for economically, and what financially? It appears here too that all purposes converge. For the village people, everything they supply to tank restoration (e.g. labour) is a relevant cost, and everything they benefit from later (e.g. improved yields or labour saved) is a relevant benefit. Even if the tractor is subsidized and the fertilizer taxed, these are the prices relevant to them. This reasoning holds at all system levels. In terms of the two dimensions: once a system level is chosen, everything internal should be accounted for economically, and everything external should be accounted for financially. The CBA of this chapter is a village-level analysis following this rule. Hence it will be a village-level CBA with all costs and benefits accruing within the village boundary accounted for economically, and all costs and benefits accruing outside the village boundary accounted for financially.

5.3 The Tank restoration process

As defined in Chapter 1, the tank system includes the catchment, the bed and the command area. The total restoration process includes the following aspects: • Phase I - motivation, planning and resource mobilisation; • Phase Π - catchment area treatment which includes the feeder channels and silt traps; • Phase ΠΙ - bed and bund area treatment; • Phase IV - command area treatment; and • Phase V - future maintenance. An economic approach to the non-restoration of tanks 69

5.3.1 Assumptions

For the tank that is under scrutiny of hypothetical restoration, the following assumptions are made under each phase of tank restoration:

General • The size of the tank: critical catchment area 6.1 hectares; bed area 10 hectares and command area 40 hectares. • The average cycle for major works is five years; two cycles were taken into account to calculate the spill-over benefits of tank restoration. • The prices per unit cost are based on the practical experience of SHIP and those prevailing in the area. • The desilting activity is carried out between January and June. Hence, the benefits are calculated for six months only during the first year. • The whole activity is carried out with a minimum of five tractors of which two are fitted with the dozer blade; they primarily work on bund strengthening, clearance of feeder channels and silt traps. • The tractors work for ten hours per day. • The capacity of the tractor trailer is about 3 cubic metres of compacted silt • The output of the tractor machine hour is 30 cubic metres of silt excavation and shift to the bund.

Motivation, planning and resource mobilisation • Six village meetings are needed for motivating the farmers, preparing the plans and dividing the responsibilities. • SHIP facilitates the process at all stages. • Part of the follow-up expenditure incurred on networking with financial institutions is met by the organisation. • The village meetings are held in the evenings after the villagers return from their work. Therefore, no opportunity costs are involved in this.

Catchment area The critical catchment area activities include afforestation, gully plugging to arrest soil erosion, feeder channel clearance and silt traps in the feeder channel. • In the critical catchment area of 6.1 hectares, restoration will have the collaboration of the local forest department. • The total length of the gully plug will be 50 mt (1) by .5 mt (h) by .5 mt (w). The actual number of gully plugs will depend upon the need in the catchment area. • The length of the feeder channel is 1.5 km. 70 Chapter 5

• The silt traps would be conveniently located to absorb 2,400 cu.mt. of silt estimated to be deposited in the tank every year (this is calculated from the deposit of 1" per year, which is the national average). • The silt trap size will be 40 mt (1) by 20 mt (w) by 1 mt (d). If the channel is wide, these traps would be located conveniently, otherwise, they will be located at the entrance of the bed area.

Bed and bund area • The quantity of silt to be desilted is 20,000 cu.mt. of compacted silt.. • About 40 % of the silt will be used for strengthening and heightening the bund. • 30 % of the silt is purchased by the farmers. • 10 % is used by the brick kilns. • 10 % of the silt is used for community purposes such as a temple, school or road. • The remaining 10 % of silt is used by the local tile factories. • If the distance is more than 1 Уг km from the bed, there will be proportionately less trips per day. • If the silt is transported to the tile factories, which are often located in a radius of 5 kms from the tank, there will be less trips by the tractor per day. • The silt is carried from the heap manually to the brick kiln. • The labour wage for desilting includes unloading and returning to the bed area. • Nominal charges prescribed by the Public works department are taken into account for the road rollers. • The ground is wetted for easy excavation using borewell water, especially during the peak summer which is for two months.

Command area • The field channels in the command area will be repaired by the farmers themselves which is 10 man days of labour work.

Future maintenance • Since the responsibilities are divided at the planning stage, it is assumed that the community takes over. • The water manager appointed by the community shall look after the water distribution. • The motivator for undertaking the second phase of restoration is from the community. An economic approach to the non-restoration oftanL· 71

5.4. Tank restoration: the costs

The following elements form the physical components of the tank restoration programme which include activities from planning, catchment area treatment, bed and bund area treatment, command area and future maintenance. The work will be repeated for another 20,000 cu.mt. of excavation after 5 years. For the time being, while calculating the costs, two steps of restoration which occur once in five years are given due emphasis. The tabulated form of costs are given in Table 5.1.

5.4.1 Initial contacts, motivation, planning and resource mobilisation

From the experience of SHIP, on an average six village meetings are required to set the process into motion. In some villages the number may be more or less. Normally, the village meetings are held in the evening after the farmers return from the fields and have had their supper. They gather at the village centre which is the best time and opportunity for the motivator to interact and discuss the issue. The Chairman of SHIP attends the initial meeting and the meeting where the agenda is planning and resource mobilisation. The costs involved are for the travel of the motivators. SHIP extends help in blue-print, net-working with financial institutions and facilitating the process. The costs incurred by the community include travel of the motivators, postage, stationery and telephone which amounts to Rs.3,000 + Rs. 1,500 = Rs.4,500.

5.4.2 Catchment treatment

As stated earlier, the catchment area treatment includes, plantation, gully plugs, feeder channel clearance and formation of silt traps. The costs for each component are as follows:

Catchment area plantation About 10,000 saplings will be planted in the catchment area. Often these species are mixed variety and are drawn from the forest department nurseries. Each seedling would cost Rs.2; transport Rs.350 per trip and labour Rs.30 per day for 10 labourers for 20 days. The total plantation cost is Rs.2 χ 10,000 + Rs.350 χ 5 trips + Rs.50 χ 10 labourers χ 20 days = Rs.31,750. This expenditure is once in five years.

Gully plugging The small stones that are needed for arranging the gully plugs are available in the catchment area. Gully plugging is a soil conservation method of earthen and stone 72 Chapter 5 bunds in small heights, strategically located in the catchment area to control soil erosion. The size of the gully plug is 50 mts. (1) by 0.5 mt (h) by 0.5 mt (w). The total cost for this item is Rs.50 χ 10 days χ 10 labourers = Rs.5,000.

Feeder channel clearance The feeder channel is the main source that lets water into the tank. In most cases, these channels arefilled wit h bushes and silted up, preventing the flow of water. The size and length of the channel varies from tank to tank. It is important to take up clearing of the weeds, which is a perennial problem, levelling the channel and creating silt traps at convenient places so that the incoming silt is deposited. The special tractor needed would cost about Rs.50 per hour and a total of 80 tractor hours (weed removal 30 hours + clearing the bushes 20 hours + desilting and shifting the silt to sides 30 hours) are needed to undertake the above work. The total cost then is Rs 50 χ 80 hours = Rs.4,000. This is an expenditure that the tank requires every year.

Silt Traps It is estimated that India loses about 1" of top soil per year which finds its way to reservoirs and tanks. This is a common phenomenon in upland and dryland areas which are on the edges of forests which are extensively deforested.1 In this case, it is calculated on the basis of the above premise that the present tank would accumulate about 2,400 cu.mt. of silt every year. These traps function to absorb the silt and it will be within the means of the community to desilt this amount every year by mobilising the labour or contributing in cash. These traps, if the channel is wide and long, would form part of it, otherwise they will be strategically located near the entrance of the tank bed area. Labour and transport is needed to cover this activity. The total silt from these traps can be transported in 40 days or 800 trips. The cost, therefore, is labour Rs.25 χ 800 trips + Rs.500 χ 40 days of tractor hire = Rs.40,000. The average size of the trap would be 20 mt.(w) by 40 mt.(l) by 1 mt.(d). There will be three such traps in this tank.

Bed and bund area treatment Bed and bund area treatment includes wetting the ground, excavation of silt, transport of silt to the bund, farmer's fields, brick kilns, tiles factories and community utilities such as a link road, temple, church, school premises or community building, bund strengthening, bed area plantation and sluice gates.

Anil Aggarwal, (1985) The Wrath of Nature, published by Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi. An economic approach to the non-restoration oftanb 73

Excavate, load and transport It is proposed to desili 20,000 cu. mt. of silt from the tank, which is about 20 cm. of silt deposited in the tank, in step 1 of the tank restoration programme. As stated in the assumptions, 40 % of the silt will be used for strengthening the bund, 30 % is used by the farmers in theirfields, 1 0 % is taken by the brick kilns, 10 % is used for the community utilities and the remaining 10 % by the nearby tile factories.

Wetting the ground The actual costs charged by farmers to each other for wetting the ground are Rs. 10 per hour and it is needed for 60 days during the peak summer season when the soil becomes hard for digging. It takes about 9 hours to wet one acre of bed area. Therefore, the costs for wetting the ground are Rs 10 χ 9 hours χ 60 days = Rs.5,400.

Transporting the silt from bed to bund The tractors used for this purpose arefitted wit h special dozer blades that carry the silt to the bund. The tractor would cost Rs.500 per day which includes the hire charges, the diesel and the driver's allowance. It is estimated that if a tractor works for 10 hours per day, it would carry about 300 cu.mt. of silt to the bund and it would need about 27 days to move the proposed 8,000 cu.mt., of silt to the bund. The cost, therefore, is Rs 500 χ 27 days = Rs.13,500. Here labour is not needed since the special tractors can push the silt to the bund.

From bed to elsewhere: Labour The remaining 12,000 cum. of silt is transported to the farmers'fields, communit y utilities, tile factories and brick kilns. A tractor takes about 3 cu.mt. of compacted silt in its trailer. The practice is that the labour is contractual and the charge per trip. In this case, we need labour for 4,000 trips. The wage for labour includes the unloading charges and returning to the bed area. The prevailing average labour cost per tractor is Rs.25. The total cost involved for labour is Rs.25 χ 4,000 trips = Rs. 100,000.

Silt to farmers fields The silt is considered as excellent natural manure since it contains a lot of nutrients and adds to fertility to the soil. Farmers had the tradition of transporting this silt to theirfields an d gardens. Even today this system is prevalent. In our experience, desilting operations would help the small and marginal farmers to buy the silt at an agreed price. Restoring the tank will help them to reduce the costs of transporting the silt which otherwise they might incur. In this case, they are willing to pay up 74 Chapter 5 to Rs.25 per a tractor load of silt. A tractor can make about 15 trips per day. To transport 6,000 cu.mt. of silt, we need 133 tractor days at a cost of Rs.500 per tractor day. Therefore, the total cost would be Rs.500 χ 133 tractor days = Rs.66,500.

Silt to Community Utilities In our experience, the community expresses the desire that a part of the silt be used for the community utilities such as levelling the school premises or increasing the height of the temple or providing the link road. In the proposal, 10% of the total desilted silt is to be used for the community purposes. Engaging the tractor which will carry 15 trips per day would require about 45 days to cover the 2,000 cu.mt. The cost, then, is Rs.500 χ 45 days = Rs.22,500.

Silt to the tile factories It was proposed that in this case 10 % of the silt is absorbed by the local tile factories which are willing to pay Rs.15 per cu.mt. This includes the labour, transport and unloading. Since they are located in a radius of 5 km from the tank, a tractor can only deliver about 12 trips per day. It would require 56 days to cover the 2,000 cu.mt. of silt. As in the cases above, the tractor costs Rs.500 per day. The total cost of transporting 2,000 cu.mt. to the tile factories will be Rs.500 χ 56 days = Rs.28,000.

Silt to the brick kilns The brick kilns are in most cases located either inside the tank or on the edge of the tank. As part of the process of manufacturing the bricks, the labourers carry the silt to the site manually. A labourer is paid Rs.50. per day. This is the minimum wage prevailing in the area. To shift 2,000 cu.mt. of silt to the kiln, 667 man days are needed. Therefore the cost is Rs.50 χ 667 man days = Rs.33,350.

5.4.3. Bund strengthening

Bund strengthening forms an important component in the restoration activity, since most of the bunds are in a dilapidated condition. In the present case, it was considered prudent to use at least 40 % of the excavated silt on the bund. The activities include increasing the height, compacting the soil, stone packing and making a plantation on the outer part and on the edges outside the bund.

Increasing the height Since special tractors, see figure 4, are used for this purpose and their costs are covered earlier under 'transport to the bund', no additional costs are involved in An economic approach to the non-restoration of tanks 75 this.

Compacting the soil The tractors would be moving over the bund during the desilting process which will help in compacting the soil. However, it is desirable also to use the road rollers of the Public Works Department to compress the soil. A nominal charge of Rs. 1,000 per day is charged by PWD and it is felt that at least three days are needed to cover the entire bund. The price may possibly be subsidised, but that is not included at the community level cost-benefit analysis. Therefore, the total cost for this activity would be Rs. 1,000 χ 3 days = Rs.3,000.

Stone packing This is taken up in the inner side of the bund. Skilled masonry labour is needed and 20 units of the bund are covered (each unit is 100 sq. ft). The costs include the labour, material and transport of stones. The skilled labour is Rs. 100 per day; un­ skilled labour is Rs.50 (three labourers are required); for each unit of stones the cost of transportation is Rs 400; cement 25 bags @ Rs.150 per bag; and sand 25 units @ Rs.400. per unit. The total cost of stone packing is (Rs 100 χ 20 days skilled labour) +( Rs.50 χ 3 χ 20 days manual labour ) + ( Rs 400 χ 20 units stones) + (Rs.150 χ 25 bags cement) + (Rs 400 χ 25 trips of tractor hire) = Rs.26,750.

Plantation on the exterior part of the bund To control the soil erosion from the bund and to strengthen it, it is proposed to take up perennial fodder varieties which will also help the community with the availability of fodder for their animals. The expenditure includes the cost of the seeds and labour for one day. The grass variety seeds are sold at Rs. 10 per kg and one needs about 200 kgs for bund plantation. The total cost for this activity is (Rs.10 χ 200 kg) + Rs.50 = Rs.2,050.

Plantation on the outer edges Planting the trees on the outer edge of the bund provides returns to the community over a period of time, besides protecting the bund and keeping it intact. Horticultural species are preferred by the community since they tend to fetch more income than other species. In this case it is proposed to go for Cashewnut trees since the soil is suitable and it only takes five years to reap the fruits. The expenditure includes the cost of seedlings, labour and transport of seedlings from the nearest nursery of the Forest Department. The total cost incurred on this item is (Rs. 50 χ 10 labourers χ 10 days) + (Rs.7.50 χ 1,000 seedlings) + Rs.500 for transport = Rs. 13,000. 76 Chapter 5 The above two components involve a recurring expenditure on salaries of three workers who guard and maintain the plantations. The expenditure involved for their wages will be Rs.l,500p.m per head. The total cost on salaries would be 3 χ Rs. 1,500 χ 12 months = Rs.54,0002.

Bed area plantation It was observed that the government has undertaken bed area plantation in the area with fuel wood species which yield after five years. The cost involved is labour and the seeds. The total estimated expenditure is Rs.50 χ 10 days + Rs. 10 per kg χ 500 kg = Rs.5,500. This plantation is repeated every five years.

Sluice gate repairs Depending on the size of the tank, sluice gates are located at strategic points. In this case, there are three such gates to let out the water to the fields. They are made either with wood or iron and it needs the skill of the local blacksmith to make them. They need oiling once in a month so that they do not get rusty. No cost is involved in this since it is part of the deal with the blacksmith. The total initial cost would be two days of skilled labour and material which will be about Rs.200 for labour + 1,500 for material = Rs. 1,700.

5.4.4 Command area main channels

It only needs the labour input to clear the main channels so that a smoothflow o f water to the fields is ensured and the losses of water are minimised. The sub­ channels to thefields ar e taken care of by the farmers themselves. Fifteen labourers are needed for five days to clear the channels from weed growth and bushes. It costs Rs.50 χ 5 days χ 15 = Rs.3,750. This is a recurring expenditure every year.

5.4.5 Supervision and Monitoring

Experience indicates that one full-time worker is needed for one full year to effectively implement all the activities. The expenditure also covers the overheads spent on this worker and is Rs. 1,750 per month χ one year = Rs.21,000. It is important that the worker from the community is trained during the time of restoration so that he can follow-up during the later years. The expenses for the full time worker are once in five years. The water manager can be a part-time worker for six months. His total salary per month would be Rs. 1,000 and for six

During the first year the salaries are counted for six months, since the plantation works would commence after the desilting operations are completed in June. An economic approach to the non-restoration of tanks 77 months it is Rs.6,000.

5.4.6 Audit and unforeseen expenditure

The law requires that books of accounts are maintained and audited once in a year. The returns should be filed with the Income Tax Department. Therefore a provision of Rs. 15,000 on a flatbasi s is allocated to cover the audit and unforeseen expenditure in the first year; in the subsequent years this is reduced to Rs.7,500 per annum.

5.4.7 Some cost comparisons

As can be seen in Table 5.1, the total expenditure incurred on all the components of the tank restoration works out to Rs. 479,250 in the first year and Rs.l 15,250 in the subsequent years. The expenditure per cubic metre in this case works out at Rs.23 during the initial works. From the earlier presentation of the comparative figures between major/medium and minor irrigation this is below the figures spent by the authorities. The CBA indicates that restoring the tank in all its aspects during the first year costs Rs. 11,985 per ha. The irrigation schemes executed with people's involvement in Ongole district, of which borewells were the major cost component as described in Chapter 8, cost Rs 37,500 per ha. The Buddham lift irrigation scheme implemented in Guntur district cost an initial capital investment of Rs.2,844 per ha. The investment in major schemes (refer Chapter 2, section 2.4) was estimated to be Rs.1,5263 to Rs. 73,556 (Is* to 7th Plan) per hectare. With respect to lift irrigation it may be noted that this needs a permanent source of water. Often this source is in fact provided by a major irrigation scheme, on which the lift irrigation is 'parasitic', economically, because the cost of the water source is not included in the lift irrigation cost schedule.

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3 An economic approach to the non-restoration of tanks 79

5.5. The Economics of tank desilting: the Benefits

Tank restoration in its totality helps the farmers, women, potters, fishermen, livestock, tile manufacturers and the general environment. An effort is made in this section to qualify and quantify these benefits. A period of five years was considered as a cut-off period, although in the final calculations the cash flow over a longer period will be taken into account at a later stage. However, some of the benefits may spill over to more than the proposed period under analysis. The same parameters and assumptions considered for tank restoration have been taken into account while computing the benefits. Since the activities are undertaken from January to June, the benefits start accruing from July onwards. In year 5, the tank is treated again with 20,000 cu.mt. of desilting, and the bund strengthened. This will have its influence on the benefits that would accrue to the community. The author recognises this factor while computing the benefits. The benefits are presented in a tabular form in Table 5.2

The 'CPSH+PR' classification on the functions of tanks, described in Chapter 2, will be used to describe the benefits. Since the restoration is completed in June, some of the benefits commence straight away while some commence at a later stage. The period for computing the benefits is taken from June to May of the following year.

5.5.1 Carrying Functions

The carrying functions of tanks are listed in Chapter 2. However, the silt, if suitable can be utilised for the manufacturing of bricks and tiles. Normally, most tanks have fine silt that is used as manure. Wherever coarse material is deposited in the tank, it is used for increasing the height of the road or elevating the houses. The other carrying functions include water sports and a link between the villages by strengthening the bund.

Brick Kilns It was assumed that 2,000 cu.mt. of silt will be used by the brick manufacturers (often the local community entrepreneur). Often these kilns are located either in the tank bed area in one corner or on the outer edge of the tank. SHIP interviewed the brick kiln manufacturers in the area to understand the process and the economics of a brick kiln. Appendix 6 provides the economics of a brick kiln. Normally it is a team of five labourers working together and the turn-over of the work is estimated to be approximately 1 cubic metre of silt per day. They dig the tank and carry the silt manually to a spot which is not very far from the place they 80 Chapter 5 dig the pit. Under the proposed tank restoration, 2,000 cu. mt. of silt is designated for a brick kiln. If this is placed as a heap near the kiln, it would reduce the amount of manual labour required by a factor of four. Assuming they use 400 cu. mt. of silt in a year, they save an additional labour of 125 man days per year. The wages for labour for earth work are Rs.50. This means that the community would benefit Rs.50 χ 125 man days = Rs.6,250 per year. This is a recurring benefit to the community.

Silt to the tile factories The tile manufacturers will be provided with 2,000 cu. mt. of silt. They pay Rs.15 per cu.mt. of silt. Hence, the benefit to the community is Rs.30,000. This benefit accrues once in five years to the community under the proposed programme.

Transport link Often bunds provide the link between the villages and within the village a link to the fields. Assuming that 80 farmers under the command area use the bund everyday to walk to theirfields, whic h saves about 5 minutes time each time they walk (so that a farmer walking twice a day would save about 10 minutes per day), for 80 farmers it will be 800 minutes per day and considering that they use it for 300 days, the total time saved will be about 240,000 minutes or 4,000 hours or 400 man days (Rs.50 χ 400 man days) = Rs.20,000 per year. This excludes the time saved by the other members of the community for non-agricultural purposes.

Water sports When there is water in the tank, it becomes an attraction to the children and herdsmen who use it for water sports like swimming. Since most of these village tanks are small in their water storage capacity, activities like boating and yachting are seldom a sight to see. However, this does take place in big tanks. The value of these activities is hard to calculate. It is left here as "p.m.".

5.5.2 Joint production functions

The joint production functions are listed in Chapter 2. There are four basic functions with ancillary benefits accruing under some of the functions. They are: a) recharge of ground water and wells; b) water for livestock; c) silt application; and d) irrigation.

Recharge of ground water and wells Experience shows that restoring the tank helps in additional storage of surface water and, if the water seeps away, in increasing the ground water table. It was An economic approach to the non-restoration oftanL· 81 explained that either farmers pump the water for fewer of hours or irrigate more acreage. This works out to about 50 % for the second crop and 20 % for the third crop. For our calculation purpose here, we may say that 20 % of the increased storage capacity goes underground and increases the area under an irrigated second crop; this is about 12,000 cu.mt. In order to avoid double counting, it is not counted here but added to the irrigation item (d) of the joint production functions.

Water for livestock When a tank isfilled wit h water, it is a boon for the livestock of the village. They drink, swim and spend a couple of hours everyday in the water. This reduces the amount of time spent by the livestock owner in washing the animals or giving them water. In an interview with the former president of Mukkollupadu village, it was stated that the added advantage of allowing the milch animals to spend time in the water is that it helps them to maintain their fertility cycle which, indeed, is a benefit to the small and marginal farmers who have two to four animals, as the study pointed out.4 This was further confirmed by the veterinary doctors in the region, with whom this aspect was raised by the researcher. Statistical data is not readily available to account this benefit either for the individual milch animal owner or the community as a whole.

Increase in the milk yield The live stock, especially the milch animals spend at least a couple of hours inside the water. This is called winnowing. This process helps in increasing the yield of the animal by 20 %. It was explained that if an animal is giving 16 Its per day during the lactation season, in summer this would go down to 10 Its but with the winnowing process, the yield can be maintained at 12 Its per day. If there are 100 milch animals in the community, the benefit would be about 200 litres per day during the dry period. Each litre at the current market price is valued at Rs. 12. For 200 Its., it will be Rs.2,400 per day and the dry period for milch animals is about 100 days. The total benefit that the community may derive will be Rs.2,400 χ 100 days = Rs 240,000 per annum. In thefirst instanc e when the tank isfirst restored , this benefit will accrue to the community and remain constant during thefirst ste p of restoration. There will be no additional benefit after the second step because the tank only gets deeper due to the extra desilting, which does not make a difference to the animals. Since the restoration is completed by June when the wet season starts for the animals, no benefits are taken into account during thefirst yea r of restoration.

4 Interview data response of K.Venkateshwera Rao, Mukkollupadu. 82 Chapter 5

Time saved by the animal owners Further, animals moving in the tank are washed by the herdsmen. This saves time for the owners who otherwise may spend at least half an hour in washing the animal. On a collective basis about 100 hours of time is saved by the community per day. The total time saved will be about 18,000 hours or 1,800 man days which in economic terms would amount to Rs.90,000 per year. In this analysis only half the man days are accounted during the first year, but in subsequent years the time saved is fully accounted.

Silt application The age-old tradition of spreading the silt in the fields is still in practice in the villages. There was a rush to purchase the silt when SHIP undertook the desilting work in Ramannagudem, Gollapalli and Mukkollupadu villages. See Chapter 8 for details.

Increased yields in farmer's fields The command area under the proposed tank is 40 hectares and it is estimated to lift 6,000 cu.mt. of silt from the bed to the fields. This is 2,000 trips. According to the farmers, one hectare needs about 67 trips once in five years. Hence, the 2,000 trips suffice for 30 hectares. In turn, according to the farmers, their yield per hectare per year would be increased by 3 bags, hence in four years by 12 bags. At the current market prices, the value of paddy per bag (75 kgs) is Rs.350; in four years a farmer gets Rs 350 χ 12= Rs.4,200. Moreover, there will be a spill-over impact on their second crop which may be about 50% of their first crop. Assuming that they go for pulses as their second crop, their yield per hectare would increase by 100 kgs per year, being 400 kgs for four years. The market price of pulses is estimated to be at Rs.900 (100 kgs bag) which means that the fanners get Rs.4,000 for four years. The total additional benefit of silt application per year amounts to Rs. 1,050 + Rs. 1,000 = Rs. 2,050. For 30 hectares it will be Rs.2,050 χ 30 = Rs. 61,500. During the first year the farmer incurs an expenditure for transporting the silt to his field. The amount will be paid to the excavators such as the Panchayat. This expenditure is an internal transfer and hence not accounted for here. The first year takes into account only 75 % of the total benefits and the same is repeated during the sixth year which is the second phase of excavation. However since the soil replenishes itself, the additional benefits also diminish by 25 % every year. Therefore, the benefits during the third year will be Rs 46,025, during the fourth year Rs.30,650 and in the fifth year the additional benefits that accrue out of silt application will be practically marginal unless the farmer again applies the silt. An economic approach to the non-restoration of tanks 83 Reduced fertilizer expenses It is said that the silt when applied to the fields,wil l help in increasing the nitrogen content in the soil through a process of aeration. When discussing this aspect, the farmers said that it would reduce their expenditure by Rs.100 per season on fertilizers. Assuming that they go for two crops in a year, the savings will be Rs.500 per hectare per year and for 30 hectares it will be Rs.15,000 per year. Subsequently, this benefit diminishes by 25 % every year and in the fifth year the benefits accrued will be zero. In addition to this, the farmers believe that applying silt will improve the quality of the produce. This when consumed will help in improving health standards. Often the farmers narrate stories from their childhood, how healthy and strong they were, how much energy they had in those days and how hard working they were. There may be an element of truth in what they say and believe. Empirical data from the interviews strengthens this notion. However, reliable evidence is not readily available. Hence, only the reduced fertilizer cost is accounted for here.

Irrigation The proposed tank, if desilted, after taking into account evaporation losses can retain about 60 million litres5 of additional water for surface irrigation. The agricultural experts, when contacted said, that one kg production of rice requires about 2,000 litres of irrigation. With 60 million litres one can produce about 30,000 kg of additional paddy. Each kg of paddy is sold at Rs.5 at the current price for a normal variety. Therefore, the benefit that accrues to the community will be about Rs. 150,000 per year. In the second step of desilting this benefit would increase to 100 million litres. With 100 million litres one can produce 50,000 kg of paddy and the total benefit would then be Rs. 250,000.

5.5.3 Natural production fanctions

The detailed list of functions is presented in Chapter 2.

Temperature control In our meetings with the villagers, it was said that when there is water in the tank, there is a difference in the temperature. It is evident that the evaporation of water helps in reducing the temperature of that place. Thus the community is helped

20 million from excavation and 40 million from bund heightening. The height will be increased by 80 cm and for 10 ha the extra storage capacity would be 80 million litres. Allowing for 50 % evaporation losses, the additional retention capacity of the tank is 40 million litres. 84 Chapter 5 through the heat waves which often occur during the peak summer days. Besides giving more comfort as such, this also increases labour productivity. Since reliable statistical evidence is not readily available, this benefit is left as p.m.

Drinking water Water in the tank helps in recharging the drinking water well which is in most cases is situated on one side of the tank. The village folk use the well to draw their drinking water. On an average a family uses 100 litres per day for cooking and drinking. Drudgery for the women is saved; they are often the prime beneficiaries of the drinking water sources. For the time being this benefit is left as p.m.

Water for washing In most villages, approximately 5 % of the households belong to the washermen's community. They serve the entire community and in turn they are supported by the community for their livelihood either in cash or in kind. They normally use the water in the tank for washing the clothes of the village community. The tank serves as a source of information and interaction for the washermen's community. The availability of water in the tank will save their time and indirectly the waiting time for delivery of the washed clothes of the community. For the time being this benefit is left as p.m.

Increase in food and fuel production One of the major contributions of tanks is that they help in food production by way of aquaculture. A few families depend on fishing by bidding for the rights. The money goes to the Panchayat. With the assurance of water in the tank, it is possible to generate income for the community. Of late the government was undertaking bed area plantations to meet the demands of fuel wood of the villagers. The species are fast growing and generate benefits in five years. The other dimension is planting horticultural species on the outer edge of the tank which then will yield fruits in five years in addition to strengthening the bund.

Fishing The kind of tank being proposed can be estimated to generate Rs.30,000 per annum from the auction after restoration. The rights are only for the stipulated period. The fisherman who bids the tender would expect to generate a net benefit of Rs. 140 per day. In a calender year of 300 days, he would generate Rs.42,000. Assuming that the fisherman is from inside the community, the Rs. 30,000 is an internal transfer (hence not counted), and the benefit is Rs.42,000. In the first year it is accounted for only for six months. In the second step the benefit would be Rs. 75,000 due to additional storage of water. An economic approach to the non-restoration oftanL· 85

Horticulture The horticultural species are planted on the edge of the outside of the bund. Depending on the variety opted for the number of plants are decided. The normal gestation period for these species to yield benefits range from 6 to 10 years, as in the case of palmyra. Coconuts and mango would take seven years, whereas cashew takes six years. The returns also range from species to species. Mango gives an income of Rs. 1,000 per year per tree; coconut gives Rs.150 per tree and cashewnut gives about Rs.500 per tree. Palmyra gives the benefit from the tenth year and the returns would be about Rs. 100 per tree. In Mukkollupadu, while the desilting process was on, the President shared with us that if cashew is planted on the edge of the bund, after five years the Panchayat would get Rs.25,000. In the previous section, the cost for the bed area plantation was set as for 1,000 cashew trees. Allowing for a less than 100 % survival rate and other eventualities, the benefits are set as Rs. 25,000 or Rs 20,000, varying from year to year.

Fuel wood The bed area plantation provides benefits after five years. The kind of species contemplated are black-thumma, chestnut, and other fuel wood varieties that can grow under water. The plants need a growing period of five years before they can be used for fuel wood. But it has been estimated that afterfive year s the plantation would be worth Rs.50,000. This benefit goes to the community.

Jute Production Jute is a raw material that is used in the production of gunny bags (used for paddy storage). This can grow inside the water and the foreshore of the bed area may be an ideal place for a plantation. Because this is not certain yet, the benefit is set as "p.m." in Table 5.2.

Fodder production A grass plantation on the outer part of the bund can cater for 30 animals in the community. A kg of grass is sold at Rs 0.40 and each animal requires about 40 kgs to retain its production capacity. The gross benefit that the beneficiaries would get out of the plantation will be (30 animals χ 1 hectare χ 40 kg χ 30 days χ Rs.0.40 χ 54 months) Rs 776,000. The benefits are accounted for only 54 months. In the first year the benefits only accrue from the fourth month. Therefore, the benefit are counted for three months only in thefirst step . In the second step these benefits are accounted for six months. In subsequent years benefits are accounted for the full year. Normally these high breed varieties give good yields during thefirst fou r or five years and after that it is desirable to replace them with fresh seeds/seedlings. The seeds/seedlings are often supplied at a very low cost and sometimes these can 86 Chapter 5 be procured free of cost from the neighbouring farmers. However, the costs for such items are accounted for in the expenses to be incurred for growing fodder on the outer edge of the bund.

5.5.4 Signification functions

The legacy of tank irrigation in India, historically, is often symbolic, and attached to religious festivities. Each tank has a unique feature and history about its existence. In Kanasanipalli village, the villagers organise a 3-day local festival near the tank and many villagers from surrounding villages take active part. Chapter 6 discusses this aspect in detail.

Community Values The other benefit that a tank provides is that it exhibits the sense of responsibility of the community, their belonging, ultimately leading to a sense of security in all walks of life. Often in many circumstances, tanks are linked with the religious or community festivities which provide a mechanism for strengthening the bonds between villagers. It unites the community for collective action. The paradigm of being an 'individual in a community' to belonging to the community is the pride of the village culture and life. Over years, the community has evolved mechanisms that enable them to use the natural resources prudently and diligently. It also exhibits the leadership qualities, coherence and greater capacity to stand up for rights, to negotiate vis a vis the urban rich etc. For the time being this is left as "p.m." in Table 5.2.

Community utilities such as the school, temple etc. It was proposed that 2,000 cu.mt. of silt be used for laying the link roads, or raising the height of the temple surroundings or the school building. The expenditure is met from the project and if the Panchayat has funds, it can be linked to one of the Government schemes meant for community benefit. Since every one in the village makes use of these facilities, the entire community benefits. For the time being this is left as a "p.m." item.

5.5.5 Habitat functions: Second home for migratory birds

It is common during winter months to see pelicans or birds from Siberia finding their way to these water bodies. For the time being this is left as " p.m". An economic approach to the non-restoration oftanL· 87

5.5.6 External functions: Control of floods

Every year, the area receives an average of 35" of rainfall. If tanks are silted up, the water overflows directly through the streams to low-lying areas inundating the fields and often causing damage to people's lives. The present tank under restoration can retain an additional storage of 100 million litres of water. To that extent the low lying areas benefit from saving the crops and prevention of flooding The 100 million litres will save 100 hectares from a flooding one metre high. In one hectare the production of paddy is 75 bags. If 100 hectares are saved from flooding, 7,500 bags of paddy can be saved. The monetary value will be Rs 350 χ 7,500 bags = Rs. 2,625,000. The production costs per hectare works out to Rs.12,175 and for 100 hectares it is Rs.1,217,500. Appendix 8 gives the economics of rice cultivation. The net benefit would then be Rs.2,625,000 - Rs.1,217,500 = Rs.1,417,500 in years of heavy rain. Since the occurrence of floods is once in 2 years, only 50 % will be added to the external benefits. Being an external benefit, this amount is not counted in the panchayat-level CBA of Tables 5.1 and 5.2.

5.6. Conclusions

5.6.1 The panchayat level

The analysis of the preceding sections has focussed on the panchayat system level (refer section 5.2). From the resulting Tables 5.1 and 5.2, the following conclusions may be drawn: • The cost of the restoration and partial desilting of the hypothetical average tank is approximately Rs 450,000 to Rs 500,000 once in every five years, plus approximately of Rs 100,000 in the intermediate years. • The benefits of this effort are approximately Rs 800,000 per year, with a tendency to rise slowly due to the ongoing desilting once in every five years. • Taking a discount rate of 14 per cent per year, the Net Present Value (NPV) of restoration is Rs 3,221,080 (approximately Rs 3 million) over a period of ten years. • With net costs in thefirst yea r of Rs. 100,000 and a net benefit in the second year of Rs.600,000, the pay back time of tank restoration is only 1 year.

5.6.2 The state/national level

As explained in section 5.2, the community-level CBA can be changed into a state 88 Chapter 5

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S 1 3 ij An economic approach to the non-restoration of tanks 89 or national level CBA by accounting for all the costs and all the benefits economically (i.e. real cost and benefits irrespective of monetary value), irrespective of to whom these costs and benefits accrue. In our case, this pertains to two aspects: 1) several items in the community-level CBA are taxed or subsidised by the state; for the national/state level CBA, the (unsubsidised, untaxed) real cost/benefit has to be taken. These items concern, for instance, the seedlings from the Forest Department, the roller charge of Public Works Department and the fertiliser. These costs and benefits play only a very marginal role in the CBA, however, so that a shift from monetary to economic value will have negligible consequences. 2) One external benefit (unremunerated, hence not counted in the community- level) becomes an internal benefit. This is the Rs 1.4 million of prevented flood damage downstream. This benefit will certainly be larger than the neglected issues described below.

It is concluded, therefore, that tank restoration will be even more profitable at the state/national level than at the community-level. The benefit of preventing flooding is the economic justification of a subsidy of tank restoration from the state/national to the panchayat level.

5.6.3 Command area farmer level

Up till now, the community level has been taken as the level of the panchayat, or the village as a whole. This has led, for instance, to accounting for the benefit of all livestock production improvement, irrespective of whether these animals belong to command area farmers or not. It may be argued, however, that the command area farmers, organised, for instance, in a Water Users Association, are the recipients of most of the benefits and therefore should take care of the tank restoration. If these farmers would be left, however, with only the benefits accruing to them directly (such as the improved irrigation), comprehensive tank restoration would become economically irrational for them. If the command area farmers are supposed to take care of all the costs, they should also be allowed to take most of the benefits. In other words, the property rights, or at least the full usufruct rights of the tank, should be shifted to them, so that they can benefit also from the plantations, fishery etc. If this is done, the difference between the panchayat level and the command area farmer level CBA's become small, because the command area farmers can sell the silt, auction the fishing rights, sell or auction off the firewood and so on. Theoretically it could even be argued that the command area farmers could charge other farmers for the winnowing livestock, but this will be socially disruptive. As can be seen in Table 5.2 and the underlying specifications, the only substantive and "non-p.m." difference between the two 90 Chapter 5 levels then concerns the livestock advantages. If we assume that only one-third of the animals belong to command area farmers, the reduction of benefits would be Rs 220,000 per year, so that the benefits drop from Rs 800,000 per year to Rs 600,000 per year. The restoration would continue to be highly profitable even then, however. The livestock benefits and the other benefits at the panchayat level set as "p.m." in Table 5.2. are the economic justification of a subsidy from the panchayat to the command area farmers level.

5.6.4 Individual level and collective action

As said in section 5.1, a 'tragedy of the commons' is possible if tank restoration is beneficial at the collective level but not for anybody individually. The intuition that this indeed is the case can now be substantiated. Assuming that the command area of 40 ha has about 40 land owners and assuming that each of these would receive an equal share of all the benefits (even the cashew nuts, livestock winnowing etc.), the stream of benefits at the individual level would be approximately, Rs 800,000/40, hence Rs20,000 per year. This will never balance with the cost of Rs 500,000 once in 5 years plus the maintenance of Rs 100,000 per year. Hence, this is a perfect example of level without a collective-action institution, a tragedy of the commons would occur and is in fact occurring all over India at present.

Olson (1965) asserts that a tragedy of the commons may be averted in situations where a common good may be produced by one individual who owns such a large share of the common good that producing it becomes profitable for him individually. The CBA figuresindicat e that the total cost over a period of 10 years (Rs 1.8 million) would balance with a benefit of approximately Rs 180,000 per year, which is about one-fourth of the total benefit. This implies that if a big landowner in the command area be assured of a share of the benefits equal to his share in the command area, the tank could be restored by the big landowner if his share in the command area would be one-fourth or more. All the other farmers would 'free ride' on the big owner. The conditions of this escape from the tragedy of the commons are only very rarely present in Andhra Pradesh, however. The only case known to the researcher is a tank in Agiripalli mandai owned by three brothers and this tank has no maintenance problems.

5.6.5 Bankability

The CBA shows that economically, tank restoration is clearly a bankable proposition. Box 5.1, from an Indian newspaper April 1999, is another indication, An economic approach to the non-restoration of tanks 91 although of less general value because the restored tank has probably been selected because of its favourable characteristics. The bottleneck for bankability, obviously, is institutional rather than economic. Who receives the loan? What mechanisms will ensure that individual benefits are tapped in order to repay the loan? These and other questions will be addressed in Chapter 9. 92 Chapter 5

Box 5.1 Farmers' society maintaining lake earns profit, sets an example | (By Hindu Staff Reporter, Dated 29-04-99, The Hindu Online edition on Internet)

Villupuram, April 29. The Kadar Tank Irrigation Farmers' Development Society in Kedar village about 15 km from Villupuram on the Villupuram - Tiruvannamalai sector has earned a profit of Rs. 100,000 since its inception according to Mr.R.Devendran, president of the society. The society was the first to be set up fixing the responsibility of maintenance of a lake to the local farmers. Under a European Economic Community (EEC) project and in co-ordination with the Anna University, this village and the lake were selected, following a spontaneous response from the local fanners as early as in 1987, to contribute their initial share for the maintenance of the lake. Mr. G. Kannan, treasurer and Mr. Balaganapathy, secretary of the society, said that the collection from each farmer was made based upon their land-holding. The farmers, numbering about 218, showed the way in the upkeep of a tank. Mr. D. Rajendran, manager of the society, said the lake irrigates about 300 acres. Samba is the single cropping pattern being .followed by the ayacutdars. 'The president of the society said that initially a loan of Rs. 50,000 was availed for the modernisation programme which had also bee repaid in 10 instalments. The society, the president said, had let out a part of the lake for setting up brick-kilns. The fishing rightsha d also been leased out. The banks of the lake had been strengthened by planting "karuvel" - a fuel wood, rights of which have been leased out. "From the fishing lease alone, the society nets a revenue anywhere around Rs. 70,000 while the fuel-wood is being auctioned once in four years", says Mr. Devendrán. Mr. Devendrán stated that the society had deposited the profit in the bank. A visit to the lake by this correspondent revealed that the supply channels to the fieldsha d been nearly completed. The "karuvel" provided comfortable shade on the banks of the lake. The president said that the lake got the surplus water from Pallianthur lake which, in tum got its supply from the Sathanur Dam. Plea to hand over the lake The office-bearers of the society stated that it had mooted a proposal to the State Government and specifically the Public Works Department, to hand over the lake to the society. "There were certain legal procedures for the State Government to be amended and we are optimistic that this request will be conceded by the State Government", says Mr. Devendrán. He said that this procedure is in vogue in the Philippines. As the ayacutdars of about 20 other lakes in the State had emulated the Kedar farmers in the last few years, the possibility of the other farmers making a similar demands could not be ruled out, the farmers said. "In all cases, the State Government can hand over the lake to the concerned ayacutdars", the office-bearers said. A progressive farmer of Pondichery said the system was perhaps an innovative one in Tamil I Nadu. The system was in vogue during the French era in Pondichery and was popularly known ι as "Agricole" system. The Pondichery farmer was happy to note that the system had been | revived, though ithad become defunct in Pondichery about two decades ago. Chapter 6

The villages and their collective social capital

6.1 Introduction and structure of the Chapter

This chapter presents an overview of the study villages, thus laying a basis for Chapters 7 and 8, where the interviews and interventions in the villages will be analysed. Additionally, the present Chapter goes into the social capital that is available in the villages. The 'Collective Social Capital' (CSC) indicators presented in this Chapter will be a cornerstone of the overall analysis presented in Chapter 9. The study villages are:

S.No. Name of the Village Mandai 01 Devaragunta Nuzvid 02 Enamadala Nuzvid 03 Gogulampadu Musunuru 04 Gollapalli Nuzvid 05 Kanasanapalli Agiripalli 06 Morsapudi Nuzvid 07 Mukkollupadu Nuzvid 08 Polasanipalli Nuzvid 09 Rajavaram Agiripalli 10 Ramannagudem Nuzvid 11 Tadepally Agiripalli 12 Vadlamanu Agiripalli 94 Chapter 6 6.2. The collective social capital

People's actions and non-actions may be explained by going into people's implementable options for action and people's motivations. As in De Groot (1992), the implementable options may be seen as the result of two underlying factors: • the total number of options known by the actor; and • the degree to which the actor can implement these options (if motivated for them).

The latter factor may be called 'autonomy' or 'capital' in a general sense. Capital, in turn, may be seen as composed of economic, social and other forms of capital (cf.Bourdieu ). Social capital of an actor is, roughly, the resources the actor may have access to through his relationships with other actors (Coleman, 1990).

The present study is on tank restoration as a form of collective action. On that village level, the social capital concept may be seen as simply analogous to individual-level social capital; it then denotes the resources the village has access to through its relationships with other villages. More importantly, however, social capital at the village level also has an internal face, denoting the degree to which a collective entity is able to organise itself into collective action if its members are motivated for it. The latter, obviously, is the most important social capital notion for the present study, related as it is to the village-level capacity for the collective action of tank restoration. This collective social capital, as it will be called here, coincides with what is simply called 'social capital' by Brunella (1995), or by the World Bank (1999): "Social Capital is defined as the norms and social relations embedded in the social structures of societies that enable people to coordinate action to achieve desired goals".

Social capital is a key concept in recent institutional development theories (Tornquist 1999) adopted by the World Bank. Increasing evidence shows that social cohesion is critical for societies to prosper economically and for development to be sustainable. Social capital is not just the sum of the institutions which underpin a society - it is the glue that holds them together (World Bank, 1999).

My personal preference of the terminology would be to give the concept a name somewhat less connected with economics such as "community strength" or "collective action capacity", but I will use the current mainstream term throughout. The villages and their collective social capital 95

6.2.1 Collective social capital indicators

Measuring collective social capital, as asserted by the World Bank (1999) is difficult. Knack and Keefer ( 1997) use indicators of trust and civic norms; Narayan and Pritchett (1997) in a study undertaken in rural Tanzania identified the extent and characteristics of people's associational activity, and their trust in various institutions; and Temple and Johnson (1998) use ethnic diversity, social mobility and the prevalence of communication facilities to measure social capital. Somewhat related to this, Alcamo (1998) refers to authors that have sought to quantify the capacity of states to cope with environmental stress with indicators such as the degree of démocratisation, political capacity of states etc. All these indicators are very inconclusive. The same is true for Uphoff s (1995) [Gal Oya] concept of "social energy", developed on the basis of 20 years of involvement in a large and successful irrigation project in Sri Lanka. Uphoff sees social energy as composed of 1) ideals, 2) ideas and 3) friendship. No indicators are given concerning how these components may be assessed on any quantitative scale, however.

Against this background, the present study has chosen five indicators to quantify collective social capital on a five-point scale. For each village, the indicators are given a 'Yes' (=1) or a 'No' (=0), the total then ranking on a 0-5 ordinal scale. Therefore, it can be assumed that a village scoring '5' is high in its capital and a village scoring '0' is low.

The social capital indicators are:

1) Village having its own festival: Normally, all the major festivals are celebrated throughout the length and breadth of the country. There are a few festivals which are unique to a few places. In most parts of rural India, the villages have their own local village god/goddess festivities which are celebrated with much fanfare. These celebrations can be similar to those of the carnivals celebrated in Europe and the West. Often competitions such as oxen races, sports and local games like Kabaddi, are organised. Despite all the differences, the village is united and everyone takes the responsibility to make the festivities a sweet reminiscence. 2) Absence of litigation: In rural India, agricultural field boundary conflicts are very common. These lead to serious rifts among the villagers and the village could be divided. There are other issues that lead to internal conflicts such as stealing of harvested crops or water from the field channels, house site boundaries etc., which may result in serious litigation in courts. If the village has its own institutions of conflict resolution, these 96 Chapter 6 conflicts can be resolved without taking them to the courts1. 3) Record of cooperative work: The quickness of response by the villagers to take active part in village collective activities is an indicator of their collective strength. This cooperation may be in the form of cash, kind or physical labour. In other words, how sensitive the village is to the needs of one another and the community as a whole is set as an indicator of their capacity to take up community activities on a collective basis. Naturally, for an assessment related to tank restoration, in order not to confuse cause and effect, the record of cooperative work should exclude work on the tank. 4) Density of spontaneous groups: In the post-independent era, a number of government institutions were created in order to enable the villagers to avail the benefits from various schemes. Many villages have registered Mahila Mandais (an association of women), youth associations, cooperative credit societies, thrift societies, DWACRA (Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas), Vana Samrakshana Samithis, so on and so forth. Since these have been induced or even forced by outside agencies, they do not reflect the villagers own capacity for self-organisation. Hence, we tried to look in the study villages for the presence of spontaneous groups such as a choir group, sports teams, ad hoc committees for organising the festivities, Truth Centre, etc. This has been taken as a social capacity indicator. 5) Absence of political party divisions: The growth of regional political parties in the mid 80's is phenomenal in the state. The desire of the political parties to come to power by vote buying resulted in creating a cadre of party workers at the village level. When there is a split at the state-level political set-up, the same has its bearing at the village level. Village leaders and common people who aim to keep their village united and focus on practical action instead of verbal politics, strive to prevent the village becoming home to more than one party and if this fails, they try to maintain tolerance and keep politics in a corner. Appendix 9 narrates the 'story of forest encroachers' and the efforts of SHIP to resist the encroachments, which is a clear example of how party divisions can contribute to the disintegration of the community, if politics begin to dominate the sphere of village-level decision-making. Thus, the absence of party divisions or, to a lesser extent, the degree to which politics are kept out of village life is an indicator of

There are also those litigations sprouted by the external conflicts in which the whole village or part of the village gets involved. Refer Appendix 9 for forest encroachments case of Enamadala, in which the majority of the working labour force are involved. The forest department has filed many cases against the villagers in the courts. These externally generated litigations are not relevant for social capital assessment, however. The Villages and their Collective Social Capital 97 effective leadership and village values that emerge in unity and collective action, i.e., collective social capital.

The researcher made an attempt to look at the study villages2 on the above criteria. The village profiles provide an insight into the collective social capital of the village and the degree of their ability to respond to the emerging needs and situations such as tank restoration.

6.3 An overview of the study villages

The villages for the study are selected on the basis of a criteria explained in Chapter 4. Out of the 12 villages, two are hamlets that form part of a main village territory. Therefore, the data in these villages (see Table 6.1) reflect that of the main villages. Tadepally appears to be relatively low in population size compared to other villages. The average size of the family ranged between 4 and 5. Literacy percentage of the village in Ramannagudem is higher than the other villages. This also holds true in case of Enamadala. This can be explained by the fact that both villages are located within the proximity of 5 km from Nuzvid town which has better educational facilities to offer. The percentage of females among non- workers category is high in all the villages. Approximately 40 to 60 per cent of the population constitute the work force, while there is a disparity of distribution among the males and females, in Polasanipalli village this seems to be negligible. On an average, cultivators constitute less than 16 per cent. Cultivators in the official statistics such as these are defined as full-time farmers, however. In fact, the majority of the remaining section of the population, called 'labourers' in the statistics, also own land and work that land often up to 1 ha. These are regarded as "farmers" (e.g. command area farmers or non-command area farmers) in the rest of this study. The category of people who are really landless (Table 6.2) are treated as non-command area farmers in this study. From the interview data, it was noticed that there are no tenants present in these study villages. This can be attributed to the implementation of land reforms by the state. A great majority of the agricultural labourers own a small portion of agricultural land. Females among the cultivators are as high as 6 and 3 per cent in Vadlamanu and Polasanipalli villages respectively.

2Obviously, basically all types of organisations may be assessed with the general analogues of the five indicators. Also firms, university departments etc. have or do not have their own 'festivals', absence of litigation etc. 98 Chapter 6

Table 6.1. Socio-demographic profile of study villages

|S.No| Particolare \ λ г\ Ж S\ 9\ 10\ il\ ll\ РЕМОСНАРШС I Population 1,843 2,022 3,357 4.439 1,663 1,347 1,854 2,116 4,151 1,082 •356 1,321 г Scheduled Castes % 16 40 15 28 19 15 7 19 12 26 15 0 3 Scheduled Tribes % 0 4 1 1 4 0 1 9 0 1 3 2 4 Households 356 413 645 962 409 311 363 451 957 233 79 316 5 Literacy % 26 35 29 31 29 28 20 20 25 49 27 23 6 Among Males % 28 41 36 36 33 31 24 22 29 54 26 29 7 Among Females % 23 30 22 25 25 24 16 17 21 44 28 17 LAND USE 8 Total Area (Hectares) 686 1,379 1.567 504 407 753 1,617 764 2,799 654 654 1,220 9 Forest Cover (Hectares) 36 594 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 70 10 ungated by Source (Hectares) 11 Tanks (a) 87 112 359 156 27 76 106 85 0 21 0 45 12 Tube wells 0 0 101 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 Other Sources 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 204 260 34 0 14 Un-irrtgared 343 536 652 226 244 577 1,128 564 1,605 319 285 824 15 Culturable Waste 32 31 187 10 5 0 0 0 140 4 1 61 16 Not available for cultivation 217 106 268 112 130 100 383 115 850 50 334 219 OCCUPATIONS: (all figures In percentages) 17 Non-Workere (d) 56 54 54 47 57 40 60 45 51 53 49 53 18 Males 39 45 36 41 39 31 47 43 40 45 28 42 19 Females 73 63 71 54 75 48 64 46 63 61 79 66 20 Workers 44 45 46 52 42 60 40 60 48 47 51 47 21 Males 61 55 64 57 60 69 53 57 58 55 59 58 22 Females 27 30 29 46 25 52 27 54 37 39 41 34 23 Culnvatois 8 5 14 6 7 11 12 5 8 6 4 16 24 Males 15 11 28 10 14 21 23 8 15 12 7 24 25 Females 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 3 0 1 0 6 26 Agricultural Labourers 28 36 24 36 25 45 24 45 31 27 37 29 27 Males 31 38 23 31 29 43 25 44 28 28 37 30 28 Females 25 35 25 41 21 46 23 46 34 26 36 27 29 Livestock, Forestry Etc 0 1 DNA 1 5 0 1 3 2 8 2 0 30 Males 0 1 DNA 1 9 0 1 2 4 4 3 0 31 Females 0 0 DNA 0 1 0 1 3 1 12 0 0 32 Other Occupations 8 3 DNA 9 6 5 3 3 5 6 8 3 33 Males 14 5 DNA 13 8 5 4 3 7 11 11 4 34 Females 2 1 DNA 4 3 5 1 2 2 1 5 1 INFRASTRUCTURE 35 bducauonal Ρ P,M Ρ Ρ,Μ,Η Ρ Ρ Ρ P. Μ, Η Ρ Ρ Ρ Ρ 36 Medical None None RP ΜΗ. PHC.D None None None None None None None None 37 Drinking waler T.W.HP T.W.HP W,HP T.W.HP W.HP W.HP Well T.W.HP W.HP T.WHP W.HP W.HP 38 Post Office & Telegraphs PO PO PTO PTO. Phone PO PO PO PO PO PO PO None 39 Communication None Bus Bus Bus Bus Bus Bus Bus Bus Bus None Bus 40 Nearest Town (distance in km) NZD(18) NZDO) NZD(10) NZD(10) BZA(25) NZD(7) NZTX8) NZD(12) BZA(25) NZD(5) NZD(19) NZD(I3) 41 Power Supply (Electricity) D.AG E D, AG E D. AG E E D, AG D, AG E D, AG D, AG

1 Devaragunta, 2 Enamadala, 3 Gogulampadu, 4 GoIlapaJli, 5 Kanasanapalh, 6 Morsapudi, 7 Mukkollupadu, 8 Polasanipalli, 9 Rajavaram, L0 Ramannagudem, 11 Tadepally, 12 Vadlamanu Ρ Primary, M Middle, Η High School, JC Junior College. С College MH Maternity Home, PHC Primary Health Centre, D Dispensary, RMP Registered Medical Pracüüoner PO Post Office, PTO Posts & Telegraph Office E Electncity for all purposes, D Domestic, AG Agricultural (a) Area includes welts under the command area (b)The figures also include the main revenue village (1981 census records) (c)The figures also include the main revenue vil (d) Includes a small percentage of marginal workers Many agricultural labourers still own a small portion of land say 0 I ha Cultivator A decision-maker in farming including the land leased out Other Occupations include, mining, trade & commerce, construcUon.transport & communication and other than household works DNA Data Not Available, NZD Nuzvid, BZA Vijayawada The villages and their collective social capital 99

The agricultural labour force is comparatively high in Enamadala, Gollapalli, and Tadepally and very high in Morsapudi and Polasanipalli villages. It can be observed from the table that the female work force dominate their opposite sex in Gogulampadu, Gollapalli, Morsapudi, Polasanipalli, and Rajavaram villages.

In Ramannagudem village, a massive poverty alleviation (milch animals and small scale poultry farms) programme was introduced by the government which explains the high per cent of females under the livestock category.

Table 6.2 Distribution of Respondents by land holding (acres)

S.No Village Landless 0-1 1-5 5& above Total 1 Devaraeunta 1 0 8 2 11 2 Enamadala 1 2 3 5 11 3 GoeulamDadu 1 0 4 4 8 4 Gollapalli 2 3 2 3 10 5 Kanasanapalli 0 1 5 2 8 6 Morsapudi 2 1 5 2 10 7 Mukkollupadu 4 1 9 3 17 8 Polasanipalli 4 1 5 2 12 9 Raiavaram 0 2 6 0 8 10 Ramannagudem 4 0 7 0 11 11 Tadepallv 1 0 5 5 11 12 Vadlamanu 0 0 8 0 8 ТпЫ 20 11 67 28 126

Source: Village-level interviews (1998)

Table 6.2 presents the pattern of land holding of the respondents in the study villages. As can be seen from the Table, a little over 20 per cent of the respondents own more than five acres of land. Nearly 16 per cent of the respondents are landless labourers. About 62 per cent of the respondents own between 0-5 acres. As the data presents, nearly 50 per cent of the respondents from Enamadala, Gogulampadu and Tadepally own more than 5 acres of land. It appears from the data, that these villages are slightly better off than the others among the study villages.

Table 6.3 presents the livestock ownership of the respondents in the study villages. As can be seen from the table, a great majority of respondents own milch animals, primarily for their domestic consumption and to develop their own farm yard manure. Any excess production is sold in the open market or to the milk collection 100 Chapter 6 centres. In the past, it was considered to be below one's dignity to sell milk or milk products and one only sells such products if poor. However, changing times brought changes in the attitude of the people and any excess production beyond their domestic consumption has an economic value. All the study villages are serviced by either the Government-run chilling centre or the private diaries that are located within a radius of 25 km.

Table 6.3 Livestock ownership of respondents (Milch Animals)

S.NO Village Nil Below - 5 Above - 5 Total 1 Devaragunta 0 9 2 11 2 Enamadala 3 6 2 11 3 Gogulampadu 1 6 2 9 4 Gollapalli 2 8 0 10 5 Kanasanapalli 4 3 1 8 6 Morsapudi 4 5 1 10 7 Mukkollupadu 7 10 0 17 8 Polasanipalli 1 10 1 12 9 Rajavaram 1 5 2 8 10 Ramannagudem 4 7 0 11 11 Tadepally 2 7 2 11 12 Vadlamanu 2 6 0 8 Total 31 82 13 126

Source: Village-level interviews (1998)

All the study villages have primary educational facilities. In most cases, the students either go to Nuzvid town or Agiripalli town for higher education. In some cases they go to the big cities for professional education. Only in Gogulampadu and Gollapalli, are primary health facilities available. All the other villages depend on the nearest town for medical services.

A safe drinking water supply is in almost all the villages, except in Mukkollupadu where the villagers still depend on well water. Except Vadlamanu, all the villages have post office facilities. The villagers from Devaragunta and Tadepally walk a few km to reach the bus service to go to the nearest town. All the villages are electrified for both domestic and agricultural purposes. As can be seen from Table 6.1 the dependency on Nuzvid town and Vijayawada city is unavoidable. For almost all major purchases for farming activities and otherwise the villagers The villages and their collective social capital 101 depend on these cities.

In Table 6.4 an assessment of the status of the respondents from the study villages is provided. Income from all sources was the main criteria adopted. The below poverty level (BPL) category uses the yardstick of family income adopted by the government.

Table 6.4 General status of the respondents

S.NO Village BPL Average Satisfactory Total 1 Devaragunta 3 6 2 11 2 Enamadala 1 4 6 11 3 Gogulampadu 1 0 8 9 4 Gollapalli 5 1 4 10 5 Kanasanapalli 0 4 4 8 6 Morsapudi 6 3 1 10 7 Mukkollupadu 5 8 4 17 8 Polasanipalli 4 7 1 12 9 Rajavaram 1 6 1 8 10 Ramannagudem 2 8 1 11 11 Tadepally 2 4 5 11 12 Vadlamanu 1 5 2 8 Total 31 56 39 126

Source: Village-level interviews (1998)

It is evident from the above table that villages like Enamadala, Gogulampadu and Tadepally are richer than the other villages. Villages like Gollapalli and Morsapudi depict the picture of being relatively poor.

6.4 Profiles and collective social capital of the study villages

This section provides an account of the historical background and the present situation of the study villages, and assesses the collective social capital based on the indicators outlined earlier. 102 Chapter 6

6.4.1 Devaragunta

The village is located east of Nuzvid at a distance of 13 km and spreads over an area of 6.86 sq. km. The boundary of the village includes on the East-Vempadu, West-Jangamgudem, South-Morsapudi and North-Korla kunta.

The village has a history of over 200 years. According to the wise men in the village, it formed part of the Gollapalli Zamindari. The entire village was considered to be part of a thick forest with widely dispersed habitations. It is believed that in those days whenever an epidemic disease broke, either for people or for livestock, the Kings together with the people performed special celebrations to Devaras (village gods) with a hope that these gods would protect them from the wrath of the epidemic. These offerings and celebrations were conducted before a huge Neem tree which is considered to represent the Devaras. In honour of these traditions, the village is called Devaragunta. Even today, the tradition is practised once in every 10 years with much enthusiasm.

Historically, the village is agriculture-based and dependent on traditional implements such as a plough and oxen and farm yard manure. The crops grown were millet, Jowar, Sajja, horsegram and groundnut. The agriculture is dependent on rain irrigation and the water is stored in the Pedda, Korulakunta and Subbamma tanks. These tanks catered to a vast command area and there were a few open wells which were also used for irrigation. Since the farmers were using farmyard manure, it is understandable that most of them had livestock in their backyards and developed expertise in maintaining animal farms. There is a government collection centre and the excess milk is either given at this centre or to the vendors who offer a better price. The rearing of milch animals is widely practised in this village.

They entirely relied on herbal and traditional medicines for treating their diseases and ailments. Presently, there is one Registered Medical Practitioner in the village. The ANM and Health Guide visits the village once a month and take care of the vaccinations to the children and advise the pregnant woman on pre- and post-natal care. There is an Anganawadi centre in the village that provides nutritious middaymeals to the children. The village has no proper approach roads and educational facilities are limited to the extent of primary education only. Only the wealthy can afford higher education in nearby towns and cities. There is one adult education centre and 60 villagers attend this regularly. The villages and their collective social capital 103

Map 6.1 Devaragunta village DEVARAGUNTA NUZVD TALUK KRISHNA оетпісг

NO 37 KATRENEPADU

NO 33 MORSAPUOI 104 Chapter 6 The population of the village is about 1,843 with 356 households. There are 302 people who belong to scheduled castes. There are 515 agricultural labourers in the village.

Since this village became a Panchayat, the road to progress has been very smooth. The village exhibits a sense of cooperation, unity and few conflicts among different classes, and has been able to move forward. Those with intelligence were able to offer their goodwill and services to the development of the village. According to the present leader in the village, it is easy to bring the people together for a common purpose and good.

Since the introduction of borewells for irrigation the necessity to store rain water in the tanks became of less priority and resulted in the degradation of the tanks. In the old days, the community took proper care of these structures and desilted them as and when necessary. It is stated by the President that with the assistance coming from the World Bank project, they were able to restore the bund of the tank and stone packing inside a portion of the bund.

Tractors replaced the animals and most farmers hired a tractor for their agricultural operations and this led to a decline in the ox population. This resulted in opting for chemical fertilizers since farmyard manure became a rare commodity. Only those who can afford to have animals are lucky to still use the farmyard manure.

There is one cooperative bank in the village which extends credit facilities to the farmers for agricultural purposes. The village is electrified for domestic needs and agriculture with power supplied. There is one post office. People use tap, hand pump and well water for domestic purposes. For marketing their agricultural produce they depend on Nuzvid or Vijayawada. Most of the farmers fall under the category of small and marginal farmers having an average land holding of less than a hectare. In this sense, this village depicts the picture ofthat of an average village in the country.

Though the villagers identify themselves with various political parties, yet the village is not divided on party basis. This was stated by the President who could set an example of running the Panchayat above politics. The villages and their collective social capital 105

Box 6.1. Collective Social capital indicators of Devaragunta • Own festival: The Jatara for Devaras is a local festival which is celebrated in this village. The score for this indicator is Yes. • Absence of Litigation: It appears from the history of the village that it has not experienced any serious history of litigation between and among the villagers. Therefore the score is Yes. • Record of cooperative work: From the interviews, village meetings organised by SHIP and from the village profile, it can be stated that the village undertook community work to the common good of everybody such as organising shramdaan for the school building. Hence the score given is Yes. • Density of spontaneous groups: This village does not have many groups except for those created for specific programme purposes organised by the government. Therefore the score given is No. • Absence of political party divisions: As can be seen from the profile, the presence of party divisions does not hinder their spirit of cooperation. Therefore the score given is Yes.

On the whole this village scores = Yes + Yes + Yes + No + Yes = 4.

6.4.2 Enamadala

It is located towards west of Nuzvid and spreads over an area of 1,379 hectares. The village is surrounded in the East by Nuzvid and Ravicherla, West - Kannimerla, North - Sunkollu and South - Bathulavarigudem.

Historically, this village served as a capital town of Zamindar Veera Vasantha Rayalu and in his name is called Veera Vasantha Rayani Pattanamu. Knowledge is not available how the present name was acquired by the village. In those days the Zamindari stretched from Chopparametla to Siddharthanagar. Later this was taken over by the Zamindars of Vuyyuru Estate. Since this village was the main town during those days, it enjoyed all the benefits and facilities and was well off. The farmers reaped good crops. The Zamindars ensured proper maintenance of the tanks which mainly catered to irrigation purposes. The social bonds and norms were very strong and people lived in harmony. On the west, the village proper is bordered by classified dense forest.

Presently the population is 2,022. There are 413 households and the village has two hamlets within its revenue boundaries. There is a canal3 that traverses through

•This canal is part of the major irrigation project undertaken by the Government of India in thel960's on the banks of the river Krishna, 150 km away from Hyderabad, the state capital. The left canal passes through the districts of Nalgonda and Krishna. The dam is named after Nagarjuna, the famous Buddhist monk. 106 Chapter 6

Map 6.2 Enamadala village NO. 27 eNAMADAL·* I4JZVO TALIK

"·' ' *-"

/ ƒ

α — π —

a—.- В —·

в-— The villages and their collective social capital 107 this village towards the south. The water in this canal is only available during February-May. For the rest of the time it is empty. Earlier, when the tanks were maintained by the Zamindars, the vast command area under these tanks benefited extensively. Due to the advent of bore wells and the canal, the tanks were neglected which resulted in the diminishing quality of the command area for these tanks. Presently, the tanks cater to half their potential with whatever water that is stored in them.

The canal water contributed to the growth of mango orchards in the area. This further resulted in farmers shifting to commercial cash crops such as tobacco, chillies, cottons etc. When the water is let into the canal, farmers use the pump sets or oil engines to divert it into their fields. Though it is not legal, everybody accepts this as part of life. There was a move to divert the canal water to the tank so that they can increase their command area potential and benefit with a second crop. It did not succeed for various political and other reasons. There are seven tube wells in the area which serve for drinking water purposes. Most wealthy families have their own open well with a pump set for domestic consumption. The government has installed taps, hand pumps and wells for domestic use.

Since the village is located on the approach road to Nuzvid, the communication facilities are very good. Frequent bus services are available to Vijayawada or Nuzvid. The village is electrified and connected to Nuzvid Telephone Exchange. There is a post office and villager's avail themselves of the small savings facilities extended by it. People travel to Nuzvid for entertainment and those who can afford them have their own television sets connected to a local cable network ran by a village member. Radio is a common asset possessed by villagers.

There is a primary and middle school in the village where the students can study up to 9th class. Since Nuzvid is close by, most parents prefer their children to study in the convents or better schools. They commute by buses and those who can afford to share a rickshaw ( a tricycle). Students attending junior or degree college use cycles.

The village has a branch of the Syndicate Bank and a unit of the District Cooperative Bank which extend the credit facilities. It is reported that 75% of the village use these services and are helped to save for the future.

In Enamadala, party politics play an important role. Politically, the village is divided among the various parties. The Mandai Praja Parishad President (M.P.P.) hails from this village and comes from the ruling party. The Communist Party of India has its network established in this village and the labourers form the core of 108 Chapter 6 their support. The former M.P.P President belongs to the Congress Party. Earlier, in Chapter 1, we discussed the feud that took place between the parties in relation to the forest encroachments in this village. It appears that people are being used as targets for political gains and as vote banks. It is no surprise that a number of villagers, especially from the agricultural labour section, are involved in court cases booked by the forestry department. They spend most of their time in waiting eternally before the court rooms, only to be told that the case is being adjourned to another date.

There are two mango market yards in this village which serve as a centre to buy mangoes from the farmers and market them to either Vijayawada or far-off places. All the agricultural produce is moved to the market in Nuzvid or Vijayawada. During the off season some of the labourers migrate to the delta area for work and return after the agricultural operations are over. The women stay and take care of the families. An out-migration is an important feature of life in Enamadala.

There are fivetank s in this village that have a total command area of 110 hectares but the water is good at present for 65 hectares only. Most of the tanks are covered with Ipomoea weed and silted up heavily. Part of the tank bed area is being encroached on and converted into mango orchards. There is one tank that was constructed by the Zamindars which is located in the forest area and served as a drinking water source for wild the animals that existed in those days. It is called Adavi cheruvu, meaning ' forest tank'.

Most families have one or two milch animals and in some cases more. The milk is sold to the government and private dairies in the area. There are collection centres that collect the milk and transport it to chilling centres for processing. This situation compared to the past is not very encouraging. Earlier they had more milch animals, but because there are hardly any grazing areas left and the grass is becoming scarce, the animals have decreased in numbers and size. There is one veterinary hospital in the village which not only caters to the needs of this village but to nearby villages.

There are a couple of Mahila Mandais (women's organisations) and youth associations which are active in thrift and social activities. These associations become the channel for a number of government development programmes aimed at mitigating poverty. The villages and their collective social capital 109

Box 6.2. Collective Social capital indicators of Enamadala • Own festival: There is no festival associated with this village, hence the score is No. • Absence of litigation: There is no record of internal conflicts resulting in litigation in this village, therefore the score is Yes. • Record of cooperative work: The village has not exhibited any record of cooperative work. The forest encroachers made efforts to form into Vana Samrahhana Samithi which were diluted by external influences. Therefore the score is No. • Density of spontaneous groups: There are quite a few teams from this village which play different sports and games. Therefore the score is Yes. • Absence of political party divisions: The village is virtually divided on party lines and serious differences exist among the groups. Hence the score is No. • The total score of this village on social capital indicators is =No + Yes + N0 + Yes + N0 =2.

6.4.3 Gogulampadu

This village is a hamlet of a Chintalavalli revenue village and falls under Musunuru Mandai. Therefore the figures referred are for the entire revenue village. The total population is 3,357 with 645 households. There are nearly 250 households living in this hamlet.

This village is located 10 km Northeast of Nuzvid on the Musunuru road. This is a diversion from the main road. The village boundaries include: East - Chintalavalli main villages; West - Mukkollupadu; North - Gopavaram; South - Simhadripuram.

The village is unique in many aspects. A former Member of the Legislative Assembly (M.L.A.) hails from this village. He belongs to the Congress party and the majority in this village extends support to him. There is a small but vocal percentage of the population which belongs to the other political parties.

Since the focus of the study was on Agiripalli and Nuzvid Mandais, specific data for this village is not readily available. However, the situation does not differ much from other villages. Due to the advantage they had of the presence of the MLA, the village got a lot of facilities. They have good roads, electricity, a post office, a cooperative bank, etc. The commercial banks are located at a distance of 3 km. For veterinary and medical services they depend on Musunuru. по Chapter 6 Map 6.3 Gogulampadu hamlet included in Chintalavalli main village

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! ι, ι ί .. ι hi! ! I J 1 I ! 1 Ι Ι ι I t / i 'ІИІІНІП a ED an ваша si и β m m The villages and their collective social capital 111 SHIP organised a few meetings in this village. The tank's situation is dealt with separately in subsequent chapters. From the interviews with farmers, it can be inferred that the village is comparatively rich. Tobacco, a cash crop, seems to dominate the crops. There are more than a half a dozen tractors in this village. There are a couple of small dairy farms operated by farmers, who supply the milk to the collection centres. There is a temple, a church and festivities are observed. For the Sivarathri festivities people travel to different parts of the state. A small percentage of the population is landless; even among the agricultural labourers land holding is a common feature. There are a couple of bhajan groups in this village.

Box 6.3: Collective Social capital indicators of Gogulampadu • Own Festival: The village does not have its own festival, hence the score is No. • Absence of litigation: Nothing on record shows any cases of litigation. Even during the village interviews, we had not come across any reference made to existing litigations. Therefore the score is Yes. • Record of cooperative work: Neither the village interviews nor the meetings organised in this village were able to trace any record of cooperative work. Hence the score is No. • Density of spontaneous groups: As stated in the profile there are a couple of bhajan (choir) groups present in this village. Hence the score is Yes. • Absence of political party divisions: Even though the majority of the villagers support Congress I, the other political parties like CPI, TDP are present and strong loyalties are expressed to these parties. Therefore the score is No.

The total score of this village on social capital indicators = No + Yes + No + Yes + No =2.

6.4.4 Gollapalli

The village is located 10 km east of Nuzvid en route to Machilipattanam, which is the district head quarters. It is spread over 504 hectares. The boundary of the village includes on the East - Meerjapuram; West - Polasanipalli/Morsapudi; South - Mallavalli, and North - Vempadu.

The village has a population of 4,439. The name Golla/Yadava derives from a clan of people who are called cowherd/shepherds. It is believed, as the old folk in the village say, they belong to the clan of Lord Krishna, who was a cowherd/shepherd. The legend is often heard in the village about the origin of this village. 112 Chapter 6 Map 6.4 Gollapalli village

NO. 47 GOLLAPALLI NUZVD TALUK НЛЮМА msrmcr The villages and their collective social capital 113

One lady belonging to the clan of Yadava lived at the same place where the temple of Lord Rama is located at present. One fine day, according to her, Lord Sri Rama appeared before her in her sleep and suggested that he would visit her the following day for lunch. He appeared the next day with his wife, brother Laxman and Monkey God Hanuman and requested a meal. They were served food by the lady. Upon completing the food, they converted themselves into idols. Since the lady honoured herself by serving the Lord, in her memory the name Gollapalli came into existence (interview notes by SHIP motivators-1995).

Gollapalli was an erstwhile Zamindari and people say that one lady, by name Appalamma, was an informal leader and running the affairs of the village. The ancestors of the present Zamindari family worked as servants under this lady. Since this Zamindari family grew under her stewardship, as a sign of respect and loyalty to her the Zamindari family inherited the name of Apparao. This tradition continues even today in the Zamindar family.

There are 962 households and the average size of the family is approximately 5 members. Females form part of the major work force in agriculture and allied industries. According to the data gathered, 80% of the respondents from the village own milch animals which are often used for domestic consumption and any extra production is sold to the private or government-owned diaries who have a collection centre in the village. Normally, these animals are let out in the morning and they graze in the open fields or often take a dip in the tanks and return home in the evenings. There is a veterinary dispensary available in the village.

The major source of irrigation is tank irrigation. There are four tanks - Sree Ramula Kunta, Oddu Tank, Edula Tank and Vura Tank. These were constructed by the Kings in the old days and one of these was used as a source of drinking water. Since the introduction of tap water, under the drinking water supply scheme of the Government, this tank lost its purpose and became idle. The other three tanks catered to agricultural needs until the boreholes took over the mode of irrigation. It is estimated that there are nearly 150 bores operating on electricity, which in a way has detached the community from the tanks and tank irrigation. The temple owns about 1,470 hectares of land which is leased to small and marginal farmers who go for irrigated dry crops such as groundnut and pay as amount equivalent to one quintal of their crop to the temple authorities as a lease. The other crops grown in this village are rice, tobacco, chillies, and cotton. In dry lands the farmers go for guava and coconut orchards rather than mango, which otherwise seems to dominate the area. In the past the crops grown were millet and pulses. The village tuned itself into the mainstream of agricultural practices which the country developed during the post independence era. The local seed varieties, 114 Chapter 6 which the farmers often produced themselves, paddy or millet, were replaced by the high-yielding varieties which have to be procured from a big farmer or from a centralised seed bank of the state. Today, one can hardly see a farmer producing his own seeds in the country in general and Gollapalli is no exception. The produce of Khariff crops, after deducting the production costs, is for domestic consumption. There are outlets of FCI within 15 km from the village. However, the farmers prefer to sell their excess produce to the retail market outlets where they hope to make a few rupees extra. The biggest market outlet is Vijayawada which is located 60 km from the village.

The village has a branch of the Indian Bank. The District Cooperative Bank is located at Meerjapuram which is 2 km away from the village. They cater to the needs of the farmers by providing short term and long term loans. In most cases, if the farmer is poor, he can get the loan at marginal interest. In addition to the existence of the banks, there is a post office which caters to the people's needs and offers a variety of National Savings Schemes. In our experience in this village it is rather difficult to single out a family that did not avail itself of the services of the informal banking. Generally these are loans taken for a marriage, festival, delivery expenses of a daughter or daughter-in-law, education of the children or to perform the rituals when someone in the family dies. For these kind of needs, the banks do not provide the credit facility.

The village has a Primary Health Centre (PHC), Maternity Home and Dispensary. All minor operations are undertaken by the surgeon in the hospital. When this was under construction, the then village President approached the organisation to become a partner by contributingfinancially. SHI P had access to some resources so it contributed Rs. 10,000, a BP apparatus, Weighing Scale and a Stethoscope to the hospital. All major ailments are referred to Nuzvid and for specialised medical services to Vijayawada. The government runs four nutrition centres for children where the midday meal is served. The health visitors regularly visit the houses and offers advice to pregnant women. Regular vaccination programmes are undertaken by the PHC against polio and other diseases.

The village has a primary, middle and Zilla Parishad High School which teach up to 10й1 class. Children from nearby villages also use this facility. For higher education, students go to Nuzvid, Vijayawada, Machilipattanam, Gannavaram or any other major city in the state that offers their choice of education. According to the census, 33% of the population is literate. The drop-out rate at primary and middle schools is high from the poorer sections of the village. The constitution of India provides free education to all. However, there are drop-outs due to the fact that the family needs the support of additional income. The villages and their collective social capital 115 In 1986, when SHIP started its activities in the Nuzvid area, we went round the villages introducing ourselves and seeking the cooperation of the villagers for taking up collective programmes. The then President was very enthusiastic and extended full support to the organisation. He held command over his village and went all out to provide the facilities for the village. As a small beginning, we initiated a nursery of varieties of fruit and domestic plants that were meant to be grown in the backyard of the houses. An intensive plantation was undertaken in the school premises. We were new to nursery raising and had little experience and this resulted in discontinuing the programme after our initial attempts. We undertook tank desilting work in this village which is discussed in later chapters.

The temple also owns a quarry, from where the foundation stones for construction are mined. The labour force is drawn from this village. These stones reach as far as Nuzvid. During the off season the labourers engage themselves in working in the mango orchards for plucking the fruits. The village is politically deeply divided and all the major political party wings exist. The then President who was instrumental in the development of the village had to leave the village with bitterness because of political bickering. The new leadership is thinking along party lines and it appears that there is hardly any enthusiasm among the community as a whole.

Sankranti, a festival which is associated with the harvest of Khariff crops is a major Hindu festival which is celebrated with much enthusiasm and fanfare. All the houses are decorated with colours. The oxen are decorated and taken around the village. The village streets are ful of colourful drawings and paintings and decorated with cow dung cakes, considered to be auspicious. Sri Rama Navami, a festival celebrated for nine days, is a tradition that the village continues to live up to. This happens on the 9* day of the Telugu New Year's Calender. There are dramas, street theatres, songs competitions, Hari Kathas and Burra Kathas performed by the artists. (Hari Katha is a state of art in which the artist narrates the biography of a person or god with songs, explanations and some parables, Burra Katha is an art form in which the main artists are supported by two other side artists). 116 Chapter 6

Box 6.4. Collective Social capital indicators of Gollapalli • Own festival: This village has no record of having its own festival. Hence, the score is No. • Absence of litigation: SHIP has not come across of any serious litigations in this village. Therefore the score is Yes. • Record of cooperative work: In our experience, the villagers exhibited a high degree of cooperation at the time of construction of the Primary Health Centre, and in the afforestation programme that the organisation carried out in this village. Therefore the score is Yes. • Density of spontaneous groups: The village is known for its cultural art and theatre. There are many performing artists from this village who are formed into small groups. The village also has local teams for various sports and games. Hence the score given is Yes. • Absence of political party divisions: The fact that the former President of the village had to leave the village due to political bickering is an indicator of how strong the party politics are in this village. Therefore the score given is No.

The total score on social capital indicators is = No + Yes + Yes + Yes + No - 3.

6.4.5: Kanasanipalli

The Zamindars of Nuzvid, were travelling through this area once with their followers. They encountered a cheetah. The servant bravely fought with it and killed it. Pleased with the act of the servant, the Zamindar gave him the entire piece of land where the present village is located. This servant brought with him an unmarried lady (Kanya) as his mistress (sani) and established the family. The family grew over the years. Hence, it was called Kanyasanipalli (Virgin Mistress Village). This degenerated into Kanasanipalli.

The village is located 3 km east of Adivinekkalam on the Vijayawada-Nuzvid, road. The gravel road leads through the fields and hamlets and ends near the hillocks which border the village on the east. In all the other directions the village is surrounded by agricultural fields.

The population of the village is 1,663 with 409 households. It is predominantly agriculture-oriented and depends heavily on rain water. There are two tanks in this village that serve the needs of the villagers for agriculture and other purposes. The village is classified as a minor revenue Panchayat. There is a post office, a primary cooperative bank, a ration price shop and a TV cable operator. The site where the Panchayat office is located was donated by a villager. All the agricultural labourers live in one corner of the village. They are classified as scheduled castes. The villages and their collective social capital 117

Map 6.5 Kanasanapalli village KANASANAPALLI NUZVO TALUK Mb I· Mrvb Hi

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Νο,βΙ ADIVMEXIULAIl 118 Chapter 6 There is a mini water pumping scheme which provides drinking water to their colony. The rest of the village draws its water from the well located near the tank.

Most of the villagers finished their primary school education. A few of them studied at high school. A negligible percentage completed university education. The village is homogeneous in many aspects. The past president played an important role in shaping up the destiny of this village. A great majority of the villages are related to each other. Due to the constitutional amendment 73, which provided a mandatory reservation of 33% of villages to have women elected as presidents, this village is reserved for women to share the power in the Panchayat. It is the only village among the study villages that had a woman president.

Politically the village is united. If the elders decide to vote for Congress, then everybody votes for Congress. If they decide to vote for any other party, then the community follows. Perhaps this attitude helps them to be united and draw benefits from whichever comer they come. They were able to build a link road to the nearby villages and get bus services connecting toVijayawada and Nuzvid.

In 1994, the country celebrated the 125* birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. A national committee and a state level committee under the Chairmanship of His Excellency the Governor of Andhra Pradesh were set up. The researcher, who was then the Executive Secretary of the Academy of Gandhian Studies (Hyderabad) was involved in the planning process at the state level. The question attempted was how best to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi? A variety of suggestions were offered. Notable among them were can we identify 125 young men and women for whom village development becomes a mission in their lives? Can these youngsters function under Gandhi Mission Centres? Could these centres act as nuclei for village development activities? The idea seemed very good but needed much more clarity. I was responsible for initiating the dialogue in different parts of the state with villagers, non-govemmental organisations and preparing the ground work. In six districts this process was initiated and intensive dialogues were held with the villagers. While the ground realities of rifts, divisions, tensions, conflicts and disparities were acknowledged, the search was for something that could bring the community together and slowly work towards unity in diversity in order to march ahead towards progress in all spheres of life. Often villagers narrated the glorious past in which there existed a big tree or temple square or Rachha Banda (a big stone where the community meetings were held) at which meetingsserved the purpose of resolving the conflicts among and between the communities and for planning events for the village's development. The common element that bound them and can bind The villages and their collective social capital 119 them together is Satya (Truth). It is a relative concept and yet encompasses some fundamental values. Perhaps this is the richest tribute that Mahatma Gandhi deserves. His whole life was based on "Experiments with Truth." The idea caught the attention of the committee and the Governor was extremely pleased with it.

Amongst all the villages in which SHIP initiated this process the youth association of Kanasanipalli came forward. There was scepticism among a few villagers, while a few were noncommittal. The youth association and the Panchayat got together and prepared the ground for establishing the first Truth Centre in the post-Gandhian era. They expected a lot from the organisation. We made it very clear that the Truth Centre belongs to the village, and SHIP would only help to facilitate the process. The Governor was very appreciative of the response and encouraged the start the of first Truth Centre in the state, perhaps in the entire country. It was agreed to launch this on 18lh September 1994. The villagers, knowing the Governor would come to their village to inaugurate the centre, wasted no time to prepare for the big occasion. In a week, Rs 35,000 was collected in kind and cash and a small building was built in the heart of the village where a statue of Mahatma Gandhi is located. Since the Governor was coming to the village, protocol demanded that the administration was involved at every stage. It was a challenging task to coordinate with the entire district administration. A few other activities were planned to coincide with the visit of the Governor.

On the day of inauguration, there were 5,000 villagers who came from nearby villages to witness the event. The Governor gave a very inspiring speech and interacted freely with the villagers. A rally with the school children was organised with the Governor leading from the front. The impact on the children was indelible. A logo with the picture of Mahatma Gandhi with the word SATYA was presented by the Governor to the Truth Centre. TRUTH IS GOD was the slogan of the Truth Centre. On 2nd October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the village assembled at the Truth Centre and took a collective oath to abstain from killing the animals and not to consume alcohol within the precincts of the village. The village elected a council to serve the Truth Centre. The primary task of this council was to resolve village level conflicts.

The activities of the Centre have continued. During the past four years, it was able to resolve a number of conflicts. Not a single case has been registered with the police nor in the courts for settlement. According to the villagers, the presence of the Truth Centre has helped them to lead a truthful life. A record of cases 120 Chapter 6 resolved at the Truth Centre is being maintained. The motivator of SHIP plays an active role in the Centre. Often in the staff meetings of the organisation, he shares the experience of the Truth Centre. According to him a large number of conflicts were resolved among the villagers without being referred to the Centre. One case resolved by the Truth Centre is the following example.

One fine day, a lady was working in the mango orchards. A man of the same age from the nearby village, noticing the lady being alone, teased her to an extent that she lost her control and injured him severely with the tool in her hand. The man was rushed to the hospital and the villagers of his village became very angry. The young people decided to settle the scores with Kanasanipalli villagers. However, the wise among from the village suggested "We agree with you that the matter should be settled. Let us first approach the Truth Centre and ask them for justice. If justice is not done, then let us take a decision." Since respect for elders is still a predominant feature of the rural society, the young people agreed to the proposal. In two tractors the villagers reached the Truth Centre. The council was summoned. The lady was called to the Centre. Upon questioning, she admitted the facts and felt sorry for what happened. The council suggested forming a sub-committee to talk to the man in the hospital and ascertain facts from his side. So a three-member committee comprising of one elderly member from each village and a representative of the Truth Centre, went to the hospital and ascertained facts from the man. Both the versions were factual. The members reported to the council. It was concluded that both were at fault. However, it was argued that, since the man was incurring expenditure and would be out of employment until he recovered, he should be compensated. The lady gave her consent and requested the council to suggest the amount. After deliberations, there was mutual agreement on the amount to be paid. The lady paid the amount and everyone felt greatly relieved. People thanked the council and appreciated the presence of the Truth Centre which certainly averted a serious rift between these two villages.

Undoubtedly, the presence of a Truth Centre in the village has added vigour to the characteristics of Kanasanipalli village. From being a centre of conflict resolution, the centre grew in its outlook and ventured into a number of small but important social interventions. They were able to get the bus shelter constructed, approach roads formed to the other villages, and continue to get their tank desilted every year. The villages and their collective social capital 121

Box 6.5. Collective Social capital indicators of Kanasanipalli • Own festival: the village has its own festival which is celebrated every year and people from the nearby villages flock around this village at that time. Therefore the score is Yes. • Absence of litigation: The presence of Truth Centre made a big difference in this village. Since its inception in 1994, it was stated that not a single case has been registered with the local police or the courts. Therefore the score given is Yes. • Record of cooperative work: This village has exhibited a high degree of cooperative work at every level. One example of their willingness to cooperate was at the time of constructing the Truth Centre. Therefore the score is Yes. • Density of spontaneous groups: The village has a number of informal and formal groups for various activities such as local games and sports, festival committees etc. Most of them are active with the village development activities. Hence the score js Yes. • Absence of political party divisions: Due to the leadership of the former president, this village did not encounter any political party divisions. Hence the score given is Yes.

The total score of this village is: Yes + Yes + Yes + Yes + Yes = 5.

6.4.6: Morsapudi

This village is located on the Nuzvid Junction main road at a distance of 7 km. The village is divided by the road that passes through it. The population of the village is 1,347 with 311 households. The boundaries of the village include West - Tukkuluru, East - Gollapalli, South - Polasanipalli, North - Devaragunta.

The facilities include a post office, bus services, telecommunications, a primary school, safe drinking water supply and electricity for all purposes. The students go to Gollapalli for high school education and to Nuzvid for college education. The village is divided into small fragments and identified with major political parties. There are two tanks in this village. The main tank is called Vinayaka Cheruvu. It is believed that at the time of construction of the tank, the idols of Lord Vinayaka and the Serpent God Nagendra Swamy were discovered. For a few years they were left in the tank. One farmer took the initiative and installed the idols on the bund which joins the highway. Hence this is called Vinayaka Cheruvu.

After the experience of theTruth Centre at Kanasanipalli, the villagers showed a lot of enthusiasm and had. a series of .meetings about having a Truth Centre. One villager even came forward to donate a piece of land for constructing the centre. Tacitly they wished the Governor would come and inaugurate the centre so that they can take advantage of the visit and get some benefits to the village. The organisation made very clear that if you would like to have the centre have it for 122 Chapter 6 Map 6.6 Morsapudi village NUZVC TALUK KRISM4A DISTRICT

0"i-ull.2ll,l„ NO 47 NO 62 GOU-APALLI POLASANAPALLI

Г ALLÍ ruwITUbet [·] Т1Ы WlllMri W» f »I TMtadboM» • f-.»» |£*J Bamit™·»* O art*"* [Π Ll^i rf I«fcl I1·-* H M*»»«*-"^"1 —' Ь|м* 101 (5) яюв**· g Mwu- [al Till— trtl«H»lni •"*"• 3 •*«irf ·*""• ",,h *""*' (θ] luadundo [S] cJwrt»**bfrf<* pi T|UW>4·^« 13 ™ 1 g ι™«»- " ¡T¡ IU-J»* g Ю-икТ—— "» The villages and their collective social capital 123 yourselves. It may not be prudent to start something for the sake of inviting the Governor to your village. The debate is ongoing.

Box 6.6. Collective Social capital indicators of Morsapudi • Own festival: There is no local festival associated with this village. Hence the score is No. • Absence of litigation: In our experience, we have not noticed any litigations worth mentioning. Therefore the score is Yes. • Record of cooperative work: Neither the interviews nor the village meeting minutes show any record of cooperative work in this village. Therefore the score is No. • Density of spontaneous groups: There are no spontaneous formal or informal groups present in this village. Hence the score is No. • Absence of political party divisions: The village is virtually flooded with different party groups and the major political parties of the state have a strong base here. Therefore the score is No.

The total score of this village is = No + Yes + No + No + No = 1.

6.4.7: Mukkollupadu

This village is located 8 km north-east of Nuzvid. It is surrounded by Ramanakkapeta on the north, Potireddipalli on the south, Chintalavalli on the east and Annavarm and Digavalli on the west. It is spread over an area of 1,617 hectares. The approach road to the village is a kutcha road and one takes a diversion to the east from Annavaram which is located on the Nuzvid- Vissannapeta Road. The village is divided into two parts connected by the tank bund which serves as the approach road.

The total population is about 1,854. An old man whom the researcher interviewed gives an interesting anecdote about how the village acquired its present name. Mukkanti Eswara Padu is the original name. It is another name for Lord Shiva (The destroyer of the Hindu Trinity of Gods). Mukkanti means the third eye. There used to be a temple for Lord Shiva in this village which was characterised by the third eye of Lord Shiva. Since people came from different parts of the district to celebrate Shivarathri, a festival in honour of Lord Shiva, they referred to it as Mukkanti Eswara Puram which, as time passed got degenerated and took its present shape. According to Subba Rao Kalagara, the village was rich and took pride in hosting religious and social festivals. Today, after seven decades, it gives a different picture altogether. 124 Chapter 6 Map 6.7 Mukkollupadu village

NO. 7 MUKKOLLUPADU NUZVO TALUK ма s ПЛМЛМЛКК*

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NO. sa POTIFteaOfPALLJ The villages and their collective social capital 125 There are 363 households and the average size of the family is approximately 5. The literacy rate is about 20 %. There is a primary school in the village and for higher education the students go to Nuzvid or any other place of their choice.

The nearest medical facility available is at Nuzvid and the villagers are dependent on Nuzvid for everything in day to day life. Well water is used for drinking and cooking purposes. The village is electrified and most houses have a radio set and a few houses have TV sets.

The major source of irrigation is tank irrigation; there are two tanks in this village which were partially restored by SHIP. The details of SHIP's intervention in this village are discussed in subsequent chapters. Paddy, groundnuts, tobacco and chillies are grown in this village. The nearest market outlet is Nuzvid or Vissannapeta. The wholesale market is located at Vijayawada.

The village takes pride in producing stalwarts such as the present Member of Parliament from Vijayawada Constituency, who hails from this village and who still has many relatives living here. Another one served the state government in the Police Services as Deputy Superintendent of Police and was killed in an encounter with the People's War Group. The brain drain from this village is considerable compared to other villages.

It has earned a name as being a very litigatious village in the area. When SHIP was approached by the former President to restore the tanks, we were warned by the other villagers in the area not to enter this village. We took a stand that our interest is to find solutions to the common problems experienced by the community but not the litigations. It is stated that almost every family is involved in a conflict with others on land, house property, and on many other trivial matters. Often this ends up in a police case or court for settlement. Our experience shows that we never had any serious problem in dealing with the villagers. We made it very clear from the beginning that we were here to find solutions together with the community if the community shows a common interest. Any individual problems or litigations among themselves have to be resolved at their level. It was not that easy in reality. However, the determination of the organisation helped in a big way to overcome the hurdles of litigations. It took many hours of patience on the part of organisers to organise meetings. Sometimes the long hour of waiting helps in getting the people together.

The generation gap is evident in this village. During the course of our interaction, while preparing the technical details about the tank restoration, SHIP colleagues visited the village frequently. In one of the visits, they met with three generations 126 Chapter 6 of the same family grandfather, son and grandson. The grandson was very excited about our presence and enthusiastic to mobilise the youth force to participate in the deliberations. The son was noncommital and did not express any feelings about our presence or absence. The grandfather was a bit candid. When we were introduced to him, his first reaction was "Why are you here? Who are you? What interests do you have in our village? These youngsters do not love their tanks anymore. They hardly have any respect for community properties." At first it was a setback to us as we were not prepared for such a candid expression from the old man. Secondly we were lost for a moment as to how to go about our tasks? However, we invited him to guide us and help us to move ahead. I think this strategy paid off and we got the full involvement of this person so that he became our important contact point for communication with the villagers.

The village takes pride in adhering to traditions and organising festivals. The social aspect of religion is expressed in celebrations and in erecting temple shrines. The legend goes that about three hundred years ago they mined a stone in the village which they thought to be ideal for making idols of Lord Rama, Sita, Laxman and Hanuman. With great effort, they transported the stone on bullock- carts to Tenait, a town famous for sculptors, for it to be converted into idols. For generations, it stayed there and there were occasional efforts to get the idols back to the village. Finally, around eighty years ago, they succeeded in bringing the idols to the village with much fanfare and enthusiasm. It was a great moment for the entire village to celebrate. However, at the time of installing the idols at a particular place, a dispute arose and led into serious conflict. The village, it seems, was virtually divided into two and they could not agree on a common place. Hence they decided in anger to dump the idols into the tank which they did without any trouble. For almost eighty years the idols witnessed the wrath of nature and the huge volumes of silt that deposited in the tank year after year. The present generation talks about it but is hardly aware of the history. When SHIP initiated the tank restoration the old men approached us and said, "We hope that with your effort we will be able to retrieve the idols." I said to them "Look, if Lord Rama wants to come out, he will come out with or without our intervention. Anyway let's hope for the best." While the silt excavation process was underway no idols appeared. Some of the old men, whose religious fervour is beyond question, decided to approach the sculptors in the town and request another set of idols. They even collected money to pay for the transport costs and the honorarium to the sculptors. One fine day, however, as they were desilting the tank, they heard a bang and were excited to recover the idols in good shape. The sky was the only limit for their joy. There was a big celebration in the village and a big procession was undertaken to carry these idols to the centre of the village. The idols were cleansed in water for several days. The community approached the organisation The villages and their collective social capital 127 to contribute financially to renovate the temple and reinstall the idols. We politely declined their request and suggested to them that they should approach the Endowments department or the Temple authorities in the State and seek money. The process is still going on after one decade and slowly but steadily the community is moving towards finding the proper place for the idols that were considered to be lost and forgotten. This has helped the organisation to gain some reputation in the area, though we did not really work with this intention.

Box 6.7. Collective Social capital indicators of Mukkollupadu • Own festival: It was a tradition of the past history of this village. Now they do not have any festival of their own. Hence the score is No. • Absence of litigation: As can be seen from the above profile, the village reputation is not very encouraging in avoiding litigations. Hence the score is No. • Record of cooperative work: The discovery of idols from the tank created jubilation among the villagers and everybody was at his/her best to extend cooperation in installing them at a proper place. Therefore the score, although somewhat hesitantly because there are no other items of cooperative work on the record, is Yes. • Density of spontaneous groups: There are no spontaneous formal or informal groups present in this village. Hence the score is No. • Absence of political party divisions: The village has many political party affiliations which are active and strong. Therefore the score is No.

The total score of the village is = No + No + Yes + No + No = 1.

6.4.8: Polasanipalli

This village was part of the Vuyyuru Zamindari family holding. In this village, according to a legend, a woman named Polamma performed martial arts with sticks. Hence it is called Polasanipalli. Since the formation of the Panchayat system in the country this village has remained an independent revenue village. It is located on the east of Vattigudipadu village on the Nuzvid-Agiripalli road. The village is surrounded by Gollapalli on the east, Vattigudipadu on the west, and agricultural fields on the south and north.

The village has a population of 2,116 and most of them depend on doing daily labour for others as the major source of their livelihood . In fact, when SHIP organised the desilting activities and hired the tractors, the labour from the village took an active part in the process. Each tractor has its own labour group and most 128 Chapter 6 Map 6.8 Polasanipalli village

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No. 49 ANANTHASAGARAM The villages and their collective social capital 129 of the tractor owners in the surrounding villages depend on the labour from this village. The village is slightly away from the main road and depicts a rural atmosphere.

Politically the village has hardly experienced any serious rifts. The President of the village, after we had organised meetings and conducted interviews, approached SHIP and requested it to extend its activities in this village. This aspect is discussed in later chapters. Since this village formed part of the Zamindari, they were tuned to follow orders and not to question. The labourers are very hard working. They have the desire to earn their livelihood through hard work. The village was united and contributed for the common good of every one in the past. Two years ago the village got united and through voluntary labour formed the link road between their village and Vattigudipadu.

The Zamindars, on the other hand, had no systematic life and by their hunting expeditions and luxurious life sold the lands in bits and pieces. The Seventh Day Adventists are active in this village and run a school for children. The site for the school was gifted by the villagers. The organisation distributed bicycles, milch animals and blankets to the villagers. People formed a notion that voluntary organisations get a lot of funds and should, therefore, undertake charity work amongst the villagers. They are even prepared to extend cooperation to any person or organisation that undertakes welfare activities in their village. It was reported during the interviews that contrary to their attitude of cooperation, the village which had collected contributions for drinking water supply scheme had to return the money to the contributors, since some of the villagers were not happy with the scheme.

The present agricultural practices have made the farmers dependent on technology and are less remunerative in the process. When tractors replace oxen for ploughing operations, the farmer's nature of working hard seems to decline. The tendency is inclined towards a more subsidised culture and loans on nominal interest rates. It appears from the present trends that an easy going attitude is creeping into the farming society, as far as the elders apprehend it (farmers interview notes-98).

Earlier agriculture was exclusively dependent on tanks. The introduction of borewells resulted in the farmers neglecting the tanks. A tradition of desilting the tank year after year faded from the history of the village. Presently farmers believe that drilling two or three boreholes under the command area will solve their problems. While it is appreciated that if tanks are desilted this will benefit the community, yet there seems to be reluctance on the part of the 130 Chapter 6 fanners in this village to desilt their tank. On the other hand, as stated earlier, the President is very enthusiastic about restoring the tanks and offered his full cooperation with SHIP, if it decides to desilt their tanks. (Refer to chapter 8 for SHEP's intervention in this village). The four tanks of this village are covered with ipomoea and encroached upon. The president, when talked to about the encroachments, said without hesitation that these encroachers will move away once there is water in the tank.

There are two Mahila Mandais (women's associations) in this village which teach tailoring. The office bearers of these Mahila Mandais are making efforts with the government to get latrines constructed under the UNICEF programme. They also expressed their desire to learn some handicrafts which can help them to earn additional income during their leisure time. There is a youth association which organises Kabaddi (rural sport) competitions and performs stage plays. They are very active and SHIP believes that their potential can be used for the betterment of the village. It is evident that the major tendency of the formal groups is to be active in acquiring outside help. Only the youth association is active to help itself. There is one Anganawadi (child care centre), which provides supplementary nutrition food to the children. The Auxiliary Nurse cum Midwife (ANM) visits the village regularly and offers suggestions to pregnant women. For all the other medical services, they depend on Nuzvid. There is a bus that runs between their village and Nuzvid. There is one public call office and a post office located in this village. Based on the data from the primary and secondary sources it appears that the village is tuned to extract assistance from every external opportunity it has. If SHIP would like to facilitate any process, it must take note of this aspect. On the whole this village is lagging behind in many aspects but gives the promise of moving ahead if an opportunity is given to it. The villages and their collective social capital 131

Box 6.8. Collective Social capital indicators of Polasanipalli • Own festival: This village has no own festival. Therefore the score is No. • Absence of litigation: It appears from the profile and the village meeting minutes that the village is free from any litigation. Hence the score is Yes. • Record of cooperative work: It is evident from the profile that the village is highly motivated to take up community works. They built the link road to the nearby village and participated in building the school for children are examples of their cooperative nature. Therefore the score given is Yes. • Density of spontaneous groups: The village has many sports and games groups and cultural teams which are very active. Therefore the score is Yes. • Absence of political party divisions: Though loyalty is expressed to different groups by the villagers these divisions are not rift-arousing. Hence the score is Yes.

The total score of the village is = No + Yes + Yes + Yes + Yes = 4.

6.4.9: Rajavaram

This is a hamlet of Boddhanapalli main revenue village and has approximately 250 households. It is located 4 km away from Agiripalli town towards the west. It is surrounded by hillocks, bushes etc., and there are two tanks connecting with one another. The hamlet is connected with bus facilities to the nearby towns. For all other purposes, the hamlet entirely depends on Agiripalli town. There is one primary school. The youth in this village are very active and the elders extend their cooperation to the youth in all matters relating to village development. They have a volley ball team and an association which takes up development activities in the village. When SHIP planned a rural youth camp for the Loyola College Students of Social Work the youth came forward and extended full cooperation in organising the camp. See Chapter 8 for more details. 132 Chapter 6 Map 6.9 Rajavaram hamlet map included in Boddhanapalli main village

NO 56 BOOOANAPALU

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VtMYlWtU TALUt The villages and their collective social capital 133

Box 6.9. Collective Social capital indicators of Rajavaram • Own festival: The village does not have its own festival. Hence the score is No. • Absence of litigation: SHIP did not observe any serious litigation in this village. Therefore the score is Yes. • Record of cooperative work: There is lot of enthusiasm in this village which can be harnessed for village development work. This was exhibited during the planning of a rural camp for college students in this village. Hence the score is Yes. • Density of spontaneous groups: The youth in this village are very active and have formed various groups for sports and games. Hence the score is Yes. • Absence of political party divisions: Since it a hamlet and dominated by one or two clans, the presence of different party groups does in the end not make a difference in village life. Hence the score is Yes.

The total score of this village is = No + Yes + Yes + Yes + Yes = 4.

6.4.10: Ramannagudem

This is one of the first villages in Nuzvid in which SHIP initiated its activities (refer chapter 8). The village is located 5 km south of Nuzvid on the Agiripalli road. On the East it is surrounded by agricultural fields, West - Borvancha, South - Vattigudipadu village and on the North - Nuzvid.

The village became a full Panchayat in 1988. Formerly, this was an agraharam, (a hamlet of the main village where a particular clan of people lived together) under the Zamindars of Meerjapuram. One man, by name Basavaraju, belonging to the Seelam family, settled here some centuries ago. There is a temple of Lord Sri Rama in this village and its name originated from this temple. There is a government-constructed housing complex opposite the main village, which is called Kapeerabad. It is stated that persons by names of Kanakaiah, Peeraiah and Ramaiah settled here, hence in their names it is called with its present name.

The population is 1,082 with 233 households according to 1991 census. There are 8 wards (localities) in this village. The majority of the house s are built with mud walls or brick with mud mortar and cement plastering. A few houses have tile roofs and a handful of houses has R.C.C, slabs. Most of the houses are covered with palmyra leaves for roofing. These are changed once in three to five years and help the house to keep cool in summer and warm in winter.

Earlier the village had hardly any facilities for communication, education or medical services. Today it has a couple of primary schools, an adult education centre, uMahila Mandai (women's association), a youth association and a poultry 134 Chapter 6 farm cooperative. It is within the proximity of Nuzvid town and it is quite natural that the village depends on this town for everything. The children from this village attend the conventschools located at Nuzvid. The bus service is so frequent that it makes life easy for the villagers.

Earlier the agriculture was mainly dependent on two tanks that preserve the rain water and cater to the Rabi (dry) season. Each family had enough animals to help in the agricultural operations and the manure was used for the farms. It is reported that the informal leaders played a pivotal role in the village administration. There was hardly any opposition and collective efforts for common good of the village was a dominant characteristic of this village. For example, the selection of the beneficiaries for a poultry programmed offered by the government which was discussed and names were suggested by the village as a whole. The tanks were maintained on a regular basis until borewells were introduced during the early seventies, and there was a water manager who was responsible for distribution and overseeing of the tank maintenance. He was supported by the community. For entertainment, the villagers organised regular street plays, puppetry, Hari Kathas, Burra Kathas, Bajans and village sports competitions. Sri Rama Navami and Sankranti are celebrated with much enthusiasm in this village. According to the elders of the village, joint family systems helped in uniting the village and every one shared what they had and extended cooperation on occasions like marriages, births, deaths or any other social event. The economic disparity was of less significance and strong social cohesion was experienced in this community. Today, the situation is contrary. The break-down of joint family systems, the race towards possessing material belongings has resulted in projecting the interests of the self over the community. There is a choir group in this village which takes an active part in singing Bajans at the time of festivals. But, contrary to years ago, the group feels that they are hardly receiving any support or encouragement from the community. Politically the present mainstream of party politics play a dominant role and each one clings to his or her own party. The President belongs to the ruling party.

Tractors have replaced oxen and chemical fertilizers have contributed to decreased use of farmyard manure. It is stated by the elders that the cattle population has gone down in recent years. Most of the families have one or two milch animals for their own consumption. The villages and their collective social capital 135 Map 6.10 Ramannagudem Village RAMANNAGUDEM NUZVD TALUK KHISHNA DISTRICT

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-*іН Hiïrr and tt-fam *і и „•, l·—ί V.ller· b- imtarr [^] Сик-п 1 Л hririu ι—J Пет»? .(o bnoadur ΙΊΝΙ Îfffll Τ«» 'У" • ••—•*·» '-m | . rb [Щ віш» f7] "в""*-*! 136 Chapter 6 Earlier people were using tank water for irrigation, animals, domestic use and for washing their clothes. The tanks have an open well from which the village draws their water for domestic consumption. The advent of borewells using electricity increased during the mid 70's. In the area of one tank, which was desilted by SHIP, it is reported that there are 70 borewells. This the villagers believe, and farmers stated in the interviews, has contributed to the community developing an apathy towards the tanks. Thus the tragedy of the commons.

In 1982 the government launched a massive rural uplift programme in this village. A huge poultry complex was constructed and each family was given 500 chicks, a shed, working capital, electricity, water and infrastructure. Each family got a subsidy to a tune of 33 - 50 % depending on the category they belonged to and 20 % margin money on nominal interest to be repaid after the bank loan is cleared. The total unit cost per family was estimated to be Rs.30,000. Out of the 94 beneficiaries, 77 belonged to scheduled castes, 10 belonged to backward classes and the remainder from the other communities. Most of the loans taken were utilised for other purposes than running a poultry farm. Due to lack of expertise and sufficient training in running a poultry operation, many were left to a trial and error approach (Field survey reports- 1987). Many of the families have an outstanding loan with the Bank and SHIP was asked for assistance to motivate the villagers to clear the loans. To a certain degree the efforts were fruitful. Today the infrastructure is still visible but it is very seldom one witnesses chicks in the sheds.

Like in other villages students go to Nuzvid for their higher and better education. The government runs an adult education centre (night school) which is attended by 40 villagers. SHIP, together with the local Post-graduate centre, organised a night school for a few years with little success.

The crops grown are rice, chillies, tobacco, groundnut, pulses and millet. The advent of borewells resulted in shifting towards more cash crops under irrigation. A lot of seasonal vegetables are also grown with borewells and sold in Nuzvid. Under the concept of the service area approach adopted by the banks the Indian Bank located at Gollapalli offers credit facilities to this village.

During the village interviews with the elders, many felt that in modern society they are not finding any contentment in life. Agriculture is becoming less remunerative and more and more farmers prefer to lease out their lands and opt for other vocations. For many it is subsistence agriculture and what is produced is consumed by the family. They recollect that during their childhood days they enjoyed being together in all the community activities and took an active part The villages and their collective social capital 137 in taking care of their limited resources. They believe that since water is made available in the boreholes in the command area, why would any farmer take an interest in the tank? This is a very apt description of the present attitude of the villagers. SHIP had a similar experience in this village which is narrated at great length in Chapter 8. However when the Nuzvid town municipality drew plans to drill a 4" borewell to supply drinking water to the town inhabitants the village was united and protested against it. Tension prevailed for a couple of months in the area. Ultimately the government succeeded in installing the borewell despite the opposition from the villagers. Even the villagers who were united lost their enthusiasm and succumbed to the mighty power of the state. Probably the intensity of protest was too weak to crumble the state authority.

In their words "We don't seem to live happily in the present context. It is no doubt that we have better communication facilities, better technology available, and have our own Panchayat, and yet there is discontent in life. The community bondages and the respect for village elders we had in our days, seems to fade away slowly. It has become quite common that we turn to the police station and courts to resolve our conflicts. The younger generation is more towards taking life easily and wants to make a quick buck without working hard for it. We feel sad and helpless about it. However, we feel that there is still optimism that is left which makes us to hope for the best" (Farmers interviews- 1998).

Box 6.10. Collective Social capital indicators of Ramannagudem • Own festival: There is no local festival associated with this village. Therefore, the score is№>. • Absence of litigation: In our long association, we have not noticed any litigation in this village. Therefore, the score is Yes. • Record of cooperative work: The village has a record of some initial enthusiasm but nothing ever materialised. Therefore, the score is No. • Density of spontaneous groups: Except for the dormant choir, there are no spontaneous informal groups present. All the groups created and functioning are with a specific intention. Hence, the score given is No. • Absence of political party divisions: Since there is no record of political party divisions that hinder the progress of this village, the score is Yes.

The total score of this village is = No + Yes + No + No + Yes = 2. 138 Chapter 6 6.4.11: Tadepally

The name of the village has nothing to do with the family name of the researcher. This village is located west of Chopparametla village on the Nuzvid-Agiripalli road. The total population of the village is 356 with 79 households. There is one primary school. For health services people go to either Agiripalli or Nuzvid. The drinking water is drawn from wells and hand pumps. There is a bus service to this village which shuttles between Agiripalli and Nuzvid. The power supply is mainly for domestic and agricultural consumption. The presence of spontaneous groups is relatively high in this village. It was observed through village meetings that there is willingness to extend cooperation on community issues. From what has been stated in the interviews, the village has not experienced any serious conflicts among the villagers nor has the presence of political party groups made any difference to them. On the whole in many aspects this village represents the picture of that of any average village in rural India.

The village meeting minutes show that the President was able to organise a few community oriented works such as clearing the bushes in the school premises, filling the pot holes on the village road, etc., in which most of the villagers took active part.

Box.6.11. Collective Social capital indicators of Tadepally • Own festival: This village has no festival of it own. Hence, the score is No. • Absence of litigation: During SHIP'S interaction in this village, no litigations worth mentioning were noticed nor mentioned in the interviews. Hence, the score is Yes. • Record of cooperative work: The village has undertaken such as clearing the bushes, forming a link road etc. Hence, in my opinion the score can be given Yes. • Density of spontaneous groups: There are a few choir groups and teams for local sports and games present in this village. Therefore, the score is Yes. • Absence of political party divisions: The village is united on many fronts and the presence of political party divisions did not make any dent on the village unity and cohesion. Therefore, the score is Yes.

The total score, therefore, is = No + Yes + Yes + Yes + Yes = 4. The vilfages and their collective social capital 139

Map 6.11 Tadepally village

No. 62 - TADEPALLI (INAM) b- NUZVIO DIVISION ШСТМА омтмст

No SI IDULAGUDEM ІНАИ

No.« CHOPPARAMETLA ZAM 140 Chapter б

6.4.12: Vadlamanu

This village was part of Agiripalli Zamindari and the Zamindars brought in a lot of labourers to help them with constructing the palace. This was approximately a couple of centuries ago. There were a few families belonging to a carpentry vocation who lived a few kilometres away from Agiripalli and worked for the Zamindars.

According to the legend in this village, this was once a dense forest and wild animals such as tigers, wild bears, deers, cheetah and foxes roamed around freely and attacked people occasionally. People were scared. The Zamindars who ruled Agiripalli made efforts to kill these animals with little success. It was anybody's guess as to which village the tigers were going to attack next. In this area lived 10 families and one had a pregnant woman. Onefine da y they sensed that the tiger was going to attack their village and were very scared. All the families decided to move to the palace. The pregnant woman could not move since she was expecting to deliver at any time. The husband was very concerned and worried as to what to do? The wife, it seems told him, "give me a sharp knife and you go and protect your life. If I am to survive, I will. Let's leave it to God." The husband left the place after equipping his wife with all the sharp instruments he had. As anticipated the tiger visited the village and smelt the presence of human beings. It came to the house where the lady was. It tried to break the door without success. It tried to make a hole in the mud walls and succeeded. The woman was terrified and prepared for the worst. When the final encounter took place she used all her courage and strength to kill the tiger. She fell unconscious after that. The next morning when the families returned to the village, they discovered the tiger dead and the woman fast asleep. The event was brought to the notice of the Zamindar who granted boons to her for her bravery. She requested that the place be named after their clan. Hence it is called Vadrangi Manu, meaning the place of carpenters. This degenerated in colloquial language and became Vadlamanu.

The village is 3 km away from Agiripalli on the Nuzvid Road. The boundary of the village includes: East -Tadepally; West - Malleswaram hills; North - Ammavarigudem; South - Gummidi gattu. The total population of the village is 1,321 with 316 households. The dominant clan still belongs to the carpentry family and their relatives. The housing structures are a mixture of mud houses with thatched roofs, tiled roof houses and a few concrete houses. The approach road to the village is better than the internal roads. The village is equipped with electricity for domestic and agricultural purposes. The village is The villages and their collective social capital 141

Map 6.12 Vadlamanu village

VADLAMANU -WJZVD TALUK •ЖІММ Огетяит 142 Chapter 6 also equipped with a wireless station which is made available to the villagers for emergency situations. There are a few village restaurants frequented by villagers for morning breakfast, coffee or tea.

There is an elementary school in this village. Students go to Agiripalli for higher education. The government-run anganwadi, (child care centre) provides the supplementary nutritious food to 150 children. For all the medical facilities, the village is dependent on Agiripalli. Recently one R.M.P (Registered Medical Practitioner) came and settled in this village to treat minor ailments. One doctor visits the village every Wednesday and provides medical care. The veterinary services are located at Agiripalli. It is stated that, due to the distance that the diseased animals have to walk, there were occasions when the animals died while being taken to the veterinary hospital.

For irrigation the agriculture is totally dependent on tanks and whatever little water they can store is used for cultivating rice, chillies, pulses and millet. There is a water manager who is responsible for the proper distribution of water to the fields. A few borewells were installed in the command area. The Nagarjuna Sagar Project left canal that traverses through the village increased the percentage of land under horticultural crops. It is estimated that there are nearly 816 hectares of mango orchards in this village. The water is let into the canal during the third week of December which helps the farmers to water their plants before flowering.I f suspected of pests, pesticides are administered. If farmers are lucky and there are no natural hazards like heavy wind gales or rain, they can get a good yield and earn up to Rs.25,000 per hectare. This happens once in a cycle of four to five years. The rest of the time they get a very marginal income out of the orchards.

The soil from Damanna Tank is considered to be very good for bricks. A few enterprising farmers and outsiders have established a few brick kilns on the foreshore of the tank. The silt from the tank is often used by the farmers in their fields. One can witness potholes in the tanks. There is no systematic desilting undertaken. SHIP'S interventions are discussed in Chapter 8.

After the enactment of the 73rd amendment (a bill giving powers to Panchayat Raj institutions) to the constitution of India it became mandatory for all the state governments to adopt this act and conduct elections to the Panchayats. The state government announced as incentives that any village which elects its representatives unanimously shall be rewarded with cash. In this village the person who contested for the post of the President negotiated with the villagers that he would offer 0.41 hectares of land to the temple if the village The villages and their collective social capital 143 elected him as its president unanimously. Lots of deliberations took place amongst the villagers, especially the young and the old. Since they were renovating their temple, they needed money to complete it. The market value of the land was estimated to be Rs. 100,000. Finally they all agreed and accepted the proposal. It is stated that the government gave the Panchayat Rs.50,000 as incentive.

The youth in this village are very active and take a lot of interest in the village development activities. SHIP organised a voluntary labour activity to clear the tank from ipomoea weed. There was enormous enthusiasm and it became the talk of the area. All the festivals are celebrated with much enthusiasm. People from this village actively participate in the major festivals celebrated in Agiripalli.

SHIP is active in this village facilitating the tank restoration process. In one of the encounters during a long meeting we had the villagers confided that they were hardly ever approached to discuss their problems and find solutions. They were happy that SHIP took this responsibility. For further elaborations on this refer to Chapter 8.

Box.6.12. Collective Social capital indicators of Vadlamanu • Own festival: The village has no festival of its own. Therefore the score is No. • Absence of litigation: The village has no record of litigations. Hence, the score is Yes. • Record of cooperative work: They generated contributions to renovate the temple on the village precincts. Therefore the score is Yes. • Density of spontaneous groups: There are a few informal groups which take an active part in the village development activities. The youth are very active. Therefore the score is Yes. • Absence of political party divisions: As can be seen from the profile, the village, though it has party groups, yet is united as one for village development works. This is indicated in their choice of president and the process they went through in electing him. It is true, that they set aside their party affiliations for economic considerations but their spirit of cooperation is for the common good of all. Therefore the score is Yes.

The total score of this village, therefore, is = No + Yes + Yes + Yes + Yes = 4. 144 Chapter 6

6.5 Summary of Collective Social Capital indicators

To sum up this section on social capital indicators of the villages, Table 6.5 presents the overall view.

Table 6.5. Consolidated statement of scores of villages on social capital. Y = Yes, counted as 1; N = No, counted as 0.

Collective Social Capital S.No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Indicators 1 Own festival Y Ν Ν Ν Υ Ν Ν Ν Ν Ν Ν Ν 2 Absence of litigation Y Y Υ Υ Υ Υ Ν Υ Υ Υ Υ Υ Record of cooperative 3 Y Ν Ν Υ Υ Ν Υ Υ Υ Ν Υ Υ work Density of spontaneous 4. Ν Y Υ Υ Υ Ν Ν Υ Υ Ν Υ Υ groups Absence of political party 5 Y Ν Ν Ν Υ Ν Ν Υ Υ Υ Υ Υ divisions Total score 4 2 2 3 5 1 1 4 4 2 4 4

Legend: l.Devaragunta; 2.Enamadala; 3.Gogulampadu; 4.GollapaIli; S.Kanasanapalli; ó.Morsapudi; 7.Mukkollupadu; 8.Polasanipalli; 9.Rajavaram; lO.Ramannagudem; 11 .Tadepally; and 12.Vadlamanu. Chapter 7

Social aspects of non-restoration

7.1 Introduction and structure of the Chapter

This Chapter analyses the Likert scale statements at the village level and supra- village level and looks at the social factors contributing to the non-restoration of tanks. The overall averages are presented in Table 1 of each section. Table 2 of each of the sections deals with the 'motivational strength' and 'self-perceived capacity' at the village-level respondents and 'motivations' and 'perceived village capacity' at the supra-local respondents level. Table 3 in each of the sections will provide a summary of the corresponding sections. In Sections 7.6 and 7.7, finally, an attempt is made to look into the possible relationship between the collective social capital (Chapter 6) and self-perceived capacity of the villages, as well as between the CBA assessment (Chapter 5) and the motivations as expressed by the community through Likert scale statements.

7.2 Likert scale statement analysis

Part of the study used 36 opinion statements which reflect the motivations, self- attributed capacity and understanding of the respondents concerning tanks and tank restoration. These were administered to all the 140 respondents of the study, which include the supra-local respondents. The scores are then totalled and 146 Chapter 7 averages worked out for each statement, village-wise and category-wise.

An attempt is made to analyse the statements and the strength of the attitude of the respondents at various levels. The major focus will be on the 'motivation' indicators which are reflected in statements such as 39,41,42,48,51,52,63,64,69, and 73 and those statements that reflect the 'self-perceived capacity of the respondents', such as 49, 52, 54, 55, 56, 61, 62, 67 and 71. The full text of the statements is presented in Appendix 4. However, for convenience, the gist is also reflected in Tables 7.1 and 7.2. Statements that reflect motivational strength are in bold and those statements which reflect the self-perceived collective capacity are italicised.

All the averages which deviate by 1.0 and more from the total averages presented in column 13 in Table 7.1 and column 11 in Table 7.4 are in bold and underlined. All those averages which deviate between 0.5 and 0.9 are italicised. Tables 7.2. and 7.5 present the ranking of the 'motivation' and 'self-perceived capacity' for the village-level, and 'motivation' and ' perceived community capacity' at the supra- local level. Tables 7.3. and 7.6. then present the summary of the corresponding respondents' total score on respective statements. The following yardstick is taken into account while summarising the total scores. All those scores which deviate between 0.5 to 0.9 from the overall averages, either positive or negative, are given higMow (H/L) and those that deviate 1.0 and more are treated as high high (HH)/ low low (LL). The totals then are arrived at by adding up all the 'L's and 'H's. Any village-level or category-wise score that falls with in the range of 0 or 1, high/low is treated as having the motivation and capacity as medium; 2-5 as high/low and 6-24 as very high/very low levels.

7.3. Village-level Likert scale averages analysis

In this section, the village-level Likert scale statement analysis is presented. Table 7.1 presents the overall picture of the averages scored by the respondents on all the statements. The sub-section of this section discusses the village-level averages and ends with the summary of the discussion presented in a Table form.

Later these village-level deviations from the average form the core of the village- wise analysis of the Likert scale results. All village-level analysis first treats the motivational aspects and then the self-perceived capacity statements. The figures in brackets indicate the statement number. Social aspects of non-restoration 147

Table: 7.1: Village level averages on Likert scale Statements.

Statements ßist/ Шаее 1 2 3 4 S 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Number of respondents 11 11 9 10 8 10 17 12 8 11 11 8 126 General 39 Tanks are no longer useful to the community 1,9 lil 13 li M 18 и 17 },Ч 14 /ι? 18 1.8 40 Tanks help in strengthening leadership 19 lil 13 22 3.0 15 18 20 и 23 lì 18 1.8 52 Tan* does not belong (o us anvmore 19 Ol? LO U η 17 ы 24 и LA 18 19 2.2 53 Tanks promote cohesion, cooperation and affinity 22 13 17 21 15 19 15 13 и L& 21 li 1.7 58 Green revolution contributed to degradation of tanks U hi 14 19 ÌA 22 16 22 15 15 23 15 1.9 60 Festivities associated with tanks remind their existence 16 19 17 23 20 23 if 15 19 15 16 15 1.8 63 Tanks are central to village life 16 If 20 22 19 17 15 и LÀ ΙΑ 19 14 1.9 68 We will become partners in tank restoration process 12 16 17 16 18 Ι4 12 16 1 1 21 13 14 1.6 74 Tank irrigation is an age old system and managed by us 14 LU 1 1 Ш 16 20 17 24 LO. 1,9 15 1 1 1.6 Physical 41 SUt from the tanks is a good manure for CA fields 12 1 1 1 1 15 18 19 18 13 1 4 II 15 15 1.5 42 Water In the tank increases the ground water table и IO 1 1 13 14 12 14 1 1 10 и 12 10 1.3 46 Too much silt deposited in the tank every year 18 L4 20 II 20 i¿ 17 23 13 19 LZ 19 1.8 72 Tanks are used as dumping lagoons 18 LO 19 17 20 22 W 22 23 15 21 16 2.0 Political 50 Encroachers are patronised by the politicians 1,1 »i 3,8 1·1 18 26 26 21 4.0 1.0 24 18 2.3 61 Villa/te divisions tensions, nfts prevent us to cooperate 19 21 19 η г.г 20 18 19 15 ι,ι 18 16 2.0 22 20 19 20 25 16 16 16 2.0 66 Tank management should be free from politics /••* Ц 17 и 70 Local management means decentralisation of power 15 17 1,0 Ι7 20 },ì 19 23 Ю ι,ι If 11 1.8 71 No common element to bind us together Lu 16 16 24 20 и 24 гл 16 16 15 15 1.9 Economic 48 Borewells presence makes the community less motivated 18 j,7 3.1 20 25 22 15 19 2.0 ifq il? ¡,1 1,1 51 Restoring the tank will only help the rich farmers ht ι,ο 29 26 4.8 Ιιί и 23 4.1 W 25 23 2.4 59 There are too many absentee landlords under the tank 14 15 14 2Д τΛ 21 23 22 Ч 14 15 14 1.9 64 Tanks, if restored, can benefit everyone 15 li 19 1.2 13 17 21 21 16 ΙΑ 18 16 1.8 69 Restoring the tank to its capacity improves the economy 19 18 16 19 16 11 15 17 /,/ 2,1 16 16 1.8 73 Tanks help control floods, hence we are not interested 18 1.9 2.7 18 4.« 16 17 2.Í 15 ι,ι Lì LI 1.9 Tank Policies 43 Need a separate department exclusively for tanks 24 13 10 1 1 16 12 16 1 1 10 и 1 1 1 1 1.4 44 Panchayat should have full authority over the tank If L9 13 15 18 19 18 15 1 1 λ,Ι 12 14 1.6 45 Revenue from tank should be used for tanks only 18 1,9 18 19 19 19 21 12 /,/ 21 13 19 1.7 47 Resources are not being adequately allocated for tanks 22 U M м и f,l 24 22 ч 18 20 /•Í 2.2 49 Restoration needs lot of money and farmers can t afford 17 ',/ ?l» 24 20 24 22 18 16 21 22 4 2.0 54 Tanks should be restored by the State 15 15 12 20 îr» 14 16 1} 14 12 15 14 1.7 55 Given an opportunity, village can take the responsibility 15 16 1 1 18 2,? 14 12 16 19 16 li 21 1.6 56 We are caught m a debt trap, hence depend on the state 15 4 20 20 19 18 17 23 15 1,1 il» 23 1.8 57 Shift of authority to Panchayat makes difference 16 /,' 20 17 20 24 14 25 ¡1 и 23 18 2.0 62 We need external agencies to solve our problems 18 ЗД 19 17 20 14 17 16 1,9 13 17 19 1.7 65 Panchayat docs not control the tank and no resources allocated Ч 19 14 14 19 24 ¿2 24 23 и Ц 18 1.9 67 Re orientation of development policies is needed 13 14 12 и 20 il 12 20 1,9 г.) 13 15 1.7 Village List: 1-Devaragunfa; 2- Eiuunadala; Э-Gogulampadu; 4-GoUapalli; 5- Kanasanipalli; 6-Morsapudi; 7-MukkoUupadu; 8-Polasanipalll; 9- Rajavaram; lO-Ramannagudem; 11-Tadepally; and 12-Vadlamanu 13- Presents the average scored by all the respondents. 148 Chapter 7 7.3.1: Devaragunta

The study interviewed 11 respondents from this village.

All the respondents seem to affirm to the notion that tanks are no longer useful to the community (39). They agreed strongly with this statement and tend to believe firmly that the utility of tanks for the village community is over. They were also sceptical about the recharging of ground water in the command area (42). Another indicator of low motivation is that the respondents believe that restoring the tanks will only help the rich farmers (51).

They are very strong in recognising the fact that there is no common element that can bind them together (71). On all the other statements the village seems to be close to the overall averages of the total respondents from the 12 villages.

The responses from the village make us believe that their motivation for tank restoration is low; it is counted as "3 L" in Table 7.3. Also their own self-capacity to maintain and manage the tanks tend to be on a low level; the count resulted in "1 L" in Table 7.3. Tacitly they expect the outsiders to help them restore their village tanks.

7.3.2: Enamadala

In this village also 11 respondents were interviewed for the study.

There appears an attitude of apathy towards tanks. They all agree that tanks are no longer useful to the community (39), the tank does not belong to us anymore (52) and the tanks do not seem to form a central part of village life (63). They tend to agree very strongly on this aspect. There seems to be consistency of apathy in their responses to statements like the presence of borewells makes the community less motivated (48), restoring the tanks will only help the rich fanners (51), tanks help control floods down stream, hence they are not motivated to restore the tanks (73) and tend to disagree with the notion that tanks, if restored, can benefit everyone (64).

As stated in their motivations they do not identify themselves with their village tank (52). Tank restoration is an expensive affair and farmers cannot afford it (49), and the debt burden is making them dependent on the state (56). While the last Social aspects of non-restoration 149

Table 7.2. Village-level averages on motivation and Self-perceived capacity

Statements eist/Villaee 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Number of respondents и 11 9 10 8 10 17 12 8 и 11 8 126 Motivation

39 Tanks are no longer usefìil to the community L L A H HH A L H HH A L A 1.8

41 Silt bom the tanks Is в good manure for CA flelds A A A A A A A A A L A A 1.5

42 Water in the tank increases the ground water table L A A A A A A A A L A A 1.3

48 Borewells presence makes the community less motivated A LL HH HH A H A A A L A L 2.0

SI Restoring the tank will only help the rich farmers L LL A A HH L L A HH LL A A 2.4

52 Tank does not belong to us anymore A LL LL H HH A L A HH L A H 2.2

53 Tanks promote cohesion, cooperation and affinitv A A A A A A A A H H A L 1.7

63 Tanks are central to village life A L A A A A A L H H A A 1.9

64 Tanks, if restored, can benefit everyone A L A H A A A A A H A A 1.8

69 Restoring the tank to Its capacity improves the economy A A A A A L A A H L A A 1.8

73 Tanks help control floods, hence we are not interested A L H A HH A A H A L L L 1.9

Self-perceived capacity

49 Restoration needs lot of money and farmers can't afford A L HH A A A A A A A A L 2.0

52 Tank does not belong to us anymore A LL LL H HH A L A HH L A H 2.2

54 Tanks should be restored by the Stale A A A A HH A A H A A A A 1.7

55 Given an opportunity, village can take the responsibility A A A A L A A A H A L A 1.6

56 We are caught m a debt trap, hence depend on the state A L A A A A A A A L HH A 1.8

61 Village divisions, tensions, rifts prevent us to cooperate A A A HH H A A A A L A A 2.0

62 We need external agencies to solve our problems A HH A A A A A A L A A A 1.7

67 Re-onentation of development policies is needed A A A L A LL A A H L A A 1.7

71 No common element to bind us together L A A HH A H A H A A A A 1.9

Village List 1-Devaregunla, 2-Enamadala, 3-Gogularapadu, 4-GollapaUi, L- Low, LL- Very Low, A Average

5- Kanasaiupalli, 6-Morsapudi, 7-Mukkollupadu, 8-Polasanipalh, H- High, HH- Very High

9- Rajavaram, lO-Ramannagudem, 11-Tadepally, and 12-Vadlamanu

13- Presents the average scored by all the respondents 150 Chapter 7 statement implies the dependency attitude, they firmly disagree with the statement that the role of external agencies is to solve their problems (62).

On the whole, it can be concluded that the motivation is very low; see also to the count of "10 L" in Table 7.3. The self-assessed capacity to act is collectively low; refer to the "2 L" in Table 7.3.

7.3.3: Gogulampadu

There were 9 respondents from this village.

All the respondents strongly agree that the tank does not belong to them anymore (52). They opine very strongly that the presence of borewells hardly makes any difference to their motivation to restore the tank (48) which in their opinion does not belong to them. They tend to slightly disagree with the idea that tanks help control floodsdownstrea m and hence are not interested in restoring them(73).

They feel that tank restoration needs lot of money and farmers cannot afford it (49). On the other hand, they seem to agree that the tank is not theirs (52).

On all the other statements, they are within the range of overall averages. It appears from the above facts that their motivation to restore tanks is medium; refer to the count "1 H" in Table 7.3. Their self-perceived capacity seems to be also medium; see the count "0" in Table 7.3. Certainly, this village seems to be slightly higher in motivation and self-perceived capacity than the previous two villages.

7.3.4: Gollapalli

There were 10 respondents from this village who were interviewed and their responses which deviate from the overall are presented below.

Concerning the statement that the tanks are no longer useful to the community (39), the respondents disfavour this notion and believe in the utility of the tanks. There is consistency in their responses when they disagree that "the tank does not belong to us anymore" (52).The presence of borewells hardly makes any difference to their motivation to restore tanks, (48). They opine that tanks, if restored, can benefit everyone (64).

On their self-perceived capacity, they slightly strongly disagree that village Social aspects of non-restoration 151 divisions, tensions, rifts prevent them cooperating in tank restoration processes (61). They were consistent in their attitude when they say that there are common elements that can bind them together as one community (71). If tanks were to be restored, they see the need for re-orientation of development policies (67). They feel that the tank belongs to them (52). On all the other statements they tend to be within the range of the overall average.

On the whole, it can be said that their motivation and self-perceived capacity are both high; refer to the counts "5 H" and "4 H" respectively in Table 7.3, which is better than the previous villages. It appears that the community has the self- perceived capacity to take up tank restoration activities.

7.3.5: Kanasanipalli

There were eight respondents from this village.

They strongly disagree that tanks are no longer useful to the community (39) and are very strong in saying that the tank belongs to them (52). Their sense of community feeling seems to be very high when they disapprove the notion that restoring the tanks will only help the rich farmers (51). There is a pattern of consistency in their responses. They disagree that since tanks help control floods downstream they are not interested in their restoration (73). It appears from the above responses that their motivation to restore the tanks is very high; see the count "8 H" in Table 7.3.

On self-perceived capacity of the community, the village divisions, tensions and rifts hardly affect their spirit of cooperation (61) and they are very strong in saying that the tank belongs to them (52). They disfavour the idea that the tanks should be restored by the state (54). It seems that while they tend to project an impression of having the capacity to manage tank restoration, which they have done in reality by restoring their tank, they drift strongly from the idea that given an opportunity the village can take up the responsibility (55). On the whole, when compared to the previous villages, it can be concluded that the self-perceived capacity of the village is high; see the count "4 H" in Table 7.3.

On all the other statements, the village is close to the overall averages of the total respondents of the study. 152 Chapter 7 7.3.6. Morsapudi

There were 10 respondents from this village.

It appears that the respondents slightly disagree that the presence of borewells makes them less motivated (48) and tend to believe that the tank restoration will only help the rich farmers (51). They are also not sure if tank restoration will contribute to improve the economy (69). It is evident from their averages that their motivation is medium; Table 7.3. gives the count as "1 L".

The respondents tend to differ from the overall averages on a statement such as re­ orientation of the development policies is the need of the hour (67). On the other hand, they differ with other respondents on a statement like there is no common element to bind us together (71), which implies that they are not clear about their own capacities. It can be safely interpreted that their self-perceived capacity compared to other villages is medium; see the count "1 L in Table 7.3.

7.3.7: Mukkollupadu

The study interviewed 17 respondents from this village. This is because SHIP undertook the responsibility of partially restoring two tanks that belong to this village.

Despite the interventions of SHIP, the respondents seem to agree strongly that the tanks are no longer useful to the community (39) and do not belong to them anymore (52). This attitude in way confirms the thinking of the older generation when they say that 'these youngster do not love their tanks anymore', (see village profile in Chapter 6). They tend to agree that restoring the tanks will only help the rich farmers (51). It is clear that the motivation is low; refer to the Table 7.3. for "3 L" count.

Their averages on self-perceived capacity statements are close to the overall averages of the total respondents. As said in the motivations, the tank does not belong to them (52). On the whole it can be said that their self-perceived capacity is medium; so they score "1 L", see Table 7.3.

On all the other statements they tend to be within the range of the overall averages. Social aspects of non-restoration 153 7.3.8: Polasanipalli

There are 12 respondents fromthi s village.

The respondents believe that tanks are useful to the community (39), however they do not form the core of the village life (63). It seems that the community is interested in restoring the tanks, even if it helps in controlling the floods down stream (73). In my interpretation the motivation of the community is medium; see the count "1 H" in Table 7.3.

They slightly differ from the idea that the state should restore the tanks (54). The respondents also think that there exists a common element which can bind them together (71). I think, their self-perceived collective capacity is rather high; refer to "2 H" in Table 7.3. On all the other statements they are within the range of overall averages.

7.3.9: Rajavaram

The study interviewed 8 respondents from this village.

There is a pattern of consistency in their responses with relation to motivation. For example on the question of the utility of tanks (39) they strongly deviate from the overall average and tend to see great utility. They are vehement is saying that the tank does belong to them (52) and agree to a great extent that tanks are central to their life (63). They totally disagree with the contention that restoring the tanks will only help the rich farmers (51). They agree that restoring the tanks will improve the economy (69). They affirm that tanks promote cohesion, cooperation and community affinity (53). Their motivation is very high; see Table 7.3. for the count "9 H".

They see the need for re-orienting the development policies (67); there seems to be uniformity in their responses. They are slightly motivated to take up the responsibility if an opportunity is given (55), but seem to put their confidence on external agencies to solve their problems (62). In their words, the tank belongs to them (52). On the whole, their self-perceived collective capacity seems to be on a high level; see the count "3 H" in Table 7.3. On the remaining statements there is not a big difference from the overall averages reflected in column 13. 154 Chapter 7 7.3.10: Ramannagudem

The study interviewed 11 respondents from this village.

The respondents agree that the tank does not belong to them anymore (52) but seem to believe that tanks are central to village life (63). In line with this belief they see that tanks promote promote cohesion, cooperation and community affinity (53). Their attitude towards silt from the tanks is that it is a good manure for command area fields(41 ) but they are pessimistic about the resultant increase of the ground water table (42). They agree with the idea that because of borewells, they are less motivated (48) and very strongly opine that restoring the tanks will only help the rich farmers (51 ). In conjunction with the above opinions they think that restoring the tanks many not improve the economy (69) and since the tanks help control floods downstream, they are not interested (73). On the other hand, they see that tank restoration can benefit everyone (64) which is a positive sign. It is evident that the motivation of the village is low; refer the count of "5 L" in Table 7.3.

They strongly affirm that village tensions and riftspreven t them from cooperating (61). The need for reorienting development policies (67) is not felt by the respondents. It appears that there is a degree of helplessness when they say that they are caught in the debt trap (56). It is evident that they do not identify themselves with the tank anymore (52). On the whole, it is evident from their responses that their self-perceived collective capacity seems to be low; refer the count of "4 L" in Table 7.3. On all the remaining statements they are with in the overall average range.

7.3.11: Tadepally

The study interviewed 11 respondents.

The respondents agree to the notion that tanks are no longer useful to the community (39). They also seem to agree that they are less motivated in restoring the tanks since they control the floods downstream (73). In my opinion, their motivation capacity seems to be low; score is counted as "2 L" in Table 7.3.

They strongly disagree with a statement like their incapacity emerged out of a debt trap which makes them depend on the state (56) but express their lack of willingness to take up the responsibility to restore their tank given an opportunity (55). This speaks of their self-perceived collective capacity. I think that they are medium on their collective capacity; see the count of " 1H" in Table 7.3. On all the Social aspects of non-restoration 155 other statements there is not much of a difference from the overall averages.

7.3.12: Vadlamanu

There are eight respondents from this village.

On the one hand they disagree that the tank does not belong to them anymore (52), but on the other they do not think that tanks promote cohesion (53). The presence of borewells makes them less motivated (48) and they agree that they are not interested in tank restoration since it helps control floods downstream (73). It appears that their motivation capacity is low; see the count "2 L" in Table 7.3.

Tank restoration is too expensive, therefore, they can't afford it (49) and the tank does not belong to them anymore (52). On all the other statements they are close to the overall averages. Their self-perceived capacity seems to be medium; see the count "0" in Table 7.3.

7.3.13. Summary of Village-level Likert scale score

To sum up the discussion on the above section, Table 7.3. presents the overall picture of the village-respondents perceptions on their motivation capacity and self- perceived collective capacity. A detailed discussion on this is taken up in Chapter 9.

Table: 7.3. Overall perceptions of village-level respondents. This table is created by adding up all H's and L's in Table 7.2. S.No Village Name Motivation Self-perceived capacity 1. Devaragunta 3L IL 2 Enamadala 10 L 2L 3 Gogulampadu IH 0 4 Gollapalli 5H 4H 5 Kanasanipalli 8H 4H 6 Morsapudi IL IL 7 Mukkollupadu 3L IL 8 Polasanipalli IH 2H 9 Rajavaram 9H 3H 10 Ramannagudem 5L 4L 11 Tadepally 2L IH 12 Vadlamanu 2L 0 156 Chapter 7

7.4. Category-wise Likert scale statement analysis

This section attempts to look into the overall averages scored by the respondents according to the classification of their social position. The second part of the section treats the analysis on 'motivation' and self-perceived/village capacity' and finally concludes with the gist of scores presented in Table 7.6. The averages on all statements are presented in Table 7.4, the rankings on self-perceived capacity and motivations are presented in Table 7.5.

7.4.1. Command Area Farmers (CAF)

A command area farmer (CAF) is defined as one who has a piece of land within the command area of the tank selected for the study. The study interviewed 47 CA farmers from 12 villages. In Mukkollupadu village, since SHIP partially restored two tanks, farmers under both the tanks were covered.

It is evident from the table that all the CAF's interviewed fall within the range of overall averages for all the respondents. There seems to be a state of confusion over the attitude of the respondents as is evident from their scores on statements like tanks are no longer useful to the community (39) and tanks are central to village life (63). Similar attitude can be seen in their rejection of tanks belonging to them (52) and yet affirming their consent to become partners in tank restoration processes(68). There appears to be appreciation of the physical utility of the tanks by CAF's. They tend to believe that tank restoration helps the entire community (51). However, they opine that there should be a separate department exclusively for tank irrigation (43) and any revenue generated out of their tank should be spent for tank maintenance/restoration (45), see table 7.4. Their motivation and self- perceived capacity, it appears from the averages, is medium; see the count "0" in Table 7.6.

On the whole, going by the averages scored on the Likert scale, it can be said, in my opinion, that neither the present agricultural set-up nor the state were able to rejuvenate the enthusiasm of the farmers. Their capacity to restore and manage the tank irrigation system and the confidence and self-respect which the farmers had possessed seems to be diluted and agriculture, as an option, has become the last resort.

7.4.2 Ήοη-Command Area Farmers (NCAF)

There were 33 NCAFs interviewed by the study. A Non-Command Area Farmer is defined as one who does not possess any land under the tank chosen for the Social aspects of non-restoration 157

Table: 7.4 Categorywise respondent's averages on Likert scale Statements.

Statements gist/Category of respondents 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Number of respondents 47 33 12 12 19 3 J 3 4 4 140 General 39 Tanks are no longer useful to the community 16 22 21 20 1Л ¿4> SJt 5,0 Ü4 і& 2.1 40 Tanks help in strengthening leadership 17 19 18 16 19 20 17 17 U 23 1.8 52 Tank does not belone to us anymore 23 21 20 25 25 23 4t0 4,7 3.3 3.3 2.4 S3 Tanks promote cohesion, cooperation and affinity 17 15 14 15 21 Î.7 20 2.6 20 15 1.7 58 Green revolution contributed to degradation of tanks 20 18 19 19 15 4.0 2J 34 ад 15 2.0 60 Festivities associated with tanks remind their existence 1 8 20 16 19 1 8 1 3 17 17 23 15 1.8 63 Tanks are central to village life 18 19 16 20 19 23 17 13 1 8 13 1.8 68 We will become partners in tank restoration process 15 18 13 14 18 Ш 20 17 18 15 1.6 74 Tank irrigation is an age old system and managed by us 17 14 14 17 14 23 17 13 20 13 1.6 Physical 41 Silt from the tanks is a good manure for СЛ fields 15 42 16 21 1 8 1 3 17 13 20 20 1.6 42 Water in the tank increases the ground water table 14 15 13 10 1 1 13 3,0 з-з ?,? 15 1.5 46 Too much silt deposited in the tank every year 19 18 1 8 Ы 15 17 17 1 3 2Л 1 3 1.8 72 Tanks are used as dumping lagoons 17 23 25 11 20 и. 23 17 18 18 2.1 Political 50 Encroachers are patronised by the politicians 21 23 23 24 25 23 Li 17 1 8 20 2.2 61 Village divisions, tensions, nfts prevent us to cooperate 19 19 22 18 20 M ΙΑ 17 2.5 25 2.1 66 Tank management should be free from politics 19 17 22 2A 20 20 17 Li 15 15 1.9 70 Local management means decentralisation of power 16 19 17 11 18 17 13 17 IS 13 1.8 71 No common element to bind us together 19 19 15 23 17 4.Q 23 3,0 23 18 2.0 Economic 48 Borewells presence makes the community less motivated 19 20 и 18 16 І2 20 34 2Л 4fl 2.1 51 Restoring the tank will only help the rich farmers 26 24 21 25 22 23 и 4,7 4J « 2.5 59 There are too many absentee landlords under the tank 17 22 1 8 18 20 20 23 3-7 3,9 ?,0 2.0 64 Tanks, if restored, can benefit everyone 19 1 5 17 и 14 ¿J 1 3 1 3 15 1 3 1.7 69 Restoring the tank to its capacity improves the economy 17 1 8 14 17 2А щ 1 8 17 15 13 1.7 73 Tanks help control floods, hence we are not interested 20 20 18 19 и и 3,0 3,3 2.9 23 2.0 Tank Policies 43 Need a separate department exclusively for tanks 14 16 10 12 1 4 20 3J ад г,« 15 1.5 44 Panchayat should have full authority over the tank 15 18 14 17 15 M 17 54 гл 1 8 1.7 45 Revenue from tank should be used for tanks only 1 3 18 14 22 1 8 if 1 3 17 2.3 13 1.7 47 Resources are not being adequately allocated for tanks 21 23 23 24 ¿4 ад ¿д 1.0 20 /ι5 2.1 49 Restoration needs lot of money and farmers can't afford 20 19 2J. 21 18 23 LU 17 18 L3 2.0 54 Tanks should be restored by the State 16 16 14 20 14 M i,3 20 3.3 1 3 1.7 55 Given an opportunity, village can take the responsibility 16 I 6 18 17 14 20 17 2.3 20 15 1.6 56 We are caught in a debt trap hence depend on the state 19 19 17 20 15 3-7 3,3 20 3,5 15 1.9 57 Shift of authority to Panchayat makes difference 19 21 16 19 19 2·7 23 23 ?,« 20 2.0 62 We need external agencies to solve our problems 17 18 18 1 8 17 24 M 2,6 33 3.0 1.9 65 Panchayat does not control the tank and no resources allocated 21 17 18 2Λ 16 17 23 23 23 и 1.9 67 Re orientation of development policies и needed 17 1 8 16 1 7 17 13 17 20 20 15 1.7 Legend: 1-Command Area Farmers (CAD; 2- Non-Command Area Fanners (NCAF); 3- Village President (V J·); 4- Water Manager (W.M); 5- Old men; 6-Water User Association's President (WUA-P); 7-Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs); 8- Politicians; 9- Officials; 10- Informal Leaders (IX) 11-Total average scored by all the respondents. 158 Chapter 7

Table 7.5 Categorywise respondent's rankings on Likert scale statements

Statements gist/Category of respondents 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Number of respondents 47 33 12 12 19 3 3 3 4 4 140 Motivations 39 Tanks are no longer useful to the community A A A A L LL HH HH HH HH 2.1

41 Silt from the tanks is a good manure for CA fields A H A A A A A A A A 1.6 42 Water in the tank increases the ground water table A A A A A A LL LL LL A 1.5

48 Borewells presence makes the community less motivated A A H A A HH A HH HH H 2.1 51 Restoring the tank will only help the rich farmers A A A A A A H HH HH H 2.5

52 Tank does not belong to us anymore A A A A A A HH HH H H 2.4

53 Tanks promote cohesion, cooperation and affinity A A A A A LL A L A A 1.7

63 Tanks are central to village life A A A A A A A A A A 1.8 64 Tanks, if restored, can benefit everyone A A A L A L A A A A 1.7 69 Restoring the tank to its capacity improves the economy A A A A L H A A A A 1.7

73 Tanks help control floods, hence we are not interested A A A A L L HH HH H A 2.0 Self-perceived capacity

49 Restoration needs lot of money and farmers can't afford A A H A A A LL A A L 2.0

52 Tank does not belong to us anymore A A A A A A HH HH H H 2.4 54 TanL· should be restored by the State A A A A A HH H A HH A 1.7

55 Gtven an opportunity, village can take the responsibility A A A A A A A L A A 1.6 56 We are caught in a debt trap, hence depend on the state A A A A A HH HH A HH A 1.9 61 Village divisions, tensions, rifts prevent us to cooperate A A A A A HH L A H A 2.1

62 We need external agencies to solve our problems A A A A A HH HH H HH HH 1.9

67 Re-orientation of development policies is needed A A A A A A A A A A 1.7

71 No common element to bind us together A A A A A HH A HH A A 2.0 Legend: 1-Command Area Farmers (CAF); 2- Non-Command Area Farmers (NCAF); 3- Village President (V.P); 4- Water Manager (W.M); 5- Old men;

6-Water User Association's President (WUA-P);7-Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs);

8- Politicians; 9- Officials; 10- Informal Leaders (LL) 11-Total average scored by all the respondents.

L- Low; H- High; LL- Very Low; HH- Very High; A- Averages Social aspects of non-restoration 159 study. This implies, as stated also in section 6.3, that landless people are included here. The possibilities of owning the land under a different tank are not ruled out. As far as the study is concerned, they are treated as NCAFs.

On the whole, NCAFs also seem to be on par with the overall averages, like the CAFs. However, a close scrutiny of the averages (see Table 7.4). reveals that NCAFs differ marginally with CAFs on many statements. For instance, the CAFs were slightly stronger in saying that tanks are no longer useful to them (39), but on the other hand, the NCAFs tend to believe that tanks have utility. The degree and the strength of their motivational capacity is marginally higher. Their understanding of the utility of silt from the tanks (41) is relatively higher than their counterparts. Their motivation is medium; refer count "1 H" in Table 7.6.

They seem to agree more than CAFs that tanks, if restored, can benefit all (64). It can be said that NCAFs have a slightly better motivation and their self-perceived capacity is medium; refer to Table 7.6. for the count "0" as in the case of CAFs. However, it cannot be denied that there is an overall apathy towards tank irrigation systems.

7.4.3. Village Presidents

There were 12 respondents interviewed by the study.

Their scores on motivation and self-perceived capacity tend to be within the range of overall averages. However, they seem to disagree that their motivation is affected because of the presence of the borewells in the command area (48). On this, they tend to be medium on their motivation. They also feel that tank restoration can be taken up by the command area farmers and the village presidents capacity on this tends to be medium. On both counts they score "H" see Table 7.6. On all the other statements, they are close to the overall averages.

7.4.4 Water managers

The study interviewed 12 water managers from all the 12 villages.

It is surprising that all of them tend to believe that tanks, if restored can benefit all (64). On all the other statements they fall within the overall averages' range. Their responses make us believe that their motivation and their self-perceived capacity is medium; they score "1 L" and "0" respectively, see Table 7.6. 160 Chapter 7 7.4.5. Old people

The study interviewed 19 respondents from 12 villages.

They do not think that tanks are useful to the community (39) and therefore, that restoring the tank will contribute in improving the economy (69). In addition to this they are not interested in tank restoration, since this helps control the floods downstream (73). On the whole, their motivation seems to be low; see count "3 L" in Table 7.6. Their attitude confirms to that of the feelings shared by the old man from Mukkollupadu, in the village profiles in Chapter 6. On their self-perceived capacity, they score within the range of overall averages, which can be treated as medium; see "0" count in Table 7.6.

7.4.6. Water User Association's Presidents (WUA-P)

As stated earlier in Chapter 3, not all the tanks are covered under the Water Users Association Act 1997. In all the 12 study villages only three have WUAs.

It is hard to believe, but it is true that they see no utility of tanks for the community (39) and they do not seem to think that tanks promote cohesion, unity and cooperation (53). Restoring tanks does not benefit all (64), in their opinion, but on the other hand they seem to believe that tank restoration will improve the economy. They seem to be less motivated on the point that the tanks help control floods (73). However, they strongly disagree that the presence of borewells hardly affects their community's motivation(48). Overall, their motivation, based on the evidence of the data, is low; see Table 7.6. for a count of "3 L".

They exhibit a high degree of self-perceived capacity. They vehemently disagree that tanks should be restored by the state (54), they are not caught in a debt trap to depend on the state (56), the divisions, tensions and rifts in the village hardly prevent them from cooperating (61), they don't need external agencies to solve their problems and profoundly opine that there is a common element that can bind them together (71). On the whole, their self-perceived capacity is very high; Table 7.6. presents the count of "10 H".

7.4.7. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)

The study interviewed three representatives from NGOs who were involved with tank restoration in their project areas. These respondents are categorised as supra- local. Social aspects of non-restoration 161 Contrary to the village-level category of respondents, the NGOs seem to have high motivation. They very strongly believe that tanks are useful to the community (39), tanks belong to everyone (52) and are motivated to take up restoration even if it means controlling floods downstream (73). They strongly disagree that water in the tanks helps in increasing the ground water table (42). They disagree that restoration of tanks only helps the rich farmers (51). On all the other statements they are within the range of overall averages. It is evident from the facts that their motivation for tank restoration is high; they score "5 H", see Table 7.6.

On the perceived village capacity, NGO's opine strongly, that restoration is too expensive and farmers cannot afford it (49). They affirm the idea that encroachers are patronised by the politicians (50) and village divisions, rifts and tensions prevent people from cooperating (61). They disown the idea that external agencies are needed to solve community problems (62), the need for depending on the state for restoration (56) and strongly believe that tanks belong to everyone (52). Their overall perceptions of the village capacity seems to be high; refer to count "4 H" in Table 7.6.

7.4.8 Politicians

Three politicians' responses became part of the study.

Based on the averages scored, it appears that they have very high motivation for tank restoration. They profoundly disagree on the following statements, that tanks are no longer useful to the community (39), that tank restoration will only help the rich farmers (51), that tanks do not belong to the community (52), that the presence of borewells makes the community less motivated (48), that floods are controlled, hence the community is less motivated (73) and that the water in the tank helps to increase the ground water table (42). They also do not seem to believe that tanks promote unity, community affinity and cooperation (53). On all the other statements, they seem to be at par with the overall averages.

On perceived village capacity, they seem to be high. They feel that there are still common elements that can bind the communities together (71), slightly disagree that external agencies are needed to solve the village problems (62) and surmise that the community may not be able to take up the responsibility to restore tanks on their own (55). They discern that tanks belong to the community (52). On all the other statements they are within the the overall averages. See Table 7.6. for their counts of "7 H" and "4 H" respectively. 162 Chapter 7 7.4.9. Officials

The study could gather responses from four officials connected with the Minor Irrigation department at various levels. They tend to be close to the politicians score in terms of motivations but even higher in perceived village capacity. It appears from the results that they are very high on both the motivations and perceived village capacity, see table 7.6. for "6 H" and "8 H" counts respectively.

They vehemently disagree that tanks are no longer useful to the community (39), the presence of borewells makes any impact on the motivation of the community (48), only rich farmers are benefited (51), tanks are used as dumping lagoons (72), and passionately disagree that tanks do not belong to the community (52), and that since tanks control floods the community is less motivated (73). However, from their standpoint, the water in the tank hardly makes any difference in the groundwater table (42).

They acutely disapprove of the idea that tanks should be restored by the state (54),feel that there is no need for external agencies to solve the problems at the village-level (62), and think that the community is free from the debt trap (56). The rifts and divisions in the village are in no way a block to tank restoration (61) and finally consent that tank belongs to the entire community (52). On their remaining statements, they score close to the overall averages.

7.4.10 Informal Leaders

There were 4 informal leaders from the area of the study. These were involved with tank irrigation system either directly or indirectly and so had gained knowledge and experience.

Like the other supra-local respondents their perceptions on the motivations of the community seem to be intense. They postulate that tanks are useful to the community (39), tank restoration helps everyone (51), tanks belong to everyone (52), and the presence of borewells should hardly affect the motivation of the community(48). It is evident from their scores that their motivation is high.

The informal leaders tend to agree that tank restoration is expensive and hence farmers cannot afford it (49). However they see that the community can solve its own problems (62). They firmly opine that tanks belongs to everyone (52). It is apparent from the scores that their perceived village capacity is high. Table 7.6 presents their counts "5 H" and "2 H" respectively. On rest of the statements, they Social aspects of non- restoration 163 are on par with the overall averages.

Table 7.6. Summary of the motivations and self-perceived/village capacity

S.No Category Motivation Perceived village capacity 1 Command Area Farmers (CAF) 0 0 2 Non-Command Area Farmers (NCAF) IH 0 3 Village Presidents (V.P.) IH IH 4 Water Managers (W.M) IL 0 5 Old Men (O.M) 3L 0 6 Water User Associations' Presidents 3L 10 H 7 Non-Governmental Organisations 5H 4H 8 Politicians (P) 7H 4H 9 Officials (O) 6H 8H 10 Informal Leaders (I.L.) 5H 2H

7.4.11 Summary of Category-wise respondents scores on Likert scale analysis

To conclude this section, there appears to be a rift between villagers and supra- local respondents. The villagers are much lower on both motivations and self- perceived capacity. Roughly speaking, the outsiders say that the villagers should have the motivation and also have the capacity. The villagers, on the other hand, say why should we?, and if we would be motivated we would not have the capacity to take up tank restoration. No noticeable difference exists here between the local respondent categories (which also include the landless under the NCAP category)1.

A close look at the scores reveal that the WUA- Presidents align with the supra- local respondents in terms of the perceived capacity of the villages. The NGO's seem to be very optimistic about the motivations and capacity of the villagers. The politicians are even more motivated and believe that the villagers have the capacity more than the other categories of respondents. The irrigation department officials tend to beat all the respondents in terms of their perception of village capacity and discern that the villagers have the motivation to take up tank restoration. It is evident from the data that the informal leaders from the supra-local respondents seem to be a bit more realistic about the villagers' capacity to take up tank

'Theoretically, it would be expected that NCAF (including the landless) should be less motivated for tank restoration. The logic that seems to prevail, however, is that NCAF and landless labourers reason that more water in the village mean more employment and less need to migrate and hence has a clear benefit for them as well. 164 Chapter 7 restoration. Based on the answers of the politicians and officials, it would seem logical then these would be pushing the villages enthusiastically towards tank restoration. Yet, this is not the case at all. This issue is taken up in the next section.

7.5. Political factors contributing to non-restoration

This section focusses on two legislative efforts that provide hope for entrusting the management of minor irrigation structures to the community. Very briefly it outlines the situation in three phases - the pre-Panchayat Raj Act period, the Act itself (the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution (1994)) and the Water User Association Act of 1997.

7.5.1 Pre-Act situation

It is evident from the responses of the politicians to the interview schedule, and the personal interaction that the researcher had with many more politicians during the past 15 years, that they all postulate the idea of tank irrigation being neglected by the successive governments both at the National and State level and that this neglect should be deplored. The question that logically emanates is why then does the process of restoration not take off? What prevents them to influencing the state assembly, which is the policy making body? In this section I will try to answer this question. No systematic data set underlies the section; I will address the question on the basis of 25 years of involvement in rural development.

First then it may be noted that, starting out from the statement of the previous section, we must now move from words to action, and from politicians that are nice enough to return a questionnaire on tanks to hard-core politicians in the centres of power. Emanating from these centres of power is a persistent policy to favour large-scale irrigation and private borewells over tanks, as we saw in Chapters 1 and 3. One of the results is that today, the state government allocates only Rs.250 per ha for tank maintenance on a rotation basis, which means, in practice, once every five or ten years. If the tank has a command area of, say, 40 ha, it then receives a total of Rs. 10,000 for maintaining the tank. Often, according to the presidents, contractors, officials and politicians, from whom the researcher elicited the information, this money hardly serves the intended purpose. Part of this goes for administration, the percentage of profits for the contractors (which includes the kick-backs at different levels) and the meagre amount that lands in the hands of the contractors is hardly sufficient to take up any real restoration works. The contractor then undertakes the patchwork just before the onset of monsoon and Social aspects of non-restoration 165 claims the bills. One good rain washes away the entire work undertaken. Three sets of reasons may be discerned behind this.

1) Buying the common man Mahatma Gandhi's vision was that the political process should grow upward from the village, where the true aspirations of the common man are met. Today, the common man is a mere vote bank for many of the political parties who visit him once in five years to seek his vote. The populist schemes adopted by the different parties of successive governments are only meant to lure the people living below the poverty line. When the Telugu Desam party came to power in 1983, it introduced Rs.2 a kilo ricefo r the poor, subsidised sarees for women and dhotis for men. The massive subsidies of up to 50 % on private borewells, of which there are now some 1.5 million in the state, belong to this category of making the common man happy with direct private gains, without taking any care of sustainability or the common good2.

2) Tanks are not supported by legal, financial and scientific institutions Leaving out lift irrigation and some other types of irrigation for the sake of clarity, tank irrigation fills the intermediary level in a three-step ladder of scales: - large-scale irrigation - tanks - borewells.

This would not be problematic in any way, were it not that the intermediary 'tank scale' is in fact a kind of vacuum between the two well-organised worlds of large- scale irrigation and borewell irrigation. This holds in the legal, institutional and financial sense.

Legally tanks have a character of common property in many respects. The res communes, however, has legally been squeezed to a virtual deal between the law of the state (public law) and the law of the individual (private law), (Bromley, 1991). The background of this is that the modern central states, in the course of their establishment both in 19th century Europe and 20th century India, actively sought to undo the patches of local power and local freedom that were in the

2The intention of extending a helping hand to the weaker sections of society in the form of subsidies and either interest free loans or on nominal interest was so abused at every level that instead of serving the very objective for which these were introduced, resulted in the farmers becoming totally dependent on the state machinery. The pride of being a farmer eroded in course of time. 166 Chapter 7 communally held lands3. With respect to tanks, this implies that they have no established legal framework to be embedded in, at least until the 1994 Act. Not much has changed yet in reality, as will be shown below.

The same applies in the financial sphere. For the large-scale irrigation projects, the World Bank giving a loan to the national state is a routine practice, and the same is true for local banks giving loans to private farmers and private enterprises for borewells. For tanks, no such routine has been established. (Refer to Chapter 8) This is mainly because the loans have to be vested in the legally underdeveloped middle fieldbetwee n public and private law.

An analogous picture holds with respect to science and technology. Large-scale irrigation projects are each different and require large design investments. Count­ less well-trained natural scientists, engineers and economists are available to do this work. Borewells, on the other extreme, do not require new designs but can be directed by contractors anywhere almost as a matter of routine; a government only needs to push a subsidy button and borewells spread as a matter of course. Tank restoration is different in all these respects. It cannot be designed, top-down, from behind a desk, but requires a mixture of social interactions, social engineering and some technical expertise, to be mixed in situ. No mainstream science or technology research programmes or university faculties exist for tanks that can compare to the massive size of hydrology, civil engineering, economics departments connected to large-scale and borewell irrigation.

3) Tank restoration implies devolution of power Tanks can be restored efficiently, and their maintenance assured, only by a radical hand-over of formal power and practical responsibilities to the local level. This, of course, is not a natural inclination of irrigation department bureaucrats and state- level politicians. It does not only undermine their current professional pride and reason for administrative existence, but with it also goes the opportunity of siphoning off a little of the money flows for private gain. Intuitively, I would guess that resistance against devolution sits deeper with the politicians than it does with the bureaucrats. Professional pride can be redefined, after all, into a new satisfaction in working together with communities and corruption, in my perception, is not an all-overriding phenomenon in tank irrigation, where financial turnover is small anyway.

3In Holland, for instance, the 'law on the common' (Marke-wet) of 1886 officially abolished the remaining res communes (De Groot 1999). Social aspects of non-restoration 167 7.5.2. The Panchayat Raj Act of 1994

The Village Panchayat is the core of the local Indian political structure. Supported by a new emphasis on decentralisation in the international fora and the World Bank a process to transfer power to panchayats was began in the late 80's and taken up seriously by the then ruling government in 1993. The 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India paved the way for the transfer of power. The Act made it prerogative that tanks are controlled by the panchayats. In Andhra Pradesh the Act came into force in 1994.

As a result of the Act, elections to these local bodies were held. Nothing moved beyond this point, however. No responsibilities, including the control over tanks, were devolved. Why? Implementation of the act in toto means the transfer of such power to the local bodies; the state-level politicians will be out of picture. The resistance against devolution has been discussed already in the previous section. As a result tension prevailed among the newly elected representatives to the local bodies. Against this background a massive rally was organised, protests were held throughout the State in 1999 and some of the panchayat presidents even went to the stage of indulging in self-immolation acts. The Chief Minister yielded to the pressure and announced a package of decisions among which was the transfer of control over 16 'functions' including the tanks. Although the real implementation will undoubtedly require more time and pressure, this undoubtedly is a crucial step forward of the revival of the tank system (see box 7.1).

7.5.3 The Water Users Association Act (1997)

In 1997, the Government of Andhra Pradesh enacted a law which is called "The Andhra Pradesh Fanners Management of Irrigation Systems Act". The rationale to introduce such an act is based on the fact that under the major and medium irrigation projects, even though the water utilised exceeds the allocated quantity, there is a shortfall in the area irrigated of 30 to 50 per cent due to poor maintenance, changes in the cropping patterns, lack of farmers involvement, assumed 'duty' not being worked, water losses and wastage and finally the availability of water itself.4

The Act gave way to the creation of Water Users Associations (WUA) which aim at increasing the effective participation of farmers in various aspects of irrigation systems and organising the farmers for working together for water management.

4Water Users Association Manual -1997 p.l 168 Chapter 7 All this is broadly acceptable to almost all the water users and is supported by them.5

A whole set of rules were laid down for the functioning of WUAs. Elections were held, and in Krishna district there are 283 WUA's formed since the enactment of the Act. Chapter 3 gave a full account of these WUAs in Krishna district. The Joint Secretary of Minor Irrigation, Government of A.P., whom the researcher interviewed, was very enthusiastic in saying that it is a progressive step forward initiated by the state government. Considering the past experience in agriculture and irrigation sector, truly it is one step ahead. However a year after the introduction of the Act, a number of amendments were incorporated into it. Many development workers and officials, while welcoming the move, feel that it is very ambiguous in such aspects as leaving out all tanks under 40 ha of command area. In some cases the WUA act has already made itself felt and enthusiastic farmers have begun to enjoy the rights accorded by the Act. The only problem is the creation of a new institution at the village level sidelining the existing Panchayat set-up and overlapping in the discharging of responsibilities. A public debate was not initiated on this important issue.

Past experience proves that creating special institutions for every collective action function is not an ideal solution and may contribute in dividing the village community. Since the Panchayat is the primary institution at the village level, it is desirable to make it become fully functional by giving it the necessary authority to be effective. This goes in line with the 73rd Amendment and the package announced by the Chief Minister to the local bodies.

The CBA undertaken for this study pinpoints that many of the benefits accrue outside the command area group (refer to Chapter 5). This may result in the WUAs being less motivated to take up the restoration process with the same enthusiasm than the Panchayat which can be highly motivated when many of the benefits accrue to the community as a whole.

To sum up this section: with the introduction of the Panchayat Raj Act and the WUA Act a better hope for the future is in the pipeline; the possibility of continuing resistance coming from those politicians who do not wish to transfer power cannot be ruled out yet, however.

5Ibid., pp 4 - 6 Social aspects of non-restoration 169

Box.7.1. CM announces package to strengthen local bodies (Hyderabad, March 3,1999). The Chief Minister, Mr.N.Chandrababu Naidu, on Wednesday announced a package of measures, including transfer of 16 functions of different Government departments to the Panchayat Raj bodies, thus conceding most of the demands on which the gram sarpanches (Village Presidents) all over the State have been agitating for some time. In a statement made in the State assembly, the Chief Minister said the decisions taken by the Government are intended to strengthen the functioning of the Panchayat Raj bodies and augment their resources at the grassroots level.(...) The Chief Minister said the Government conceded transfer of 16 out of 29 subjects, cited by the agitating sarpanches. The question of transferring the other subjects could be discussed by the Chief Secretary with the department concerned. The transfer of subjects to these bodies is in accordance with the 73rd Constitutional Amendment. (....) The Chief Minister said the arrears, due to the Panchayat Raj bodies from under the State Finance Commission's recommendations, would be cleared in three years. About Rs.330 crores (Rs.3,300 million) would be transferred to these bodies, he said. Mr.Chandrababu Naidu said that sand auctions/leases in the district would be conducted and decided by a district committee consisting of Chairman of Zilla Parishad, a Mandai Parishad President and Sarpanch along with officers of Mines and Revenue Department instead of the Mines Department, which has been the practice hitherto. Revenue proceeds would be apportioned among the local bodies at the rate of 37.5 per cent, 37.5 per cent and 25 per cent to grampanchayats, mandai parishads and zilla parishads respectively. (...) Under the A.P.Farmers Management of Irrigation System Act, 10 per cent of the water rate shall be transferred to the gram panchayats. Identity cards would be issued to Sarpanches and their association would be recognised. The existing GO regarding protocol to Sarpanches at Government functions held in the villages would be followed. The Chief Minister said the Government would further streamline the procedures and decentralise powers to help the local bodies function more effectively. Source: The Hindu Online: Thursday, March 04,1999 Regional 0404201b.htm.

7.6. Comparison of Collective social capital and self-perceived village capacity

In Chapter 9 an analysis will be undertaken aiming to explain success and failure of interventions of SHIP through variables that describe both capacity and motivation for tank restoration. 'Collective Social Capital' as assessed in Chapter 6 will be one of these indicators, as is village capacity as perceived by the villagers themselves through the Likert scale statements in the present Chapter. Both in their own way (researcher-assessed and self-assessed) are indicators of village capacity for tank restoration. If these two variables would correlate perfectly, either one of them could be taken in Chapter 9. If they correlate only vaguely or not at all, both of them should obviously be tried for a best fit with success or failure of 170 Chapter 7 interventions. Table 7.7. presents the scores of self-perceived capacity and collective social capital taken from Table 7.3 and Table 6.5.

Figure 7.1. summarise the self-perceived capacity and the collective social capital of the study villages. It appears there is only a slight relationship between the two factors. The lower the social capital of the village, the lower the self-perceived capacity. The higher the social capital, the self-perceived capacity seems to be on the higher side. Kendall's tau is not significant, however (P = 0.).

It can be concluded that for the analysis of Chapter 9, both capacity indicators have to be taken into account.

Table. 7.7. Self-perceived capacity and Collective social capital of the study villages

S.No Village Self-perceived capacity Collective social capital 1 Devaragunta IL 4 2 Enamadala 2L 2 3 Gogulampadu 0 2 4 Gollapalli 4H 3 5 Kanasanapalli 4H 5 6 Morsapudi IL 1 7 Mukkollupadu IL 1 8 Polas anipalli 2H 4 9 Rajavaram 3H 4 10 Ramannagudem 4L 2 11 Tadepally IH 4 12 Vadlamanu 0 4 Social aspects of non-restoration 171

Figure 7.1 Scattergram of Self-perceived capacity and Collective social capital

4- '12 11 8 9 "3 Q я U 3- •a 8 00 10

1-

Τ Τ Ί -1 0 1 4 Self-perceived capacity

7.7. Comparison of self-stated motivations and economic motivations assessed through CBA

For the same reason as for the two capacity indicators in the previous section, the present section investigates the correlation between two types of motivational factors, namely, the economic motivation assessed through CBA and the self-stated motivations expressed through the Likert scale statements. The CBA prepared for the hypothetical tank restoration, see Chapter 5, is used as the yardstick to assess the tank restoration costs and benefits for the study villages relative to each other. Only those costs that are major in nature are taken into account. Costs that relate to the preparation, supervision and audit are left out while making the economic motivations assessment. Of the major cost components, each village is assessed as higher or lower than average costs. Factors such as distance of feeder channels, present status of bunds and water spread area are taken into account while estimating relative costs for each village. Chapter 6 presents all the village maps with tanks identified for the purpose.

While computing the benefits all those which were left as p.m. were not taken into account. Only those that have an immediate economic value for the village community are taken into consideration. For arriving at the relative benefits the utility of the silt, presence of livestock, water capacity, length and width of the bund are taken into account. Table 7.8 presents the village wise costs and benefits. 172 Chapter 7 Where it is a cost averaging the hypothetical CBA, one 'M' is given; where the costs are higher, a double 'MM' is given. A single 'P' connotes the benefits equivalent to the hypothetical benefits and double 'PP' indicates that the benefits are higher. A score of 'Z' means no benefits fromtha t particular function, because it is physically impossible to fulfill that function in the particular tank. Table 7.9. summarises the outcome and Figure 7.2. presents the scattergram.

It appears from Figure 7.2 that although the lowest CBA assessment coincides with the lowest motivations and although high CBA assessments coincide with the high self-assessed motivations, an overall relationship is only very weak. This is no great worry because the people's motivation is obviously more than economic costs and benefits. Both variables will have to be carried over separately to Chapter 9, however, in view of the low correlation.

It may help also to check, if possible, if people's motivations correlate more with the cost side of the CBA balance, e.g., because people shy away from the costs without having a clear picture of future benefits. Figure 7.3 gives this scattergram with CBA (costs only) on the vertical axis and the village motivations on the horizontal axis. Some correlation seems to appear in Figure 7.3. However, here too, the cost variable will be carried to Chapter 9 due to the low correlation.

Table. 7.8. CBA assessment and self-stated motivations of the study villages

S.No Village CBA (Total) CBA (costs) Self-stated motivations 1 Devaragunta 6P -2 M 3L 2 Enamadala 3P -3M 10 L 3 Gogulampadu 4P -4M IH 4 Gollapalli 7P -2 M 5H 5 Kanasanapalli 7P 0 8H 6 MorsaDudi 4P -4M IL 7 Mukkollupadu 7P -IM 3L 8 Polasanipalli 8P 0 IH 9 Rajavaram 6P 0 9H 10 Ramannagudem 7P -IM 5L 11 Tadepally 5P 0 2L 12 Vadlamanu 8P 0 2L Social aspects of non-restoration 173

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7.8. Conclusions

To sum up this Chapter, the following conclusions can be drawn: • There are significant differences between the villages in terms of self- perceived capacity and self-assessed motivation for tank restoration. The average motivation and perceived capacity is rather low, however. • An even more clear-cut difference is visible between the village-level respondents and supra-local respondents. There is a great confidence in the supra-local respondents on the motivation and perceived village capacity . • The political set-up overlooked the actual and potential function of tanks. One major reason is, probably, that there did not exist a clear legal framework for tank ownership and maintenance due to their common property character. Another reason is probably that supra-local powers resist the devolution of control to the local level.

On the whole, then, the overall answer to the question of the explanation of non- restoration seems to be as follows: • In spite of quite positive results of the CBA analysis, the command area farmers themselves do not see overwhelming economic benefits in tank restoration; their overall motivation is low. • Their self-perceived capacity to take up tank restoration as a collective action also appears to be low. • Hence, this should be an issue for supra-local institutions to step in. These do not do so, however, in spite of the optimistic opinion of supra-local respondents on tank restoration, probably due to the unclear legal framework and unwillingness of key actors to devolve power to local institutions. 176 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

Case studies of tank restoration interventions

8.1 Introduction and structure of the Chapter

The previous chapters have focussed on possible factors in the non-restoration of tanks, such as (lack of) motivation and (lack of) social capacity, preparing for Chapter 9, where all factors will be analysed. The present chapter aims to make the first step of the preparation for the finalanalysi s by investigating two variables of intervention for tank restoration: -intensity of intervention, and -degree of success or failure. The data will then be transferred to Chapter 9. Much of the chapter will be devoted to building up an understanding of the type of intervention carried out by SHIP, the researcher's NGO. This serves the purpose of properly grounding the intensity and success/failure results.

This Chapter begins with the concepts of development, participation and styles of intervention (section 8.2). The initial learning experiences of SHIP, drawn out of different interventions undertaken by various institutions and individuals (section 8.3), enabled it to formulate its own partnership approach to the tank restoration process (section 8.4). Although the tanks become the entry point of village development, the ultimate objective of SHIP is development of the villages 178 Chapter 8 in all dimensions with special emphasis on management of natural resources such as water, land and forest, since they are the prime needs of the communities in the study villages as voiced by them in village meetings. The ideology of SHIP and its own interventions in relation to the tank restoration process in the study villages assist the reader to look into the success and failures of SHIP'S interventions, and the intensity of SHIP'S effort to motivate the farmers for a collective concerted action with regard to restoring the tanks in the study villages (section 8.5). The feelings expressed by the community during the course of interaction with SHIP motivators or in the village meetings are presented under evaluation by the community. The Chapter concludes with the findings of an outsider who evaluated the process and motivational educational work of SHIP (section 8.6).

8.2 The concept of participation and style of operation

The late 80's produced a redefinition of the concept of development from merely being an economic indicator to 'the improvement in quality of life'. Within this definition the development effort from various sections of the civil society can be broadly categorised in to (Haranath, 1987): Relief • Rehabilitation • Reconstruction • Reform, and • Revolutionary

Relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction concepts of development approaches tend to be focussing more on the immediate needs of the community and are geared towards specific targets. Reform and revolutionary NGOs function on the premise that there is a need for fundamental change in the values, attitudes and outlook of the existing society. Many NGO efforts as well as the efforts from the State fall broadly into the first three development approaches. Often the activities carried out under this framework are time and space bound. On the other hand reform interventions address the key social issues which tend to disintegrate society and revolutionary interventions aim to implant an idea, value, concept etc., so that change becomes imminent. The latter concepts thus, focus on the process, rather than on the targets. Although the process-oriented interventions are time consuming, they are considered to be sustainable in the long-run because they build lasting institutions. All these approaches involve three key elements: a) the issue; b) the actor or the catalyst; and c) the receiver or the end user. The inherent implication is the concept of participation. Case studies of tank restoration interventions 179 The definition of the concept of participation is elucidated by many depending on the context in which it is applied. It appears that often these concepts overlap with one another or exhibit a degree of inherent contradiction that prevails. However, a popular concept of participation is adopted by the researchers of UNRISD: "the organised efforts to increase the control over the resources and regulative institutions in given social situation, on the part of groups and movements of those hitherto excluded from such control". This seems to be the crux of the issue (Huizer 1989). De Groot (1992) states that "participation in environmental management may be defined as the voluntary (not fully compensated) involvement of target groups in collective action with an environmental objective, be it formulation or implementation, and be it supportive or redirective".

As explained by Huizer (1989) the need of local people's participation in rural development projects was recognised as a response to the failure of the traditional approach of "betting on the strong" with a hope that the benefits would "trickle down to the poor". He further describes how the disadvantage of this approach resulted in growing contradictions between rich and poor which led to social discrepancies and enhanced unrest in many rural areas.

In India the first effort towards participation was undertaken in the early 1950's (Wils, 1998) when the Balwanthroy Mehta committee suggested that "programmes emanate from the people and government participates by supporting the initiatives by way of financial resources and a legal framework". The Gandhian model of social reconstruction emphasises the decision-making power of the people and their active role in the change process. The NGOs subscription to the notion that communities participate actively and government supports the initiatives equally connotes the importance of participation of the socalled receivers or end users. This leaves much to say about how participation should be organised, however.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) engaged in the Asia and Pacific region identified six essential elements as part of the strategy of helping the poor: grassroots groups; group promoters; reservation of inputs and services to the poor; micro-level planing from below; participatory action research and field level workshops. The element of "reservations for the poor" is a troublesome one. It tends to lead to organising one section of a village to stand up against the other leading to tensions and hence, in the longer-term, the riskstha t the poor will face will be higher and they may suffer more from the new tensions although they seem to profit from the short-term goodies of the project. According to Huizer (1989) a lot depends on the political and social context prevailing in each situation, particularly the emergence or not of sharp contradictions between the better-off and the disadvantaged and the ways this is taking shape. Interpreting recommendations 180 Chapter 8 made by Uphoff (1985), Huizer (1989) states that it may be useful to create "alternative organisations" with a membership restricted to the "less advantaged" to complement the regular institutional set-up in case where social stratification is "serious". This discussion will be taken up again in section 8.4.3, where it is explained why SHIP treats the village as a whole without creating new organisations.

In cases of working through the existing administration Uphoff (1985) notes participation often remains rather shallow. Based on a sample survey administered to 150 organisations across the developing world Uphoff (1985) has identified a number of success-enhancing factors in development projects:

• Informal modes of operation were generally more successful than more formal ones. • Size of the organisation is an important element in determining the success. As pointed out also by Put (1998), the smaller the organisation, the greater the success. • Independence of the organisations from the government seems to result in a higher success rate. This seems to be contrary to the idea of working within the administration. • Initiative taken by the community results in higher success rates. • A Catalyst role played by outside agencies equally led to the same success rate as in the case of an initiative taken by the community.

Most development-oriented interventions nowadays are participatory one way or another, or at least aim to be so. Thus it becomes all the more distinguishable that within one type of participation (e.g in terms of De Groot (1992) the same social breadth, the same substantive breadth etc.) different styles of operation exist. In Uphoff s enumeration in the preceding paragraph this is visible in the first point (formal/informal mode of operation). A more general dichotomy of styles, for instance, is between the "mechanistic" and the "organic" (Francois Milis, 1999) ways of operation, which in turn can be related to two types of ethics that may be distinguished in society. De Groot (1992) referring to Jack and Jack (1989) presents the two moral orientations, the 'ethics of rights and obligations' and the 'ethics of care'. Applying this framework to the present study, it can be said that the two models that express these two ethics are the "contract style" and the "style of partnership". Case studies of tank restoration interventions 181 Table 8.1. Styles of interventions, following De Groot (1992)

Contract Style Partnership Style -Clear analysis of the problem -Dialogue; more 'muddled' analysis -Emphasis on difference of interests -Emphasis on partnership, cooperation -Negotiations -Building the community -Target-oriented -Process-oriented -Conflicts are conceptualised as conflicts -Conflicts are conceptualised as failures of between the rights and obligations of response in a network of relationships separate actors

A close look at the 'mechanistic' and 'organic models' of interventions reveals many commonalities between the 'contract' and the 'partnership style'.

One key difference that emerges between the two models of intervention is the trust that is being reposed in the communities. The former model tends to project lack of trust in the abilities, knowledge and capacity of the community which in a way inhibits them to be active partners in the process. The latter reposes trust in the people which enables them to become active partners in the process.

Huizer (1989) points out that there can be no uniform approach to all cases. According to him, only a flexible application of the participatory approach can result in effective improvement and empowerment of the disadvantaged. The application requires considerable creativity and a willingness to go beyond trodden paths and orthodox methodologies. In this learning process and style of operation SHIP is relevant, as expounded in the coming sections. 182 Chapter 8 Table 8.2. Mechanistic and Organic models of interventions (Servaes 1999)

Attitudes/values Mechanistic Model Organic model Overall aspects

Assumption about target People are helpless. People have abilities and can be group: mobilised. Attitude towards problems: Problem-solving. Problem-posing. Attitude towards Means to achieve ends A never-ending process. participation: Learning relationship: Paternalistic. Emphatic. Valuation of knowledge: Western knowledge is Traditional knowledge is superior. equally relevant. People seen as: Targets, objects. Subjects, actors. Leadership position: Project Leader. Facilitator. Relationship with people: Authority centred. Shared responsibility. Policy and Planning Design criteria: Productivity and Needs and criteria for well- economic growth. being formulated by people themselves. Type of work: Technical-economic. Educational-organisational. Mode of communication: Monologue. Dialogue. Implementation and evaluation Planning format: Blue-print, project Open-ended, process approach. approach. Time perspective: Short term. Long term. .Type of solutions: Symptom curing. Aimed at elimination of root causes.

Source: Jan Servaes 1999. Case studies of tank restoration interventions 183 8.3 Initial learning experiences of SHIP

This section will present the case studies of interventions by NGOs in relation to irrigation management (lift, canal, tank) and draws the lessons from each of the interventions. All these case studies present a significant pattern and approach to development processes. These interventions were helpful in shaping the ideology and strategies of SHIP.

8.3.1 Lift Irrigation schemes - Ongole experiment

The Ongole, also known as Prakasham, experiment is outlined in this section to narrate the process undertaken by the district administration in implementing a large number of lift irrigation schemes involving banks, people and government.

Ongole is one of the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. It is situated on the side of the Srisailam reservoir on the river Krishna. It has four major drains and a number of small streams that carry the water to the Bay of Bengal. The west part of the district is the tail end area of Nagarjuna Sagar project and considered to be a dry area. The agriculture is monsoon fed. Between 1986 and 1989 a number of lift irrigation schemes were taken up in this district.

The researcher interviewed Dr.N.Jayaprakash Narayan who was the then District Collector and who was instrumental in implementing 453 community lift irrigation schemes in a span of 2 Vz years of his tenure as the head of the district.

A total number of 453 schemes were taken up, 2,800 borewells drilled, 80 diversion schemes undertaken and 81,633 ha of irrigation potential created. The total investment, which includes the farmers contribution, bank loan and the government contribution amounted, to Rs 420 million. The average cost of the borewell worked out to be Rs.37,500 with 50 % being the contribution from the farmer in the form of labour, kind, cash and loans from the bank. This expenditure also includes the provision of maintenance for two years. A great majority of the schemes were completed and the farmers enjoy the fruits of their labour and the benefits that emanate from these schemes.

This was a step that undoubtedly enhanced the economy of the region in the district. But how was the process initiated? What were the hurdles? How were the political problems answered? What were the technical problems and implications addressed? What is the follow-up? These were some of the questions raised during the interview and the responses are summarised. 184 Chapter 8 As to the process, one month after he took over the district administration, Dr. Narayan felt that there was a lot of irrigation potential that was left untapped and utilising this potential water for the district would not lead to any inter-state nor inter-district water conflicts, as experienced in the sharing of waters from the rivers Krishna and Cauvery which traverse the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the latter case. After initial discussions with the departmental staff concerned, a dialogue was organised with the politicians of the district. An appeal was made that, if the politicians can instill confidence among the villagers that by adhering to certain broad guidelines the farmers lift irrigation schemes shall be sanctioned automatically from the government, it is possible to enhance the irrigation potential in the district. According to Dr. Narayan, in a particularly "weak moment", the politicians agreed to the proposal and extended their cooperation.

The next hurdle was hydrological clearance which is a legal requirement if banks are to extend credit facility to the farmers. The procedure for clearance is very cumbersome and can take 15 years, which will have serious repercussions on the costs, planning etc. The danger was imminent. Therefore, according to Dr. Narayan, he told the bankers, who were hesitating to provide the finance because of hydrological clearance, that "I as the Collector of the District will sign all the 453 applications, and take the full responsibility, and you sanction the loans ". This decision helped the bankers and they went to the extent of going to the farmers personally to fulfill all the formalities.

The choice of technical staff was given to the fanners. They could choose among the 600 engineering staff connected to various departments in the district or encourage a promising youngster who understood the technical aspects. In the latter case the government norms would be taken care of by the technical staff before the funds were released.

The minimum requirement from the farmer was that they should deposit Rs.50 or Rs.100 with the local bank which indicated their seriousness about the scheme. Once the above norms are fulfilled the scheme stands sanctioned. While launching the schemes the entire atmosphere was charged with a feeling of cooperation among the farmers, as if it were a wedding where the entire village participates. It seems that people worked day and night under petro-max lights so that a season was not lost. In the entire operation not a single extra worker was engaged from outside the community.

Comparing the costs, the average installation cost about Rs.37,500 per ha whereas the same operation would have cost Rs.70,000 to Rs.75,000, if the works were Case studies of tank restoration interventions 185 executed by the government. The cost of the scheme also included a maintenance allowance for two years.

One problem that may eventually crop up is drying up of borewells. Despite the fact that these 2,800 borewells are located close to the Srisailam reservoir, this does not exclude the vulnerability of the ground water table diminishing, unless the afforestation and soil conservation methods together with water recharging mechanisms are taken care of. Conceding to the idea, Dr. Narayan feels that there is no substitute for watershed programmes to overcome problems of this nature. Recalling the impact it generated in the area Dr. Narayan believes that the Ongole experience is spectacularly successful. All the schemes that were completed yielded benefits. The loan repayment is more than 90 % and the economy of the region transformed. He discerns that if farmers can see the fruits of irrigation for two years then they will be able to prioritise the development effort above petty politics.

Commenting on the success and continuation of the schemes, Dr. Narayan said that all those schemes that were implemented during his tenure yielded positive results. The farmers are better off. Failure, if any, was due to government's inability to meet the demands, lack of state resources and the political will to learn lessons from the innovative initiatives.

Lessons learnt from Ongole experiment This experiment gives the following insights. Keys to success seemed to be: • Ongole presents a case of a powerful, outspoken and committed bureaucrat in direct partnership with villages. Politicians, in their "weak moment" were ousted from the scene, unable to intervene in the process.1 The bureaucrat/village linkage was so strong that no facilitating NGO was needed even. • In a setting of villages uniting with an NGO the "power factor" would have been much lower, and the whole process, e.g. because of hydraulic clearing, would have taken much more time. • In the bureaucracy/villages interaction, as much power as possible was left to the villages, e.g. choosing their own engineer or organiser. This shows that contrary to the finding of Uphoff (1985), participation can be intense even if administrative structures are used.

1 For a discussion of the role of politics in environmental protection, see Vanden Top, 1998. 186 Chapter 8

The learning for SHIP from this case was that: 1) The role of bureaucratic consent and leadership is crucial for success; that is why SHIP has the standpoint that it aims to only facilitate between the farmers and the Panchayat, i.e. to establish vertical linkage, without itself stepping into the arena of power. 2) Trust in the communities' capacities is central.

8.3.2 Buddham lift irrigation scheme: Intervention of Gramasiri.

Buddham is a small village in erstwhile taluka of Bapatla in Guntur district. The village has a population of about 3,000. The irrigation canal of Krishna river western division occasionally serves the needs of the farmers. The continuous supply of water is disrupted since the lands are located on the tail end and the farmers near the canal hardly permit the waters to reach this far. This aggravated the unrest among the farmers in this village. They were interested in doing something concrete so that their economic situation could improve. It appears that the only option they had was to divert the canal water at the tail end, which otherwise would merge into the sea, and pump it to their fields. This option seemed to be realistic under the circumstances but required investment beyond their capacity. They concluded that if an external agency was willing to help them they would collaborate to the greatest possible extent and derive the benefits. They approached the voluntary organisation 'Garmasiri', which is active in the area undertaking reconstruction programmes in the surrounding villages.

Gramasiri came into existence after the cyclone of the century that swept the coast of Andhra Pradesh in 1977. It started its relief work to the victims of the cyclone by providing food, shelter and clothing. After this relief phase rehabilitation work was taken up and a massive housing programme was implemented. The question confronted was what next? It adopted a three-fold approach to address the issues of the gramasabha (village council), the gram kosh (village fund), and shramdaan (voluntary labour for the good of the community). Many of the programmes implemented by Gramasiri revolve around these concepts which are based on a Gandhian vision of rural reconstruction. The chief functionary, Narasimha Murthy, worked for Gandhian organisations as a field worker and exhibited leadership qualities that encouraged his superiors to back him up when he initiated the activities in Bapatla after the cyclone. He also heads up another organisation in Visakhapattnam, in the tribal belt of Andhra Pradesh, with which the researcher was associated for a couple of years during 1983-85.

Responding to the request of the farmers from Buddham village, the organisation initiated the process. A number of meetings were held to discuss the problem, the Case studies of tank restoration interventions 187 solutions and the minute details of 'ifs' and 'buts', and the legal and administrative bottlenecks. A formal society 'Goutham Gramabihvrudhi Seva Sangham' (Goutham Village Development Service Society)was legally registered. All the villagers who possessed land became members of the Society.

The actual project After overcoming the initial hurdles at the village level and attaining a degree of unity among the farmers the ball was set into motion. A convenient site was identified to set up the lift irrigation pump house that could divert the water from the East Tungabhadra Drain of the right canal of the Krishna river. The total project cost was estimated to be Rs.1.3 million out of which Rs.800,000 was to be spent on installing the pump house with pump sets and motors, including the of electricity charges. Care was also taken to address the issue of future maintenance and payment of electricity bills. A provision of Rs.500,000 was included in the total cost to be invested as a fixeddeposi t with the bank; the interest earned on this would be used for meeting the recurring costs. Looking at the costs some of the farmers were sceptical about the entire project. However the progressive farmers argued with the others and convinced them about the merits of the scheme and they decided to count on the services of the voluntary organisation. Gramasiri was also enthusiastic about the project and decided to facilitate the process in overcoming the bottlenecks from the State administration and generating the resources needed. It approached the Irrigation Department. After considering the feasibility of the scheme it was recommended for clearance of the Chief Engineer, Hyderabad, who then recommended it for clearance by the Government. The State government based on the recommendations of its paraphernalia, issued the orders to lift the water from the East Tunga Bhadra drain. The A.P.State Electricity Board gave permission to draw electricity under the Rural Electrification Scheme.

Financial inputs The plans together with the technical details were ready and resource mobilisation was the next step. Gramasiri made a request to CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency), attached to the Canadian High Commission, New Delhi, which sanctioned Rs.300,000. The District Rural Development Agency sanctioned Rs.95,000. The balance of Rs.905,000 was to be borne by the beneficiaries. The per acre capital investment was Rs.900, meaning that approximately 1,000 acres were to be irrigated, which the farmers were not in a position to afford. The State Bank of India was approached to extend a loan facility to the farmers. Since there was commitment from the farmers for repaying the loans and the scheme was very attractive, the bank considered the proposal and released a loan of Rs.800,000 out which Rs.500,000 was kept with the bank as a fixed deposit to meet the recurring costs. The beneficiaries contributed Rs. 105,000 which was divided proportionately 188 Chapter 8 on the basis of land holding. The project was ready for implementation and completed without any further hurdles. The villagers took an active part by way of contributing voluntary labour. The scheme was inaugurated in 1985 by the then Governor of Maharashtra who hails from Bapatla. The researcher took part in the ceremony and translated the speech of the Canadian High Commission representative who was present on the occasion. See boxes 8.1. and 8.2 for the financial outlay and the benefits accrued under the scheme.

In July 1998 the researcher visited the project to interview the fanners and the project leaders to assess the future history of the scheme. It was stated by the farmers and the chief functionary of Gramasiri that since 1995, the lift irrigation scheme could not continue to provide the benefits. Some of the factors that contributed for the failure of the scheme after a decade of benefits that were enjoyed by the farmers were the breaches to the East Tunga Bhadra drain, which is outside the control of the farmers and which prevents sufficient inflow of water to the pump houses, the irregular supply of electricity, and the water distribution system adopted. In addition to the above factors, the leadership of the society after 10 years was taken over by a new President, since the earlier one became aged. According to Narasimha Murthy this could be one of the major contributing factors. The village society approached Gramasiri to take up the cause again and suggested that one solution may be to install generators to overcome the problems of electricity cuts. The negotiations are still going on between the villagers and the organisation. The organisation made effort to seek grants from CIDA, who were not very enthusiastic about further investment in the same project. Gramasiri is now making efforts to motivate the farmers to take up a revival of the scheme.

Lessons from Buddham Interpreting this case, it may be noted that nothing prevented the farmers from contributing or learning from the initial experience to generate resources to revive the scheme. Instead they prefer to depend on the State administration and the support of external organisations to solve their problems. This is evident from the fact that the farmers chose to approach the organisation for financial support, whereas they have enough capital with the bank through which a loan can be drawn and generators installed. The loan then, could have been paid back by the farmers, as they did in the initial stages of the scheme. This experiment has indicated how Case studies of tank restoration interventions 189

Box 8.1. Buddham Lift IrrigationProject : Salient economic features 1. Names of the Organisation Gramasiri and Goutham Gramabhivrudhi Seva Sangham 2. Name of the Project BUDDHAM LIFT IRRIGATION SCHEME 3. Sources of water supply East Tungabhadra Drain 4. Total Outlay of the scheme Rs. 1.3 million 5. Capital Costs Rs. 800,000. 6. Recurring costs Rs.500,000 deposited with the bank and the interest earned will be utilised for covering recurring costs. 7. Financial partners Rs. 105,000 contributed by the people Rs. 800,000 State Bank of India, Khazipalem brach in the form of capital loans • Rs. 300,000 grant received from CIDA, New Delhi • Rs 95,000 came as subsidy from the State Government. 8. Electricity The required transformer and equipment were supplied by the Government at free of cost under Rural Electrification Scheme. 9. Electricity charges Rs. 50 per year per horse power (HP) lO.Motor's and Pumps 25 HP - 2 motors and pumps 20 HP - 2 motors and pumps, (one motor and a pump to function as a stand by) 11. Government permission Irrigation (IRR.II) Department G.O. Ms No. 52 dated 14.2.1985 12. Participation of the Beneficiaries During the implementation of the scheme, the farmers contributed voluntary labour 13. Time duration of the project • Construction of well and barrel channel for 6 months • Construction of pump house- 3 months • Erection of motors, pump sets and electricity connection - one month. The scheme was completed eight months ahead of its estimated time for completion which was possible due to active participation of the 14.Irrigation potential created farmers A total of 1,050 acres were brought under irrigation with an anticipated 70 acres 15. No. of beneficiaries additional to be covered in subsequent years. 16. Land holdings 463 farmers and 1,404 labourers Above 10 acres-10%; 5 -10 acres-15%; 2 - 5 acres-25%; and г - 2 acres-50%. 190 Chapter 8 Box 8.2. Comparison of benefits before and after

Before After Insufficient water Sufficient water throughout the year Depend on the irrigation department to Water is available round the clock release the water Two crops raised with insufficient water Three crops with sufficient water Paddy 10 bags @ Rs 300. per bag and Paddy 32 bags @ Rs.300 per bag; millet 6 millet one quintal @ Rs. 400. per quintal quintals @ Rs. 400 per quintal; and fodder or ground nut valued at Rs. 1,800 Seedlings procured at Rs.600. per bag and Seedlings are raised locally with little Rs.200. for transport investment Increased weed growth and money spent to Weeds under control and requires little remove the weeds is Rs.800 expenditure for labour Use of four bags of fertilisers per acre Decrease in the chemical fertilisers consumption by 50% per acre Marginal livestock ownership Due to availability of fodder, livestock population increased Land valued at Rs.20,000/ per acre Land valued at Rs. 80,000 per acre Village divided with political rifts Political rifts got diluted Increased water conflicts and tension No conflicts and tension Loss of soil fertility due to excessive use of Improvement in the quality of soil due to chemical fertilizers farmyard manure application Excessive use of pesticides Minimal use of pesticides Less use of farmyard manure Increased use of farmyard manure Limited milk production due to fodder Additional milk production to meet shortage domestic and market needs Unemployment resulting in migration of Employment opportunities created agricultural labourers to other areas throughout the year much is possible with good leadership that may organise the people and put pressure on outside agencies. Now that the leadership has declined, however, it appears that the problem exists as before, despite the fact that they have the capital asset with the society. The dependency attitude of the farmers on the State to take the responsibility is ringing bells again. It can be noted that the NGO played the Case studies of tank restoration interventions 191 role of facilitating the problem-solving process and contributed in mobilising nearly 25 % of the total scheme outlay. Again it is a clear indication of a combination of approaches adopted by the project to wield the benefits.

8.3.3 Partnership for Progress (Villages In Partnership)

Historical evidence suggests that any development effort in order to be effective and sustained should take the following values into account: self-respect of the people, responsibility, sustainability of the process and improvement in the quality in all spheres of life. Addressing some of these concerns Villages In Partnership (VIP), a voluntary organisation based in Mahaboobnagar district of Andhra Pradesh state, ventured into experimenting the partnership concept.

Ideology of VIP VIP believes that development is a process whereby people transform old ideas and behaviours to include genuine concern for fellow community members, and for the betterment of the community as a whole, based on the values of self-respect, trust and a sense of belonging to a community.

Started in 1986, the organisation is operating in Mahaboobnagar district. The major shift VIP made was that instead of the organisation adopting villages, it encouraged the villages to adopt it as a partner in the process of village development. Thus the initial dialogue with the villages in six mandais gave the opportunity to thirty villages to adopt VIP. The villagers collect membership fees and pay to VIP so that VIP can participate in the village development activities. VIP assists the villages to identify and understand their problems, formulate programmes, raise resources and implement the programmes by becoming partners. The mandais which adopted VIP are located in a semi-arid area and economically backward. Their needs, resources and constraints are of a similar nature.

The activities The range of activities undertaken by VIP mainly depend on the needs of the people, their ability to formulate programmes, capacity to raise at least 50% of the projected expenditure either in the form of labour or cash, and finally compatibility of the programmes with the overall projected village development objectives. VIP on its part participates by contributing the required remaining resources. VIP also provides the necessary opportunities for training the development workers so that the village can ultimately take the entire responsibility, which is the main aim of the organisation. 192 Chapter 8 Since its inception VIP facilitated the programmes that centred around protecting drinking water, installation of irrigation systems, equipping the agricultural service centres with tools and machinery, and creation of community facilities which include school buildings, roads, street lights etc. The choice of the programme is determined by the community and is often the result of a long negotiation among the villagers. This process contributed in changing the attitude of the villagers from merely being the recipients of dole-outs to being actively involved in the development process by articulating their needs and aspirations and then working towards their realisation.

How is this process of partnership realised? According to the Executive Director, Dr.Swamy, it is based on two fundamental principles of consultation and partnership. "Consultation is the process of communication between the development worker and the people. The purpose of consultation is to initiate a process of social communication, which brings collective concerns on to one platform where these are openly debated. It thus provides the first nucleus around which community concerns eventually begin to crystallise. It helps build a community level identity by focussing on collective issues requiring to be addressed. The principle of partnership provides a reliable way to actually address these issues. This principle requires that any enterprise meant to address collective issues must permit the people to be a major partner".

Tank restoration processes adopted by VIP VIP responded to the requests of the farmers who wanted their tanks to be restored. Box 8.3 summarises the processes adopted by VIP in tank restoration activities.

During 1990-91 several discussions took place with farmers and members of the Village Development Committees of the member villages on the need for support to farmers for silt application to the farm lands. Applying silt to farm lands is an age-old practice that has become a problem in recent years with tractors replacing bullocks and bullock carts. Formerly a cart and bullocks were critical farming inputs. However the recent appearance of tractors and near disappearance of bullock carts has raised a number of problems. Very few farmers own tractors forcing others to hire them. This is a cash expenditure which the farmers did not incur earlier when they were using the bullock carts.

The above has resulted in two very distinct problems that affect water and soil conservation: a) the village tanks from where silt is removed for application in the fields have silted up affecting water storage as well as percolation. In some cases this has also affected the ayacut (command area) under the tank, and b) the farm lands that have suffered heavy soil erosion resulting in severe neglect and low Case studies of tank restoration interventions 193 productivity.

The initial consultations on the issue led to identifying the problem of transportation of silt from the tank bed to fieldsa s the critical problem. VIP also viewed this opportunity to ensure maximum input from farmers resulting in an agreement where VIP would provide the tractor on hire on a monthly basis (it is cheaper to engage a tractor on a monthly basis). The farmers agreed to provide their own labour, the cost of the diesel and the operators allowance. In addition to this the Mandai Society to which annual community membership is paid required the farmers to pay nominal administrative and supervision charges. Each farmer would be entitled to use two tractors for one or two days (depending on the demand in the village). The contribution of the farmer has to be first deposited in the account of the village and a formal application has to be made to the VDC which makes a formal request to VIP through the Mandai Grameena Bhagaswamya Samstha (MGBS). The VDC is required to organise tractors and make a formal agreement with the owner of the tractor.

The Village Development Manager (VDM), an employee of the VDC supervises and monitors the programme. A list of all applicant farmers and those who have deposited the money is displayed and announced in the village indicating the dates allotted to each farmer. The VDM records the activity and submits a weekly report at the team meeting. Each farmer gives a certificate stating the usage of the tractor and the quantity of silt transported and applied to his fields. At the end of the programme the VDM makes a consolidated statement and submits it to the MGBS who in turn submit a report and receive a cheque in the name of the VDC for the hire of the tractor. The hire of the tractor was Rs.7,500 in the beginning and is presently around Rs.13,000. However in 1998 VIP provided a maximum of Rs. 10,000 per tractor only and the balance had to be contributed by the farmers or met by the VDC from its funds. This was necessary owing to the increase in requests for support and assistance.

From 1992 this opportunity was made available each year to the VDCs and the number of farmers and villages utilising the opportunity has been growing. Efforts are underway to provide this opportunity in the watershed programme of the government. Once the farmers rediscover the benefits of silt removal and application it is possible that the facility of the tractor hire may not be necessary. 194 Chapter 8

Box 8.3. Guidelines for silt removal from tanks A farmer should pay the annual membership fee of Rs. 1 per head to the Village Development Council (VDC) A farmer should apply to the VDC for how many tractor days he requires (maximum 2 tractor days) Agricultural Development & Training Committee (ADTC) fund of Rs. 10 to be deposited by each farmer in ADTC account first Cost of labour charges should be paid by the farmers only Diesel and driver allowance charges of Rs.250 per tractor day must be deposited by the farmer Excess amount of tractor hiring charges must be collected from the farmer Declaration by farmer as per the format to be submitted to VIP through Mandai Coordinators Two per cent of the administrative charges as the total cost must be paid by the farmer Weekly progress report should be submitted by VDC in weekly team meetings without fail Villages (VDC) must display the names of farmers and dates of utilisation in prominent places in the village VDC should ensure to prepare and submit a plan to VIP, after receiving the applications from the farmers Agreement from the tractor owners must be taken by the VDCs for approval of VIP Agreement between the VDC and VIP should be done before commencing the programme VDC should organise the purchase of diesel required for the programme A record must be maintained by the VDCs regarding progress of the silt programme Final report must be submitted to VIP by all VDCs before releasing the tractor hiring charges from VIP Manila Grammeena Bank Samithi (MGBS) to be responsible for ensuring no misuse or abuse of opportunity together with VDC and Village Development Manager (VDM)

Lessons from VIP VIP experience provides evidence that tank restoration can be taken up based on the partnership concept. It was possible for VIP because of the open funding arrangement they have with their partners which gives the leeway to the community to discuss and take up the programmes based on their needs. This implies that the comprehensive restoration, as discussed in Chapter 5, is dependent on the level of awareness and knowledge that the villagers have. While the process was initiated through dialogue and consultations with the community, the participation of VIP is determined by the choice of programmes expressed by the community. VIP provides matching financialresource s provided the community takes the initiative from within and shoulders the responsibility. Case studies of tank restoration interventions 195 As can be seen from the box, VIP creates institutions at the village and mandai level which may be working in parallel to existing institutions in the village. In spite of the success of VIP, SHIP works differently in this respect, for reasons discussed in section 8.2 and section 8.4. These arguments especially pertain to the longer-term risk of tank maintenance not becoming deeply enough embedded in the village structure, and the broader need to strengthen integral village institutions instead of creating independent sectoral institutions for each and every collective asset of the village.

8.3.4 Tank restoration, Chittoor Consortium

Chittoor is one of the four districts of Rayalaseema region in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The western part of the district is an upland area with a number of tanks some of which are as old as two hundred years. Like in any other district there are many voluntary organisations operating addressing a variety of issues. Gandhi Peace Centre (GPC), Hyderabad, facilitated the development work in this district through local voluntary organisations. The presence of a number of partners of GPC resulted in forming an informal consortium which aimed at addressing the crux of the issues of the district on a collective basis.

The researcher was actively involved with the consortium activities between 1985- 1995 in his capacity as the then coordinator of GPC and Executive Secretary of the Academy of Gandhian Studies (AGS), Hyderabad. During the process of consultations with the partner organisations the need for taking up tank restoration on a collective basis was felt. Subbarao, consultant of GPC, provided the guidance to the partner organisations in drafting the proposals. I was advised by Radhakrishna, Chairman of GPC, to explore support for the tank restoration project in Chittoor during my visit to Europe in 1993. We already had collaborative efforts with some of the European funding agencies for many activities. I negotiated with CEBEMO, Leiden, for support and the coordinator for European projects was very enthusiastic. In six weeks time, to my surprise, we had the agreements signed and the project took off.

Project outlay and management The project envisaged was Rs. 12.5 million, with CEBEMO/European Commission contributing Rs. 10 million and the rest coming from the local contributions by way of voluntary labour, state government contribution etc. There were 11 partner organisations who are part of the Chittoor Consortium. A task force was created with Subbarao as the convener. The project covered 17 irrigation tanks in 17 villages. 196 Chapter 8

The objectives of the project were to support and strengthen local communities to restore traditional tank irrigation systems and to revitalise institutions for their management. This should introduce vibrancy into the stagnating rural agrarian economy and thus contribute to sustainable development with sustainable resource use and concern for the disadvantaged.

The projects were set into motion and the task force engrossed itself with getting the objectives into operation. The systems and administrative mechanisms were so tuned that the process of implementation was facilitated with no hurdles from the legal project holder (AGS). In mid-February 1995, the desk officer of CEBEMO visited the project to assess its impact. Five projects were visited where the team had adequate opportunities for discussions with farmers, community members, project leaders and officials. Some of the observations made by the representative of CEBEMO are as follows: • The project was quite successful in the technical and 'social engineering' sense: low-cost well-designed structures, good participation of the farmers, visible benefits etc. • The project should broaden its technical scope to include also the watershed and agricultural aspects of tank system restoration, and pay more attention to equity issues • The project approach as a whole should see the tanks more as a means for a total development process than as an end in itself. To quote the conclusion of the report: "In order to explicate the larger concerns of the project, the very concept of the project must shift from its present emphasis on structures and construction to people and sustainability. It may be more appropriate to re-envisage the project as a creative dialectic between technology and people, development and sustainability: as sustainable use of community resources for sustainable community development - the tank as nucleus for community development."

After this the management at AGS changed and with it its focus on the tank restoration project. The management felt that the project was not implemented properly and technical expertise was missing in it. Sidelining the existing task force, the new management sent a technical team to review the tank restoration project implementation. A report was presented by the new team to the AGS board and nothing was proposed significantly different from the existing situation. This notion was contrary to what had been observed by the CEBEMO representative. The new management abolished the task force and I was compelled to leave the organisation because of ideological differences. Thus the project could not be completed due to external influences on the resource management and functioning of the task force. Case studies of tank restoration interventions 197 Lessons from the Consortium approach The Chittoor experience showed that depending on external agencies involves a great risk of the project not being completed. This aspect can be overcome by empowering the villagers to maintain the effort and tank restoration process, independent of outside agencies involvement. Chittoor is a classic example of external agencies identifying the problem and suggesting the solutions to resolve them at the community level.

8.4 Society for Human Integrity and Prosperity (SHIP)

I started my working life as a volunteer with the Village Reconstruction Organisation (VRO) in Guntur in 1973 which exposed me to the hard realities in the rural areas. This was an initial experience during my teenage life that shaped my future. I was mentally preparing myself to indulge in social work. I had a few role models like Swamy Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi who made an indelible impact on my personality. I realised, of course, if I were to be effective, I must equip myself with needed skills, knowledge and experience. Hence, since 1973, I took up every opportunity that came my way to engage in short term assignments with various voluntary organisations to enrich my understanding of the rural realities, gain experience of managing the projects/programmes as field worker, trainer, organiser and mobiliser of resources and most important of all be a learner. This gave me the confidence to start SHIP in 1986.

Compromising between my personal wish to go to relatively backward areas and my family obligations, it was decided to establish the organisation in Nuzvid, which is a rural area but relatively close to major cities such as Vijayawada. Having decided on the area, I set about working on the other details of starting the organisation. The choice of the name was influenced by the fact that I was keen to have a name that can reflect my bias towards humanity and it should be convenient for people to register it in their minds. I thought SHIP would be the ideal name. 'S' stands for Society, 'H' for Humanity, 'P' for Prosperity and I got struck with the letter I. I referred to the dictionary and spoke to a few people to get some ideas and finally I discovered that the letter 'I' could stand for Integrity. Integrity denotes the cultural and social aspects, while prosperity is for economic aspects. Hence, the 'Society for Human Integrity and Prosperity'. We registered the organisation on 21st July 1986. We decided not to charge any membership fees but rather would welcome people who would understand and sign the commitment of SHIP. 198 Chapter 8

8.4.1 The ideological premises of SHIP

The following statement of commitment outlines the core ideology of SHIP around which the activities, strategies and interventions are centred:

SHIP believes: • in human dignity, integrity and worth of the individual • that the world is one family • in universal brotherhood, love and peaceful co-existence, and R · in protecting the interests of living species and creatures of the world.

We shall earnestly and wholeheartedly channel our efforts in creating a conducive atmosphere for bringing about a humane social order for all the living species of the world and shall strive hard to remove the stumbling-blocks and bottlenecks that binder our progress towards our proclaimed goal.

In line with the above commitment the objectives of SHIP are, inter alia, • to undertake social reconstruction programmes to improve the conditions of our fellow human beings; • to undertake programmes that can help promote the ecological balance; • to venture into action-oriented research activities and conduct experiments on innovative strategies, methodologies and techniques to combat the maladies of the present society; • to undertake activities related to transfer/promotion of appropriate rural technology.

8.4.2 The initial activities

In 1987 SHIP was able to generate resources from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, and a few local organisations for its awareness campaign and a training programme for youth. While launching an environmental awareness programme in 1987 we organised a series of village meetings, and we were confronted with a number of questions by the farmers which made us to rethink our priorities. Chapter 1 outlined these questions. SHIP believed that the present rural situation is corrupted with eroding values and a strong dependency syndrome on the State and its subsidies is visible in all walks of life. SHIP managed to be watchful from its inception onwards in terms of the ideological elements stated in its mission, such as the way of treating village as a whole. As to the partnership strategy, however, we learned only by experience. Case studies of tank restoration interventions 199 It is during this time that SHIP had the technical services of AFPRO (Action for Food Production), a Delhi-based organisation with a branch at Hyderabad, which visited the Nuzvid area and helped us to initiate the first tank restoration programme. The proposal received the financial support from CAPART (Council for Advancement of Peoples Action in Rural Technology), New Delhi, and SHIP undertook its first desilting experiment in Ramannagudem village. After this initial experiment we submitted another proposal for restoring three more tanks to CAPART for support which were approved. These interventions of tank restoration are presented later in the present chapter.

Apart from these tank activities we were not really addressing the main challenges or issues of the area, rather were involved in doing goody-goody work. We started a nursery with 30,000 saplings and distributed them in the schools and villages. We contributed to the construction of a health centre at Gollapalli. Colleagues in SHIP attended various training programmes organised by different organisations in the country. In 1991 the area was badly hit with a cyclone and SHIP ventured into relief work in the worst hit area distributing utensils and clothes to the victims. Then came the Latur earthquake in 1993. We collected donations from the public in Nuzvid and sent them to GPC which was coordinating the relief activities. SHIP was part of a number of environmental campaigns that were undertaken by the Academy of Gandhian Studies. During this time it also created a data base on tanks in Nuzvid division.

As we moved ahead with the above activities I was feeling the strong urge for an intensive dialogue with the farmers so that we could tune ourselves to address the key issues in the area. In 1992 Dr .Walter Jahn from GTZ, Germany, visited SHIP and participated in its activities. Through his assistance GATE-GTZ ( German Appropriate Technology Exchange of the German Technology Mission) agreed to finance of DM 29,600 for two years. This was a big break through in SHIP'S existence. It gave us the opportunity to organise nearly 300 village meetings in Nuzvid and Agiripalli Mandais and enrich ourselves with deeper understanding of the problems of the area with special reference to tank irrigation systems. All the village level, staff and team meetings organised during this period were recorded. The motivators2 maintained a diary and presented monthly reports. Weekly team

2 A word about the motivators. As a matter of policy, we encouraged enthusiastic youngsters from the villages to have the first opportunity of being a motivator. Personally, I believe that motivators need to be trained through a process of experiential learning and reflection. The educational qualifications were of least priority, let alone past experience. Therefore, any youngster with a desire to learn, communication abilities, openness, ability to read and write in the local language was given the encouragement to be part of this process. I enjoyed spending 200 Chapter 8 meetings and monthly staff meetings were held to review the experiences and look into the future.

It was around this time that a local bank approached the organisation with a proposal. The proposal was that as part of the government effort to mitigate poverty of the poor it was encouraging unemployed youth to venture into small enterprises with the bank financing them on soft terms. The bank wanted an intermediary to channel these schemes. There was no limit as to the number of schemes to be taken up. The money will be routed through the organisation and the organisation will charge the beneficiary with 12.5 % interest. The gestation period is one to two years depending on the nature of the capital investment. The organisation then repays the amount to the bank with 10 % interest and retains the 2.5 % for its administrative expenses. When implemented on a large scale, it is a huge amount and can meet the minimum needs of the organisation. But I felt that there is something not favourable to SHIP in the whole proposal. First, it is not our intention to be bankers to advance loans and recover them charging interest. Second, we felt that it is beyond our capacity to be accountants to a third party. Third, we will create unnecessary expectations among the people about the organisation and walk into an arena that will be difficult to escape from.

SHIP also had a very encouraging response from CARITAS, Switzerland, which was interested to support the tank restoration programme. This was in 1994 and I was motivated to present a proposal. The support requested was for the purchase of tractors, a revolving fund for tank restoration, facilities for a data base on tanks, support for creating educational materials and organising training programmes. It was in the order of Rs.10 million for five years but this should help us to become self-sufficient and generate resources locally for our future activities. We had a positive response from the funding partner and they requested their counterpart in India to offer their comments. We were promised a visit by their counterpart and a field appraisal which never took place. After a while I realised that the papers long hours with them in sharing what I had learnt and in enabling them to enrich their abilities. Within a few months we created a strong cultural team within the organisation. Each motivator is responsible for five villages which he visits once a week and interacts with the villagers. One day he participates in the team meeting held at different venues. Whenever a village meeting is organised all the motivators participate. The meeting usually begins with songs on environmental issues, tanks, village unity and patriotism. One of the motivators will then talk about the organisation and the concern it has towards finding solutions together with the people for the problems confronted by them. The villagers then enter into conversation and an exchange of ideas takes place. The meeting ends with a date for the next meeting and an agenda to be taken up which allows them to contemplate the issues raised. The process continued for two years. Case studies of tank restoration interventions 201 were not moving from Delhi. Our efforts to encourage their field officer to visit the project continued to be in vain. In the meantime the funding partner visited India and we had an exchange of ideas. During the course of our meeting I felt strongly that the CARITAS India unit was playing very low on our proposal because we were not doing Christian missionary work nor do we represent any other denomination of institutional faith. This led me to communicate to CARITAS that they need not compromise their principles and we will be fine without their financialsupport .

The experiences with the bank and CARITAS are examples of a dilemma faced by many small NGOs. In order to grow funds are needed but funds will only come if the NGO allows itself to become co-opted by the funding agencies. In the case of SHIP this would have meant becoming part of the capitalistic way of development promotion, or becoming a channel for missionary work. Another example of this dilemma is described by Put (1998) concerning AWARE, an NGO which started very small but grew over the years in leaps and bounds in terms of its size and activities. It showed that as the NGO becomes bigger the greatest danger is that it moves away from its original ideology and in the process gets diluted with the mainstream of the corporate development sector.

Basically only two ways exist to prevent such development from taking place: • to define a strategy through which work can be done with only very little external funding, • and/or to be lucky to find donors that are willing to follow the NGOs in stead of demanding, however implicitly, that the NGO follow the donor. This, together with SHIP'S ideological principles, lead to the formulation of the partnership approach.

8.4.3 The Partnership Approach

The partnership principles adopted by SHIP are as follows:

> The village is viewed as one community which transcends the man-made barriers. Since tank restoration benefits all the members of the community, it is important for the organisation to state explicitly the need to approach the entire community rather than to confine its work to target groups or beneficiaries, which has the tendency to exclude a particular section of the village. Our purpose of intervention is to unite the community. We do recognise the theories of sociologists that villages are divided vertically and horizontally and each square in a village matrix is different from the others. Chapter 8

The castes, the sexes, the old and the young, the traders and farmers, the leaders and followers, the landowner and tenants, the command area and non-command area farmers, the central and the peripherical, the CPI and BJP voters for instance - they all have different interests, different visions and different entitlements indeed, but would that mean that appropriate interventions should focus on one or more of these specific "target groups"? Village councils and village values are there to bridge the rifts and enable collective action. Interventions bypassing these village institutions will only help to undermine this capacity. With this in mind SHIP rejects the ideas, expounded for instance in the entitlements approach of Melissa et. al (1997), that conflicting interests should be defined, studied and brought in the open, and that subsequently, interventions should make a choice for only a segment of the interest groups. People can manage their own resources given an opportunity. This assumption takes into account only the resources at the community level. If the authority to control the resources such as land, water and forests is vested with the community, the chances of deriving optimum benefits is high. In a small close knit village social control to check the imbalances is an important factor that counter balances corruption, bribery and favouritism in managing the natural resources. As long as the tanks were under the control of the community in history kudimaramath was practised and tanks were maintained. The moment the authority to control these structures was shifted from the community the practise of kudimaramath came to an end. In defining and treating villages as one SHIP ignores different segments (castes, factions etc.) in the village. This does not preclude, of course, that SHIP does recognise various 'horizontal' social system levels, e.g. the individual farmer and the Panchayat council, as in Chapter 5. 'People managing their own resources' then means that a good connection and balance between these levels is established without creating new (sectoral) organisations. Farmers are equipped with sufficient technical know-how and knowledge. Agricultural knowledge was transmitted to the next generation through practice until modern science claimed propriety over it through institutions of learning. The positive elements of science are obvious, yet the over- enthusiasm of the modern agricultural scientists and experts tends to undermine the wisdom and experience of the farmers. In an agrarian society like India a number of practices such as seed reproduction, fertiliser use, crop timings, and such farming practices were developed based on experience and wisdom. The experience and wisdom took into account the various factors such as climate, rainfall, topography, soil type etc. In the modern agricultural society theories are developed at research institutions Case studies of tank restoration interventions 203 which sometimes are far from the reality. To restore the tanks, it is important that trust is reposed in the farmers who, in our opinion, are good judges of their conditions. *• A massive movement of the farmers is needed in restoring all the tanks. The number of tanks in Krishna is estimated to be 1,200 and in Andhra Pradesh is approximately 72,000. If we are to derive full benefits from the presence of these structures on all accounts a massive effort is called for. If all the farmers can commit themselves to address this issue and well supported by congruent policies from the state, it may be that in a decade's time all the tanks can render full benefits. This is only possible when a farmers' movement is in the offing. The partnership approach attempts to create such an atmosphere. *• Farmers-oriented development policies will only come when there is pressure from them. In a democratic country it is assumed that policies are geared towards meeting the needs and aspirations of its people. How true is it? The reality contradicts what is supposed to be. In many cases the policies are debated in the corridors of the assembly where the interests of the people get little attention. For example, in dryland areas which have many tanks there is no point in having a policy to encourage drilling of boreholes nor to go for community irrigation wells. As in the case of Ramannagudem where the government assisted in drilling 70 boreholes with an accumulated investment of Rs.2.8 million. This money could have helped in undertaking the first step of restoration of six tanks and thus extend the benefits to the villagers of six tanks. Since there was no pressure from the farmers, it was assumed by the government that the farmers need boreholes. Therefore it is important to note that if pressure is applied on the government then the policies can be more in harmony with the needs and aspirations of the farmers.

8.4.4 Tank Restoration Process

SHIP regards tank restoration as part of an overall process of strengthening village- level collective action capacity. If a village is not able to support the tank restoration process as a whole, e.g. if not all farmers agree to contribute, then there will be no tank restoration facilitated by SHIP. With or without SHIP, the village should solve its basic collective action problem first.3

3Basically this is the same strategy as followed by the PEDI programm in Burkina Faso (Zanen) 204 Chapter 8 Thus SHIP approaches the villages as a whole resisting all attempts (e.g. by leaders or politicians) to focus on any sub sector. This then will strengthen the village's capacity to act as a whole. And if this capacity is not strong enough after a while, i.e. if the rifts continue to dominate over collective vision and rationality, SHIP will drop the tank restoration process and go into something that may be more effective for collective action capacity restoration, or move out altogether.

The following steps form part of the partnership approach; • Dialogue; • Education leading to awareness; • Identification of the problem and the resources available; • Planning restoration activities - catchment to command area and future; • Division of responsibilities; • Resource mobilisation; • Implementation of the physical activities; and • Follow-up.

Dialogue The first step in this approach is to enter into a dialogue with the farmers. It is important for the organisation and the farmers to know each other and understand their strengths and limitations. This can help in levelling the expectations and also pinpointing the role to be played by each other. Some guiding points for a dialogue with the farmers have been developed by SHIP and GPC. See Box 8.4 for points.

Education leading to awareness The advent of technology and the influence of modernization has created a feeling of dependency and a laissez-faire attitude among the villagers. Any new approach calls for intensive education and preparation. It is evident from experience (see Likert scale statement analysis in the previous Chapter) that the tanks do not belong to the villagers any longer. In this awareness building, emphasis will be laid on highlighting the role of tanks, their present status, need for desilting and renovating; also the need to revive the tradition of community participation and finally inculcating a feeling of belonging and community affinity.

Identification of the problem Once the ground work is done the focus will be on pinning down the problem and tracing the components of activities such as identification of the tank, identification of the command area farmers and the extent of land owned by them. The villagers sign an application form and the Panchayat is expected to pass a resolution endorsing the tank restoration activity. Any encroachment problem will be settled Case studies of tank restoration interventions 205 by the villagers among themselves. The stand taken by the organisation here is that the presence of SHIP in a village should facilitate in findingsolution s rather than create or aggravate problems already existing. In this step the resources available at the village level and the potential activities which can generate collective-level income locally are listed. Very broadly they reflect such possibilities as growing fruit bearing species on community land, tank bund area, bed area, setting up of village industries etc.

Planning activities from catchment to command area In this step detailed plans will be made which include the quantity of silt to be desilted, the choice of species for plantations, the strengthening of the bund, the creation of community assets, projections of employment to be generated, the cropping pattern, cleaning up of spillways and feeder channels, silt traps, bund plantation etc. All these components are worked out taking into account the catchment-to-command area which forms the tank system.

Division of responsibilities The stage is now set for sharing of responsibilities. The future maintenance if entrusted to a local sub-committee under the guidance of the Panchayat will yield positive results. This committee can help the Panchayat at the time of desilting and sharing the responsibility for future maintenance and a number of related activitiess such as costs and benefits, record maintenance etc. The role of the organisation is to facilitate the entire process and help in implementing the activities by the Panchayat through the committee.

Resource mobilisation The experience of SHIP, in partial restoration of tanks, indicates that to desilt one cubic metre will cost anywhere between Rs.18/- to Rs.20/-. The other expenses include plantations and follow-up. The experience of renovating four tanks shows that 20% can be mobilised from the farmers by way of paying for the silt they receive for their fields.4Th e remaining 80% of the expenditure can be mobilised either from the banks or linking up with various government sponsored programmes. One of the purposes of this study is to explore the bankability of tank restoration (see Chapter 10 for discussions on this aspect). The plantation programme can be done in collaboration with the forest department. The follow-up entirely rests with the farmers.

4 In the community-level CBA, see Chapter 5, this is an internal transfer, hence not counted. 206 Chapter 8 In all the three villages where tank renovation was taken up, the villagers appointed a person whose responsibility was to look after the tank. His maintenance was shared equally by all the farmers within the command area. During the study it was observed that even if the village does not control the tank, there exists a system of water management (see Chapter 2 for the role of the water manager). A person from the community is appointed to distribute the water from the time of transplantation to harvesting. This should be encouraged and well supported by the state.

There is a great possibility to generate income by selling the silt to a tile factory, or setting up a brick kiln or a pottery unit. The tank can provide revenue through fishing and through plantations in the tank bed area and on the bund.

Actual implementation In a process oriented community development approach, amongst the many tangible indicators are the physical aspects of the development initiatives. They are visible and measurable. The crucial factor in the renovation of tanks is the time schedule. The ideal time for taking up the desilting activity is between January and June. If a season is lost, one full year is lost. July to December is the most ideal time for taking up educational activities.

The other aspect in implementation is maintenance of records, such as attendance of the workers, diaries of supervisors, photographs, payments register, daily work register etc. SHIP as an organisation can be effective in facilitating the training of the workers from the village who may be called Tank Supervisors.

Follow-up It is believed that the desilting process is an ongoing activity and should be taken up once in 5 years. The maintenance of the bund and plantations will depend upon the monitoring system. The money generated through the tank and its related activities, if set aside by the Panchayat, will enable the second step of restoration to be taken up without any problems. It may be desirable to create in the process a tank restoration fund at the Panchayat level, so that dependency on the state or external sources can be nullified. The villagers should ensure that no further encroachments are made into the tank. Case studies of tank restoration interventions 207

Box. 8.4. Points for a dialogue with the farmers Tanks as a community asset Considering the present social condition, how do you propose to restore the tank? What is the best mechanism you can suggest? "Tank" is a holistic concept not a mere watershed. It includes catchment area management to down stream activities. 2. If people's participation is the overriding factor to be considered for tank restoration, how would you like to involve the entire village in such a project? Excessive de-watering through boreholes and haphazard cropping pattern have their own detrimental effect on the life of tanks. How can this problem be tackled in the interest of the tank? Do you support a legislation for regulation of de-watering of the ground water table? 4. The bund is very important for the tank; unless it is maintained properly the whole mechanism is likely to collapse. Previously the bund was strengthened and protected by rich vegetative cover. Under the present circumstances how do you react to the idea of a third party being apportioned the maintenance of the bund through development of fodder plots and tree crops? 5. As financial resources can be a critical factor, how do you propose to raise the funds necessary for a) tank restoration and b) tank maintenance? i) Should there be people's participation in the mobilization of funds? ii) How do you consider the proposal of a revolving fund at the mandai level? 6. How do you visualize the role of different levels, a) Government, b) People, c) NGOs and d) Panchayat Raj Institutions? 7. What are the communication channels to be opened for a comprehensive educational effort among the rural populace needed in this regard? a] What are the ways to involve youth and women in this project? 8. What are the long-term problems you imagine which can ruin the tank maintenance system you are proposing? 9. What are the safeguards you would like to be built into the system to protect it against short-term social and political changes?

8.5 SHIP's interventions on tank restoration in Nuzvid and Agiripalli Mandais

Since the first environmental awareness campaign was launched in 1987, SHIP has made it a point to raise the issue of tanks in all its village meetings. Up to 1995 it conducted about 600 village meetings in the two mandais and very intensively documented the minutes between 1993-1995. The village meetings result either because of the motivator's interventions or from the community and a date is set for when an agreed agenda will be discussed. On the set date, the motivator responsible for that village, together with his other colleagues, starts the process by singing songs related to environment, tanks, forests and community unity. SHIP together with a few other organisations supported the initiative of a few 208 Chapter 8 cultural groups which have produced these songs. The motivator makes the initial introduction and announces the agenda. The villagers present then are encouraged to share their views. The process of a village meeting is in most cases open ended enabling the villagers to ponder over the points discussed. Sometimes they decide on the date for the next meeting or suggest that they will work it out with the motivator. Usually the meetings are held after 18.00 hrs when the farmer have retired from the field and had their suppers. Often it is the youth who take the key responsibility in mobilising the farmers to participate in the meetings. There have been instances where the motivators had to wait for a couple of hours before the farmers could assemble. The dynamics among the farmers who participate are worth mentioning. While they see the need for restoring the tank, yet they are not prepared to take up the responsibility of its maintenance. This attitude can be best explained by the fact that they have tuned themselves to depend on external power and have always believed that the solutions to their problems are elsewhere. As we documented these meetings, we discovered it was not just the tanks issue that was taken up but other issues such as drinking water, roads, hospitals, loans, new schemes from the government, truth centre, forest encroachments etc. were deliberated. The motivators bring up these concerns in SHIP'S team and staff meetings held weekly and monthly respectively, and are motivated to read literature, discuss with concerned departments at the mandai level and reflect among themselves. This is a process of experiential learning and in a process- oriented approach the openness of the learner is an important key factor in becoming attuned to the emerging situations.

We will now look into SHIP'S interventions in the study villages. In some of the villages where the response from the farmers was encouraging more meetings were organised. The process of restoration is by now in different stages. Partial physical restoration was carried out as yet in only four villages. The villages are numbered in the same sequence as in Tables in Chapter 4, 6,7, and 9. At the end of each village story, a value on a five-point scale is given to the success/failure of SHIP's intervention and the intensity of motivation effort. The summary of these scores are presented in Table 8.1.

Before 1991 we had not fully developed the partnership approach expounded in the previous section. In the case studies of actions before that date, therefore, SHIP often ended up taking the responsibility of tank restoration instead of the farmers.

8.5.1 Devaragunta

In this village, between 1993-95, four meetings were organised where the issues related to tanks, street lights and the primary school formed part of the main Case studies of tank restoration interventions 209 agenda. There are two tanks (see map 6.lin Chapter 6) in this village and a small one attached to Kothula Kunta. Under the Pedda cheruvu (Big tank) there are a considerable number of farmers who show a lot of interest and maintain their tank from time to time. The repair works are undertaken with government assistance through contractors for this tank. On the other hand Kothula kunta, which has a number of small farmers, is completely neglected. From the discussions it was observed that while the farmers complain about the neglect of their tank, there is hardly any enthusiasm to come together to restore it. The motivator was keen to understand why farmers are not interested in restoring their tank? Apparently they believe that it costs a lot of money and they could not meet this initial huge expenditure. It appeared from the dialogue that they would expect SHIP to take up the responsibility and desili their tank. They would contribute labour, purchase the silt and take the responsibility for its future maintenance if SHIP would help them in the initial stages. SHIP on its part made it very clear that unless the farmers take the complete responsibility it will not facilitate the process of restoration. The danger in accepting the responsibility by the organisation is that it will be contributing to the attitude of dependency and the restoration will become the activity of SHIP. The organisation realises that it is not in a hurry to take up restoration activities by pooling resources from various national and international sources. If it truly proclaims itself to be process-oriented then it must not take the initiative of restoring the tank. So we informed the villagers: "let us do it together. We will join our hands and facilitate the process. Let us look into the extent of the problem, the resources available in the village in terms of labour, tractors etc., discuss how to get the remaining resources and who among you will take the responsibility of being a contact point for facilitating the process. However, your village should own the programme and take fully the onus of responsibility". The process is still going on. Progress is slow but there are positive indications from the youth who have begun to see the merits of the community owning the responsibility of tank restoration. I think we were fairly successful and on a Five- point scale, I would rate the success as 3. The effort of SHIP in this village was intense and all the meetings were focussed on motivating the fanners to take up the tank restoration process. Hence the score given is 4.

8.5.2 Enamadala

Between 1994-95, SHIP organised several meetings in this village in connection with the Joint Forest Management programme. There are seven tanks (see map 6.2 in Chapter 6) in this village. SHIP'S interventions were mainly focussed on forest encroachments. Appendix 1 explaines in detail the process gone through by SHIP in organising the Joint Forest Management programme. The village is politically highly sensitive and the rifts among the parties are very deep. As a 210 Chapter 8 matter of principle, SHIP decided not to indulge itself in party politics at any level. There was some enthusiasm among some villagers from this village about their tanks and we shared our approach with them. If they would come together and express the desire that the organisation should be part of the process, SHIP will certainly respond to the needs of the farmers. In terms of success and failure Enamadala cannot be said to be either because SHIP did not enter yet into a tank- oriented process. Hence the score of success/failure is 'not applicable' for this village and the same is shown in summary Table 8.3. Since the motivation effort for tank restoration has not taken place in this village, the score for the intensity of SHIP'S effort also stands as 'not applicable'.

8.5.3 Gogulampadu

There are three tanks in this village. SHIP did not organise any systematic effort to motivate the farmers. As part of the awareness campaign in 1987 meetings were organised and followed with irregular meetings in the subsequent years. One aspect of this village is that in the area of one tank, Ramulu, there are nearly 200 borewells and one of the former ministers hails from this village. Due to his intervention, the Ramulu tank was selected under the World Bank aided project for restoration. Under the project inside bund revetment work (stone packing inside the bund) was carried out and no other aspect of tank restoration was addressed. It was stated by the farmers that the government has spent nearly Rs. 1,000,000 for undertaking the repairs. The tank is filled with Ipomoea and the feeder channels are silted up. This is a classic example of lack of comprehensive understanding about the utility of tanks in nature on the part of the government and their eagerness to spend to accomplish their targets. Since a tank restoration process was not taken up in this village by SHIP it cannot be said either success or failure. Like Enamadala, this village is also treated as 'not applicable' in the summary Table 8.5. As in the case of the above village, the tank restoration process was not initiated, hence the score is 'not applicable'.

8.5.4 Gollapalli

The activities in this village were carried out between 1986-1991. There are four tanks and the present tank under reference is located on the side of the main road between Nuzvid and Hanuman Junction. This was one of the first few villages where SHIP received encouragement from the villagers to take up activities. After the first desilting work in Ramannagudem tank had been taken up, the President of Gollapalli approached SHIP to initiate a similar process in his village. We organised a series of meetings and explained the approach. There was a lot of enthusiasm from the farmers. In the initial stages SHIP took up the responsibility Case studies of tank restoration interventions 211 of raising the money on behalf of the farmers and implementing the project. B.V.Subbarao, consultant of GPC Hyderabad assisted in drafting the technical report. The farmers on their part signed an application with the organisation giving it a mandate to take up the work. The Panchayat adopted a formal resolution giving legal mandate for the organisation to raise resources and implement the tank restoration. The proposal was submitted to CAP ART, New Delhi, for financial assistance. The project was approved under RLEGP and an amount of Rs. 107,480 was sanctioned. The work started on 26.04.1990 and could only continue till the middle of May. The area was affected badly by the cyclone of May 1990 and we had to suspend the work until December 1990. The work continued from December until the manual work was over. The total earth desilted was 13,959 cu.mt. and 3,350 man-days of employment were generated. The investment on this tank from CAPART funds wasRs.107,480. The silt was purchased by the farmers to the value of Rs. 41,890 and this was reinvested in the tank for carrying out desilting work. Water could thenbe stored and the benefits accrued to the farmers. The President who was very active had to leave the village due to party politics. Subsequently, however, both the farmers and the organisation lost control of the situation and too many sporadic pot holes were dug in the tank, where water stagnates. Today the fate of the tank is left to the winds. Upon reflection, I realised that maybe we had been in a hurry to hasten the process and implement the project. SHIP took the responsibility to desilt it and relied too heavily on the President's leadership, though the farmers were involved at every stage of the tank desilting process. The initial enthusiasm of the farmers died down and the situation is back to square one. This experience convinced the organisation that it should not take responsibility on its shoulders and contribute strengthening further the attitude of dependency. While tangible results were achieved in this village in terms of silt removed from the tank and man-days of employment generated, the process did not last long enough to call it a great success. It gave new insights though that contributed in developing the partnership strategy. I think the success score of this village can be 3 (see Table 8.5). In terms of intensity of effort SHIP did not find much difficulty in motivating fanners for tank restoration, but has had to invest considerable effort in motivating them to take up maintenance of the tank. Overall the effort was medium. Hence the score given is 3.

8.5.5 Kanasanapalli

Here is one big tank Raavi Cheruvu, and three small Kuntas (see map 6.5 in Chapter 6). The first link with the village was established during the awareness campaign launched in 1987. The youth association took an active part in various activities organised by SHIP and its partner organisations in the state. The youth association invited the organisation to initiate the process of dialogue with the 212 Chapter 8 community. During the intense phase of village meetings with SHIP (1993-95) 18 meetings were organised which dwelt on issues related to tank restoration, plantations, Truth Centres (refer to Chapter 6), communication facilities, link roads etc. The villagers were very receptive during the dialogue and carried on the above mentioned activities on their own. SHIP only shared ideas and facilitated the process. For three consecutive years from 1993 to 1995, the village came together and desilted their tank. The total amount invested was Rs. 150,000. This money was collected from the farmers who were interested in purchasing the silt. The first year of desilting was unplanned with the result that pot holes were dug at different places. This was taken up as one item of the agenda during the village meetings and a suggestion was put forward to streamline the desilting activity so that greater benefits could be accrued. This was followed during the subsequent years. The forest department was approached by the youth of this village and collected 12,000 saplings which were planted in the catchment area; some of the fruit bearing species were planted in front of the houses. SHIP only gave a letter of introduction since it is a member of the District Forest Committee. The relationship between SHIP and this village confirmed the notion that SHIP will only play the role of facilitating. This process of facilitation enables the community to take the complete responsibility in their stride which is the key factor for any programme to sustain in the long run. If there are problems it is easy for the community to resolve them among themselves rather than to depend on external forces. After the Truth Centre was inaugurated, the district administration sanctioned Rs. 100,000 to restore the Raavi tank. The community discussed it among themselves and decided to invest the same on creating a link road to the next village, since they see it as important to link it with the other village and also the fact that they were able to take up the tank restoration in small steps. As discussed in Chapter 6, the social capital in this village is very high and it is able to take due advantage of this. The secretary of the youth association later joined the organisation as a motivator and worked for three years. His association with SHIP was partly responsible for new initiatives in the village. At present, he survives on his own little enterprises and continues to take a deep interest in village development activities. It is evident from the above description that the interventions of SHIP in this village are highly successful. Therefore the village scores 5 on the scale. Though a larger number of meetings were held in this village compared to many other villages, they focussed on a variety of subjects with tank restoration being only a minor and easy­ going one. Therefore, SHIP'S motivational effort was minimal and the score given isl. Case studies of tank restoration interventions 213 8.5.6 Morsapudi

SHIP'S interventions in this village were between 1993-95. There are two tanks in this village (see map 6.6 in Chapter 6). It is within the proximity of Gollapalli and the farmers witnessed the efforts of SHIP in restoring the tank at Gollapalli. They approached the organisation to initiate the process. The motivators presence in this village helped to increase the intensity of effort from SHIP. To begin with one of the serious problems confronted by the farmers was that the feeder channel was covered with bushes, trees and silted up. This reduces the flowo f water into the tank. In one of the meetings the villagers conceded to the suggestion of shramadaan (voluntary labour) to clear the feeder channel. On the day of the activity the motivators and I were present from 6.00 am since we planned to start the work at 6.30 am. It took almost three hours before we could get thirty farmers to come together. We insisted that even if we were a small number we must initiate the work and do as much as we can. We wanted to demonstrate to the community that it is possible to find solutions to such kind of problems at the village level without depending on external sources. Once the farmers started clearing the channel there was nothing to stop them. They cleared 800 metres of channel and could immediately see the difference in the flow of water. It was agreed that they would reassemble the following day to complete the remaining channel. We were happy that the message was put across strongly that one must work hard to solve problems. The next day we returned at an agreed time only to find that no farmer was available. We waited for more than two hours and only 10 farmers came forward. So with ten farmers we did about another 400 metres of channel clearance. It was disappointing but we decided not to show our feelings to the community. We gave a word of encouragement and we were promised that the following day they would finish the work. On the third day when we went to the village we discovered no farmer was available. We understood that they all were engrossed in discussions about the candidates to be nominated as the board of directors for the cooperative bank. The priority shifted and after waiting for more than four hours at the tank we gave up and returned to our homes. We reflected on the situation and strongly felt that our motivation education effort needs to be improved so that farmers can be enthused to participate meaningfully and effectively. We also felt that probably since we did not offer anything in return to them for their work their tacit expectations were not fulfilled. I believe that in a process-oriented approach, these things are bound to happen and we should be prepared for them rather than feel dejected. It was a very good learning experience at Morsapudi. At regular intervals the farmers come to the office of SHIP and request it to take the responsibility of restoring the tanks in their village. The process is still going on. I think that our efforts were not successful in this village except in the case of shramdaan, which required a lot of push from SHIP. 214 Chapter 8 Therefore this village has a score of 1 on the success/failure table of 8.5. I think we spent more time here than in almost all other villages motivating the farmers to participate in the shramdaan activity. Hence, the intensity of SHIP'S effort can be rated as 4.

8.5.7 Mukkollupadu

There are two tanks (see map 6.7 in Chapter 6) in this village which SHIP attempted to restore with CAP ART funds. The activities in this village were taken up prior to 1993. After our initial activities at Ramannagudem, the President of this village approached the organisation and invited us to take up the work. We were very enthusiastic about the invitation and initiated the process. We had a series of meetings with the villagers to discuss the logistics and division of responsibilities before we began the restoration work. At this juncture the former President of the village, who also happens to be a contractor, suggested that he could be given the sub-contract so that we need not worry about the implementation of the project. My colleagues in the organisation argued with me that it would be the best thing to do. Two factors prevented us from doing so, however. First, as part of the agreement signed between the organisation and CAP ART we were not supposed to engage any sub-contractors; second, my own conviction that if we implement the work, we will implement it directly. If we cannot implement the project the best thing for us to do is to return the money to CAP ART and thank them for their support. Under no circumstances would the organisation concede to the idea of entrusting the responsibility to a third party other than the villagers. Therefore we took up the responsibility of tank restoration. The work began and could only continue till the onset of the monsoon.

The work on the second tank was suspended because of early rains. Unlike at Gollapalli and Ramannagudem the approach adopted here was different. Participation of farmers in terms of supervising the work of tank desilting was much more than with the previous tanks, where SHIP personnel took up the entire responsibility of supervision. The total earth desilted in both the tanks was 23,565 cu.mt. as against a projected 30,000 cu.mt. and 3,095 man-days of employment was generated. The total investment on both the tanks was Rs.224,150. The contribution from the farmers was in the order of Rs.45,920. The farmers participation was such that they decided to invest the money on a bulldozer and clear the feeder channel. This is the main source of water for the tank. It was covered with bushes and ipomoea weed up to one metre height. We respected their decision and invested 69 machine hours to clear the channel. The results were visible during the next monsoon. One heavy rain and the tank was completely full. Subsequent years also witnessed the increased storage capacity of the tank. The Case studies of tank restoration interventions 215 excess water helped in filling the tank down stream. All through the process of restoration the farmers were present and took turns to supply water and refreshments to the workers. See Chapter 6 for a story on the discovery of idols from the tank. We could not complete the work on the second tank since the funds were not fully released to the organisation. When we contacted CAPART we were told that their representative would visit the project to conduct a mid-term evaluation and based on his report further funds would be released. We had the visit of the monitor who appreciated the work and gave a positive report recommending the further release of funds. This was in 1992. As of this date we are still waiting for the funds to be released so that we can complete the work and fulfill our commitment to the community. Once every year or two the organisation receives a telegram followed by a letter stating that SHIP will be blacklisted "if the reports are not sent to CAPART'. The first time we received such a letter we obliged by sending a copy of the monitor's report and statements. So far no response from CAPART. We went back to the farmers and reported the matter to them. We said that as and when we receive the money from New Delhi the village can be assured that the work will be completed as per its suggestions and requirements.

The restoration undertaken is only partial but it opened the doors for us to understand the dynamics involved in tank restoration. While being engaged in this village we attempted to document our experience and the lessons learnt. It is after this experience and upon reflection that we evolved the partnership approach for comprehensive tank restoration. The second important lesson which we leamt is to allow the people to resolve their differences. Before we started the process in this village we were discouraged by other villagers who stated that their village is known for its litigations and we should not expose ourselves to this. Since we were clear in our minds and strategies we went ahead with the process and we believe that it was a good move to make. The third lesson which is very important is that it is possible to generate resources locally from the tank once it is fully restored. The former President was very kind to share his ideas and suggestions despite the fact that we did not accept his suggestion to let his contracting firm do the work. He also made it very clear to us that since we are working for the community he would extend full cooperation at every stage of restoration process. Though the restoration was partial it gave room to identify all the components of restoration from catchment to command area which by now has become the major focus of the organisation.

One other important lesson learnt from these experiences was that if initial inputs are provided to supplement the efforts of the farmers then it is possible for comprehensive restoration process to take off. The water manager takes care of the 216 Chapter 8 water distribution. One area where the community could not keep up its commitment was the future tank maintenance. They committed themselves to clear the feeder channels from time to time and also to remove the silt deposited in the silt traps. Somehow this did not materialise in reality. The committee which was set up in the initial stages became dysfunctional and things are back to square one. However since a major portion of the work was completed during the first step of the restoration process, the farmers continue to enjoy the benefits even today since sufficient water flows into the tank. We realised that there is a great need to strengthen our motivation education and channel our energies in training the youth from the village who can continue the process. Reviewing the intervention this village is partially successful in terms of tangible achievements of tank restoration and partly failure because the process of sustaining the restoration could not take off. Therefore, in my opinion, this village deserves a score of 3. Motivating the farmers to take up the tank restoration was very easy in this village for two reasons: 1) the leadership of the then President played an important role, and 2) the need for restoring the tank was so intense that farmers came forward at once. Therefore on SHIP'S intensity of motivation effort, they score 1.

8.5.8 Polasanipalli

There are five tanks in this village (see map 6.8 in Chapter 6). The association with this village began with the landless labourers. When SHIP took up the desilting of Ramannagudem tank labourers from this village participated. They extended the invitation to the organisation to initiate a similar process in their village. Between 1993 and 1995 ten village meetings were organised and the major issues that caught attention were tanks, income generating activities, thrift programme and community amenities. The organisation presented its philosophy and approach, which underscored the fact that SHIP can only facilitate the process and the programmes have to be from the people. People are receptive to the extent that they expect help to come from outside. The President exhibited a lot of interest and assured the organisation that, if only it were to take up the tank restoration work in their village, he would ensure full cooperation from his village. During the middle of 1998, the President visited the office of SHIP, reassured his support and suggested that if the organisation can help them to get partial support they will be able to mobilise the rest. We explained to him the entire process and suggested that we discuss these concerns in the village meetings. This was also the time that the researcher was planning to be in Europe to complete his dissertation. The President was informed that as soon as the researcher returns, the work will be taken up. I feel that this is a village where the partnership approach can really be experimented in its totality. One of the key elements of success is to capitalise on the available opportunities and strengths of the community. Since the President is Case studies of tank restoration interventions 217 persistent for SHIP'S interventions in his village, the door is open for a promising restoration process. The village meetings contributed towards the initiative of the President. This is the weakest village in terms of real empirical evidence. Hence a only a weak "4" on the success/failure table 8.5. SHIP did not invest much of its effort to motivate the farmers in this village. It is now in the process of operational details and the concept of the partnership approach, together with undertaking tank restoration with bank finance. Therefore I would consider the SHIP effort relatively easy. Hence the score attributed is 2.

8.5.9 Rajavaram

This village, which is a hamlet of Boddhanapalli main village, has two tanks. The motivator in his interactions with the farmers felt strongly that the community is very receptive here. He organised 14 village meetings between 1993-1995. The two tanks are situated next to one another and if complete restoration is taken up, the entire community would benefit. In all the meetings, as recorded by the motivator, it appears there is a lot of enthusiasm to repair the tank. The village even went to an extent of forming a committee to shoulder the responsibility. However, as revealed by some of the farmers, there is still apprehension about the responsibilities that the committee should shoulder and what would happen if something untoward happens either with the funds received or with power being misused by committee members? The motivator stated that these are the aspects that should be discussed in the village meeting and arrive at some guiding principles. If something goes wrong, it is at the village level and the villagers have the full powers to impose sanctions on the committee. This is still being debated. The village had the approval from the Mandai office og an amount of Rs.40,000 to undertake repair works. The villagers felt that it is not sufficient to undertake the minimum works and hence requested the authorities to increase the amount; the negotiations are still going on. Considering the enthusiasm of the community we feel that this is another prospective village which can be encouraged so that the people are able to restore their tanks. I think their participation in the village meetings helped them to negotiate with the authorities to increase the funds for tank restoration. This I would see it as an indicator of success and therefore the village deserves a score of 4. As stated earlier, motivating the farmers was relatively smooth and all the other meetings held were to discuss the logistics of tank restoration and maintenance. Like Polasanipalli, this village can also be rated as 2 in terms of SHIP'S intensity of effort. 218 Chapter 8 8.5.10 Ramannagudem

The activities of SHIP in this village began in 1987 and the desilting of the Kuridi tank was taken up in 1988. There is one tank {'Kuridi') with a tank bed of 11.59 acres with 61 acres of command area. There are 70 borewells in the command area fields. The installation of borewells started in the 1970s and increased in the subsequent decades. Initially these were installed at a depth of 50 ft. but nowadays they need to be 350 ft. deep before water is found. The government provided subsidies and bank loans at nominal interest. It is estimated that the total investment on these borewells amounted to Rs.2.8 millions. According to the information provided by farmers desilting activity of the Kuridi tank was never taken up during the past five decades. The land under the tank bed areas was encroached on by farmers. The idea to desilt the Kuridi tank emanated from a series of meetings that were held with the farmers. The initial participation was hardly encouraging, however. Since this was the first activity proposed by the organisation many apprehensions and reservations were expressed. Nevertheless the formal cooperation from the Panchayat in terms of passing resolutions and authorizing the organisation to undertake desilting work was forthcoming. Action for Food Production (AFPRO), Hyderabad, visited the area and prepared the technical report. Proposals were submitted to theCouncil for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART).

The main components of the proposal include desilting of 12,500 cu.mt. of earth with an investment of Rs.78,057. It was estimated to generate 4,000 man-days of employment for 40 families. The formal inauguration took place on 08.03.1989 by Dr.M.R.Appa Rao, Former Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University, who provided much needed encouragement to the organizers. Initially we were worried as to where to carry this 12,500 cu.mt. of silt. We made frantic efforts to negotiate with brick manufacturers and tile manufacturers and see whether they were interested in using the silt for their activities. The response was not very encouraging. Sri.B.V.Subba Rao, Consultant to GPC, played an important role by providing technical guidance from time to time. He was instrumental in coming up with a few more desilting activities in the nearby villages. The desilting work commenced and attracted the attention of the farmers. Slowly participation increased and we received an offer from farmers to purchase the silt at an agreed price, decided by them. This was a big boon and we were able to generate Rs.21,000 from farmers.

While the desilting work was on a ten day National Service Scheme (N.S.S) camp from 12.04.1989 to 21.04.1989 under the auspices of Andhra University Post Graduate Extension Centre, Nuzvid, was organised. A two week orientation camp Case studies of tank restoration interventions 219 for development workers, representing small organisations from Chittoor, was also held. On the last day of the camp a public function was organised with the M.L.A. present. SHIP made a public statement about the entire process and the income and expenditure incurred in restoring the tank. This was something that neither the fanners nor the other members of the civil society expected from SHIP. This gesture of transparency from the organisation helped it to gain credibility among the villagers and in our subsequent meetings this is being referred during the discussions. Certainly this helped in breaking the initial bottle-necks with the villagers in the rest of our work in the area.

The manual work to be undertaken was over and semi-mechanised activity was needed (using the bull-dozer) to level the tank and provide finishing touches. Agros (a private corporation funded by the State government) was contacted for their bulldozer. It took more than a couple of months to get the bulldozer. The work began but the area was affected by the cyclone and the incessant rains filled the tank with water inundating the bulldozer. Work came to a standstill until the tank was empty. The work was finally completed early in 1990. The total earth desilted was 14,444.50 cu.mt. and 5,502 man-days of employment was generated. The total investment on this tank was Rs.128,925.

The initial response from the community was very passive and we felt that our intentions and credibility were being tested. It was the notion among some farmers that we might do some patch work near the bund and use the rest of the money for our other activities. But when they realised that SHIP was practising what it had promised, then they took the organisation seriously and began to extend their cooperation. When the ground became too hard for desilting they provided water from their boreholes to wet the ground during the night so that it could continue. Around the time of desilting, due to incessant rains, there was a big breach. The farmers suggested that the breach be filled with the help of the bulldozer which would help in retaining the water. SHIP obliged and the balance of money was spent on hiring the bulldozer to fill the breach. The Mandai Development Officer (M.D.O.) who visited the tank was very appreciative and suggested that his office can reimburse the money incurred on filling the breach. SHIP suggested that the money be given to the Panchayat so that it can take up other activities related to tank.

We were also confronted with the problems of encroachment. We raised this issue with the farmers and the encroachers. We were assured by both parties that it was not a serious problem. Once the tank is filled with the water the encroachers have no option than to evacuate the lands. The other problem confronted was the encroachment of the feeder channel which passes through the fields. The farmers 220 Chapter 8 agreed that they will provide a way for the channel and a small culvert needs to be built to control the flow of water into the tank. It was estimated that we needed about Rs. 10,000 and we had the assurance from the M.D.O. to take care of 60% and we needed the remaining money so that the work could be completed. The farmers suggested that SHIP should pay for the rest. We argued with them that unless the farmers contribute a portion of it, SHIP will not come forward. They all agreed to pay. Since then we have been pursuing the matter with them and for one reason or the other this does not seem to work. The presence of a motivator in the village for two years and a full time worker for another two years did not yield any positive results. Every time there is a village meeting the issue forms part of the agenda and a decision is taken by the committee to collect the money, but from then on nothing moves. The issue also figured in the staff meetings and team meetings of the motivators repeatedly and it was agreed among SHIP'S staff that we should stand by our commitment. Unless the farmers collect the initial contribution agreed by them from all the command area farmers we should not take any initiative. Here it is a matter of principle that is the guiding force. If we make a compromise, we fear that we are sending the wrong signals to the community and set up a precedent. But our efforts to motivate the farmers continue and we hope for the best. I think we failed in this village. All the efforts during the early stages of restoration and the presence of the motivator in the village for nearly 5 years could not motivate them to contribute enough to clear the feeder channel. In my opinion they deserve a score of 1. In my opinion, although, the tank was restored, SHIP went through a difficult phase of convincing the farmers to maintain and take up the responsibility of tank restoration in the initial stages. The effort was most intense of all the villages, with a motivator residing in the village to constantly encourage the farmers to come together. Therefore the effort is rated as 5.

8.5.11 Tadepally

In this village we organised a number of meetings since 1987 which contributed in motivating the farmers to respond to repair breaches in the tanks. In principle the farmers do see the need to restore the tank to its full size so that the community can derive optimum benefits. The only concern they have is how to raise the initial resources to take up the works. This apparently seems to be the case in all the villages in which SHIP initiated the dialogue. The tank is also encroached and the farmers sought the intervention of the Mandai Revenue Officer (M.R.O.) to intervene and solve the issue. Things moved too slowly and the encroachers, patronised by the politicians, enjoyed the benefits. The farmers have confided to the organisation that they would like to extend their cooperation if SHIP can initially help them to raise the resources and start the process of desilting work. I believe that this is another village which is very promising to experiment with the Case studies of tank restoration interventions 221 partnership approach. With intensive motivation education the possibilities of a bankable tank restoration project can be realised. There are four tanks in this village (see map 6.11 in Chapter 6). The fact that the villagers were able to negotiate with the government officials to solve some of the legal problems faced by the village because of the encroachers indicates that the motivation education effort of SHIP has influenced their thinking to some extent. In a process-oriented approach this is one of the indicators of success. Therefore, I think, the village deserves a score of 4. The initial response from the village was slow, hence we invested some time in motivating the farmers. Once the farmers understood what we were talking about, it was relatively easy to focus on the logistics of tank restoration. Hence I would rate the effort as medium and give a score of 3.

8.5.12 Vadlamanu

There are four tanks in this village (see map 6.12 in Chapter 6). One of the motivators was stationed in it and his presence made a big difference in bringing the people together. During the intense phase of village meetings organised by SHIP, ten such meetings were held. The issues taken up were tank restoration, weed removal from the tank, bankability of tank restoration, setting up brick kilns etc. I participated in some of the meetings organised in this village. In one such meeting the farmers identified a few responsible individuals who could take the initiative and function as a committee to oversee the tank restoration process. Further, they added, they are willing to contribute Rs.40,000 to the organisation and expect the organisation to restore the tank. I was taken aback for a moment. I asked them whether they would like the organisation to be present in the village. The answer was that they very much want the organisation to help them with the restoration process. I then asked them why they were giving us the money. Our intention is not to collect the money from the farmers and take the responsibility on our shoulders. If SHIP needed the money there are many other ways to get it, but certainly not from the farmers. A suggestion was made that they keep the money in their account with the local bank and work out other logistics. How much is needed? Who will prepare the plans? Who will supervise? What kind of mechanisms are needed for future tank maintenance and water management? What are the sanctions to be imposed if there is mismanagement either from the farmers or from the committee? Who shall keep the records of work and accounts? How to raise resources for future maintenance and repeat the next step of restoration after four years? This is something which the farmers hardly expected as a response from the organisation. Since it means a lot of work at the village level, we suggested that they contemplate the issue and keep the organisation informed of progress. 222 Chapter 8 While this debate was going on in the village, the villagers were motivated to take up shramdaan (voluntary labour) activity to clear the weed from the tank bed area. After a couple of meetings with the farmers it was decided on 24th February 1995 that the activity will be taken up. On that particular day about 60 fanners gathered and worked intensively for six hours to remove the weed. There was tremendous enthusiasm exhibited by the farmers. This gave confidence to SHIP that this village is very promising and with villagers' cooperation the process of tank restoration can be taken up. In my opinion the village deserves a score of 4. It was not difficult to motivate the farmers to take up tank restoration. However the number of meetings held were the indication of their response to discuss the details of tank restoration. The effort from SHIP is very easy compared to some other villages. Hence they are rated as 1 in terms of SHIP's effort.

8.5.13 Summary of the village scores on success/failure indicator

To conclude the interventions of SHIP in this section, Table 8.5.1 presents the scores of the respective villages on success/failure of SHIP'S interventions in relation to tank restoration process. The detailed analysis will be treated in Chapter 9. The success/failure scores are taken from the preceding descriptions. The success/failure score is a five-point scale ranging from 1 (complete failure) to 5 (complete success). Scores in bold are based on strong empirical evidence and figures in 'normal' are based on the expectations based on the ongoing process and similar actions. With regard to the intensity of SHIP'S effort, the scores are based on 'the greater the intensity the higher the score'. Therefore a score of 'Γ for a village indicates the effort has been less intensive. Case studies of tank restoration interventions 223 Table 8.3 Gist of Village-level scores on success/failure of SHIP's intervention

S.No Village Name Success/failure indicator Intensity of SHIP'S effort 1 Devaragunta 3 4 2 Enamadala not applicable not applicable 3 Gogulampadu not applicable not applicable 4 Gollapalli 3 3 5 Kanasanapalli 5 1 6 Morsapudi 1 4 7 Mukkollupadu 3 1 8 Polasanipalli 4 2 9 Rajavaram 3 2 10 Ramannagudem 1 5 11 Tadepally 4 3 12 Vadlamanu 4 1

8.6 Evaluation of the approach of SHIP by the communities and an outsider.

This section presents the views of the farmers from various villages as a response to the approach of SHIP.

8.6.1 Evaluation by the communities

During the initial stages of our interventions (1986-1988) we were not taken seriously and there existed a lot of mistrust about voluntary organisations among the villagers. The NGOs are seen as givers since they get funds from foreign countries. Contrary to this notion when SHIP emphasised on the need for collective responsibility and the need to pool the internal and external resources, villagers thought that it was a big joke. However, as we moved ahead with our village motivation education, things began to change and villagers began to appreciate the approach of the organisation. Some of the feelings expressed by the villagers during the village meetings are recorded here. • In Ramannagudem, the firsttan k experience of SHIP, farmers said that "we never took the organisation so seriously until we realised that it practised what it promised. We never expected the organisation to inform us on the 224 Chapter 8 amount received from various sources and how it was spent to the last rupee on our tank". In Mukkollupadu, the villagers said "if the contractors were to do the amount of work that SHIP did, it would have cost almost three times and we are not sure whether they would respect the views of the farmers while undertaking the works". Some farmers said that "we feel happy that we are treated as important partners and our ideas were incorporated by SHIP". In Gollapalli village since the tank was located adjacent to the main road, it became the talk of the area for a few months. Some of the farmers expressed their feeling of happiness and were pleased that at last there is one organisation which is deeply concerned with the issue of tanks. In Vadlamanu, when we had those long meetings discussing about the shramadaan activity and exploring the bankability of tank restoration, a few villagers remarked: "We never, so far in the past two or three decades, had someone discuss with us our problems and an organisation that is so deeply concerned with the core issues concerning village development. Most of our village meetings end with a feeling of what we are going to receive in monetary terms if we participate in it. With SHIP it is totally different and we are made to think about our common issues and not only that, we are encouraged to become responsible. We believe that we are treated as equal partners and our self-respect is upheld by the organisation. We are surprised that SHIP refused to take the money from the farmers to be spent for tank restoration. Under normal circumstances any other person would have said yes to the proposal of the farmers' contribution being given to them, but with SHIP this is totally different". In Hanumanthulagudem village when SHIP explained its approach towards tank restoration, farmers fell threatened that their tanks may become the property of agencies outside India. The villagers knew that the money for the motivation education effort of SHIP came from Germans. Hence, they were apprehensive to become partners with SHIP. In Kanasanapalli, after the creation of the Truth Centre, the villagers felt especially that it gave them recognition and with that the expectations about the village increased. It is a difficult process and it offers many opportunities for the community to work for its own development. There was some disappointment expressed in some sections of this village since SHIP wants the farmers to share and take complete responsibility of tank restoration. After the Truth Centre was established most villagers believe that "SHIP has facilitated sowing of seeds of values and today we can feel it everywhere in the village, especially when conflicts among the villagers are resolved among themselves peacefully and amicablywithout even approaching the Truth Centre". Case studies of tank restoration interventions 225

• In most other villages where SHIP organised meetings, initially the response was limited but as they began to appreciate the approach and the process they felt motivated at the individual level, which needs to be harnessed for the collective good of the community.

8.6.2 Evaluation by an outsider

As SHIP was implementing the intensive dialogues with the support of GATE/GTZ, Germany, their representative undertook a mid-term evaluation of the project and submitted a report. A few of his observations are quoted here:

The involvement of target groups duríng SHIP'S planning of the overall programme for Nuzvid subdivision was limited to the survey conducted by the organisation duríng its initial stages of activities. Their involvement in the actual implementation of the desiltation and complementary development activities, however, is very intensive. This is one of the strongest qualities of SHIP's approach.

SHIP uses sound internal planning tools. The core are weekly team meetings and monthly staff meetings. During the latter, monthly action plans are mapped out, which are facilitated and later cross-checked with the reports prepared at all levels.

The technical planning has improved and now appears mostly sufficient. The environmental aspects and the consideration of existing resources are the other two most positive aspects of the approach. The location of the tanks is predetermined by previously existing structures, which have proven appropriate over centuries. But there seems to be a fundamental lack of technical expertise as to the possibilities for improving the storage capacity of the tanL· ' percolation and to restore or improve silt traps and other preventive maintenance measures.

Two other of SHIP'S activities during the project time were geared to heighten awareness and raise the organisation's legitimation and rapport with the communities: First, SHIP collected 10,000 signatures and organised a meeting with representatives of 30 villages as part of a nation-wide campaign to declare 1995-2005 a 'Decade for Minor Irrigation'. Second, SHIP conducted opinion surveys and discussions on the prohibition of alcohol, which is a highly desired legislation by women and a prominent issue within village communities.

One of the strongest qualities of SHIP's work is certainly the way of motivating and organising people. The evaluator witnessed three kinds of village meetings: initial 226 Chapter 8 informative visits, follow-up visits (either prompted by villagers interested to hear more about SHIP's ideas or by SHIP staff feeling the necessity of repeated efforts) and regular meetings. Particularly the initial meetings, but also the later ones, are characterised by some noteworthy components. All of these meetings are announced previously by the respective motivator who visits each of "his " villages at least once a week. Then the motivators come in a group of minimum 3 and begin to draw attention by singing and playing songs which allude to the context of environmental degradation and tank rehabilitation. Unfortunately the graphical illustrations of problems and solutions ("flash cards"), proposed by SHIP for motivation of illiterate villagers, have still not been produced. If it is the first meeting, they give a presentation of SHIP's ideas and try to prompt a discussion, which is mostly enhanced by the previous individual conversations the respective motivator had with villagers. The core issue is always the formation of village committees which have to assume self-responsibility for improving the management of village resources, including tanks. The other argument for committee formation is the joint resolution of local conflicts or common problems. However the role of the target group in SHIP'S project is still mostly restricted to that of beneficiaries which are difficult to mobilise for self-help activities. Far from being equals, they only become cooperating or executing partners when they undertake initiatives like the ones listed above.

Maintenance is a severe problem. So far, SHIP has not succeeded and has not sufficiently tried to motivate or assist the villagers in establishing long-term maintenance systems for their tanL·. All the villagers signed the - legally non- binding - agreement with SHIP that they would collect water taxes from the beneficiaries in the command area. However no village has started to organise these contributions and SHIP has difficulties to raise enough awareness so that the farmers would assume this continuous responsibility.

The village committees were yet too weak to guarantee a long-term functioning of self-organisation. External leadership and initiative is still essential. This indicates that sustainability of desiltation activities and community group formation is not yet achieved.

During a meeting with the local bankers the unavailability of credits for village communities who want to take an initiative and intend to prefinance part of their tank desiltation costs was discussed. The banks are unwilling to give loans to communities since default, which is already high, would be even more difficult to control. And if the loan sum would be individualised, they fear that the default of one or two farmers could endanger the success of the whole program and hence the repayment of all individuals. Case studies of tank restoration interventions 227

SHIP invests a considerable amount of time and effort into internal reporting and project steering. All motivators maintain a daily diary about their activities and observations. In addition to reports about each village meeting, they compile status reports about the individual villages. Similar to the reporting about the village meetings, SHIP takes minutes of the weekly team meetings and the monthly staff meetings. All of these are summarised or updated in monthly reports. The kind and structure of reporting are exemplary and help SHIP to monitor and plan the project progress. It offers also excellent learning possibilities for the staff and facilitates internal analysis and improvements. Along these lines it is natural that the first reports and some aspects of current reporting are quite inefficient, narrative, and naive; but the quality increases constantly. 228 Chapter 8 Chapter 9

Final analysis and conclusions

9.1 Introduction and structure of the Chapter

Answers to the questions raised in Chapter 1 will be summarised here from the descriptive analyses carried out in Chapters 5,6,7, and 8. This Chapter, therefore, presents the overall analysis of the relationship between the dependent and independent variables in searching for the causes of the non-restoration of tanks and of the success or failure of interventions. It presents a single factor and multiple factor analysis (section 9.3). One of the purposes of the study is to explore the bankability of tank restoration. Therefore one section of the present Chapter (section 9.4) treats this aspect. It looks into the future prospects of tank restoration, the views of the respondents to the interventions and SHIP'S own future involvement with tank restoration process using the partnership approach. The Chapter and the study concludes with a brief presentation of Gandhi's vision for rebuilding the nation from the core of the Indian society, i.e. the village.

9.2. Analysis of non-restoration

This section attempts to answer some of the research questions concerning the non- restoration of tanks at the local level in particular and at the supra-local level in general. 230 Chapter 9

9.2.1 Economic factors contributing to non-restoration

The Cost-Benefit Analysis of Chapter 5 indicates that it costs Rs.l 1,985 per ha for restoring the tanks in all their aspects in step 1 during the first year. This is at the community level and the benefits are spread to the community. The CBA also shows that at that level the payback time of the restoration is only one year. The irrigation schemes executed with the people's involvement in Ongole district, as described in Chapter 8, costed Rs 37,500 per ha of which borewells were the main costitem. The Buddham lift irrigation1 scheme implemented in Guntur district cost an initial capital investment of Rs.2,844 per ha. The VIP experience indicated that it costs the farmer Rs.32.50 per cubic metre. As indicated in the Five-Year Plans of the country, see Chapter 2, the major and medium irrigation investment was (1st to 7* Plan) between Rs. 1,5262 to Rs.73,556 per ha. Whereas, during the same plan period, the investment on minor irrigaton was in the order of Rs.569 to Rs.7,078. By all counts it is established beyond any reasonable doubt that investing on minor tank irrigation is economically beneficial to the village communities and the state by and large. This being so, why then is the government not willing to address the restoration of minor irrigation tanks? The government can justify itself by saying that it is allocating some resources for minor irrigation but since it involves a lot of administrative work to meet all the legal requirements, and a vast area has to be brought under cultivation in a short period to increase food production to meet the demand, it may be prudent to focus on major and medium irrigation schemes. The latter part of the justification may be partly understandable in a country like India, which has 900 million population to feed so all sources of irrigation must be exploited to their full extent. Without undermining the need for the other sources of irrigation, though these may have their ecological implications, the argument here is that the thrusts of the community, the administration and the policy are lop­ sided. In the process a legacy, which once contributed to the growth of civilisation and economy of the region is totally forgotten^

'For lift irrigation schemes you need a source of permanent water. Usually this is part of a large-scale irrigation scheme (refer case study the Buddham lift irrigation scheme in Chapter 8). These costs are not accounted for. Hence lift irrigation is in fact usually more costly. Further, as in the case of above case study, you are dependent on the large-scale scheme. On the other hand, tank restoration, like major irrigation is integral, i.e. inflow + reservoir + fields.

2) 1950-56 rupees, hence worth approximately 25 times more than the present ones. Firmi analysis and conclusions 231 9.2.2. Political factors contributing to non-restoration

As can be seen from the previous Chapters 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7, the formal control of these common property resources has been largely vested in the state. In a democracy, when the state claims its stake over the common property resources, it is implied that it pays attention to the proper maintenance of these resources. This implies that the policies adopted by the state should be in congruence with the effective use of these natural resources, be they land, water or forests, without compromising the carrying capacity of nature. This should have been the ideal situation where the democratic institutions function in an atmosphere of complementarity rather than competition. Unfortunately, in a short-sighted vision and in the race to cope with the increased demands of the capitalistic development model, the core of the issues that would pave the way for long and sustained development were compromised. Subsequently, while the visible signs of economic growth seem to be prominent in the short-term, the deterioration of values, resources, democratic institutions and the quality of life is at stake. A close look at the development processes clearly indicates that the policies, strategies and approaches adopted during the past fivedecade s have hardly made any significant contribution towards sustaining the balance in nature and society to any degree of reasonable understanding.

As discussed in Section 7.5.2 the Panchayat, which is the core of the Indian democratic set up, only exists as an institution without any real powers to exercise. This is proved by the fact that the constitution had to make the 73rd Amendment in order to empower the Panchayats. Even after adopting the Amendment, in the state of Andhra Pradesh the powers were not really transferred until the Panchayats began to demand them, see Box in Chapter 7. Empowering the Panchayats means decentralisation of power, and irrespective of the nature of the political party that rules the country and the state, no party has made any serious attempt to truly democratise the democracy. What are the implications of decentralisation? It means less scope for corruption and nepotism at the central level. It also indicates that more and more actors can effectively participate in the political processes. The checks and balances can be effectively monitored and mistakes at the village level can be rectified with less effort. Today, the Panchayat has neither the power nor the resources to be as effective as it wants to be or it ought to be. Therefore there is an urgency to strengthen this very fundamental institution if the objectives of development are to be taken truly seriously.

One other aspect of the political factors is the short-sighted introduction of legislation, as can be seen with the enactment of the Water Users Association Act of 1997 in the state of Andhra Pradesh. While the merits of such an initiative are 232 Chapter 9 positive, yet the same time it must be noted that the creation of new legislation or institutions should be in harmony with the long term vision. The legislation gives the mandate to the water users but the hasty implementation of the Act has already had its impact in dividing the villages around a new dimension i.e. water. In the past communities grew around these structures and today they are being divided since the availability of water is so scarce in a monsoon-fed country such as India. The process of introducing this new legislation raises a number of concerns. There was hardly any public debate on such an important matter which is not a true characteristic of a democracy. A healthy debate would have helped in reducing the risks.

One another important aspect of creating a new institution at the village-level to solve the problems of irrigation systems maintenance and water distribution is that the tendency is to overlook the presence of the institutions created by the constitution. Undoubtedly there will be an over-lap between the Panchayats, which have the mandate, and the water users associations. This leads to further tensions, rifts and divisions in the villages which are already dealing with a number of problems.

The attitude of the government is to sideline new initiatives and not to learn lessons from the experiments that were initiated by the communities. As in the case of Ongole this is evident and the benefits of such a massive people's effort were undermined. However, in order to replicate such experience and improve upon it, we need to have political will, genuine people's participation, committed administration, simplified procedures and coordination among the financial institutions and Government agencies. In short, such a programme can be successful if there is a movement with people's involvement. Similarly, the maintenance for all the existing medium and minor irrigation sources could be transferred to the farmers in a phased manner. The Government could earmark a certain amount per acre to maintain the system and transfer this to the panchayats so that they can mobilise their resources and maintain the schemes to their best satisfaction. While it may appear difficult to obtain people's support in this programme, given will, dedication and credibility, there will be excellent people's participation provided the people are assured of complete control over the irrigation sources and the uncertainty of water availability is eliminated. Critical in this aspect is reposing trust in people's ability to manage on their own, given an opportunity. Final analysis and conclusions 233 9.2.3. Social factors contributing to the non-restoration

The present generation of village communities tend to treat the prime source of irrigation in the same manner as they were being treated by the state. In the words of a farmer from Mukkollupadu " these youngsters do not love their village tank any more." He is touching a very sensitive aspect of our affection towards our mother nature. While some villages have the motivation, capacity and the will to do it, they feel helpless to initiate action since they do not control the tanks. This is evident in the case of Vadlamanu, Rajavaram and Tadepally where the communities are motivated but lack the resources to take up restoration on their own. The problem seems to be compounded due to the fact that the tank maintenance system was never addressed seriously on the scale that it deserves. Therefore in the past five decades in post-independent India the deterioration of these structures grew by leaps and bounds. Substantial initial capital investment is required if restoration work is to be under taken by the community. The system of degradation was systematically uprooted from the communities by the British Empire in the past and by the successive governments in the present, as explained in detail in the case of kudimaramath^ see Appendix 2.

The social divisions can equally contribute to the non-restoration of tanks by the community if the collective social capital is not strong enough in a village. This is clearly evident from the case studies of Gollapalli, Morsapudi and Ramannagudem, where the social capital is sufficiently low enough to have had its bearing on the tank restoration and the efforts of SHIP, which was playing the role of being a facilitator. Enamadala is a classic example of how these division tend to affect the cooperative attitude among the villagers. They seem to live under one roof and yet do not belong to that roof.

The other factor that has contributed to the general apathy of the community towards tanks is the presence of borewells in the command areas. As stated in Chapter 2, during the past three decades 1.5 million borewells were drilled in the state. As a farmer from Gollapalli states, "why would I take interest in the tank, when the water is available in my fields and under my control?" Maybe he is right in a way but in a very narrow short-sighted perspective. It will not be too late for him to realise that recharge of ground water is dependent on the storage of water in the tank.

The third factor that has contributed is the erosion of values such as cooperation, and the sense of belonging to the community at the village level. This notion is strengthened by the responses to the Likert scale statements. Many of the respondents confided that the tanks do not belong them to anymore. What else can 234 Chapter 9 better explain their attitude towards tank irrigation system?

Finally, the problem of ownership of these resources by the community seems to be the core of the issues resulting in non-action to restore them. The village community is prepared, for instance, to undertake community oriented activities such as roads, school buildings etc., but does not show any inclination to address the issue of restoring the tanks.

9.3 Overview of the independent and dependent variables of the success/failure analysis.

The study looked into the factors that may have contributed to the neglect and degradation of tank irrigation systems maintenance. Is it the economic motivation of the community that has contributed either positively or negatively? Or is it the Collective Social Strength/Social Capital of the village? Or why are the political actors such as politicians at all levels not taking the initiative? Or what about the self-perceived capacity of the community which can determine their role in restoring and maintaining these irrigation systems? Each of the above questions was examined at length in the preceding Chapters.

Chapter 5 examined the economic factors and motivations that might have influenced the community's lack of interest in restoring the tanks. A Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) of a hypothetical average tank revealed that it is beneficial to restore the tanks at the community level while this is not the case at the individual level.

Chapter 6 outlined in detail the Collective Social Capital of the study villages using indicators on a five-point scale. This was substantiated with a detailed account of village profiles and the existing situation based on the assessment made by SHIP over a long period of interaction with the community.

Chapter 7 made a detailed analysis of the Likert scale statements on motivation and self-perceived capacity of the community as found through the responses to the opinion statements. The analysis was also attempted at the village-level and category-wise. It compared the attitudes of various categories of respondents on their motivations and self-perceived/village capacity to undertake tank restoration. The legislation pertaining to the powers of the Panchayat and the rights of the water user's associations were dealt to see the political factors that may have influenced the decision of the community to be pessimistic about tank restoration. Finally, the last section examined the relationship between the score of the villages Final analysis and conclusions 235 on social capital indicators and self-perceived capacity, as well as between the economic motivations derived from the CB A and the self-stated motivations of the community expressed through Likert scales. Correlation was shown to exist but not to the extent that one may be dropped in favour of another. Hence, they are all taken up in the present chapter.

Chapter 8, based on the styles of intervention concepts, analysed the past experiences of NGOs and the government undertaken tank irrigation projects in the state as well as and the lessons drawn from these initiatives that provided an impetus to SHIP's interventions in the study villages. SHIP's effort to motivate the community to address tank restoration was put on a five-point scale, as well as the degree of success and failure.

Thus we arrive at 6 independent variables and one dependent variable (the success/failure score), tabulated in Table 9.1. Two villages, namely Enamadala and Gogulampadu, where SHIP'S focus was not on tank restoration were eliminated from the final analysis. Therefore all the discussions that follow pertain to ten villages.

Table 9.1. Consolidated village-level scores on dependent and independent variables

S.No Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1. Collective social 4 3 5 1 1 4 4 2 4 4 capital 2. Self-assessed IL 4H 4H IL IL 2H 3H 4L IH 0 capacity 3. CBA (Total) 6P 7P 7P 4P 7P 8P 6P 7P 5P 8P 4. Self-assessed 3L 5H 8H IL 3L IH 9H 5L 2L 2L motivation 5. CBA (Costs) 2M 2M 0 4M IM 0 0 IM 0 0 6. SHIP'S effort 4 3 1 4 1 2 2 5 3 1 7 Success/failure 3 3 5 1 3 4 3 1 4 4 Legend: 1 - Devaragunta; 2 - Gollapalli; 3 - Kanasanapalli; 4 - Morsapudi; 5 - Mukkollupadu; 6 - Polasanipalli; 7 - Rajavaram; 8 - Ramannagudem; 9 - Tadepally; and 10 - Vadlamanu

Collective social capital is on an ordinal scale with 5 indicating highest and 1 indicating lowest. 236 Chapter 9

Self-assessed capacity is on an ordinal scale with L meaning 'low' and 'H' meaning 'high', the scale running from 4L to 4H.

CBA total (= total outcome of Cost-benefit analysis) is on an ordinal scale with Ρ meaning positive.

Self-assessed motivation is on an ordinal scale with L meaning 'low' and 'H' meaning 'high', the scale running from IL to 9H.

CBA costs (= the outcome of only the costs from the Cost-benefit analysis) is on an ordinal scale with '0' meaning the costs are equivalent to that of a hypothetical average tank and 'M' meaning the costs are 'high', and the scale running from 0 to 4M.

SHIP's effort (= SHIP's intensity of motivation effort for collective action by the community for tank restoration) is on an ordinal scale with a score of 1 meaning the low intensity and a score of 5 meaning high intensity of effort.

Success/failure (= the score given to SHIP's interventions in relation to tank restoration) is on an ordinal scale with a score of 1 meaning failure and a score of 5 meaning highly successful.

To make the single factor analysis using the scattergram method, the scores in relation to CBA (total) and Motivations were recalculated on a more formal ordinal scale. This was done to establish uniformity among variables. Table 9.2 presents the tabulated scores on different variables. It may be noted here that variables 1 and 2, are both indicators of community-level capacity for collective action, such as tank restoration, while variables 3,4 and 5 are indicators of village- level motivation for tank restoration. In the next section, we will first look at the relationship between these separate variables with the dependent variable. After that some variables are combined to form a multi-variate success rate model. Final analysis and conclusions 237

Table 9.2. Consolidated retabulated village-level scores on dependent and independent variables

S.No Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1. Collective social 4 3 5 1 1 4 4 2 4 4 capital 2. Self-assessed -1 4 4 -1 -1 2 3 -4 1 0 capacity 3. CBA (Total) 2.5 3 3 1.5 3 3.5 2.5 3 2 3.5 4. Self-asssessed -1.5 2.5 4 -0.5 -1.5 0.5 4.5 -2.5 -1 -1 motivation 5. CBA (Costs) -2 -2 0 -4 -1 0 0 -1 0 0 6. SHIP'S effort 4 3 1 4 1 2 2 5 3 1 7 Success/failure 3 3 5 1 3 4 3 1 4 4 Legend: 1 - Devaragunta; 2 - Gollapalli; 3 - Kanasanapalli; 4 - Morsapudi; 5 - Mukkollupadu; 6 - Polasanipalli; 7 - Rajavaram; 8 - Ramannagudem; 9 - Tadepally; and 10 Vadlamanu

9.4. Single factor analysis

This section now makes a detailed analysis of the relationship between dependent and independent variables which are presented in different scattergrams with the independent variables on 'X' axis and the dependent variable on 'Y' axis.

9.4.1. Correlation between collective social capital and success/failure scores

As can be seen from the scattergram the relationship between the Collective social capital and the success/failure scores is very significant. The higher the social capital, the greater the chances of success. The correlation was tested using Kendall's tau yielding a correlation coefficient of 0.75, significant at the ρ = 0.08 level. For instance in Kanasanapalli, which has a high level of social capital, see Chapter 6, the success rate achieved by SHIP is also high. In Chapter 8 it was described how the villagers took the initiative to restore their tank. Villages like Tadepally, Polasanipalli and Vadlamanu are also strong on both the variables but relatively less strong than Kanasanapalli. However in Rajavaram and Devaragunta, which have relatively high social capital, the success rate is medium. 238 Chapter 9

Figure 9.1 Scattergram of Collective social capital and success/failure scores

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Ί Γ 2 3 Collective social capital Ramannagudem and Morsapudi tend to be low on both collective social capital and the success of SHIP'S interventions. After the tank restoration in Ramannagudem in 1989, when the community was not coming together to maintain it, we thought initially that we ought to invest our efforts in motivating the farmers. We had a motivator working in the village for almost five years and nothing positive emanated from the effort. The situation was the same as it was in 1989 after the initial tank restoration. However, the motivation persuaded the villagers to reestablish their credibility with the bank by clearing the outstanding loans. Morsapudi is an interesting example, refer to Chapter 8, as to how the interest of the community can be diverted by political processes. All our energies and the presence of a motivator wielded no influence on the community to exhibit their collective interest in restoring the tanks. Gollapalli was an initial success as in the case of Ramannagudem. But, as soon as the leadership changed at the village level, the situation was back to square one. Mukkollupadu is the only outlier in the scattergram, having a low social capital (1) and yet medium success (3). This deviation can be best attributed to a leadership factor. As narrated in Chapter 8, the thenPpresident of Mukkollupadu, despite being a contractor, in the interests of the village became instrumental in the successful intervention of SHIP. This type of leadership is not a social capital indicator in the Collective Social Capital (CSC) assessment.

A mathematical model may be formulated by leaving out leadership factor (LF) (i.e., leaving out the Mukkollupadu case) and treating the variables as if on an Final analysis and conclusions 239 interval scale. The relationship then found by a linear regression analysis is :

Success = - 0.4 + 1.0 * CSC with: Success = success/failure rate ref Table 8.3 CSC = Collective social capital ref Table 6.5 Regression coefficient = 0.931 Sign, of Kendall's tau = 0.006 a = - 0.427 b = 1.027

Bringing back in the unknown leadership factor (which is 2.4 in the case of Mukkollupadu) the model reads:

Success = - 0.4 + 1.0 *CSC + LF in which Success = rate of success on a five-point scale CSC = Collective social capital on a five-point scale LF = unknown leadership factor.

9.4.2. Correlation between self-perceived capacity and success/failure scores

A pattern of relationship, though not very strong, can be deduced from the scattergram presented in Figure 9.2. Kanasanapalli beats all the other villages in its self-perceived capacity. Vadlamanu, Polasanipalli and Tadepally seem to be promising with relatively better perceived capacity. With intensive motivation efforts from SHIP these villages were able to take up tank restoration on their own. This also holds true for Rajavaram and Gollapalli, which have the capacity, but lack the motivation. On the other hand, Morsapudi village perceives its capacity as low and Ramannagudem as very low. Devaragunta and Mukkollupadu seem to be slightly better than the previous two villages in terms of the success score, however tend to be as low as Morsapudi on their perceived capacity. To sum up, it appears that there exists a pattern of relationship, however weak it may be, between self-perceived capacity of the villages and their success ratio. Kendall's tau did not attribute any level of significance between these two variables, however. 240 Chapter 9

Figure 9.2 Scattergram of Self-perceived capacity and success/failure scores

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3- '15

τ -3 -1 0 1 Self-perceived capacity

9.4.3. Correlation between CBA assessment (total) and success/failure scores

The CBA of Chapter 5 has assessed costs and benefits of tank restoration at the community level, which was subsequently differentiated for the various villages in section 7.6. If this 'CBA - reasoning' is followed by the villagers, some degree of association between the success rate and the CBA outcome could be expected. As seen in Figure 9.3., the association is minimal. In other words, a tank that is relatively favourable for restoration in CBA terms will not be much easier to restore in reality, ceteris paribus. Kendall's tau was not significant. Final analysis and conclusions 241

Figure 9.3 Scattergram of CBA assessmet (total) and success/failure scores

•I10 e § И 'ё % 24

1-

π 1 2 3 CBA assessment (totali

9.4.4. Correlation between self-assessed motivation and success/failure scores

Through the Likert scale method motivations for tank restoration have also been assessed directly in the village-level interviews. Infigure 9.4 , these levels of self- assessed motivation are given together with the success/failure rate. It can be seen that a slight association seems to be present. Self-assessed motivations higher than zero, for instance, are associated with medium to high success rates. The overall association is weak, however; Kendall's tau has a significance level of 0.215.

Figure 9.4 Scatterpram of Self-assessed motivation and success/failure scores 5-1

4-J 10

7

2-

4

Ί i Ι Ι г -10 12 3 Self-assessed motivation 242 Chapter 9 In Devaragunta, the success is medium and the self-assessed motivation is low. The receptivity of the community for collective action appeared better during the village meetings. However they do not seem to have the confidence to take up the restoration which is more or less similar to their general attitude towards tanks. While in Mukkollupadu SHIP had the initial success of tank restoration, which can be attributed to leadership factors, there is a general tendency of lack of motivation among the community to take up tank restoration on their own. In Tadepally and Vadlamanu the success rate is relatively high but the villages tend to have low assessment of their perceived capacity. On the other hand Rajavaram which has a better assessment of its self-assessed motivation has only a medium success rate. This phenomena can be attributed to the fact that real tank restoration work has not yet started in Rajavaram which resulted in their medium score.

9.4.5. Correlation between CBA assessment (costs) and success/failure scores

The previous two motivational variables did not yield a clear relationship with the success/failure rate. It makes sense, therefore, to seek a third variable that could express motivation for tank restoration. It could be that when considering tank restoration people focus more on the direct costs than on future benefits. Figure 9.5 gives the scattergram of relative tank restoration cost (i.e. the cost part of the CBA assessment of Section 7.6) and the success/failure rate. Some association appears to be present. Kendall's tau is significant at the 0.05 level; it is therefore not likely that the relationship is only random in reality.

The villages that deviate from the central tendency are Devaragunta, Gollapalli and Ramannagudem. In the case of the first two villages the apprehension that tank restoration requires huge costs prevails due to the fact that partial restoration was taken up by the state by engaging contractors. In Gollapalli, apart from SHIP'S effort, where the costs involved were relatively low, the fear regarding the high costs is influenced by the tank restoration activity implemented in Devaragunta under the World Bank aided project. In Ramannagudem the general lack of motivation seems to be the over-riding factor which influenced their deviation, despite the fact that they see the costs involved in tank restoration are relatively low. Final analysis and conclusions 243

Figure 9.5 Scattergram of CBA assessmet (costs) and success/failure scores

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0- τ -4 -3 -2 -1 CBA assessment (costs) * A score of-'4' means highest cost, a score of '0' means lowest cost.

9.4.6. Correlation between intensity of SHIP'S effort and success/failure scores

SHIP'S effort, as estimated in Chapter 8 on a five-point scale, has been taken up in the independent variable because of the logical assumption that the success rate would rise if SHIP'S effort had been intense. Figure 9.6. give the scattergram. It clearly shows that the relationship is the reverse of what was expected: high effort is associated with low success! Theoretically, this could be interpreted as the villagers becoming more tired and irritated the more they see SHIP. The more likely mechanism, however, is that SHIP has had a tendency to keep on trying even if the initial response in a village was low. See for instance, Ramannagudem and Gollapalli in Chapter 8. Because of the continuation of SHIP'S effort these villages move to "4" and "5" on the effort scale. The continuation of effort did not result in more action of the villagers, however, so that the success/failure rate stayed on the "1" level. 244 Chapter 9

Figure 9.6 Scatterpram of Intensity of SHIP'S effort and success/failure scores

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10

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1.5 2.5 3.5 4 4.5 Intensity of SHIP'S effort

This obviously generates a clear-cut recommendation for SHIP'S work, which is probably also valid for analogous efforts of GOs and NGOs, that if the response in the first two or three village meetings is not high the NGO should not keep on trying but move its efforts to a more favourable place. This finding has a remarkable likeness to the philosophical principle of Wu Wei (non-action) of Taoism. In the Tao Te Ching (600 B.C.), we read:

The sage goes about doing nothing, working without doing. When action is performed (that way), People say: 'We did it!'. Work is done, then forgotten, Therefore, it lasts forever.

Who can wait quietly till the mud settles ? Who can remain still until the moment of action? Observers of the Tao (..) are not swayed by the desire for change. The sage is detached, thus at one with all.

In a way what SHIP is trying to do is to allow people to take action on their own by playing the role of the motivator so that those dormant factors that influence the community's non-action can be awakened for a positive change. Ideologically, in a process-oriented approach, it becomes of paramount importance for SHIP to continue to motivate the villagers and create an atmosphere that can ultimately lead the communities to take a step forward. Final analysis and conclusions 245

9.5. Multiple factor analysis

9.5.1 The multiple factor approach

Success and failure of intervention is not likely to depend on a single factor only. One obvious multi-factor causation is that for people to take action both motivation and capacity should be present; without motivation people will not take action because they do not want to do so, and without capacity people will not take action because they cannot do so. A theoretically sound mathematical structure ('model') for explaining and predicting the success rate should therefore combine at the minimum one capacity factor and one motivational factor. These should be set in such a way that the success rate (i.e the action undertaken) will be zero if either capacity or motivation is zero. This is the case in both of the following structures:

ACTION = a * MIN (CAP, MOT)3 ACTION = a * CAP * MOT in which CAP is the capacity factor (zero if capacity is zero) and MOT is the motivational factor (zero if motivation is zero).

The attempt can be made to arrive at a multi-factor model through a process of purely inductive multiple regression, i.e. feeding some or all the variables of Table 9.2 into a multiple regression analysis, and then seeing what SPSS comes up with. One thing is sure, however, that this result will have the structure of:

ACTION = a + b*CAP + с * MOT which is theoretically unsound and practically misleading, because capacity and motivation do not add up. If capacity fails (CAP = 0), action must be zero (ACTION = 0), irrespective of motivation (MOT). Or the other way around: if action is lacking because of lack of motivation (MOT) this cannot be compensated for by more social capital (increase CAP). In its strictest form this principle is best expressed by the "minimum structure" version of the two formulas mentioned above:

ACTION = a * MIN (CAP, MOT)

3This is analogous to Liebig's "law of the minimum" in biology. A plant only grows (= Action) to the extent of the minimum of the necessary nutrients: GROWTH = a * MIN (nutrient 1, nutrient 2). 246 Chapter 9

Hence, instead of a purely inductive regression analysis, a more deductive approach can be: - first, one capacity (CAP) and one motivation factor (MOT) is chosen then, MIN(CAP, MOT) is tabulated - this combined factor then is entered into a single-factor regression, arriving at a formula of : S/F RATE = a + b * MIN (CAP, MOT)

The test of this model is that the term "a" should be close to zero, the term "b" should be close to 1, the regression coefficient should be close to 1 and the significance level should be close to zero. For a proper choosing of the minimum, both the CAP and the MOT factor should of course be on the samefive-point scale .

9.5.2 Collective social capital and CBA (cost)

For the appropriate capacity factor, collective social capital is the obvious choice in view of its good performance in the single-factor analysis. For the motivational factor, matters are less clear because all three of them performed rather poorly in the single-factor analysis. In this section the best performer is taken, i.e. the cost part of the CBA. First this factor has to be transferred to afive-point scal e with the highest cost (hence lowest motivation) set as 1 and the lowest cost (high motivation) set at 5. This is reflected in Table 9.3 given below.

Table 9.3. Reassigned values of CBA (costs) on five-point scale

S.No Villaee Old Score New Score 1 Devaragunta -2 3 2 Gollapalli -2 3 3 Kanasanaoalli 0 5 4 Morsapudi -4 1 5 MukkolluDadu -1 4 6 Polasanipalli 0 5 7 Raiavaram 0 5 8 Ramannaeudem -1 4 9 Tadepallv 0 5 10 Vadlamanu о 5 Final analysis and conclusions 247

The multiple factor table now is:

Table 9.4 Multiple variable scores

CBA Minimum Success/failure S.No VUlage CSC (costs) (CSC, CBA rate

1 Devaragunta 4 3 3 3 2 Gollapalli 3 3 3 3 3 Kanasanapalli 5 5 5 5 4 Morsapudi 1 1 1 1 5 Mukkollupadu 1 4 1 3 6 Polasanipalli 4 5 4 4 7 Rajavaram 4 5 4 3 8 Ramannagudem 2 4 2 1 9 Tadepally 4 5 4 4 10 Vadlamanu 4 5 4 4

Figure 9.7 Scattergram of Minimum scores and success/failure scores 5-1

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3 4 Minimum of CSC and CBA (costs) 248 Chapter 9

The scattergram depicted in Figure 9.7 of the model variable MIN(CSC, CBA (c)) and the dependent variable is as follows:

The regression characteristics for the 9 villages are: R (Pearson) = 0.948 Significance (Kendall's tau) = 0.0003 a = -0.407 b= 1.056

Hence the model is for the 10 villages, including the leadership factor as in section 9.4.1, is:

SUCCESS RATE = - 0.4 + 1.1 * MIN(CSC, CBA (c)) + LF

This model is a slight improvement on the already good performance of CSC as a single factor. Yet it is hard to decide if this model is empirically superior to the one of CSC only because the difference between the two concerns only one village (Devaragunta); for the other villages, CSC is already the minimum. On the other hand, the two-factor model is theoretically more satisfying than the one of CSC only because the success rate cannot depend on the capacity factor alone.

The multiplication model version did not perform significantly better, so that there is no reason to prefer it.

9.5.3 Collective social capital and quickness of response (QR)

In the previous section the factor of SHIP'S effort has been found to show an unexpected relationship with the success rate. This relationship has been interpreted as: if a village does not show a lively response to SHIP in the first village meetings, success will remain low even if SHIP continues to 'push'. This factor may also be interpreted as an inverse motivational factor. Consider what SHIP does in the first village meetings. It cannot build up the village's collective social capital in such a short time because the collective social capital indicators (own festival, absence of litigation, record of cooperative work, density of spontaneous groups and absence of political divisions) will not change after a small number of village meetings. If the village meetings have an effect, therefore, this must be the effect of motivational reinforcement4 in a village that has enough

"SHIP'S village-level catalysts have been called "motivators" from SHIP'S creation in 1986 onwards. Final analysis and conclusions 249 collective social capital already. The fact that the success rate does not improve if SHIP continues trying after the first village meetings shows that SHIP cannot create motivation out of nothing. Rather SHIP can 'wake up' motivations that were lying dormant below the collective-level surface. Put differently, SHIP can bring latent motivations into collective expression. Hence, quickness of collective response is an indicator of latent motivation being positively present.

As a variable, quickness of response5 (QR) is the inverse of SHIP'S effort (ref Table 9.2 and Chapter 8). The QR listing below is arrived by simply turning around the ordinal numbers in 'SHIP'S effort' in Table 9.2. (a score of 5 becoming 1,4 becoming 2, etc.). The variables then become as shown in Table 9.5.

Table 9.5. Multiple variable factor - quickness of response

S.No Village CSC QR Minimum Success/ (CSC, QR) failure rate 1. Devaragunta 4 2 2 3 2. Gollapalli 3 3 3 3 3. Kanasanapalli 5 5 5 5 4. Morsapudi 1 2 1 1 5 Mukkollupadu 1 5 1 3 6. Polasanipalli 4 4 4 4 7. Rajavaram 4 4 4 3 8. Ramannagudem 2 1 1 1 9. Tadepally 4 3 3 4 10. Vadlamanu 4 5 4 4

Contrary to the previous two-factor set, the MIN-factor is determined by the non- CSC factor in three villages (Morsapudi, Mukkollupadu and Vadlamanu). Thus, any difference between the correlation coefficient of CSC only and the two-factor model, be it an improvement or impoverishment, is less likely to be incidental. The

'Naming this variable "Ease of Effort" or "Wu Wei'" would lie closer to the discussion in section 9.3.6, but that would suggest that the most perfect result would be achieved with SHIP doing nothing at all. 250 Chapter 9 scattergram of this model is shown in Figure 9.8

If we again leave out Mukkollupadu village because of the leadership factor (refer section 9.4.1), the regression characteristics are: R (Pearson) = 0.907 - Significance of Kendall's tau: 0.007 a = 0.486 b = 0.875

Hence the model:

SUCCESS RATE = 0.5 + 0.9 * MIN (CSC, QR) + LF

This model, with R = 0.907, performs very welld but slightly less well than the previous one, with CBC (costs) as the motivation factor and a R = 0.948. A choice between the two cannot be made on theoretical grounds because both contain capacity and motivation in the appropriate structure. The motivational factor of QR seems superior in terms of validity, however. It is not an abstract estimation such as the CBA (costs) factor but very close to the reality of the actors. Hence my 'field intuition' prefers the QR - version of the model.

The variable QR of a village or tank cannot be assessed from the outside. It can only be measured by checking what the village response is during the firstvillag e meetings. This may be seen as the price to pay for the variable's closeness to reality. If a quicker assessment is necessary, e.g. for scanning a larger set of villages for possible selection in a tank restoration campaign, the previous model with CBA (costs) instead of QR could be used, especially if organising meetings in all villages would be too costly or raise confusing expectations. Final analysis and conclusions 251

Figure 9.8 Scattergram of MIN (CSC. OR) and success/failure scores

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Τ Minimum (CSC. ОЮ 9.6. Overall conclusions

Based on the analysis made in the preceding chapters, and addressing the research questions stated in Chapter 1, the following conclusions can be drawn:

• The politicians who responded exhibit a positive attitude towards the urgent need for the revival of minor tank irrigation systems, but nothing moves beyond that (see Chapter 7, section 7.6). The politicians in principle subscribe to the view that the villages have the capacity to restore and maintain the structures. However when it comes to policy formulation and support, the support tends not to match the desired level which would help them to formulate policies that would be in congruence with the objectives of tank restoration. Handing over these structures to the Panchayats means a degree of power sharing and a step towards decentralisation. It is apparent that this calls for a clear 'political will' which, under the present political scenario of the country at various levels, is incredibly missing.

• The legislation, such as the devolution of powers to the Panchayat and the Water Users' Association Acts (see Chapter 7.6), needs to be implemented in toto in order to reap the full benefits for the rural masses for whose betterment of life these acts were promulgated. This was clearly demonstrated by the unrest among the Panchayat presidents who had to launch a protest to demand their constitutional rights despite the fact that the 252 Chapter 9 Act became a reality in Andhra Pradesh.

The need to strengthen the existing institutions is imminent. One can go on creating new institutions whenever there is problem. In the end we may have more institutions than we actually need. Since the Panchayat is a constitutional institution, it will be important to make it more functional and dynamic. This also goes in line with the 73"1 Amendment which empowers the Panchayats with the sole responsibility on tank irrigation.

The potential of the rainfall received by the region needs to be fully tapped so that water is made available for assured irrigation, especially in dryland areas such as Nuzvid division which receives on an average 35" per annum (see Chapter 2). Since the rainfall is unevenly distributed over the year, it becomes all the more necessary to take every measure to preserve and store every drop of it in every possible manner. Undoubtedly this will help in arresting recurring floods in the areas downstream and thereby unburden the state exchequer from investing in floodrelief .

In a 'trickle down' approach, the influence of negative elements reach faster than the positive elements. Since the state lacks the motivation and will to address the issue of tank restoration and maintenance, the same scenario is depicted at the village level, as is evident from the data from many of the study villages. The overall attitude from the villagers appears to be lack of motivation towards these irrigation systems, which were once the pride of rural life. This holds if farmers are asked about tank restoration in general, as in Chapter 7. It must hold even stronger at the strictly individual level of individual costs and benefits. As shown in section 5.6.4, the cost of tank restoration by an individual farmer exceeds the individual benefit by a factor of 25.

Even when the villagers are motivated for tank restoration and have a positive attitude, as in the case of some from the study area (see Chapter 7), they do not seem to be confident over the capacity of the state nor themselves to do it. This is due to the fact that, under the present set up, they do not exercise any control over these common property resources and so refrain from taking advantage of their motivation.

In some villages, as can be seen from the stories of interventions in Chapter 8, the villages have the collective motivation and capacity to restore the tanks but lack the resources. The evidence indicates that there was no systematic desilting activity undertaken in the post-independent era so that Final analysis and conclusions 253 the accumulated silt deposits in the tanks are estimated to be rather high, leaving the tanks in a dilapidated condition. This calls for a considerable investment, as shown in the CB A assessment in Chapter 5, to initiate the first step of restoration. Apparently for villagers for whom survival becomes the priority the rational choices, however illogical and short-sighted they may be, are to invest in self-oriented rather than community-oriented activities.

While there is enthusiasm among the farmers to be active in the process of restoration, the eroded community values override the spirit of cooperation, thus the 'tragedy of the commons'.

Tank restoration is a process, as described in Chapter 8, and there is no reason to hasten it in order achieve the tangible results. The active participation and the taking over the responsibility from the state by the community can effectively contribute to sustaining the process for years to come, if the community is entrusted with the responsibility and management of the tanks.

Collective social capital, assessed in this study by way of five simple indicators as explained in Chapter 6, seems to be the key factor in determining the success of SHIP'S partnership style interventions towards tank restoration.

The intensity of SHIP'S effort, as narrated in Chapter 8, is another factor correlating with the rate of success. This correlation is negative, however. Villages with a high degree of receptivity needed only a slight effort before taking action, and villages with a low degree of receptivity did not begin to move even after intense effort. In some villages, such as Ramannagudem and Morsapudi, SHIP seems to have pushed harder than was efficient. Logically it should follow that if the villagers are not receptive to the tank restoration in the firstfe w meetings SHIP should move over to the next village. On the other hand, SHIP believes that, since tank restoration is a process, it should continue to address this issue and motivate the farmers until they see the benefits of it at the individual and community level. SHIP has to define an equilibrium between the logic of short-term efficiency and the logic of initiating a long-term learning process.

With a recurrent cost of approximately Rs 500,000 every fifth year and Rs. 100,000 every other year, and benefits of approximately Rs.8 million over a period of 10 years, the hypothetical CBA assessment (refer Chapter 5) discloses that tank restoration is beneficial at all social system levels Chapter 9 (except at the level of the individual farmer, of course). Intelligent tank restoration at the community level has a payback time of only one year. Compared to the huge costs that are involved in major and medium irrigation projects, it will be prudent also to invest on minor irrigation.

The initial resource crunch can be resolved by empowering the Panchayats to avail themselves of credit facilities from banks and creating mechanisms that would facilitate bank financing for restoration. The case studies, as narrated in Chapter 8, of lift irrigation schemes in Ongole district and that of the Buddham lift irrigation scheme provide ample opportunities to explore bank financing to Panchayats for taking up tank restoration works. The state can play a supportive role by adopting policies that minimise the legal hurdles in undertaking such a venture. Trust is the key element in a democracy. Trusting the Panchayats and their capacity to respond to growing demands will be a step forward.

Two models were developed that explain the rate of success of SHIP'S partnership style of interventions: Success rate = 0.4 + 1.1 * MIN (CSC, CBA (c)) + LF Success rate = 0.5 + 0.9 * MIN (CSC, QR) + LF) in which CSC is collective social capital, CBA(c) is an estimation of the cost of tank restoration, QR is the quickness of response (or receptivity) and LF is a leadership factor that may be positive especially in villages where good leadership compensates for low social capital. The correlation coefficients of R = 0.9 are high, but not higher than the model with CSC only. The two- factor model is theoretically more sound, however, because it comprises both a capacity and a motivational factor; the success rate cannot depend on a capacity factor such as CSC alone. The motivational factor of QR seems superior to CBA (c) in terms of validity; it is not an abstract estimation but very close to the reality of the actors. Hence my 'field intuition' prefers the QR version of the model.

SHIP should channel its energies more on motivation education and develop materials that can enhance the participation of the farmers. It may also be prudent on its part to undertake a few pilot projects so that the partnership concept and bankability can be explored further. The mechanisms of monitoring and transparency need to be well-established so that bottlenecks in implementing the activities can be avoided. Final analysis and conclusions 255 9.7. Exploring a new approach

As part of the present study respondents were requested to offer suggestions to improve the status of the tanks in the region, state and country. Some of the responses are: • Create awareness among villagers on tank irrigation systems and management. Tanks should be declared as common properties transgressing political and social divisions. The management should be entrusted exclusively to the people. • Government should allocate more funds, as in the case of canal irrigation, for the maintenance of the tanks and see that in future these are done by the people themselves. • Encroachers should be evicted from the bed and catchment areas which will increase the tank's size and thereby its storage capacity. • Feeder channels should be cleared from time to time to allow free flow of water. • Systematic desilting of the bed area should take place at regular intervals. • There is a need to strengthening the bunds and maintain them to proper standards to avoid breaches. • Several initiatives were taken up by the NGO community in this regard which are more project-oriented than process-oriented. The need to change this kind of attitude is imminent at all levels. • Implementing the 73rd Amendment in toto, i.e. making the panchayats responsible for minor tank irrigation will definitely improve the situation.

9.7.1 SHIP's future strategy

A process is initiated and with many ups and downs the experience provides the future direction to the organisation's involvement in finding solutions to the local issues with villagers as key actors. As Shakespeare has rightlysaid , failures are the stepping stones for success. In a process-oriented approach, such as the one adopted by SHIP, the indicators of success are also long-term. One of the main purpose of the process oriented approach is to address the key issues that affect society's progress. This implies that we address the very basic values of society which guide it either to move forward or backward. This offers many a challenge which call for a life-long commitment. The future direction of the organisation lies in the following:

Motivation Education: • Developing interactive educational and training material on tank irrigation 256 Chapter 9 systems and environmental issues. • Creating awareness through motivation education to enhance farmers' participation. • Strengthening the data base on tank irrigation systems in A.P. and India. • Initiating an interactive mobile exhibition on tank irrigation systems.

Field experiments: • Undertaking experimental desilting projects to explore bank financing for tank restoration and maintenance.

Policy level agenda: • Networking and lobbying with policy makers for policy formulations. • Facilitating the process of tank restoration using the partnership approach in as many villages as possible, with the help also of the success/failure model developed in the present study.

9.7.2 Bank financing for tank restoration

In one of the village meetings SHIP raised the issue of bankability of tank restoration. What are the prospects of farmers accepting a loan on a collective basis using that for restoration in the initial stages and repaying the loan in five equal yearly instalments with marginal interest? The problem seems to be the logistics of operating the bankability. In the first place banks hardly extend any credit finance if the farmer is a default borrower. Second, what will be the security given to the banks? Third, if the lands are already mortgaged, would the banks be able to provide the assistance? Fourth, what will be the monitoring mechanisms to ensure that farmers repay the loans promptly? If the tank is going to benefit the entire community, how should the loan be distributed? Will the members who receive indirect benefits be willing to share the costs? Should there be a water cess/tank cess introduced so that bank financing can be explored? So far this approach has not been tried out for tank restoration . There may be some legal constraints and practical aspects to be looked into deeply before one can go for it but this is certainly an area that gives hope for future restoration of tanks . This particular idea was discussed for some time and discussions were held with bankers to explore the idea. The immediate response was what about the security for the loans advanced? Up to now banks have rarely ventured to advance capital loans to farmers, especially to undertake repair works. One possible solution could be giving the loans to Panchayats which are legal and constitutional institutions. However, a thorough debate is needed and the minute details be looked into. SHIP is convinced that 'where there is a will, there is way' and that nothing is impossible. Final analysis and conclusions 257 9.8. The vision of Mahatma Gandhi

To conclude this study, the researcher would like to make recourse to Mahatma Gandhi's vision of village development which is a source of inspiration for the work of SHIP.

Gandhi was convinced that political structures should be developed from the village Panchayat upwards. In his vision the Grama Sabha (village council), which is the apex body, would comprise people who are elected by the population. For every 100 families there should be one representative in the village council, who would represent the interests of these families for their well being. The village council on its part would draft the development programmes after taking into account the resources available, the problems, needs and aspirations of its inhabitants. India is predominantly agriculture based with 80% of the population living in the villages, so in Gandhi's vision it was natural that this sector received the primary attention. The village structure was, and continues to be, a conglomeration of a mixture of vocations that support the agriculture sector as the main occupation. Therefore agro-based village and cottage industries are best tuned to meet the growing demands of this sector and to improve the village economy. According to Gandhi, technology should be tuned to the needs of the masses. If high technology can reduce drudgery and improve the quality of life of the people, then it must be adopted. The third aspect of village development was Shramadaan (voluntary labour) by the community towards the well-being of everyone. Be it in the construction of a road, or any other activity that serves the common good , all the villagers must take an active role in it. This active participation, Gandhi believed, strengthens the feeling of being and living together. This ensures the development of an attitude of being a 'trustee' of the resources that are embedded in the village. The present study has been conceived along these lines and I hope it does justice to the vision. 258 Chapter 9 259

Appendix -1: Review of Five-Year Plans

The country is in its 9th five-year plan period at the turn of the century. A brief summary of the focus of each of the five years plans provides a trend over five decades.'

First Plan 1951-56. The first plan with a total outlay of Rs.23,700 million was a rather haphazard venture as the Planning Commission had no reliable statistics to work upon. Besides, the plan had to be correlated to the prevailing activities of various government departments. The result was a patchwork of isolated projects. At the same time the plan had a national character and was based on a rational hypothesis. It laid emphasis on agriculture, irrigation, power and transport so as to provide an infrastructure for rapid industrial expansion in future. The plan turned out to be a success, mainly because it was supported by two good harvests in the last two years.

Second Plan 1956-61. The second plan was a big leap forward. It laid special stress on heavy industries. The industrial policy resolution was extended so as to shift the primary responsibility for development to the public sector. The private sector was left to handle consumer industry. But the great quantity of imports that the plan envisaged in both public and private sectors practically denuded India's accumulated sterling balances (Rs.5,000 million) in two years and compelled the country to seek extensive foreign aid. Agriculture and small-scale industries remained sluggish, without adding any momentum to development.

Third Plan 1961-66. This plan rode on a wave of high expectations following the overall growth of the Indian economy in the first two plan periods. It aimed at establishing a self-sustaining economy. Internal resources having been strained to the utmost, the Plan had to rely heavily on foreign aid. The national income at 1960-61 prices rose by 20% in the first four years but registered a decline of 5.6% in the last year. A growing trade deficit and mounting debt obligations led to more and more borrowing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Rupee was devalued and the plan became stuck.

Annual Plans. The third plan having gone awry, planning itself had become discredited and demands were made to declare a plan holiday. The Government and Planning Commission went ahead with the fourth plan from 1966-67. But the economy had so degenerated that the fourth plan got delayed. As a stop gap arrangement planning was made an annual exercise. The annual plans implemented were in 1965,1966-67,1967-68, and 1968-69.

Fourth Plan 1969-74. This officially commenced on Iм April 1969. Growth and stability were the main objectives. Agriculture was expected to lead the growth with a rate of 5% per annum. Such growth in agriculture would set up a chain reaction in the economy. The target for the growth rate of industry was set at about 9% per annum. The national income was expected to increase at the rate of 5.5.% per annum. Allowing for the increase of population at the rate of 2.5 %, the per capita' income was expected to increase at the rate of 3% per annum.

Fifth Plan 1974-79. The Plan draft as originally drawn up was part of a long term perspective plan for 10 years. It attempted to co-ordinate various sectors of the economy in terms of the new

'Source: Manorama Year Book 1998. p.517 260

slogan 'Eradicate Poverty' (Garibi Hatav). The long term rate of growth which the economy was expected to achieve on a self-sustaining basis was put at 6.2 % per annum. By the time the National Development Council approved (September 1976), the promises had become obsolete and the total outlay had to be increased from Rs 374,530 million to Rs.393,030 million. This was scrapped unceremoniously when the Janata Party came to power. It reconstituted the Planning Commission and reformulated the strategy. The objective was laid down as Growth for Social Justice instead of 'Growth with Social Justice' - a distinction without a difference. The new pattern was the 'Rolling Plan' which merely meant that every year the performance of the plan wouldl be assessed and a new Plan based on such assessment would be made for the next year - continuous planning, in fact. The Rolling Plan started with an annual plan for 1978- 79 and as a continuation of the terminated 5lh Plan.

Sixth Plan (1980-81 -1984-85). This took into account the achievement and shortcomings of the previous three decades of planning. The actual expenditure stood at Rs 1,092,971 million as against the envisaged total public sector outlay of Rs.975,000 million at 1979-80 prices. This accounted for a 12% increase in nominal terms. The average annual growth rate for the Sixth Plan works out to 5.2% which is equal to the targeted growth rate for the plan period.

Seventh Plan 1985-90. The Plan envisaged an aggregate outlay of Rs.3,481,480 million with a public sector outlay of Rs. 1,800,000 million and ended with an average rate of growth of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of 5.3% per annum. The final year of the Seventh Plan saw the growth of National Income by 4% largely contributed to by the manufacturing and service sectors.

Eighth Plan 1992-97. The Plan recognised the need for a reorientation of planning in keeping with the process of economic reforms and restructuring of the economy. Though a tangible change in the ongoing development process can be effected only over a period of time, the review of the initial experience enables us to discern the direction of change and emerging key features with a view to identifying the measures adopted. The Plan emphasised - a) human development as the main focus of planning, b) a large economic space for the private sector, c) physical and social infrastructure development by the public sector (allowing at the same time the private sector to participate), and d) a greater role to the market to infuse economic efficiency even in the working of the public sector. The Plan proposed a growth rate of 5.6 % per annum during the plan period and the total outlay of the plan was projected to be Rs 7,980,000 million.

Ninth Plan 1997-2002. The objectives set forth are a) priority to agriculture and rural development with a view to generating productive employment and eradication of poverty; b) accelerating the growth rate of the economy with stable prices; c) ensuring food and nutritional security for the vulnerable sections of society; d) providing the basic minimum services for safe drinking water, primary health care facilities, universal primary education, shelter and connections to other plaaces in their area to all the population; e) containing the growth rate of population; f) ensuring environmental sustainability of the development process through participation of people; g) empowerment of women and socially disadvantaged groups (Scheduled Castes, Tribes and Poor Backward Classes) and minorities; h) promoting and developing Panchayat Raj, Cooperatives etc.; and i) strengthening efforts to build self-reliance. The total outlay of the Plan will be in the order of Rs. 8,800,000 million. 261

Appendix - 2: The rise and fall of Kudimaramath (tank system maintenance)

Kudimaramath is the traditional community-based repair and maintenance system of tanks in Tamil Nadu. The decline of this system has been attributed in one study to the Raiyatwari Settlement in contrast to its persistence in the zamindari areas. Another study has attributed it to the disintegration of village communities and increased absentee landlordism. Yet, another theory is that indigenous irrigation systems were maintained by overlords and not by community participation. Once these overlords were overthrown by the colonial regime the community lost interest in their upkeep.

In a detailed study of the kudimaramath system, "Kudimaramath Controversy in Madras Presidency", S.Ramnathan points out that in the late 18"1 and early 19th centuries three different types of land tenure were prevalent in the Madras Presidency, viz Permanent Lease, Raiyatwari Settlement, and Village Tenure. Under both Permanent Lease and Village Tenure tenants were expected to maintain the irrigation sources, the government having no control over them. But the Raiyatwari tenure, which was a theoretical settlement between individual ryots and the state, gradually paved the way for the disintegration of community control over land and other resources. With the Raiyatwari tenure, common property resources like tanks were vested in the government. The Raiyatwari tenure spread to large percentage of the territory.

With the introduction of the Raiyatwari tenure in 1822, the government considerably expanded the civil engineering department and in 1825 brought it under the Board of Revenue. In 1836 a Public Works Department (PWD) was constituted with eight divisions each headed by a civil engineer. By 1850 there were 24 commissioned officers besides 11 officers temporarily employed. While civil engineers prepared the estimates, the execution of the work was done by the revenue department, assisted by a maistry whose job also included supervising the execution of the repairs which were usually carried out by the community. The total number of personnel remained much too low to have a real connection with the large number of tanks in the area. Nevertheless the PWD held the responsibility over all tanks in the Raiyatwari tenure system. Later this responsibility was spread out over all the tanks.

After 1850 colonial officials became increasingly aware of the status of irrigation sources in the Madras Presidency. The elaborate procedures required for the Raiyatwari Settlement paved the way for the listing of tanks and preparation of Tank Memoirs by the 1880s. The firsteve r report about the deterioration of irrigation sources was made by Arthur Cotton in the early 19,h century. He pointed out that "...nearly all tanks in the country, and nearly all channels also, except those of Tanjore, and the very large ones of other districts, water-less lands than they once did, many only one-forth, and very great numbers from one-half to three-fourths; and the actual revenue derived from several districts, some years ago, compared with the present, fully supports me in this opinion".

The 1852 Commission on Public Works concluded that "in short all works in the country, with a few exceptions, are in a state that may be called below par." The report of the 1869 Commission of Public Works also stated that "...the minor irrigation works are not in the state of efficiency in which they ought to be."

The 1852 report said that under the native rulers (zamindars), the owners of irrigated land contributed in kind a special cess (erimerah) towards the maintenance of irrigation sources. This 262

special fund, over and above the land revenue, carried with it an express obligation of the native rulers to maintain the irrigation sources. In colonial days, this cess was merged with the land revenue demand, but the government did not carry out the maintenance of irrigation sources. This then became the pattern of a century of struggle: if the maintenance is a government domain, and if the ryots in fact still pay for the maintenance, how is it then justifiable to demand unpaid labour for it?

In the execution of repairs, however, the 1852 report found fault with everything native. The native revenue officials were "...utterly without science, and with very little empirical knowledge or practical experience or aptitude for the work..." They also practised gross fraud and embezzlement. This was remedied by the creation of a civil engineering department to assist the revenue department. In fact, the report suggested that durability of indigenous irrigation works "were it not for the science employed on them lately, many of the works that we now see in operation would have been out of use..." but it felt that the civil engineering department needed to be continuously enlarged and advocated the setting up of a separate public works department.

The term kudimaramath appears to have become operative in official documents only around 1870, although Colonel Munroe had, as early as 1803, described some of the maintenance activities carried out 'customarily' by the community. In 1858 the government passed the Madras Compulsory Labour Act to make lawful the enforcement of compulsory labour by village communities whenever breaches occurred due to innundation. Section 6 of the Act, which was concerned with 'customary labour', did not use the term kudimaramath. Only in 1869 did revenue officials write that "...ryots have not generally met their obligations in respect of the performance of minor repairs to the extent which the universal custom of the country would warrant."

Reasons put forward by officials for the decline of kudimaramath depended on the department to which they belonged. PWD engineers complained that the revenue officials who were expected to enforce kudimaramath under the 1858 Act seldom assisted and even prevented procurement of unpaid labour by the PWD. Revenue officials felt that the very creation of the PWD led to the decline of kudimaramath. A commissioner observed that there was a readiness to revive the kudimaramath obligations by communities only if the irrigation sources were transferred back to the revenue department. According to him the PWD, given its centralising character and antagonism towards the "traditional feelings and instincts of the people", was ill- suited to keep alive a popular institution like kudimaramath, which depends upon the "...goodwill and administrative allegiance of a vast population of small ryots to their own village heads and landlords, and the land agency of the country."

According to revenue officials the PWD gave the repair works to professional contractors-in at least one case in spite of the fact that the maniyakar of a village in North Arcot district had requested the PWD to award them the contract for the annual tank and channel clearances. These clearances were not done at the right time. After the late 1860s kudimaramath was pronounced either dead or declining in official documents.

The 1869 commission sent a questionnaire to state officials asking whether it was customary to exact unpaid labour. The response was that it was exacted in the case of certain items of work, for instance the maintenance of tank bunds, and executed voluntarily in the case of other items, like the clearance of distribution channels. The collector of Bellary district cited an instance 263 where the PWD forced the peasants to pay half the sum spent on the repair of sluices and calingulahs in a tank because some of the carts of the community were driven over the apron of the calingulah. Another official cited the case of the large main channel of the Kumbham tank, which was formerly cleared by the government, but in 1864 brought under customary labour. This arbitrariness was further compounded by the PWD which defined all works whose value was below Rs.20 as community work. An official pointed out that the limit was very arbitrary and imposed on the community works which strictly did not form part of kudimaramath.

What were the works that were done or expected to be done by the community? In 1861 the government listed about eight such items which were incorporated into the Board of Revenue's standing order: filling up of gullies on tank bunds and channels; checking the growth of weeds on bunds; clearing away of underwood from tank bunds; clearing out deposits from tank sluices; clearing and repairing the earthwork of petty and branch channels, and desilting the channels; repairing the supply channels; watching the bunds during rainy weather; and constructing ring bund at breaches, strengthening the tanks during the cultivation season.

In the 1869 commission the major debate among officials was whether the first three items mentioned in the standing order were part of kudimaramath or not. They agreed that distribution channels were well maintained by the community but not the tanks, unless kudimaramath was forced. One official held that it was unfair to expect the community to maintain tanks over and above the distribution channels. Two other officials pointed out that the communities had often refused to maintain the tanks because they held that the government owned them and hence the government should do the work.. In Tirunelveli district, for instance, it was pointed out that about two to five merkals (a volume measure) for each kotah (roughly two bags) of paddy out of the total output was set apart as erimerah and, since these were resumed in the revenue demand by the government, it was held that the job of maintaining the tank developed onto the government. A revenue official of Tirunelveli district, on examining the accounts of the revenue demand, found that the erimerah was included in it: "It is therefore clear that the ryots pay for kudimaramath required of them, and that it forms a portion of the money assessment entered in their pattas (title deeds). It thus appears that Section 6 of Act 1 of 1858 is not applicable to this district for the charge on account of 'kudimaramath' being included in the present assessment, is invariably collected in full and the ryots are thereby relieved of all obligations." A very interesting observation was made by Munroe on the closure of breaches in 1803: "when a tank bursts after the crop is pretty far advanced, the ryots, to save themselves from the consequent loss of all their past labour, which must ensue if the breach is not instantly built up, are commonly active enough in repairing the damage but were the same thing to happen before the grain was sown, they would give themselves no trouble about it but apply to the amildar to execute the work at public expense."

Two collectors questioned the morality of shifting the cost of repairs to the community when the government charged an enhanced assessment on irrigated crops and derived a benefit from the irrigation works. One collector held that it was an injustice "...to tell a man that you will supply him with water for a certain price, to take that price from him, and then compel him to dig out the channels which brings the water for which he has paid, crowning the proceeding by calling his labour gratuitous."

The Famine Commission of 1880 was the first to class all tanks irrigating more than 200 acres as "imperial works", to be done under the charge of PWD and the rest as "local works", to be 264

handed over to the community. But ryots in Peryakulam minor basin in Madurai district where it was first attempted, declined to take over the tanks on the terms offered, citing disunity, insufficiency of grants-in-aid proposed, and the fact that government declined to grant any remission. In 1889, the Madras government gave up the plan for the proposed transfer of minor works to the ryots. It also declared that the government would undertake, under the most economical arrangement possible, the duty of maintaining the tanks. But the government of India considered it useless to spend money on irrigation sources which the villages refused to maintain and which the PWD also could not maintain. It suggested the abandonment of all tanks below 50 acres to the ryots, with the PWD restoring and maintaining the rest. But the Board of Revenue reacted very strongly to this proposal for abandoning about 19,000 tanks. The government of Madras concurred and all tanks continued to be the property of the government.

The Irrigation Commission of 1901, however, was reluctant to admit that kudimaramath was beyond restoration. It suggested that if kudimaramath was dead in an area or if the community preferred, a money cess in lieu of labour may be levied, and its administration left to the panchayat. Nonetheless, it reiterated the need to revive kudimaramath, if necessary even by legislation to enforce kudimaramath or to impose money cess. But the irrigation bills of 1906, 1922,1924,1928, and 1934-36, introduced to secure this end, proved abortive.

In 1917 district collectors were asked to report on the status oi kudimaramath. It was found that the system was working satisfactorily in nine districts out of 26. In Chengalpattu district, where kudimaramath obligations were considerable, there was a tendency to evade and even resist the enforcement of the act of 1858. In South Arcot district the ryots viewed all works as devolving on the government. In Coimbatore the ryots were said to be apathetic if not distinctly hostile, to the system. Almost all districts reported in 1917 that the clearance of the distribution channels in the ayacut and the stemming of breaches were done voluntarily by the communities but invariably pressure had to be applied to clear the weeds and to carry out ordinary repairs to the tanks. In 1946, as part of the Grow More Food campaign, the government passed an order that kudimaramath might be taken up at government expense where irrigation had materially suffered, and where there was likely to be an appreciable increase in food production as a result of the execution of such works. Three years later, an order declared that since kudimaramath was performed perfunctorily by the ryots "...the proper course to deal with this problem is to take over gradually the kudimaramath works in the province for execution at government cost relieving the ryots of their obligation and that if necessary a separate cess may collected from the ryots in lieu of their kudimaramath liability".

Source: Dying Wisdom, Rise, fall and potential of India's traditional water harvesting systems- 1997. CSE publication pp. 250-254. 265

Appendix - 3: Interview schedule -Village-level respondents 01 Name 02 Father's Name 03 Age 04 Sex 05 Number of Dependents 06 Occupation 07 Total Land Holding 08 Command Area 09 Wet 10 Dry 11 Tenant/Owner 12 Horticulture Land 13 Total Income 14 From Agriculture 15 From Other Sources 16 Live Stock Owned 17 General Status 18 What do you think about your tank? 19 Can you share something about the history of your tank? 20 Kindly share your views on the present status of the tank. 21 Can you explain how your tank was maintained in the past and in the present? 22 How are problems in relation to water distribution, cropping pattern, maintenance are solved at present ? 23 What, according to you, is the utility of your village tank at present? 24 What are the extended range of functions of a well maintained tank, in general? 25 What benefits can be derived by the fanners and other members of the community if your tank is completely restored in all its aspects? 26 What are the problems associated with the restoration of the tank? 27 Can you say something about the encroachments in your tank? How are these issues tackled? Can they be tackled effectively? 28 Did your tank experience any breaches or emergencies in the recent past ? If so, how did you manage to overcome such problems? 29 What are the social and cultural events associated with your tank? Can you explain them in detail? 30 Who should be the major actors in tank restoration and what should be their role? 31 What role you think that the farmers, panchayat, politicians, state government, voluntary organisations, women and financial institutions should play in tank restoration? 32 How much do you think was invested on repairs and maintenance of your tank during the past 5-15 years? 33 According to you what constitutes an ideal tank management? 34 Will a tank management committee representing all the sections of the village help in the proper functioning of the tanks? 35 What are the safeguards you would like to be in-built into the system to protect it against short and long term social and political changes? 36 What kind of educational inputs are needed to generate community consciousness? 37 What kind of policies are needed to strengthen the tank irrigation system? 266

38 Finally we would like you to share your feelings and suggestions for improving the management of tanks in your region, state, and the country? 267

Appendix - 4: Likert scale statements

These are statements reflecting the attitude of the respondents to different variables. They are based on the interaction with farmers in various meetings organised by SHIP from 1988-1995. A Likert five-point scale is used to measure the attitude of the respondents.

1-Strongly agree: 2-Agree: 3-No comment: 4-Disagree: 5-Strongly disagree. (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) 39 Tanks are no longer useful to the community 12 3 4 5 40 Tanks help in strengthening the leadership in the village 12 3 4 5 41 The silt from the tanks is a good manure for the CA fields 12 3 4 5 42 The ground water table increases when there is water in the tanks 12 3 4 5 43 There should be a separate department exclusively for tanks 12 3 4 5 44 The Panchayat should have full authority for the tank 12 3 4 5 45 The revenue collected from the tank and related activities should be spent for the restoration and maintenance of the tank 12 3 4 5 46 There is too much of silt deposited in the tank every year 12 3 4 5 47 Resources are not being adequately allocated for tanks 12 3 4 5 48 The community is less motivated to restore the tank because water is available in the boreholes 12 3 4 5 49 Restoring a tank needs a lot of money and farmers cannot afford it 12 3 4 5 50 The tank bed is shrinking in its size and capacity because of encroachers patronised by the politicians 12 3 4 5 51 Restoring the tank will only help the landlords 12 3 4 5 52 The tank does not belong to us anymore 12 3 4 5 53 Tanks promote cohesion, cooperation and community affinity 12 3 4 5 54 Tanks should be restored by the state 12 3 4 5 55 Given an opportunity to control and manage, the village can take the responsibility and get full benefits from the tanks 12 3 4 5 56 We are caught in a debt trap over the years and therefore depend on the state to restore and maintain the tank 1 2 3 4 5 57 The shift of authority from state to Panchayat will make a difference 12 3 4 5 58 The green revolution contributed to the degradation of tanks 1 2 3 4 5 59 There are too many tenants and absentee landlords near the tank 1 2 3 4 5 60 The festivities associated with tanks give us the opportunity to remember the existence of tanks 12 3 4 5 61 The village is divided on virtually all fronts and there is tension which prevents us from cooperating with one another 12 3 4 5 62 We need external agencies to intervene in solving our problems 12 3 4 5 63 Tanks are central to our life 12 3 4 5 64 Tanks, if restored fully, can benefit everyone 12 3 4 5 65 The Panchayat does not control the tank and there are no adequate resources allocated for its maintenance 12 3 4 5 66 Politics should be kept out of tank management and resource allocation 12 3 4 5 67 Re-orientation of development policies is the urgent need 12 3 4 5 68 We will become partners in the process of restoring tanks 12 3 4 5 69 If all the tanks are restored to their capacity, the economy of the region, the state, and the country will improve 12 3 4 5 268

70 Tank management by the local villagers means décentralisation of power 12 3 4 5 71 There is no common element in the present society that can bind communities together 12 3 4 5 72 The tanks are used as dumping lagoons and for many other purposes 12 3 4 5 73 Tanks help in controlling floods down stream, hence, we are not interested in their restoration 12 3 4 5 74 Tank irrigation system is an age old practice evolved over centuries and managed by the communities until they were taken over by the state 12 3 4 5 269

Appendix - 5: Interview schedule - supra-local respondents

75 Name 76 Position Held 77 Age 78 Sex 79 Experience in the present position 80 Kindly share your views on the tank irrigation system in the region, state and country? 81 Can you throw some light on the general functions of a well functioning tank? 82 What are the problems associated with tank irrigation systems in general? And can you explain them in detail? 83 What are your views on the ongoing debate about Major Vs Minor irrigation systems and the resource allocation since independence, which is lopsided? 84 How much do you think has been invested on minor irrigation since independence? 85 What role you think that the farmers, panchayat, politicians, state government, voluntary organisations, women and financial institutions should play in tank restoration? 86 What are the present policies in relation to minor irrigation with special reference to tanks and how do you think these should be tuned to improve the system? 87 According to you, what is the ideal tank managementsystem and how do you propose to put it into operation? 88 How do you think we can overcome the political and administrative bottle-necks which seem to contribute to the degradation of the system? 89 What are the safeguards you would like to be built into the system to protect it against short and long term socio-political changes? This pertains to the handing over of the tanks to the panchayat raj institutions. 90 Finally, we would like you to share your feelings and suggestions for improving the tank irrigation system in the state and the country. 270

Appendix - б: The economics of a brick kiln

As a first step soil from the desired tank will be tested by experts and a sample often bricks will be manufactured. They will be sun dried to see if there are any cracks. If there are no cracks then the soil is suitable for making bricks. In case of cracks, the proportion of raw materials, such as ash and rice husk, shall be increased accordingly. Black soil, sticky soil and mud require equal proportions of ash and rice husk. As opposed to this, soils which contain sufficient percentage of sand require less ash and rice husk.

• Two labourers in a day can prepare the mixture (soil [two tractor loads], ash, water and rice husk) and make it like a paste. It is left like that for one full day. One tractor can take nearly 3 cu.mt. of silt. • Flat surface land will be cleared of ups and downs and bushes (this is called Kallam). • On the second day before sunrise the paste is transported into the Kallam. Wooden frames are used to make the bricks and the wet bricks are sun dried for one week in the Kallam. • As a next step, once the bricks are dried, finishing touches are given using the local implements. The bricks are again dried for another two or three days and measures are taken to protect them from rain by covering them with palmyra leaves or any waste material. This process continues until enough bricks are made for one kiln. Normally, kiln sizes are of the order of 50,000 to 1,00,000 bricks. • Once the bricks are ready, the kiln is arranged and wood and rice husks are burnt in it. The kiln is heated for 7 to 10 days. The bricks are then ready for marketing. The size of the brick will be 9" length X 4" width X 3" height.

Expenditure involved in manufacturing 100,000 bricks:

1. For making 1,000 raw bricks labour for two Rs.100. X 100 = 10,000. 2. For preparing the kiln for 1,000 raw bricks Rs. 130. X 100 = 13,000. 3. Twenty tonnes of wood @ Rs.500. per ton X 20 = 10,000. 4. Five truck (big lorry) loads of husk® Rs 4,000X5 = 20,000. 5. Four tractor loads of ash @ Rs 1,500. X 4 = 6,000. 6. Two lorry loads of charcoal @ Rs.3,000. X 2 = 6,000. 7. Total manufacturing cost for 100,000 bricks = 65,000.

Return: Sale of bricks at kiln, 1,000 @ Rs 750 X 100 = 75,000. Net return Rs. 75,000. - Rs. 65,000. = 10,000. 271

Appendix· 7: The economics of mangalore tiles

The costs are based on the experience of Srinivasa Tiles, Thukkuluru. The costs are for manufacturing one tile. One tractor load of raw silt = 90 cu.ft. = 3.5 cu mt.( .09 cu.ft. per tile).

S.No. Stages Days Cost 01 Raw Material -loading, unloading & transportadorι One 0.04 np 02 Aging beds Soaking Seven 0.10 np Mixing Ash 0.15 np 03 Machine processing -Labour One 0.15 np -Moulds 0.01 np -Oil lubricants 0.10 np -Power 0.10 np -wear and tear 0.10 np -Supervision 0.10 np 04 Sun drying -Labour 10-15 0.05 np 05 Burning -Loading Seven 0.02 np -Burning (Rice Husk) 0.50 np -Cooling 06 Unloading One 0.02 np 07 Overheads Supervision, Administration etc. 0.10 np 08 Working capital interest — 0.50 np

TOTAL 2.04 np

Total Facotry Cost: Machinery and infrastructure Rs. 3,000,000. Working Capital Rs. 1,000,000. Production capacity (per annum) 1,500,000 tiles

Wastage Losses: Production stage 10% Kiln firing stage 15%

There are 24 factories in and around Nuzvid and Vissannapeta and 250 factories in A.P.State. The factories in this belt employ directly 2,500 labourers and indirectly provide employment potential for another 2,000 workers. The total production capacity of the factories is estimated to be about 40,000,000 tiles per annum. On an average the factories require 2,500 tractor trips of silt for manufacturing tiles per factory per year. Rs 2,000/- are paid to the Mines and Geology department in tax; this is based on the number of kilns in the factory. 272

Appendix - 8: The economics of cultivating paddy in one acre

The economics of paddy cultivation were based on the extensive interviews conducted by the motivators and the discussions held with the farmers. The prices were cross checked with the agricultural department and local market for accuracy. The average yield was taken for computing the returns to the farmer. Any excess produce will be an added benefit to the farmer.

Cost (Rs.) Tilling expenses for seed bed 100. Cost of seeds 37.5 kg. 150. Preparation of seed bed two labourers 100. Four kg. of fertilisers 20. Seed removal, two men labourers one day 100. Tilling expenses for five times @ Rs.200. 1,000. Three tractor loads of farm yard manure @ Rs. 400. 1,200. Transplanting, 12 women labourers @ Rs.30. 360. Removal of weed, 6 women labourers two times @Rs.25. 300. Three bags chemical fertilisers @ Rs.400. 1,200. Pesticides and insecticides 200. Cutting charges, 12 women labourers @ Rs.25. 300. Harvesting, threshing and bundling, 10 labourers 500. Transporting of paddy to farmer's house 100.

Total production cost 5,630.

Govt, procurement price for paddy per bag of 75 kg. Rs.350. X 30 10,500. Less production cost 5,630. Return to the farmer 4,870. 273

Appendix - 9: Forest encroachments - a case study of Enamadala

On 28,h October 1995 I was approached by a forest official with great anxiety and concern seeking the intervention of the organisation. It was reported in the newspapers that nearly 40 hectares of forest land were being cleared by nearly 400 villagers of Sunkollu. I visited the area with the officials to assess the situation personally. As I entered the forest belt I saw at least 300 people, men and women, young and old, with all their instruments who went on clearing the bushes and removing the rootstock. I parked my motorbike and entered into conversation with them. When they saw me, they stopped clearing the bushes and entered into conversation. 1 gathered from them that they were poor and hence would like to clear the forest so that they could plant a mango orchard for their livelihood. It seemed that they were promised the title deeds by the leaders of a political party. I told them that under the constitution even the President of India can not allow alienation of forest lands. No person can ever have the title deeds in scheduled areas. It was unfortunate that these people had fallen prey to the false promises of the political parties. I requested them to reconsider their decision to cut the forests and find other ways of improving their economic situation. It was decided that night we would have a village meeting. There was a big gathering and the pros and cons of deforestation were discussed at great length. I told them, "We only have limited forest resources, and we need at least 33% of the green cover to maintain the balance. If we go on removing the root stock, which is the essential characteristic of the forest, very soon we will be left with no forests in the area and imagine what kind of land we are going to leave behind for our future generations. The state government has many programmes to help you overcome poverty. There is a programme called Joint Forest Management (JFM) under which you can become the custodians of your forest and protect it while enjoying the usufructs. You need to form into Vana Samrahhana Samithi (Forest Protection Council) and follow the guidelines suggested by the department. We can invite the forest officials and have an open dialogue with them about this programme and see how we can make best use of it". After a couple of hours the villagers and the organisation agreed to continue our efforts with the department and see how one can derive optimum benefits without damaging the forests. During this meeting it was brought to our notice that the entire range is under encroachments. The worst being Kannimerla where an encroachment settlement was established under the auspices of the another political party. Enamadala, one of the study villages, Rangapuram, Siddharthanagar and Katrenipadu are some of the many villages that came to light because of encroachments. See Box for newspaper story on the encroachments.

BoxA.L The 'success' story of encroachers (From the Hindu Staff Reporter, published on November 11,1995), Vijayawada Nov.10

Strangers are not welcome to the hamlet. Outsiders' trying to cross the strategically situated bridge across the Nagarjuna Sagar canal flowing beside the hamlet are greeted with sticks, sickles, other farm implements and prevented from entering the village. Chandra Rajeswera Rao Nagar, a hamlet of Kannimerla village, near Nuzvid, of Krishna district, has been the focus of a land struggle between landless peasants, organised by the Community Party of India (CPI), and the Forest Department. Even a team of journalists who went there recently were given similar treatments. They were kept standing outside the village until party leaders arrived. They were not allowed to take photographs and the leaders spoke to them only after the journalists showed them their identity cards. 274

About 600 families in three hamlets of Kannimerla-Parvathapuram villages, in the jargon of the Communist Party of India, 'effectively occupied' a few thousand acres more than a decade ago. They had built their huts there and each family was allotted an acre of land for cultivation. They plan to allot the remaining land in a phased manner. Mango saplings have been planted and other seasonal inter-crops like pulses are being cultivated. In the non-agricultural season these people collect firewoodfro m the forest to make a living. No objections were raised by the Forest Department when houses were built. Officials entered the scene only when they got information that mango saplings had been planted and that the villagers were planning to develop orchards. There is very little area in Krishna district which can really be called forest. Most of the forest is degraded and is being gradually encroached upon and converted into mango gardens for which the climate and soil are perfectly suited. According to the statistics there are about 66,000 hectares of forest land in the district. The figure has been the same for over a decade now. Forest official say about 500 acres of department land have been cleared and are now being cultivated at Kannimerla-Parvathapuram, in Bathulavarigudem forest block. In Rangapuram block another 250 acres are cleared and preparations are being made for cultivating. Near Sunkollu in Bathulavarigudem block 40 acres of forest land have been cleared of shrub and undergrowth by a big group of 800 villagers. There is support by political parties for this illegal activity to all the three places, they say. Forest officials could do very little in these places.

27 p.c. land encroached.

The success of 'encroachers' at Kannimerla-Parvathapuram in resisting the official machinery from evicting them is being observed with keen interest by leaders and politicians. Leaders of more than one party have already asked supporters to occupy forest land so that they could later demand pattas. According to a survey made in 1991, about 3,600 hectares, that is 27 percent of the forest land in Nuzvid division, has been encroached. At several places encroachment is going on in a systematic way with the backing of political parties. Mrs. C.Suvama, DFO, says the Central Forest Conservation Act 1980 has changed the scenario completely. Things have been defined very clearly and land belonging to the Forest Department, whether it is covered with thick forest, degraded forest or no forest, has to be protected. The scheme of leasing out degraded forest land on 'tree patta' basis to weaker sections for raising fuelwood plantations could not be implemented due to some constraints. The scheme also attracted provisions of the Forest Conservation Act 1980 and was, therefore, withdrawn. However, the beneficiaries, who were given half an acre of land, are today enjoying the fruit of the land. Considering the importance and problems of degradation of forests in the vicinity of human habitation and the need to regenerate the same, the Government introduced the JFM programme. According to the programme, the village community is constituted into a 'vanasamrakshna samithi' (VSS) to plan and carry out the forest programmes jointly with the Forest Department. In most places the samithis have agreed to abide by the guidelines of the department. The villagers can enjoy the fruit while the forest department would continue to have 'administrative control' over the valuable land (in Nuzvid area the cost of land is about Rs. 1 lakh per acre). This scheme again is being rejected by Kannimerla-Parvathapuram villagers. They want the 275

Government to give them the land so that they can cultivate it. They want to develop mango gardens until the trees grow pulses and other such crops can be cultivated to sustain them. Mr. Ch.Koteswara Rao, CPI leader fromth e village, who has been steering the land struggle for over a decade, says that the land in question does not belong to the Forest Department at all. It belonged to the Mylavaram Zamindar and was taken over by the Government under the Estate Abolition Act. 1948. In 1970 the CPI, as part of its land struggle, rehabilitated several landless poor from villages in Krishna district in these hamlets. Forest Department claim. Mr.Koteswara Rao says, though the forest department is making claims for this land, every day a prospective buyer comes. The Zamindari pattas, though declared null and void by the Eluru Settlement Officer, have buyers. Every weekend a car comes to the village and there have been several confrontations between the villagers and the prospective buyers. There have been two attempts on his life, says Mr.Koteswara Rao. Mr.T.Haranath of the Society for Human Integrity and Prosperity (SHIP) says the situation is more volatile than it appears. He is filing a public interest petition to stop this deforestation. His organisation has been trying to bring about a compromise.

SHIP began to ascertain facts and organise meetings in these villages. Looking at the gravity of the situation and the helplessness of the forest department officials, we thought that the issue needed to be brought to the public attention. We organised a visit of the journalists and mass media to the deforested areas. The story was narrated by the reporters. The All India Radio, Vijayawada, gave a wide coverage to the issue and one of the regional language TV channels highlighted it. This sent signals to the party leaders and they visited SHIP for a dialogue on the issue. I mentioned to them that there are other ways of helping the poor and damaging our own natural resources is not the ideal solution to the problems. When it was mentioned that the land encroached belongs to the feudal landlords, I suggested that when there is a dispute over the claim of ownership it is best resolved through the records. It was even stated that the organisation would file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court seeking its intervention to stop the whole issue of encroachments and degradation of forest lands. We used all our contacts at the national and international level to address the issue.

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), based at Delhi sent its correspondent to Nuzvid. He visited the area and made a report which was published in the January 1996 issue of 'Down to Earth'. During the course of his visit the journalist met the leaders of all political parties in the region. Paladugu Venkata Rao from the Congress Party gave an official statement in his capacity as the General Secretary of the party that he would encourage encroachments. The local leader of the Telugu Desam refused to entertain the reporter and gave a telephone interview. He admitted that he encouraged the encroachments. Also the CPI leadership took a view of encouraging the poor to encroach the forest lands. In other words, all the politicians openly said they were out to undermine the law of the land.

On 10* November, 1995 a detailed telegram narrating the extent of damage caused to the forests in the region was sent to the Chief Justice of India with copies marked to the Prime Minister, Minister for Environment and Forests, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, the Chief Minister, the Chief Secretary, the Principal Secretary, Department of Environment and Forests and the High Court Chief Justice seeking the Court's interventions to stop this destruction which in our view was purely politically motivated. As a response to this telegram, the Assistant Registrar (PIL 276

CELL) sent a directive to the Secretary, Department of Environment and Forests, Government of Andhra Pradesh, ref no.8265/SC/PIL/95 dated 8th February 96, requesting the state government to take necessary action in the matter. An open Memorandum was addressed to the Members of the Parliament by the organisation. This was published in the newspapers. The organisation voiced its apprehension over the encroachments' scenario: "We wonder whether the support to encroachments in notified forest areas forms part of the central philosophy of the political parties".2

The then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, while touring the state, announced that nearly one million hectares of degraded forest land will be distributed to the landless poor across the state. The implications of such a political promise are beyond imagination. We were very worried about it and sent frantic appeals to the Minister for Environment and Forests, Government of India, and pleaded his intervention in the matter. The organisation made it very clear that it extends its full support to the efforts of the government and political parties to raise the standard of living of the poor. However this cannot be at the expense of denuding the forests by deforestation and encroachments. The organisation was invited to be a member of the District and State level Review committees. There it aired its concerns about the gravity of the situation.

As a follow up of the PIL sent to the Chief Justice, SHIP prepared itself to file the full petition in the High Court. Ramanujam, a practising advocate at the bar, offered his legal assistance to the organisation in drafting the petition. During the days when this petition was being drafted there was a special emissary from the Ministry of Environment and Forests who suggested to the state government to adhere to the norms stipulated in the JFM programme. The state government was left with little option but to subscribe to it. The Chief Minister on his part stated that the distribution of these degraded lands shall be under the framework of JFM. It was a welcome gesture and we refrained from further filing of the petition.

While all this was happening we continued with our village meetings, appealing to the people to preserve the limited forest resources and become partners under the JFM programme. The response from Enamadala was forthcoming. One of the motivators of SHIP took a lot of interest in organising the community and arranging a series of meetings. Finally on 23rd December 1995, the Chief Conservator of Forests, (JFM) visited the area and "Sree Rama Vana Samrakshana Samithi" was launched. In the firstphas e 50 hectares of forest land was allocated to the samithi to grow fruit bearing species that hardly require any special irrigation nor are grown on a commercial basis. A committee was formed and the department promised to release the first instalment of grants. We organised exposure trips to other Samithis in the area and a lot of enthusiasm was seen around. The political parties continued their efforts to disillusion the villagers with false promises of offering them title deeds should they follow their path. One day I was invited by the District Forest Officer to discuss the forthcoming visit of the Chief Minister in connection with the JFM programme. It was stated that the Chief Minister was going to inaugurate the same Samithi at the same place. We made it very clear that we have little interest in the visit of the Chief Minister but we would like to help the department in organising the Samithi. That evening when we organised the meeting with all the villagers and officials being present, I was shocked to see the reaction from the members who blamed the organisation for

2 The Deccan Chronicle dated 12* January 1996. 277 being not truthful and planting our own man in the Samithi. I was taken aback. I made it very clear to the audience that SHIP only ventured into this village, because the villagers asked for it, and if the villagers would prefer that we leave we will do so without any hard feelings. I told the officials that our interest continues to exist in the issue but we would not like to get involved with party politics. I felt strongly that the people who voiced the allegations were drunk and did it at the behest of the CPI. The newspapers reported the reinauguration of the Samithi under the heading "Chief Minister launches Samithi that already was once inaugurated by the officials". There can hardly have been a more open case of party politics trying to appropriate an achievement of a bureaucracy. After all this efforts, the people got attuned themselves to party politics. The council is not working and no grants under JFM were released. The forest department on their part filed cases against encroachers.

Today, the villagers visit the courts frequently only to be told that they should come back at a later date since the case has beenadjourned. The forest department officials have filed cases on these villagers and the battle is going on. Neither of the political parties were able to render any assistance in this regard. It is a game of hide and seek. It is a clear indication of how the villagers can become victims of the whims and fancies of political parties and their populist promises. The undue advantage taken by the political parties is eminently clear since there is no coordination between various government departments in establishing the facts. The loopholes in the system are exploited by the parties to their advantage. 278 REFERENCES

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Verwaarlozing en herstel van kleinschalige irrigatie in Krishna district, India Een case study over motivaties, capaciteit en partnerschap interventies op dorpsniveau

In de staat Andra Pradesh in Zuid-India bevinden zich 73.000 kleinschalige reservoirs ('tanks') die gebruikt worden voor irrigatie. Ze vullen zich met water gedurende het natte seizoen, en dat wordt dan gebruikt om de natte rijstregelmati g te bevloeien en, als er daarna nog water over is, om een 'droog' gewas zoals bonen van water te voorzien, zodat er ook in het droge seizoen een oogst mogelijk is. Daarnaast vervullen de tanks vele andere functies, zoals voor drinkwater, viswater, speelwater voor de kinderen en water waarin de karbauwen (waterbuffels) een paar uur per dag in kunnen verblijven, waardoor ze meer melk en nageslacht geven.

De tanks hebben veelal een oppervlakte van ongeveer 10 hectare en zijn ontworpen voor het irrigeren van ongeveer 20 hectare land. De tanks zijn gemaakt, soms al in een zeer ver verleden, door een aarden dam op te werpen die in het zacht glooiende landschap een dalletje afsluit en waarachter het water blijft staan. Bovenstrooms van de tank is meestal gezorgd voor een goede wateraanvoer door middel van aanvoergeulen; vaak is de tank ook verbonden met een andere tank bovenstrooms, zodat het overlaatwater van die tank kan worden opgevangen. In de aarden dam bevindt zich een afsluitbare duiker waar water kan worden doorgelaten om naar de irrigatievelden te stromen. Het water wordt doorgelaten en over de verschillende velden verdeeld door de neerakatti (watermeester).

De verdeling van het water levert geen problemen op in de dorpen van het studiegebied. Er is echter wel een groot probleem met tanks zelf: niemand onderhoudt ze, en daardoor verzamelt zich meer en meer slib op de bodem, terwijl de dam steeds lager wordt of gaten gaat vertonen. Daardoor kunnen de tanks steeds minder water bevatten. Het merendeel van de tanks in Andra Pradesh is in een dergelijke slechte staat van onderhoud. Hoe heeft het zover kunnen komen? En wat zijn de factoren die het meest van belang zijn indien men de situatie zou willen verbeteren door middel van een aanpak die de boeren zou moeten stimuleren meer eigen initiatief te nemen? Dat zijn de centrale vragen van dit proefschrift.

Voor de beantwoording van de eerste vraag zijn gegevens verzameld op regionaal niveau, maar vooral op het niveau van twaalf verschillende dorpen, ieder met een of meer tanks. Voor het beantwoorden van de tweede vraag blijven daarvan tien dorpen over, omdat daar de 'partnerschap benadering' van stimulans van tank-herstel is 284 over, omdat daar de 'partnerschap benadering' van stimulans van tank-herstel is uitgevoerd door SHIP, een kleine, lokale NGO waarvan de auteur de leiding heeft. Voor ieder van die tien dorpen kon de mate van succes van de aanpak worden bepaald op een vijfpuntsschaal, die varieert tussen 'geheel falen' en 'volledig succesvol'. Door middel van observatie, dorpsbijeenkomsten, interviews en statistieken zijn gegevens verzameld die verwerkt zijn tot een aantal geaggregeerde variabelen.

De eerste groep van die variabelen betreft de kosten en baten voor tankherstel. Daarbij is het van belang om een onderscheid te maken tussen verschillende sociale systeemniveaus. Wat per saldo voordelig is voor het dorp als geheel hoeft dat namelijk niet te zijn voor de boeren afzonderlijk. Dit, zo blijkt uit de gemaakte kosten- batenanalyse (hoofdstuk 5), is inderdaad het geval bij de tanks. Op het niveau van het dorp als geheel is herstel van de tank zeer rendabel; de baten zijn over een periode van tien jaar vier keer zo hoog als de kosten. Als één afzonderlijke boer echter iets aan de tank zou willen doen kan hij niet de tank 'een beetje herstellen' op een wijze zodat alleen hij de baten zou krijgen. De tank kan alleen als één geheel worden aangepakt, en de baten worden dan verdeeld over alle boeren die irrigeren en gedeeltelijk ook over alle andere inwoners van het dorp. Daarom is geen enkele boer economisch gemotiveerd om de tank in zijn eentje te gaan herstellen, en is er een krachtige collectieve impuls nodig om tot actie te komen. Maar wie zou in zo'n initiatief gaan investeren? Dit klassieke 'probleem van collectieve actie' wordt nog versterkt doordat vele boeren, mede door overheidssubsidies, de beschikking hebben over een eigen put waarmee diep grondwater kan worden opgepompt. Weliswaar zakt de grondwaterstand steeds dieper weg en is water in de tank waarschijnlijk hard nodig om dit grondwater in de diepte aan te vullen, maar zolang de putten nog niet helemaal droog staan nemen ze veel motivatie voor tankherstel weg.

In principe zou de overheid het probleem van collectieve actie goed kunnen oplossen; juist de produktie van collectieve goederen is immers de reden dat er een overheid is. De Indiase overheid heeft echter altijd, ondanks de erfenis van Gandhi en overigens net als de meeste andere overheden, grote moeite gehad om het sociale niveau van dorpsgemeenschappen als actieve partner in het beleid op te nemen. Het irrigatiebeleid is altijd gericht geweest op enerzijds de grootschalige irrigatiewerken van de staat en anderzijds de waterputten van individuele boeren. De tanks in de studiedorpen krijgen een feitelijk slechts symbolische overheidsbijdrage van f 8 per tank per jaar.

Het probleem wordt nog verergerd door dat de boeren de tanks niet zien als echt hun eigen collectief eigendom. In vroeger tijden waren de tanks eigendom van de lokale 285 feodale heersers. Deze eisten meestal een watergebruik-belasting van de boeren op maar hadden tegelijkertijd de plicht om de tank te onderhouden. Deden zij dat niet, dan konden boeren altijd dreigen om de belasting niet te betalen of anderszins een protest organiseren. De functies van de feodale heersers zijn echter overgenomen door de staat, en waar kan een boer dan gaan protesteren? Vóór een dorp het herstel van de tanks zelf ter hand zal nemen is daarom ook een culturele her-oriëntatie nodig: een stap van afhankelijkheidsdenken naar zelfstandigheidsdenken.

Deze materie concretiserend kan worden gesteld dat er in ieder geval twee zaken noodzakelijk zijn wil een dorp tot het herstel van de tanks overgaan: (1) de motivatie om dit te doen (2) de collectieve capaciteit om de middelen te mobiliseren en de actie te organiseren. Deze twee grootheden zijn voor deze dissertatie afzonderlijk gemeten in de tien dorpen, en vervolgens, samen met de hoeveelheid werk die SHIP in het dorp heeft geïnvesteerd, in verband gebracht met het succes of falen van de 'partnerschap­ interventie' van SHIP. Al deze variabelen zijn via tussenstappen zoals de interviewvragen of andere indicatoren gemeten op een vijfpuntsschaal. Zowel motivatie als capaciteit zijn op twee wijzen bepaald, namelijk (a) via interviews, dus zoals motivatie en capaciteit zijn volgens de boeren zelf, en (b) door middel van directe observatie door de onderzoeker.

De collectieve capaciteit zoals bepaald door de onderzoeker zelf heeft een speciaal theoretisch belang omdat hij samenvalt met het begrip (collectief) sociaal kapitaal, dat op het ogenblik opgeld doet in het debat over de bronnen van economische ontwikkeling en een stabiele samenleving. In deze dissertatie is niet getracht om sociaal kapitaal als zodanig te meten omdat het in het algemeen nog zeer onduidelijk is hoe de theoretische kernbegrippen zoals 'onderling vertrouwen' zouden moeten worden geoperationaliseerd. In plaats daarvan is, net zoals een boer die de vruchtbaarheid van zijn bodem schat door te kijken wat er op groeit, gewerkt met een aantal indicatoren. Twee daarvan zijn bijvoorbeeld of een dorp al of niet een eigen festival heeft en of er in een dorp al of niet veel conflicten zijn die niet op dorpsniveau kunnen worden opgelost. Door de scores op deze indicatoren op te tellen zijn de dorpen gerangschikt naar mate van bezit van collectief sociaal kapitaal.

Zo zijn de volgend kernvariabelen voor verdere interpretatie tot stand gekomen: KBAt, zijnde de rentabiliteit van tankherstel in de dorpen ten opzichte van elkaar, bepaald door de kosten-batenanalyse (KBA), staande voor de motivatie zoals bepaald door de onderzoeker. 286 KB Ak, zijnde de kosten van tankherstel in de dorpen ten opzichte van elkaar, bepaald door de kosten-batenanalyse (KBA), staande als alternatieve indicator voor de motivatie zoals bepaald door de onderzoeker. • Zelf-geschatte motivatie, zijnde de motivatiesterkte van de dorpen ten opzichte van elkaar, bepaald als het gemiddelde van een aantal geselecteerde interviewvragen. • CSC, zijnde het collectief sociaal kapitaal van de dorpen ten opzichte van elkaar, bepaald door de onderzoeker via indicatoren als voornoemd. • Zelf-geschatte capaciteit, zijnde de omvang van het sociale kapitaal van de dorpen ten opzichte van elkaar, bepaald als het gemiddelde van een aantal geselecteerde interviewvragen. • SHIP's aandrang, zijnde de mate van inspanning die SHIP in de dorpen heeft gestoken, ten opzichte van elkaar. • En als afhankelijke variabele de mate van succes, evenals alle andere bepaald op een vijfpuntsschaal. Met behulp van deze variabelen is een model voor succes en falen opgebouwd. Er zijn geen verschillende wijzen van operationalisatie van de variabelen uitgeprobeerd. Noch zijn er verschillende modelstructuren uitgeprobeerd. Alleen zijn er, zoals onderstaand aangegeven, enkele verschillende variabelen uitgeprobeerd om capaciteit en motivatie weer te geven. Er is dus bewust nauwelijks inductief toegewerkt naar een 'best fit'. Hiervoor is gekozen omdat de data weliswaar zeer valide zijn, maar tegelijkertijd zo kneedbaar dat er, zeker als ook de modelstmctuur wordt mee-gevarieerd, altijd een fraaie best fit is op te bouwen door een creatief onderzoeker en een goede computer. Het onderstaande model is daarom niet op te vatten als een exploratieve hypothese maar als een veel meer deductief, 'echt' resultaat, ondanks dat het slechts gaat om tien dorpen.

Allereerst is een bivariate analyse gemaakt van alle afzonderlijke onafhankelijke variabelen tegen de ene afhankelijke variabele. De meest opvallende uitkomst daarvan was en sterke positieve correlatie en significantie tussen mate van succes en collectief sociaal kapitaal (CSC) en een sterke correlatie en significantie tussen mate van succes en SHIP's aandrang; tegen de verwachting in was het teken van de correlatiecoëfficiënt echter negatief. Het laatste resultaat kan worden geïnterpreteerd als: hoe groter de aandrang, hoe lager het succes. Dit is echter wel een erg pessimistische interpretatie van SHIP's kwaliteiten, en afkeuring van het werk van SHIP wordt ook in de dorpen waar de 287 inspanningen falen geenszins aangegeven in de interviews. Er lijkt iets anders aan de hand, namelijk dat SHIP blijft proberen iets te bereiken ook als de sociale omstandigheden te ongunstig zijn. Dan ontstaat er een hoge aandrangscore (aandrang = 5), bijvoorbeeld doordat er vele dorpsbijeenkomsten worden georganiseerd, terwijl er toch niets tot stand komt (succes = 0). In de 'succesdorpen' gebeurt het omgekeerde: sluimerende motivaties hoeven door SHIP alleen maar te worden wakker gemaakt (aandrang = 0) en succes volgt (succes = 5). Daarom is in de tweede analyse de variabele omgedraaid en 'responssnelheid' genoemd. Responssnelheid is 5 als er zeer weinig dorpsbijeenkomsten en dergelijke nodig waren voor een begin van actie tot stand kwam, en is 1 als er vele meetings zijn geweest zonder dat er verder iets gebeurde. De interpretatie hiervan is dat SHIP primair de werking heeft van een 'wakkermaker' van sluimerende motivaties, en de responssnelheid dus feitelijk een motivatie-variabele is. Zo zal hij onderstaand ook worden opgevat.

In de tweede analyse is eerst een modelstructuur gekozen, die uitdrukt dat motivatie en capaciteit beide noodzakelijke voorwaarden voor handelen zijn. Deze structuur is: SUCCES = a + b * MIN (CAP, MOT). Dit wil zeggen dat de mate van succes lineair afhangt van het minimum van een capaciteitsfactor en een motivationele factor. Oftewel: als er geen capaciteit is komt er geen collectieve actie, hoe gemotiveerd mensen ook zijn, en omgekeerd.

Als capaciteitsvariabele is steeds het collectief sociaal kapitaal gekozen. Bij de motivatievariabelen zijn er twee die resulteren in een net zo goed model, namelijk KBAk en responssnelheid. Van die twee lijkt de responssnelheid een meer valide variabele, omdat hij direct kan worden gemeten. De modelversie met deze variabele is: SUCCES = 0.5 + 0.9 * MIN (CSC, RS) + LF waarin alle variabelen staan op een vijfpuntsschaal en RS de responssnelheid is. De (Pearson) correlatiecoëfficiënt is 0.91 en Kendall's tau is 0.007. LF is een 'leadership factor' die compenseert voor de relatief hoge successcore (SUCCES = 3) van één dorp met een laag sociaal kapitaal (CSC = 1). Er bevond zich in dat dorp een aannemer die veel autocratisch initiatief nam en toch niet het herstel van de tank naar zijn eigen bedrijf toe trok. Autocratisch leiderschap is geen deel van sociaal kapitaal (in de theorie noch als indicator in dit onderzoek), maar kan blijkbaar soms daar wel voor compenseren.

De praktische implicaties van dit onderzoek zijn van velerlei aard. Een voorbeeld is dat de negatieve correlatie tussen aandrang en succes er uit efficiëntie-overwegingen 288 toe zou moeten leiden dat een NGO als SHIP, indien een dorp niet snel reageert, de inspanning beter direct kan richten op een ander dorp. Zo'n koele stap is echter in tegenspraak met de partnerschap-benadering. Het is in dergelijke gevallen mogelijk het meest geëigend om de inspanningen te verleggen naar een bredere samenlevingsopbouw zonder direct naar fysieke resultaten te streven.

Het theoretische belang van dit (toegepaste) onderzoek betreft onder andere het debat rond sociaal kapitaal. Het laat bijvoorbeeld het zeer concrete belang van sociaal kapitaal zien en geeft aan dat een operationalisatie van sociaal kapitaal door middel van een aantal eenvoudige indicatoren een grote verklarende kracht kan hebben. CV of the researcher

Haranath Tadepally was bom on 1st November 1956 at Tenali, Guntur district, India. In 1977, he graduatedfrom Osmani a University, Hyderabad, with a Bachelor's degree in Social Work. In 1982 he completed his Master of Science in Social Work with the Asian Social Institute, Manila, Philippines. He started his work in rural development in 1973 and had the opportunity to associate himself with a number of voluntary organisations in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere in India. In 1986 he founded the Society for Human Integrity and Prosperity (SHIP) to serve humanity. He was actively involved with the Gandhi Peace Centre (GPC) and the Academy of Gandhian Studies (AGS), national level voluntary organisations. In his capacity as the Coordinator of GPC and the Executive Secretary of AGS, Haranath organised a number of state and national level seminars and conferences on themes related to environment, peace and development. He was actively involved with the preparatory process of the Earth Summit and the Social Summit and represented the organisations with which he was associated. He has been nominated to be on the committees of various international and national working groups working on issues related to environment and sustainable development. During the course of his international travel he has had the privilege of sharing his experiences with a cross section of international society at meetings organised by different universities and NGO movements. His articles have been published in various national and international magazines and he is the Indian Correspondent for IMPACT (a monthly magazine for human transformation) published from Manila. During the last fifteen years he has been actively involved with the farmers of Krishna district in trying to explore community-based solutions to the co-management of natural resources. He has travelled extensively in India and abroad. He is married to Prasuna, a trained social worker, and is blessed with Sri Charitha Madhurima (daughter) and Priyathama Sri Нага Charan Kumar (son).

ISBN 81-86280-01-4