ON the WATERFRONT Promotor: Ir
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ON THE WATERFRONT Promotor: ir. L. Horst, emeritus hoogleraar in de irrigatie Co-promotor: dr B. Crow, Assistant Professor in Sociology, University of California at Santa Cruz, U.S.A. '"*'f* h Onth e Waterfront Water distribution, technology and agrarian change in a South Indian canal irrigation system PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging vand egraa d vandocto r opgeza g vand e rector magnificus van de Landbouwuniversiteit Wageningen, dr CM. Karssen, in het openbaar teverdedige n opvrijda g 16oktobe r 1998 des namiddagst evie r uur in deAul a Peter Paul Mollinga \ AM ^S ^ ^y->(_ . ISBN 90-5485-927-X Address of correspondence: Peter P. Mollinga Niemeijerstraat 9 6701 CL Wageningen the Netherlands (c) Peter P. Mollinga, Wageningen199 8 Allright sreserved . Nopar to fthi sboo kma yb ereproduced , storedi na retrieva l system, or transmitted, in any form orb y anymeans , electronic,mechanival ,photocopying ,recordin go r otherwise, without theprio r written permission of theholde r of the copyright. Cover photo by R. Doraiswamy Photos 8.1-8.5 by Peter P. Mollinga Photos 8.6-8.8 by Alex Bolding Printed by Ponsen en Looijen, Wageningen This research was financially supported by the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO). BIBUOTHEFK LANDBOUWUNIVTERSITEn WAGENTNGEN / I-.. J .:•o '"> ' 'i±*1 STATEMENTS 1. Water control in the Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal command area is contested. For comprehensive analysis of this contestation it is necessary to understand the linkages between water control's technical/physical, organisational and socio-economic/ political dimensions. (this thesis) 2. There is no anarchy on the Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal. (thisthesis; cf. Hart, 1978; Wade, 1990) 3. While social constructivist analyses of design processes in farmer managed irrigation systems have generally focused on the role that farmers/water users play in these processes, social constructivist analyses of design processes in Indian canal irrigation need to take the mechanisms that exclude farmers/water users from design as a central theme. (thisthesis, chapter 4) 4. The class-related spatial distribution of land and water in the Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal command area shows that in canal irrigated contexts spatial relations as structured by the lay-out of the canals, are an integral part of the relations of production. (thisthesis, chapters5 and 6) 5. a) The issue of water rights is underemphasised in policy and academic discussions on canal irrigation in India. (Saleth,1996) b) Analyses of rights and entitlements to canal irrigation water should focus on the interlinked nature of the relations that determine resource access. (thisthesis, chapter 6) 6. The technical and managerial creativity of field-level Irrigation Department engineers is larger than generally acknowledged. Because thatcreativit y issee n by the engineers themselves and by outsiders as a coping or making-out strategy, and because it is located in a hierarchical bureaucracy with a prescriptive management style, its potential to function as a resource in management reform remains untapped. (this thesis) 7. The state and characteristics of outlet structures and the features of rotation schedules express the balance of power between the different actors involved in water control. (thisthesis, chapters 7, 8 and 9) 8. In the Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal irrigation system rent-seeking is not the main mechanism in water distribution practices. Analyses of the relationship between Irrigation Department officials and farmers/water users in other South Indian canal irrigation systems that describe this relationship as one of constant and antagonistic confrontation, mediated by bribe payments and political pressure, can therefore not be generalised. What needs to be developed is theory that explains the conditions of possibility of different configurations of state-water users relationships in canal irrigation systems. (thisthesis, chapter 7;cf. Wade, 1982a, 1990and Ramamurthy,1995) 9. Populism supports the persistence of the protective irrigation model at policy level and unequal distribution at irrigation system level, but the recent initiatives of the Andhra Pradesh government suggest that it can also provide an ideological basis for an irrigation management reform agenda. (thisthesis, chapters3 and 10; Peter, 1998) 10. The paradigmatic difference in the study of natural resources management between the Irrigation and Water Engineering group and the Erosion and Soil and Water Conservation group is one of the factors that hinders the emergence in Wageningen Agricultural University of an interdisciplinary approach to integrated water resources management in tropical regions. 11. Those who make a point of criticising neo-marxist analyses of capitalism for its structuralist, functionalist, determinist, linear or otherwise epistemologically undesirable characteristics, tend to undervalue the empirical evidence produced by neo-marxist authors regarding the ontological force of capitalist development. (cf.Long and van der Ploeg, 1994) 12. Those who want to stay in touch with the realities of Indian everyday life are well advised to regularly travel by bus. Peter P. Mollinga On the waterfront. Waterdistribution, technologyand agrarian change in a South Indian canal irrigationsystem Wageningen, 16 October 1998 CONTENTS List offigures, tables, maps, boxes and photos Preface Glossaryand abbreviations 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Subject of the book 1 1.2 Main concerns 2 1.3 Method 4 1.4 Structure of the book 6 2. ON THE WATERFRONT CONCEPTUAL GROUNDWORK FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY IRRIGATION STUDIES 9 2.1 The professional irrigation literature: a summary evaluation 10 2.2 Irrigation: a sociotechnical phenomenon 13 Social requirementsfor use-14; Social construction-14;Social effects-15 2.3 A descriptive model of irrigation systems 15 A labour process perspective-16; Irrigation activities-16; System levels-17; The context-18 2.4 Irrigation as a practice 20 Humanagency-20; Strategiesand resources-21; Arenas and domains of interaction- 22; Rules and routines/interfacesand issues-24 2.5 Water control 25 Threedimensions of water control-25; Water control: politically contestedresource use-28 2.6 The central research question 30 2.7 Conclusion 33 3. PROTECTION AND LOCALISATION STATE GOVERNANCE AND SOUTH INDIAN CANAL IRRIGATION 35 3.1 Protective irrigation 36 Protection in general-36;Protective irrigationas an administrative-financialclass of works-37; Protective irrigation as a particular type of irrigation-40; A basic contradiction-44 3.2 Localisation 45 The origins of localisation-46;The implementationof localisation-49;Monitoring localisation-51 3.3 The persistence of an unrealistic model 54 3.4 Summary and conclusion 56 Protective irrigation and state governance-57 Appendix 3.1: Rulesfor localisation (1956, Hyderabad State) 60 Appendix 3.2: Waterrates in KarnatakaState 62 4.TUNGABHADR ALEF TBAN KCANA L THE SOCIAL SHAPING OF AN IRRIGATION SYSTEM: 1859-1976 63 4.1 Planning 64 1859-1902:a plan remaininga plan-65; 1902-1944: negotiatingthe division of the Tungabhadra waters-67 4.2 Design 71 Total quantity of water available-72; Cropping pattern and duties-74; The alignment of the main canal-78;Distributary design-81 4.3 Conclusion: social shaping and design characteristics 82 Socialshaping-82; Design characteristicsrelevant for waterdistribution practices- 84 Appendix 4.1: Design procedure distributary canals TungabhadraLeft Bank Canal 86 5. WATER, SPACE AND SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION AGRARIAN CHANGE IN THE TUNGABHADRA LEFT BANK CANAL COMMAND AREA 89 5.1 The irrigation boom in facts and figures 90 5.2 Settlement 94 Reasons for migration-95; Reasons for land sales-96; An indication of the magnitude of land transfers-99 5.3 The geography of social differentiation 100 A typology of farming households-enterprises-101; Water distribution and the typology offarming households-enterprises-106; Settlement and head-tail patterns at distributary level-UO 5.4 Conclusion 115 Appendix 5.1: Landholding and credit in Raichur district and the three selected pipe outlet command areas 117 6. THE WEAK AND THE STRONG THE REPRODUCTION OF UNEQUAL WATER DISTRIBUTION AT PIPE OUTLET LEVEL 123 Preamble to chapters 6 to 9 123 6.1 Introduction 124 6.2 Rules and rule-making at outlet command area level 126 Rules as a response to increasing water scarcity-126; Types of rules-127; The making of operational rules-129; Main elements of operational rules in outlet command areas-131; Rules as resources-!32 6.3 The reproduction of unequal water distribution 136 Introduction-136;Unequal water distribution in Hattioutlet-137; Waterdistribution rules in Hatti outlet-138; Water distribution practices in Hatti outlet-140; The reproduction ofinequality-141; A paradox resolved-145 6.4 Conclusion 146 7. MEDIATING SCARCITY FORMS OF ORGANISATION IN DISTRIBUTARY WATER MANAGEMENT 149 7.1 Introduction 150 7.2 Rotation at distributary level 152 Rotationin distributary 24-153; Rotation in distributary 93-157; Mainfindings-160 7.3 Subdistributary rotation 161 Farmer controlled rotation:D24/10, D24/11 andD24112-161; Other management routines than rotation: D24I8 and D24/9-163; Irrigation Department managed rotation:D24/2, D24/6 andD24/7-165; No rotationand noIrrigation Department presence: D24/3, D24/4 and D24I5-166;Main findings-166 7.4 Legislators in distributary water management 167 Constituencies, commands and resource broking-167; Three examples-169; Conclusion:a triangle of accommodation-!72 7.5 Conclusion 175 Scarcity-!76; Villages-176;The