Deterioration of the Informal Tank Institution in Tamil Nadu: Caste-Based Rural Society and Rapid Economic Development in India
Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 49, No. 1, June 2011 Deterioration of the Informal Tank Institution in Tamil Nadu: Caste-based Rural Society and Rapid Economic Development in India Muniandi JEGADEESAN* and FUJITA Koichi** Abstract The informal tank institution seems to have functioned relatively well in Tamil Nadu, India, at least until the early 1970s. The institution had been supported by three layers of irrigation functionaries at village level. Especially important was the role of the lower irrigation functionaries such as the water-turner (Neerkatti), who had been conducting important tasks such as sluice operation, field water management and others. Based on the authors’ recent field survey in seven tank-benefitted villages in Madurai District of Tamil Nadu, especially interviews with 31 Neerkatti families, after discussing physical and socio- economic factors which caused the deterioration of tank irrigation and the village-level informal tank institution, the paper focuses on the current status of institution, including how rules and regulations, and the sanction system on violators and related systems are functioning, and analyzes the current socio- economic status and perceptions of the Neerkattis. It emphasizes the contradiction between the traditional caste-based society, which governs the informal tank institution, and the recent rapid economic develop- ment in India. Keywords: informal tank institution, Neerkatti, caste, economic development, Tamil Nadu Introduction The interruption of the southwest monsoon by the Western Ghats Mountains makes the climate of south India semi-arid, except Maravar coasts. Tanks (water reservoirs) for irrigating paddy field, there- fore, are a common feature of the south Indian cultural landscape. In Tamil Nadu, for instance, there are more than 39 thousand tanks at present, many of which were built in the 18th and 19th centuries by kings and zamindars, and even by British rulers [Palanisami and Easter 2000: 9].
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