The Case of Kosi Floods
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Understanding Public System Management In Bihar: The Case of Kosi Floods Independent Research Project Submitted to Prof. Shambu Prasad & SRC Members By Joseph Sebastian U307021 2/7/2009 Acknowledgment I take this opportunity to thank Xavier Institute of Management (XIM), Bhubaneswar, for providing us with the opportunity of pursuing an area of academic interest in the form of an Independent Research Project (IRP). I owe a special thanks to my guide, Dr. C. Shambu Prasad, for allowing me to undertake the IRP on the Kosi floods in Bihar, despite the restrictions imposed by the distance and the class schedule to go there for data collection and interview. Without his guidance and suggestions it would not have been possible for me to complete this work. I am grateful to Prof. Shambu for introducing me to the actor‐oriented approaches and guiding me to apply the actor‐oriented tools for the institutional analysis of Kosi flood management system. I also express my sincere gratitude to the student research committee (SRC) members, Prof. S. Peppin and prof. S.S Singh for their guidance and suggestions. I am greatly indebted to Dr. Dinesh Kumar Mishra on whose writings I have relied upon as the most authentic account on the Kosi River and flood management. His painstaking efforts for two decades on behalf of the embankment victims have produced the most researched and complete accounts of the river, the embankment strategy and the plight of the embankment victims. I am especially grateful to him for his valuables suggestions on the timeline of the events related to Kosi River and flood control measures prepared based on his book, ‘Trapped! Between the Devil and Deep Waters’. Finally I also thank my companions for all their assistance, support and encouragement. Joseph Sebastian 11th February 2009 ii Table of Contents List of Acronyms ........................................................................................................................................... v Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………vi 1.Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1Scope of the Paper ............................................................................................................................... 2 1.2Methodology ........................................................................................................................................ 2 2. A Brief Overview of the Kosi river and Flood Control Measures…………………………………………………………4 2.1The Characteristics of the Kosi River……………………………………………………………………………………………….4 2.2 The History of Flood Control Measures in Kosi Basin……………………………………………………………………..4 2.2.1The Colonial Era: Pre‐independence…………………………………………………………………………………………4 2.2.2 The Post‐independence…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..6 3. Actor‐oriented Approaches for Institutional Innovation……..…………………………………………………………….8 3.1The Rationale for Actor‐oriented Tools…………………………………………………………………………………………..8 3.2 The Actor‐Oriented Approach……………………………………………………………………………………………………….9 3.3 The List of Major Actors in Kosi Flood Management System………………………………………………………..10 3.4 Actor Linkage Map……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10 3.4.1Actor Linkage Map of the Kosi Project……………………………………………………………………………………11 3.5 Actor Linkage Matrix…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….12 3.6 Determinants Diagram…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………14 4. Analysis………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..15 4.1The Saga of Neglect and Mismanagement…………………………………………………………………………………….15 4.1.2 Human Folly and Kusaha Breach……………………………………………………………………………………………15 4.1.3 Plethora of Institutions: Messy affair of…………………………………………………………………………………17 4.2 The issue of Indo‐Nepal Coordination………………………………………………………………………………………….18 iii 4.3 The Harvesters of the forth Crop………………………………………………………………………………………………..19 4.4 The Social Cost of the Embankments…………………………………………………………………………………………..21 4.4.1 Ecological Disaster, Reduction in agriculture Productivity…………………………………………………..21 4.4.2 Performance of the Irrigation Projects………………………………………………………………………………..21 4.4.3 Human Tragedy……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………22 5. Public System Management in Bihar……………………………………………………………………………………………..24 5.1 Key Indicators: Health of the State…………………………………………………………………………………………..24 5.2 Reasons for Backwardness……………………………………………………………………………………………………….25 5.2.1 The Mismanagement of the Social Delivery System…………………………………………………………25 5.2.2 The Burden of Inertia………………………………………………………………………………………………………..25 5.3 The Silver Lining: The Success Stories of Participatory Governance…………………………………………..26 5.4 The Way Forward: Institutional Innovation……………………………………………………………………………….27 6. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………28 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….29 Annexure………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………31 Annexure 1: The integrated Timeline of Various Events Related to Kosi Project……………………………………31 Annexure 2: Determinants Diagram: Alternative Flood Management…………………………………………………..41 Annexure 3: Determinants Diagram: India‐Nepal Link…………………………………………………………………………..42 iv List of Acronyms ALM Actor Linkage Matrix BMA Barh Mukti Abhiyan CAG Comptroller and Auditor General CIHRCP Central Irrigation and Hydrodynamic Research Centre Poona CWC Central Water Commission CWPC Central Water Power Commission CWINC Central Water Irrigation and Navigation Commission CGWB Central Ground Water Board CSO Civil Society Organisations EKMC Easter Kosi Main Canal GFCC Ganga Flood Control Commission GoB Government of Bihar GoI Government of India GoN Government of Nepal HDI Human Development Index KMSS Kosi Mukti Sangharsh Samiti KHLC Kosi High Level Committee KPVP Kosi Pirit Vikas Pradhikar MEA Ministry of External Affairs NHDR National Human Development Report PWD Public Works Department WKC Western Kosi Canal WRD Water Resource Department v Executive Summary On 18th August 2008, the Kosi River breached its embankment at Kusaha in Nepal, upstream of the Kosi barrage, changed its course and shifted over 120 km eastwards, rediscovering channels it had abandoned over 250 years ago. The surging waters of Kosi got the state administration completely unawares despite warnings and its disaster preparedness was in total disarray. The Kosi flood was a severe indictment of the public system management in Bihar. Apart from the misery and destruction it unleashed, for once, the 2008 flood exposed the culture of neglect and the burden of inertia that characterize the public administration in Bihar as never before. It also exposed the myth of the ‘only we know’ attitude of the ‘experts’. The paper underlines the necessity of system approach in dealing with complex issues such as Kosi floods. Any development intervention in a natural context must be treated as a ‘natural innovation system’. The study proposes the actor‐oriented approaches and tools as effective instruments in promoting institutional innovations by mapping the linkages and information among the actors, coalitions and networks. Actor‐oriented tools can thus effect institutional change by altering the perceptions of development actors and encouraging them to engage with the social and political context of their activities in a holistic and constructive manner. The actor oriented tools can be used in tantrum with the traditional project management tools for diagnosis, planning, implementation and monitoring of any project. Moving beyond treating the case of Kosi floods as an isolated, one of its kind system failures, effort has been made in this paper to link the Kosi story to the extreme backwardness of the state. Bihar’s backwardness cannot be comprehended with umbrella terms such as ‘poverty’ or ‘Bihari politics’. They fail to capture the role of institutions and the alienation of people and civil society from them. What is really aimed at in this paper is to bring forth the importance of the role of institutions and the underlying processes for the successful implementation and management of a development intervention. vi 1. Introduction On 18th August 2008, the Kosi River breached its embankment at Kusaha in Nepal, upstream of the Kosi barrage, changed its course and shifted over 120 km eastwards, rediscovering channels it had abandoned over 150 years ago. This was the channel in which Kosi flowed between the 1850 and 1874. The surging waters of Kosi got the state administration completely unawares despite warnings and its disaster preparedness was in total disarray. According to the official sources, till 23 January 2009, 993 villages spread over 35 blocks in 5 districts were hit by the resultant floods. The flood waters engulfed 33.29 lakhs people residing over 3.4 lakh hectares of land, killing 530 persons and 10,844 cattle besides destroying 2,85,798 houses. While the Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar described the flood as a “pralaya”, catastrophe, the Prime Minister declared it a “national calamity” and sanctioned 1000 cr. towards relief and rehabilitation. Whatever name one may call it, 2008 flood was above all a severe indictment of the public system management in Bihar. After every disaster, what occupies the centre stage is the acrimony and blame game between state and central governments and among various departments within the state. Apart from the misery and destruction it unleashed, for once the 2008 flood has highlighted