Irrigation Institutions Under Large Multi-Village Tanks

Book Code: 1111015987053

Dr. K. Sivasubramaniyan

ABOUT THE BOOK

Irrigation is the sine-qua-non for increasing productivity of land. Among he four sources of irrigation, tank irrigation is widespread in South India, where nearly 60% of net irrigated area is served by tanks. Tanks are the Iifc-Iinc for recharging several millions of wells allover the country. However, in recent decades its importance has been declining due to various reasons.

One of the main reasons found for this decline is less active/ defunct functioning of institutions allover the country, especially in Tamil Nadu. Consequently, the area under tank irrigation in Tamil Nadu declined from 9.11akh ha (20.5% of NIA) in the 1960s to 4.51akh ha (15.6%) in the early 2010s. To corroborate the evidence, a study was undertaken in two major system tanks, irrigating 32 villages, served by the Palar Anicut System in Tamil Nadu.
The book focuses on:

* The structure and functioning of the managements of selected tanks such as Kaveripakkam and Dusi-Mamandur in Tamil Nadu.
* The roles of the PWD, tank level organisation, and the villages and the inter-relations between them.
* The characteristics of water supply and distribution networks.
* The criteria by which water releases are regulated by the functionaries; and
* The combined impact of all these on the availability of water and productivity in different segments of the command

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Prof. Sivasubramaniyan, Ph.D. has been working in Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), Chennai since 1986. He received his Ph.D. degree in Economics in 1995 under the guidance of Prof. A. Vaidyanathan.

Prof. Sivasubramaniyan is a specialist in Tank Irrigation. He has contributed nearly 40 research papers in reputed national and international journals and presented 101 research papers in seminars, workshops and conferences. He published five books, two are on water management and Irrigation in Tamil Nadu published in Tamil and other three books are in English. In the latter, one book focused on a resurvey of Parambikulam Aliyar Project Canal Irrigation in Tamil Nadu, next one is on Mitigating Drinking Water Crisis in
Tamil Nadu and the present one is on Tank Irrigation Institutions. He completed 10 major research projects funded by the ICSSR, NABARD, Planning Commission GoTN, and
IL&FS and submitted quality reports.

During 2005-2013, Prof. Sivasubramaniyan evaluated 24 (midterm and impact) evaluation projects, under DPAP, IWDP and CAPART projects sponsored by the Central and State governments that were successfully completed by him. From April 2011 to June 2014 he worked as an official consultant to SMEC India as Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist for the Wor ld Bank funded TNIAMWARM project in Chennai

CONTENTS

Foreword ........................................................................................................... 9

Preface ............................................................................................................ 11

List of Tables ................................................................................................... 13

List of Figures ................................................................................................. 19

Abbreviations .................................................................................................. 21

Glossary .......................................................................................................... 23

1. Introduction .................................................................................... 27

2. The Palar Anicut System ................................................................ 53

3. The Tanks of Kaveripakkam and Dusi-Mamandur ......................... 89

4. Structure and Functioning of Irrigation Institutions ...................... 141

5. Maintenance of the Systems ......................................................... 193

6. Water Allocation and Management in KPT and DMT Villages..... 227

7. Farm Level Survey ....................................................................... 275

8. Summary and Findings ................................................................. 341

Appendices ................................................................................... 353

Bibliography ................................................................................. 413

Tank Survey Photographs ............................................................. 425

Index ............................................................................................. 435