Big Dam, Big Failures: A Study of the Canal Irrigation System and the Deprived Tail-End Farmers in the Hirakud Command Area of Orissa, India

Meher, Rajkishor

doi:10.1177/0021909611404008

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The remaining water is then passed on to its associated secondary farmers. This sequential sharing of surface water is well documented in the literature (Bardhan and Johnson 2002, Bhattarai et al 2002, Hussain et al 2004, Oza 2007, Gaur et al 2008, Kumari et al 2010, Meher 2011, Shah and Lele 2011. Below, we describe this approach more formally.…”

Section: A Naive Decentralizationsupporting

confidence: 55%

“…Left to their individual incentives, primary farmers (i.e., those with head-reach/primary farms) often use more than their fair share of water by denying its release to their secondary counterparts. Thus, secondary farmers have no independence or authority and must abide by this inequity in surface-water distribution (Bardhan and Johnson 2002, Bhattarai et al 2002, Hussain et al 2004, Gaur et al 2008, Kumari et al 2010, Meher 2011, Shah and Lele 2011. Disputes (referred to as water riots) between primary and secondary farmers from such an inequitable sharing of water are routine and often languish in local courts without any resolution.…”

Section: Challenges In Water Allocationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Efficient Distribution of Water Between Head-Reach and Tail-End Farms in Developing Countries

Dawande

Gavirneni

Mehrotra

et al. 2013

M&SOM

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T he necessity of surface water for irrigation and its increasing scarcity in developing economies motivate the need for its efficient distribution. The inequity in the distribution of surface water arises because of the relative physical locations of the farms. Head-reach (primary) farms are close to the source, whereas tail-end (secondary) farms are relatively farther. The lack of physical infrastructure implies that water allocated to secondary farms must pass through primary farms. Left to their individual incentives, primary farmers use more than their fair share of water by denying its release to secondary farmers. Such an inequitable sharing results in significantly suboptimal productivity of the farming community as a whole. We propose decentralized, individually rational mechanisms to achieve socially optimal distribution of surface water for a farming community under uncertainty in rainfall, choice of multiple crops, and differing risk-bearing abilities of primary and secondary farmers. We show that the mechanisms can be efficiently computed and highlight the impact of the improved sharing of surface water. We also study the movement of the price of water with its scarcity. Ideas that can help administer the mechanisms in practice are briefly discussed.

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Section: A Naive Decentralizationsupporting

confidence: 55%

Section: Challenges In Water Allocationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient Distribution of Water Between Head-Reach and Tail-End Farms in Developing Countries

Dawande

Gavirneni

Mehrotra

et al. 2013

M&SOM

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“…mega projects bring benefits for the creamy layer of the population. But on the other hand all such projects create a threat to the livelihood of the ecosystem people subsisting on land, water and the forest in a sustainable manner (Meher, 2011) General consensus has been found among development agents that development induced displacement causes serious disruption and losses for the people and communities (Dwivedi 1999;WCD, 2000). The key issues are those of socioeconomic impoverishment, human rights, citizen entitlements and the relationships between them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dams and Displacement in Turkey and Pakistan

Hâdi¹

2017

Eur. j. econ. bus. stud.

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The development policy makers in both Turkey and Pakistan believe that the construction of dams would bring development and prosperity in their countries. Believing in this development model, so far many dams have been constructed and others are either under the construction or in planning process in both countries. The evidences are steadily mounting and reveal that the benefits of dams have been over exaggerated and their social and ecological costs were grossly underestimated. Construction of dams resulted in the displacement of thousands of people in both countries. With the help of existing literature and studies, this study has focused on the living conditions of displacees after the construction of dams in both countries. This study has found that in the case of Turkey due to inequitable land distribution major benefits of dams mostly beneficiaries of dam projects are people who are already well-off and but the people who were displaced due to dams and also were landless are living worse life compared with their previous living conditions. In Pakistan, there were resettlements plans for reservoir-induced displacees but not for deltaic people who were the most affectees. The reduction in fresh water flow and the encroachment of sea have brought destruction to both delta and deltaic people. In the absence of any resettlement plan and compensation, these people are forced to live in the slum areas of big cities and facing miserable poverty and psychological problems.

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“…Several Five-Year Plans allocated massive funds to irrigation schemes throughout India, paving the way for construction of large dams and related projects (De, 2014;Khagram, 2004), often severely criticised on ecological and political economy grounds (Shiva, 1991(Shiva, , 2002. Critics highlight how postcolonial India has banked on mega projects to accelerate economic development (Meher, 2009(Meher, , 2011. De (2014) specifically refers to Nehru's dams as temples of modernity, with false promises of sustainable development for tribals and other marginal groups.…”

Section: Introductory Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lift Irrigation Schemes in Andhra Pradesh

Kalle

Kasi

2016

South Asia Research

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Despite efforts by the Indian state to develop and maintain various irrigation strategies, many projects have not achieved the desired results, often due to systemic problems inherent in these initiatives. Meanwhile, the growing scarcity of water in South Asia propels new thinking about remedies. Based on detailed fieldwork, this article, which seems at first completely unrelated to matters of caste discrimination, assesses the sustainability of lift irrigation schemes (LIS) in Andhra Pradesh (AP). Asking critical questions about the management of such schemes, it also addresses the impact of new technologies on rural development, arguing that continuing technology-savvy engagement of the state in the irrigation sector is needed. While it is found that apart from issues of better management, increased use of solar energy could be a real boon for strengthening economic viability and environmental sustainability, the research identifies additional reasons, of a socio-political nature, which may explain why state support for marginal farmers in the area under examination is being withheld.

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Big Dam, Big Failures: A Study of the Canal Irrigation System and the Deprived Tail-End Farmers in the Hirakud Command Area of Orissa, India

Cited by 7 publications

References 3 publications

Efficient Distribution of Water Between Head-Reach and Tail-End Farms in Developing Countries

Efficient Distribution of Water Between Head-Reach and Tail-End Farms in Developing Countries

Dams and Displacement in Turkey and Pakistan

Lift Irrigation Schemes in Andhra Pradesh

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