Cooperative Water Management in South Asia

Editor's Note: A workshop on ``Co-operative Management of Water Resources in South Asia" was organized by the Centre for India and South Asia Research (CISAR) of the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada from December 15-17, 1997. L.K. Joshi, INPIM Board Member from India, was invited to participate on behalf of INPIM, and sends us this report.

The basic purpose of the workshop was to understand the theoretical underpinnings of the community management of natural resources, which has become a very important consideration for environmental sustainability in the last decade or so. Workshop participants were comprised of researchers and policy planners from USA, Canada, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In framing the topic of the workshop, Tony Beck, Research Associate, CISAR, noted that a holistic concept of community participation needs to take into account variables of class, gender, state-user group linkages, and social-natural linkages.

PIM in Traditional Irrigation Systems

Mark Baker, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies, University of North Carolina, presented a paper on Persistence, Transformation and Demise within the gravity flow Irrigation Systems (Kuhls) of Kangra Valley, Himachal Pradesh. Baker studied 39 traditional canal systems (kuhls) fed by diversions across rapidly flowing mountain streams to see how increasing non-farm employment has affected the management of kuhls. Originally constructed by local farmers, kuhls were traditionally managed by the users, for which communal work parties were organized and supervised by kohli (watermasters). Kohli also helped to resolve conflicts between farmers regarding water use. The demographic composition of users is not always homogeneous and sharp class/caste distinctions exist, which are accentuated if upper-caste farmers are at the head-end and lower-caste farmers are at the tail-end.

Baker found that increased non-farm employment has resulted in a decrease in participation in kuhl maintenance work parties, an increase in inequity and conflict between head-enders and tail-enders in the consumption of water and contributions for maintenance, and a decline in the authority of Kohli. The contribution of upper-caste farmers for maintenance declined while they used more water. This has had an adverse impact on overall productivity.

However, different kuhls coped differently with the changes. Some kuhls did not change, some changed their organizational structure and some collapsed depending on each command's social and ecological characteristics. The decline in the authority of kohli in many kuhls has led to governmental intervention to improve the management situation. Kuhl committees have been formed to replace the functions of the kohli, but as Baker points out, the organizational form of these committees does not spring from local idioms of social organization but ``reflects the hegemonic imprint of the modern, bureaucratic nation-state on local resource management organization." This bureaucratization has also increased the authority of the local elite.

PIM and Gender Equity

Kim Berry, also from University of North Carolina, talked about Gender and Social Equity in Community Water Management, based on her work on Mahila Mandals (women's organizations) in Himachal Pradesh in India. She emphasized that the role of gender has to be considered in relation to caste, class, education, kinship and religion while considering the issues relating to common resources. She also proposed that analysis of women's role as a group has to be made within a definite context. As an example, she said that one such context is provided by the differential targeting of women and men by development institutions with different needs in the management of resources. Another context available occurs in instances when women with diverse interests combine on specifically perceived women's issues for collective goods.

In India marginalization of women and poor male farmers occurred by following the model of United States extension programs, which followed from stereotypes of men as farmers and women as housewives. This model provided access to subsidies, inputs, and information to male farmers but excluded women and male landless labor. Berry also surmised that new institutions like Water Users' Associations in such milieu could perpetuate gender-based inequities. In this context she gave an example from Sukha Majri in Haryana (India), where the water user association was based on household units and implicitly assumes that men's interests were also the interests of the households. She felt that WUAs could create inequities if they treat households as cohesive units with men's interests as their interest. She cautioned that WUAs often do not recognize the fetters on women's movement and view women as inappropriate leaders in the society. She felt that NGOs could create a shared sense of identity among women for collective action.

Public-Private Partnerships in Water Basins

Anthony Dorecy, Project Director of Fraser Basin Management Program (Canada) discussed how the Program is implemented through institutionalized cooperation of diverse groups which have a stake in its development. The objective of the program is to achieve sustainability together. The program is managed by government and non-government agencies to address economic, social and environmental concerns. The emphasis is on local, consensus-based decision making. The Fraser Basin Management Board has representatives of federal and provincial governments (ministerial level), local government, first nations (indigenous tribal organizations) and NGOs representing environmental, business, labor and community interests in the basin.

The watershed planning approach includes basin management strategies, demonstration projects for showcasing sustainability in action at the local level, institutional development, sustainability audits, and information, communication and education. An interesting tool for monitoring has been prepared in which competitive scores are assigned at the end of the year for listed topics such as the management of fisheries and aquatic habitat, cooperation among the users of salmon resources, international agreements, forest resources etc. This is a powerful tool for the Board to evaluate its performance. Dorcey pointed out that initially it took a long time and a lot of effort to arrive at a consensus about the mandate of the Board. He felt that the program had meager resources and it did not fit in with the existing system of governance.

PIM in Gujarat

Sudarshan Iyengar of Gujarat, Institute of Development Research presented his paper Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness in Implementing Water Conservation Projects through User Groups. He pointed out that the water conservation and minor irrigation schemes of the Government of Gujarat, which until 1990 were exclusively implemented by government agencies, were complete failures. As such, they necessitated a radical departure in the Government's approach by emphasizing and seeking users' participation in such projects at every stage. Incorporating a participatory approach, he said, had introduced cost-effectiveness in the implementation of projects, cut delays drastically, and resulted in higher quality of work. 

He illustrated this by looking at two NGOs, Lok Bharati and Kundla Taluk Gram Sewa Mandal (KTGSM), which were working on projects through funds made available partially under a rural development scheme of the central Indian government and partially through their own resources.

Under the project, community organizers of these NGOs entered into dialogue with user groups in villages about the need for a specific project. People were involved in all the processes including implementation. Maintenance was to be the exclusive responsibility of the users. The method of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) was extensively used to analyze the situation in the village and then to identify the sites for the projects. As a result of the program, new leadership had emerged in many villages. It has also led to caste and class cohesion based on the common need. The income of farmers also increased.

John Wood of the University of British Columbia (Canada), currently working in Gujarat, India, presented a paper on Changing Institutions and Changing Politics in Rural Water Management: An Overview of Three Zones in Gujarat. In his paper, he has divided the State into three zones: (i) the water scarce regions of Saurashtra, Kutch and Northern Gujarat; (ii) the water abundant areas of central and southern districts comprising the command areas of completed irrigation projects; and (iii) the proposed command area of Sardar Sarovar Project. These three zones have different problems of water availability and water management, which have prompted the emergence of new institutions. There is an increasing emphasis on local participation deriving from a frank recognition that government run irrigation systems have failed. Wood has examined these institutions from the standpoint of equity, effectiveness and sustainability. He came to the conclusion that local design and control enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of the system. But what ``participation" means and who are the ``people" who actually control and benefit from watershed management projects remain controversial.

- L.K. Joshi, INPIM Board Member, India
Ministry of Water Resources
New Delhi, India