The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Photo of Göran Djurfeldt

Göran Djurfeldt

Professor emeritus

Photo of Göran Djurfeldt

Designing Collective Action: Problems of Local Water Management in Tiruchi District

Author

  • Staffan Lindberg
  • Rajagopal A.
  • Göran Djurfeldt
  • Athreya Venkatesh B.
  • Vidyasagar R.

Summary, in English

A wide range of factors shapes irrigation institutions and collective action with regard to irrigation. They include the distribution of land across irrigation command areas and across classes, land tenure systems, access to new technology such as bore wells, the availability and cost of electricity and other energy sources for lifting groundwater, and, above all, state policies related to irrigation. Participatory irrigation management is hampered severely by policies in irrigation, such as the unregulated use of bore wells with free electricity provided by the state, that most benefit rich farmers. The paper, which is based on fieldwork conducted in Karur and Tiruchirapalli districts in Tamil Nadu in 1980 and in 2005, argues that the rapid and mostly unregulated development of well irrigation without any concomitant change in the legal framework and costing structure, and the lack of an objective basis for all water users to come together in collective action (given their different and often potentially conflicting interests), are the major causes for weakening collective action in irrigation management.

Department/s

  • Sociology

Publishing year

2012

Language

English

Publication/Series

Review of Agrarian Studies

Volume

1

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Kolkata : Foundation for Agrarian Studies

Topic

  • Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)
  • Social Anthropology

Keywords

  • political economy of irrigation
  • groundwater
  • participatory irrigation management
  • collective action
  • kudimaramat
  • watersheds
  • governing the commons
  • tank irrigation
  • social anthropology
  • socialantropologi
  • sociology
  • sociologi

Status

Published

Project

  • Production Relations in Indian Agriculture

Research group

  • Sustainability and Development Studies

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2249-4405