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It is becoming increasingly recognized that for the optimal
sustainable development and use of natural resources, an integrated
approach to water management, agriculture, food security and energy
is required. This "nexus" is now the focus of major attention by
researchers, policy-makers and practitioners. In this book, the
authors show how these issues are being addressed in India as part
of its economic development, and how these can provide lessons for
other developing nations. They address the conflicting claims of
water resources for irrigation and hydropower, where both are
scarce at the national level for fostering water and energy
security. They also consider the relationship between water for
irrigated agriculture and household use and its impact on rural
poverty. They identify weaknesses in the current hydropower
development programme in India that are preventing it from being an
ecologically sustainable, socially just and economically viable
solution to meeting growing energy demand. The empirical analyses
presented show the enormous scope for co-management of water,
energy, agricultural growth and food security through appropriate
technological interventions and market instruments.
This book takes stock of micro irrigation systems (MIS), the
technological intervention in India's agricultural and water
management sectors, over the past couple of decades. Based on
empirical research from the major agriculturally dynamic states,
viz., Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh
and Karnataka, the book provides a nuanced understanding and
objective assessment of the implementation and adoption of MIS
across these states. It addresses several of the questions related
to adoption and impacts of MIS in India. On the adoption side, the
key question that the book addresses is which segment of the
farming community adopts MIS across states? The impacts analysed
include those on physical, agronomic and economic aspects. At the
macro level, the question being asked is about the future potential
of MIS in terms of saving water from agriculture and making more
water available for environment. The book also addresses the
question of the positive/negative externalities and real social
benefits and costs from the use of MIS, a major justification for
heavy capital subsidies for its purchase by farmers. It also brings
out certain critical concerns pertaining to MIS adoption, which
need to be addressed through more empirical research based on
longitudinal panel/ cross sectional data. The book would be of
great use to researchers (agricultural water management, irrigation
economics), students of water resource engineering, irrigation
engineering and water resources management, as well as to policy
makers and agricultural water management experts - national and
international.
This book reviews and analyzes emerging challenges in water policy,
governance and institutions in India. Recent times have seen the
contours of water policy shaped by new discourses and narratives;
there has been a pluralization of the state and a changing balance
of power among the actors who influence the formulation of water
policy. Discourses on gender mainstreaming and Integrated Water
Resource Management (IWRM) are influential, though they have often
remained rhetorical and difficult to put into practice. Debate over
property rights reform and inter-linking of rivers has been
polarized. At the same time, there has been a rising disenchantment
with policy initiatives in participatory irrigation management,
cleaning up of water bodies and pollution control. Fast depletion
of groundwater resources and the importance of adopting new
irrigation methods are getting increased focus in the recent policy
dialogue. The contributors review current debate on these and other
subjects shaping the governance of water resources, and take stock
of new policy developments. The book examines the experience of
policy implementation, and shows where important weaknesses still
lie. The authors present a roadmap for the future, and discuss the
potential of alternative approaches for tackling emerging
challenges. A case is made for greater emphasis on a discursive
analysis of water policy, to examine underlying policy processes.
The contributors observe that the ongoing democratization of water
governance, coupled with the multiplication of stresses on water,
will create a more visible demand for platforms for negotiation,
conflict resolution and dialogue across different categories of
users and uses. Finally, the authors propose that future research
should challenge implicit biases in water resources planning and
address imbalances in the allocation of water from the perspectives
of both equity and sustainability.
This book takes stock of micro irrigation systems (MIS), the
technological intervention in India's agricultural and water
management sectors, over the past couple of decades. Based on
empirical research from the major agriculturally dynamic states,
viz., Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh
and Karnataka, the book provides a nuanced understanding and
objective assessment of the implementation and adoption of MIS
across these states. It addresses several of the questions related
to adoption and impacts of MIS in India. On the adoption side, the
key question that the book addresses is which segment of the
farming community adopts MIS across states? The impacts analysed
include those on physical, agronomic and economic aspects. At the
macro level, the question being asked is about the future potential
of MIS in terms of saving water from agriculture and making more
water available for environment. The book also addresses the
question of the positive/negative externalities and real social
benefits and costs from the use of MIS, a major justification for
heavy capital subsidies for its purchase by farmers. It also brings
out certain critical concerns pertaining to MIS adoption, which
need to be addressed through more empirical research based on
longitudinal panel/ cross sectional data. The book would be of
great use to researchers (agricultural water management, irrigation
economics), students of water resource engineering, irrigation
engineering and water resources management, as well as to policy
makers and agricultural water management experts - national and
international.
This book reviews and analyzes emerging challenges in water policy,
governance and institutions in India. Recent times have seen the
contours of water policy shaped by new discourses and narratives;
there has been a pluralization of the state and a changing balance
of power among the actors who influence the formulation of water
policy. Discourses on gender mainstreaming and Integrated Water
Resource Management (IWRM) are influential, though they have often
remained rhetorical and difficult to put into practice. Debate over
property rights reform and inter-linking of rivers has been
polarized. At the same time, there has been a rising disenchantment
with policy initiatives in participatory irrigation management,
cleaning up of water bodies and pollution control. Fast depletion
of groundwater resources and the importance of adopting new
irrigation methods are getting increased focus in the recent policy
dialogue. The contributors review current debate on these and other
subjects shaping the governance of water resources, and take stock
of new policy developments. The book examines the experience of
policy implementation, and shows where important weaknesses still
lie. The authors present a roadmap for the future, and discuss the
potential of alternative approaches for tackling emerging
challenges. A case is made for greater emphasis on a discursive
analysis of water policy, to examine underlying policy processes.
The contributors observe that the ongoing democratization of water
governance, coupled with the multiplication of stresses on water,
will create a more visible demand for platforms for negotiation,
conflict resolution and dialogue across different categories of
users and uses. Finally, the authors propose that future research
should challenge implicit biases in water resources planning and
address imbalances in the allocation of water from the perspectives
of both equity and sustainability.
This book aims to bring forth and address the major issues
confronting the irrigation sector of India and also to suggest
policy pointers to sustain it. As the policy and reform
canvas is large for a huge and diverse country, this book has
particular focus on the most important and immediate issues and
future options. The chapters not only focus on new research,
in-depth analysis and technical details, but also provide a
balanced review of the state of irrigation sector and comprehensive
presentation of major issues, challenges and future options. With
the presentation of in-depth analysis and synthesis of available
knowledge, the work can act as a handbook for major irrigation
water issues, actual policy changes, and potential reform that
could turnaround the sector. Given the temporal and spatial data
analysis of the irrigation sector, this book will be effective and
useful as a research and teaching tool to students and researchers
both in India and globally. Â Besides its professional
audience within the academic, research and policy community, the
non-technical format of the book will appeal to a general audience
in the media, policy, and donor circles
It is becoming increasingly recognized that for the optimal
sustainable development and use of natural resources, an integrated
approach to water management, agriculture, food security and energy
is required. This "nexus" is now the focus of major attention by
researchers, policy-makers and practitioners. In this book, the
authors show how these issues are being addressed in India as part
of its economic development, and how these can provide lessons for
other developing nations. They address the conflicting claims of
water resources for irrigation and hydropower, where both are
scarce at the national level for fostering water and energy
security. They also consider the relationship between water for
irrigated agriculture and household use and its impact on rural
poverty. They identify weaknesses in the current hydropower
development programme in India that are preventing it from being an
ecologically sustainable, socially just and economically viable
solution to meeting growing energy demand. The empirical analyses
presented show the enormous scope for co-management of water,
energy, agricultural growth and food security through appropriate
technological interventions and market instruments.
The doctoral students of the economist and teacher Venkatesh B.
Athreya organized a seminar in his honor in January 2016. This book
is a collection of the papers presented at that seminar and a few
invited contributions. The book is a collection of papers on the
theme of agriculture and rural India with special emphasis, as the
title suggests, on the experience of economic reforms since the
1990s. One set of papers gives the macro-perspective, while another
set gives an insight into agrarian and rural transformation through
case studies. The paper by Utsa Patnaik brings a historical
perspective to the subject.
History of irrigation reforms in India dates back to the beginning
of the 20th century. A number of studies have addressed to the need
and process of reforms but these largely ended with two rhythmic
suggestions involving pricing of irrigation water and participatory
management of the sources of irrigation. It is startling to note
that most of these solutions are a century old. The authors have
provided evidence that these reform solutions began from the very
First Irrigation Commission Report of 1903, and continued
thereafter, reappearing periodically almost after every two decades
albeit with fragmentary success. This study integrates efforts of
the authors incorporating more than a decade's sustained work
addressing to the question of irrigation reforms in the current
context. The authors preferred not to take the usually traded path
and at the same time not totally avoiding it analytically. Here's a
study that covers the entire canvass of irrigation development in
India and addresses the issues for further analysis. It dwells over
the specific problem of irrigation, to provide the technically
feasible and economically viable solutions under declining
availability of water and increasing demand for it. The study
incorporates analysis of the nexus between poverty and irrigation
as well as agricultural wages in the context of irrigation, an area
hitherto neglected by irrigation analysts. Finally, it deals with
the participatory irrigation management and power subsidy issues in
a most candid manner to suggest a path for reforms under the
present conditions of scarce water availability and market
orientation.
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