SA STUDY OF SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT IN INDIA

D.E. ZINE¹*
¹Department of Economics, Art, Commerce and Science College, Sonai- 414 105, MS, India.
* Corresponding Author : dnyandev79@gmail.com

Received : 10-11-2014     Accepted : 01-01-2015     Published : 15-01-2015
Volume : 5     Issue : 1       Pages : 124 - 126
Geosci Res 5.1 (2015):124-126

Keywords : Management, water, sharing, decision
Conflict of Interest : None declared

Air, water and land are traditionally considered as the principal free goods gifted by nature. A free good is one which is available at zero prices, and hence nobody can claim, the whole or part of it, as his/her own private property. In this sense, land and water cease to be free goods - land is bought and sold, despite VinobhaBhave’s assertion that “all land belongs to God”; a part of water - ground water - has also already become appropriable. The root cause for such transformation is the occurrence of a gap between the growing needs and the given availability of the gifts of nature - land and water. It is expected that management transfer will have three beneficial results. First, crop production will increase, because the farmers collectively can make more effective water sharing decisions. Second, because they are directly affected, farmers are likely to take better care of their systems than the government officials, thus improving sustainability of the systems. Third, management transfer will result both in reduction of staff and other government costs for irrigation system management, thus easing pressures on government exchequers. With that objective, the Tamil Nadu Government has passed the Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Management Irrigation Act 2000. In a walk-through survey of the researcher, it is found that the WUAs can effectively function as a gross-root institution for politico-cum-socio economic expansion. It could help in the expansion of local leadership and organizational abilities. It assures close contact with the Government as well as people. The WUAs can effectively act as guardians of common property and natural resources.