An Analysis of the Types and Pattern of uses and Control Rights over Multiple uses ofTank Irrigation System in South India

摘要

The study examines the property rights related to conservation and sustainable management of tank irrigation systems in South India. Tanks are a symbol of social and cultural entity closely woven in to the livelihood of the common man as it serves a multitude of functions such as irrigation, livestock, fisheries, duck rearing and domestic water supply as well. A study of the types, pattern of uses and control rights over Tank irrigation system is important for the sustainable management and conservation of tank irrigation systems. The research was carried out during 2007-09 by selecting one system tank and 31 non-system tanks drawn from eight tank-chains present in two tank intensive districts (Villupuram and Kancheepuram) of Tamil Nadu state, India. Case study was conducted in the system tank to collect data using Participatory Rural Appraisal PRA method. From each of the 31 non-system tanks, a random sample of key informants ranging 12 to 15 users (totalling 400) who depended on various tank resources was drawn from the 31 non-system tanks for data collection through PRA. The results on the performance of tanks in the light of its multiple uses (or physical resource use efficiency) indicated that agricultural use dominated in terms of its use share performance in absolute terms. Uses such as domestic, Live Stock Drinking (LSD) and fishery performed better next to agriculture. The intensity of property rights in terms of access, withdrawal, management, exclusion and alienation, for the five usesof tank namely irrigation, social forestry, silt, fishing and bund trees were found to be exercised by various groups of users at lower level in most of the tanks. The uses namely domestic, duck rearing, hard grass collection, LSD and brick making werefound to be enjoyed by the users at higher level of intensity of PR by the respective user group. The intensity of property rights seems to be high for those uses with less number of users than for the uses like agriculture, fishery, Social Forestry, silt and bund trees wherein there were too many users with competition among them to enjoy the benefits of the resource. Hence existence of a strong users' institution would facilitate the users to enjoy the property rights over the tank resources at a higher level in an appropriate manner.