| |
Enclosed Waters looks into the social and ecological factors that have given rise to the persistent problem of water scarcity in the paddy-growing regions of Chittur taluk in Palakkad district, Kerala, South India. The book views water scarcity as an outcome of the existing unsustainable and inequitable mode of water resources management and distribution. It critiques the single-crop-focused irrigation and agricultural policies of the state since the 1960s to the neglect of local specificities. It studies the impact of supply oriented, large-scale canal projects and inter-basin transfers of water on the management of local water sources, primarily the ponds (kulams) of the area. Jyothi Krishnan observes how the current policy emphasis of the decentralisation agenda of the state on local level water resources has approached the issue of sustainable water management.
The book further illustrates how the implementation of land reforms in the state has resulted in an inequitable distribution of rights to water. It also discusses how increasing private control over water abrogates public and common rights, resulting in both unsustainable and inequitable use and distribution. Reviewing the creation of public and private rights over a fluid and common pool resource such as water, Krishnan argues that issues of ecological sustainability should be central to the framing of property rights. She suggests that the recurring problem of water scarcity necessitates a thorough reconsideration of existing irrigation and agricultural policies as well as a rethinking on the formulation of the existing property rights over land and water.
Meticulously researched in the library and field, Krishnan’s book aligns property rights, technology and ecology in fascinatingly thoughtful ways.
ISBN-9788125036920
|
| |
Pages : 332
|