Hydraulic bureaucracy and irrigation management transfer: analysing the efficacy of two models in South-India

ABSTRACT

This study examines the efficacy of the World Bank model and the European Union Model of Irrigation Management Transfer in crafting sustainable water user associations in South India. Based on the narratives and field-based evidence retracing the implementation trajectory of institutional reforms and the subsequent forms of governance of irrigation systems in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, this article articulates how bureaucratic mediation either perpetuates the legacy of hydraulic bureaucracy or renders post bureaucracy on record in encumbering the efficacy and sustainability of participatory irrigation management.

KEYWORDS:

• Water user associations
• participatory irrigation management legislation
• hydraulic society
• judicial intervention
• bureaucratic mediation
• India

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Indian Council of Social Science Research [F.No. 02/109/17-18/RP/Major].