SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF WATER MANAGEMENT:TRADITION AND CHANGE

Over the last couple of decades a broad range of participatory irrigation management strategies have become popular, one of which is community based water management (CBWM). This paper based on an ethnographic study conducted in central Orissa, India, tries to critically analyze the limitations of CBWM strategies by focusing on traditional water harvesting structures and systems surrounding tanks. It tries to study the social relationships involved in the communal water management systems surrounding tanks and the changes in the social dynamics surrounding them. Contrary to the popular and academic discourse these systems have strengthened over the last few decades along with the continuing dominance of all aspects of village life by the caste group of Kuluthia Chasas. Castes perceived to be at the bottom of the hierarchy like Panas face many disabilities in accessing water. But this dominance does not continue without contestation by the Scheduled Caste groups of Panas and Keutas. The changes in the social life of the villages are reflected in the way the ‘tradition’ of tank-based irrigation has evolved and the ways in which it gets challenged.