Title Water scarcity in rural Tamil Nadu, India; An analysis of the coping and adaptive capacity of farmers and the governing institutions in Ariyakoshti. Author Kiran Aluvihare Key words Water scarcity, agrarian crisis, climate change, coping capacity, adaptive capacity, water governance, water management, water stress, tamil nadu, agriculture, farmers
BSC thesis Social Geography and Future Planet Studies University of Amsterdam Supervisor Jaap V. Rothuizen 2nd assessor dhr. M.A. Verzijl MSc 15th august 2017
Water scarcity in rural Tamil Nadu, India
an analysis of the coping and adaptive capacity of farmers and
the governing institutions in Ariyakoshti.
Photo: by Kiran Aluvihare, barren paddy fields in Ariykoshti, north street.
BSC thesis Social Geography and Future Planet Studies University of Amsterdam Author Kiran Aluvihare Supervisor Jaap V. Rothuizen 2nd assessor dhr. M.A. Verzijl MSc
Tabel of contents
Introduction
Theoretical framework
Climatology and climate change related monsoon pattern changes Water governance and institutionalized water security
Farmers’ adaptive and coping strategies Methodology and context
Research design Research methods Research area
Tamil Nadu units of measurement Ariyakoshti and its people
Crops
Institutional research Limitations and ethics Results
Chapter 1: Climatology and natural external influences
Chapter 2: Institutionalism
Chapter 3: Farmers behaviour (anticipation and adaptation) Conclusions
Introduction
As climate change alters monsoon patterns, the extreme events of the monsoons in India changes too and gradually becomes more extreme every year. In 2015 the south coasts of India were ravaged by extreme rainfall which resulted in floods which killed more than 500 and displaced over 1.8 million people (PTI, 2016; Raha & North, 2015). The extreme weather condition is said to be caused by the global el Niño effects (Kumar et al., 2006; Sinha &Janardhanan, 2015). However, in the end of 2016 the weather conditions were totally reversed as the south of India is forced to deal with some of the worst ever droughts in history (Dileep, 2017; AFP, 2016). States are still in a political tangle on how to address the situation, for adaptation is not yet accomplished and will affect crop output and water supply (Krishkumar, 2016; Nair, Maramkal & Ravishankar, 2017). It is not yet foreseeable what monsoon induced disasters 2017 will bring. The acute water crises in and around Tamil Nadu desperately need an immediate approach.
Since Tamil Nadu expects its rainy season in the weeks around November, there are reports that a deficit of more than 60% of this season’s northeast monsoon will bring about major water problems for the entire region, with 85% of the groundwater already exploited (Krishkumar, 2016; Nair, Maramkal & Ravishankar, 2017). While temperatures will keep rising for the next couple of months it is likely that there is quick policy needed in order to maintain water security for the people. The proceedings at this moment, however seem to be importing water from outside surrounding states like Karnataka through pipes and provide wells for drinking water, but the tensions around water are increasing and water wars are looming (Krishkumar, 2016; Nair, Maramkal & Ravishankar, 2017). There have been 144 suicides among farmers between the period of October and December in 2016 in Tamil Nadu (Dileep, 2017) and the retreating northeast monsoon is the worst ever since 1876 a period of 140 years (Dileep, 2017). Every year, in the hottest period of summer in India there is increasing amount of reports of people, farmers and families, having to walk longer distances to reach drinking water and every year there are hundreds of deaths caused by heatstroke (AFP, 2016). The year of 2017 looks to be turning into one of the worst natural disasters in Indian history, affecting hundreds of million of people (AFP, 2016: Dileep, 2017; Krishnakumar, 2016; Nair, Maramkal & Ravishankar, 2017).
How many people will be impeded or who will experience to biggest setback is to be seen and currently unknown. It will be the purport of this research to provide an analysis on the intertwined relations of climate change induced monsoon patterns and the water related insecurities it results in. This will be regarded from a social, socio-political, as well as a physical geographical perspective to gain essential knowhow on how the water insecurities originate,
what are the water management flaws that are currently at stake and how millions of drought affected people will cope.
Therefore, the purpose of this research is to clarify the current state of water insecurity and to bring forward whether it is disproportionately arranged as to what groups of farmers are unjustifiably disadvantaged and whether there are policy oversights at stake. The aim for this study is to present a comprehensive foundation on which the problem of water insecurity in south eastern India will be addressed from an interdisciplinary perspective. For this an field research has been carried out in a relatively small farmers village named Ariyakoshti, which is located in Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu, to comprehend the situation from a physical geographical, socio-political and social perspective. Also, interstate relations between Tamil Nadu and its surrounding states (Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala) will be shortly assessed which is indispensable in order to comprise the top down governing of the water management.
This research will proceed as follows. First I will postulate my research question after which I will explicate the theories and concepts that are relevant to this study in a theoretical framework. This will be followed by the research design and methodology with subsequently the field work results, with its analysis and the final conclusions.
This research is guided by the following main question: “To what extent do farmers in Ariyakoshti cope with and adapt to the intensifying variability of water insecurities inflicted by monsoon pattern changes, other externalities and water governance?” It is subdivided into 3 parts, that have been the distinctive direction that the fieldwork brought forward. Firstly, the climatology and external influences, driven by the sub question: How is the climate experienced by the farmers and what has changed in the last 4 years? Secondly, the institutional layout regarding water governance found during the fieldwork, driven by the sub questions: How do institutions influence water availability and how is it governed? Who are responsible? How is it socially allocated? How are political powers involved and what are the after effects of the interstate occurring water wars? How should water security be governed and are there changes needed? Thirdly, the farmers’ perspective, driven by the sub questions: What is the farmers’ behaviour? How do they cope, adapt and anticipate on the water deficiency and how does it affect their lives?
Theoretical Framework
This chapter will outline the existing academic literature in coherence with climatological influences that relate to water scarcity, water governance structures and its relations to the farmers, as well as the individual farmers’ coping and adaptive capacities to water related problems.
Climatology and climate change related monsoon pattern changes
In India a lot of the quality of life is dependent on weather related incidents, as monsoons, floods and droughts are a possible occurrence, multiple times a year. Bhalme and Mooley (1980) have used floods and droughts data of more than a hundred year to find changes in sun and rain patterns in India. They have found that in a period of 20 years, the hazardous weather events like droughts and floods happened not only more often but also became more extreme (Bhalme & Mooley, 1980). Also it is proven in their research that food insecurity is mostly caused by large-scale floods and droughts and although it mostly is a gradual process the droughts can be more disastrous. It has an enormous impact on food production and economic processes and can only be halted by continuous rainfall (Bhalme and Mooley, 1980).
A study by Kumar et al. (2006) is the first to show the relation between the severe droughts in India and the occurrence of El Nino alterations. The effect shows a one-way link however, as an El Niño event need not result in a severe drought period in India per se. In the research by Kumar et al. (2006) IPCC’s human induced climate change data is used to indicate that the rise of the Pacific Ocean’s temperature creates an increase in El Nino events in global ocean temperatures and stronger effects. With this the extremity of Indian monsoons will increase too (Kumar et al., 2006).
The climatological alterations and extreme weather events are the biggest influence of the deteriorating water availability for agricultural purposes in Tamil Nadu and with that exacerbate the crisis in agricultural production and food security (Revi, 2008). The possible threat is that the whole agrarian crisis ends up in a deteriorating spiral in which governing and institutional aids are not capable enough to withstand the vastness and complexity of the issue of climate change and water related problems (Sainath, 1996). The rural retrogression has effects on the quality of life of the households of the farmers, but also reaches the food security of both the rural and urban population (Revi, 2008). Revi (2008) expresses the urgency in addressing water and climate related problems and implementing adaptation strategies for the agrarian sector in order to contain food security for all and maintaining the productivity and functioning of rural systems. To be able to cope with the climate crisis of the last decade,
there is policy needed that deals with the intricate problems that are faced by the farmers. It needs governance with the understanding of the weather related uncertainties and ways of coping with these inconsistencies within the capabilities of the local farmers.
Water governance and institutionalized water security
Water governance is elaborated by Miranda et al. (2006) as the concept of how people deal with water, not only consensus and dialogue, but also dealing with corruption, conflict and uncertainty. Governance is determined by who claims the rights, who acts on it and who makes the decisions (Miranda et al., 2006). The different entities are public property regimes, private property regimes, common property regimes and open access situations (Miranda et al., 2006; Musetta, 2010). To cite Miranda et al. (2006): ”...water governance is an inherently political and conflictive process, in which existing power structures play an important role.” Water security comprises of the availability of a sufficient amount and quality of water to sustain health, livelihoods, ecosystems and production, and the acceptable condition of water related risks that a person, environment or economy encounters in everyday life (Grey & Sadoff, 2007). In areas with high temperatures the current and future water scarcity problems combined with accumulating climate variability and intensification will lead to increased global water crises and conflicts (Miranda et al., 2011). However, Biswas (2010) claims that, in order to maintain water security, proper water governance is needed and most of all, needs to progress with the current changes. Also, if done properly, water governance can enable the environment and overcome critical impediments like water scarcity, stress and therefore crisis.
Farmer’s adaptive and coping strategies
The aspirations of sustainable development are to create and maintain thriving social, economic and ecological systems (Folke et al., 2002). The adaptive capacity of an ecosystem or system is directly aligned with the amount of pressure that that system can withhold, also described as the resilience of that particular ecosystem and the measure of self-organizing capabilities. This together might result in the extent to which the system, is capable to build capacity for learning and adaptation (Folke et al., 2002). If the system has the capabilities to renew and reorganize after being subject to shock, it will be able to absorb and adapt in order to survive and maintain the provision of the ecosystem services. This in relation to farmers means that if the livelihood of the farmers is at stake, their capabilities to reorganize and ability to learn and renew is entails whether they will prevail, or will not be able to withstand and maintain their way of living.
Methodology and context
This chapter will explicate the methodology of the study performed at location in Ariyakoshti, Tamil Nadu, India, and the justifications for the choices made in the devising of the study and during the field work. First, I will present an explication of the research area, design, units and methods after which the limitations and ethics will be discussed.
In order to fully understand the nature of what this study attempts to elucidate, it has to be clearly defined what was analysed and what the aim was to connect and simplify in order to comprehend the interdisciplinary complex problem that is present in Ariyakoshti, Tamil Nadu. That is why in this study, all the water related topics are briefly referred to in relation to the farmers of Ariyakoshti or farmers in general. Consequently, postulated as the main problem is the water insecurity that was expected after the Northeast Monsoon was deficient in 2016, which would possibly instigate one of the worst droughts in Tamil Nadu in registered history. But other then laying out the facts that this is the situation that is found in the farmers village of Ariyakoshti, this research seeks to connect all climate change-, institutional-, and social influences that have a direct or indirect effect on the farmers living in the village.
Research design
During this research, throughout the fieldwork and collecting the data, I have made a distinction between three different sub studies. These are put in their own chapter of results and could be seen as individual case studies, but are also connected with one another in the water issue that affects farmers in Tamil Nadu, which gives the research as a whole a cross-sectional tendency. The case studies in this research can and should all be extended to a higher level and are designed to clarify generalizable phenomena, as they are part of a large problem in the whole of Tamil Nadu and more parts in India (Yin, 2013; Gustafsson, 2017), however the cases connected in a cross-sectional and interdisciplinary study in relation to the farmers are so specific that it is solely applicable to the situation found in Ariyakoshti (Yin, 2013; Bryman, 2012). In general, the research as a whole had an exploratory nature, as it proved too difficult to make any assumptions and hypotheses before performing the fieldwork (Bryman, 2012; Yin, 2013).
The first chapter, climatology and natural external influences, is mostly a descriptive research since the facts are undisputable and the results give an overview on how climate change and natural impacts have influenced the farmers’ daily lives. However, the second part of the first chapter focusses on the intangible feelings and drivers of farmers and their expectations on the influence of the factors that influence their ability to perform agricultural practices, it therefore tends to a more exploratory research (Bryman, 2012; Yin, 2013). The second chapter,
institutionalism, looks into the institutionalised set up in relation to water security and the village of Ariyakoshti, and assesses to what extent it influences the farmers living conditions. Because of the unquestionable state of the institutionalised system, this also primarily assembles a descriptive study. Whereas the third chapter, the farmers’ coping and adaptive capacity, is a study in which the focus lies on trying to connect the theories of coping and adaptive abilities to the situation causing the farmers of Ariyakoshti to suffer. Therefore, this chapter can also be ascribed as exploratory (Bryman, 2012; Yin, 2013), however as the characteristics in itself are also explained there is also a descriptive aspect in the clarification of this part of the fieldwork.
Research methods
Preceding the fieldwork, the method used to gain understanding of the water scarcity problem in Tamil Nadu and demarcate the research topic was solely a literature study. The literature study was used to draft and formulate the initial problem definition, introduction and theoretical framework, which were also part of the research proposal.
During the fieldwork it was also required to gain substantiating scientific information. The three subjects were studied at the same moment, at the same location and with the same people, but were organized to research as separate case studies. A case study is an intensive study of a unit that aims to be generalized over more units (Bryman, 2012; Gustafsson, 2017), but can also be defined as the study of a setting in order to understand it (Cousin, 2005; in Gustafsson, 2017). This is applicable to all three cases individually that were studied during fieldwork. Throughout the fieldwork the units of analysis were the people that lived in Ariyakoshti and the institutions that were directly linked to the farmers’ practices. Other than the surveys and observation techniques that were used, the most valued research method during the fieldwork was the qualitative semi-structured interview. This technique was most suitable to this research to be able to steer into more informative dialogue that wasn’t anticipated at the start of the conversation. It only requires the researcher to form an interview guidance scheme, which leaves enough to allow the conversation to enrich and leaves space for follow up questions. The openness of the interview structure retains it from steering into answers and maintains its high validity (Bryman, 2012). The interviews were, with the exception of no more than a couple of interviews with higher educated English speaking respondents, always performed in the Tamil language through my translator. Throughout this paper, without further expatiating on it, “I” will be used to narrate my own experience as the author Kiran Aluvihare. additionally, “we” will be used to describe me and my research partner and translator, Kalaimohan Mohan, who speaks Tamil as his native language.
In the progress of the fieldwork, several key respondents were singled out per subject which were all interviewed at least once. This was done in the first days of the fieldwork to gain understanding of the systems and assist with follow up research. The most important key respondents being members of the Ariyakoshti Panchayat. A panchayat (Panchayat raj) Is a rural self-governing organism that operates only on village level and complies to higher operative governing institutions up to district level operated by the Governor of a State (73rd
Constitution act, 1992). Also an interview with the Public Works Department (PWD) representatives was key to understanding the institutionalized system of the control of water in the area.
Research area
The actual research area was not demarcated before travelling to the fieldwork location, merely a roughly notice that I was looking for a farmers’ village in Cuddalore District, nearby Parangipettai, where we were settled for the fieldwork. The first couple of days involved mostly of understanding and mapping the area, driving around on a motorbike experiencing the whole potential research field. Using Parangipettai as a starting point of the daily trips, we set of randomly on the first day looking for water related entities. We went north and stopped at a water tower that was visible on Google Earth, where we were invited in a home by a man who welcomed us most friendly with a cup of tea. He told us that the nearby town of Ariyakoshti is a genuine farmers village. We drove to Ariyakoshti where we interviewed the panchayat president mr. Murugan and determined the research village, farmers and the area (see image 1).
Image 1: Ariyakoshti, focus village, source: google earth
Thereafter, to demarcate the whole area of interest as told by the panchayat president mr. Murugan, we followed the road to Mutlur, Bhuvanagiri, crossing the river and proceeding to the large river dam in Sethiyathope, after which we carried on to the northern point of
Veeranam lake (see image 2 & 3). Veeranam lake is the main water body for the whole area, which was totally dry.
Image 1: Total research area, source: google earth
Image 2 & 3: Veeranam lake and Sethiathope dam. The main providers, handled by the PWD, for overland water provision of the district. Source: google earth
Tamil Nadu units of measurements
Acreage: 1 acre is 4046.82 m2, which is 100 cents. 1 cent is 40.4682 m2. Monetary: 1 lakh is
100.000 rupees. 1 crore is 10.000.000 rupees. In the period of the field work (april 2017) the euro to rupees ratio varied around 1 euro to 70 rupees. 1 US dollar was around 65 rupees.
Village credentials: Ariyakoshti, 608502, Tamil Nadu, India. Ariyakoshti had, in a 2011 census, 6127 inhabitants (Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Department Tamil Nadu, 2011). The people of Ariyakoshti are all from one caste, deriving from the Vanniyar caste. The fact that they are all from the same caste, the panchayat counsellor Sivaprakasam claims, makes it easy and better to live with one another in the same village. There are no caste conflicts, and there is no discrimination. There are however large differences in wealth, being able to distinguish two different kinds of farmers, large farmers who own more than 5 acres of land, and small farmers who own less then 5 acres of land. Also there is a group of people in Ariyakoshti that have less than a cent land acreage or even none, whom still are considered farmers, but are simply paid to work on the farms as labourers. There is a strong unity of the people in Ariyakoshti. The village has always been a farmer’s village, and will always be a farmer’s village, according to the villagers.
The Panchayat president, mr. Murugan tells us that all children have at least basic education and all adolescent children I have spoken to have either had or are having higher education, including university levels. The older inhabitants of Ariyakoshti and most of the smaller farmers were illiterate and could not speak any word of English. The larger farms were owned by farmers whom have enjoyed higher education and understood at least several words of English.
Crops
The farmers I spoke with in Ariyakoshti told me that the main crop production is paddy rice, which is planted around october and is harvested around february, and groundnut (also mentioned as peanut), which is planted around december and harvested around february (see table 1). Other crops are not as common as paddy and groundnut, although several small farmers, household farmers and a couple of big farmers have mentioned pulses, tomato, chili and kampu. The panchayat counsellor mr. Sivaprakasam explains that paddy and groundnut are the village’s pride. There are rice species that have for example a shorter cultivation lifespan which are beneficial with drought, or one with more excellent quality but with a cultivation period of at least 4.5 months, but these seeds are more expensive.
Paddy (rice) Groundnut (peanut/manila)
October-february December - feb/march
120 days 90 days
80kg/bag seeds (7000rps?) 60kg/bag seeds (1100rps?)
Monsoon water use Well use
Water availability and supply
The village gets its water from the Sethiathope dam and Veeranam lake input, via the new Vellar river, a side river from the rain fed Cauvery river. This river is supposed to be the main agricultural source of water, but it’s recharge from higher ground has dried up. It is managed by the PWD, which is a governmental institution regulating several infrastructional tasks. The water level at the dam in Sethyathope is in the period of the fieldwork on such a low level that it lies below the concrete structure of the dam. There are 3 different canals from the river, onwards from Sethyiathope. All providing for 3 different villages: 1. Ariyakoshti 2. Muratavaikal 3. Manampathan. The one for Ariyakoshti is 20km and is managed to provide water for 12.000 acres of agricultural land, indicates the panchayat president mr. Murugan.
The panchayat president, mr. Murugan, elucidates that there are around 600 (there was no possibility in providing the exact amount) hand pipes, with one hand pipe providing house hold water for every 3 households, in the village of Ariyakoshti provided by the government, which have a potable water depth of 8-12 feet. Below 15 feet is very salt water and unusable for any purpose. The groundwater is too salt to use on agricultural land, so without the water from the Cauvery river and thus so from Veeranam lake and without continuous rain, there is no agriculture possible. A farmer recites, that if the groundwater through the hand pumps would supposedly also be used for agricultural purpose, it would become salt water even more quickly which would impair household use too, so it is not done. Due to the tsunami in 2004, there was a huge water displacement, which changed the groundwater level and salination. Before the tsunami, there was potable water within 5 feet, now it’s 12 feet and worsening, mr. Murugan concludes.
This village has 3 wells large tube wells operating with electric pumps, which fill 5 water tanks. When in conversation with villagers that were passing by when observing the water tanks, they speak in agreement that only in the morning there is actually good, clear water.
Intitutional research
The interviews with the farmers was my main objective of the field work for this research, however in order to understand the full water situation all the governmental institutions that were mentioned by the respondents needed to be taken into account too. There were some names returning in the discussions and interviews I had with the villagers, which was the PWD, the Farmer’s Friends Association, the village Panchayat and the extension centre. These institutions were either in the, union, taluk, or the district. This meant that we had to find these offices in Parangipettai, Chidambaram or Cuddalore which often proved difficult.
The PWD office for the region of Ariyakoshti is located near the railway station of Chidambaram. We are immediately noticed and people are a bit wary, but are willing to try and find the right person for us to speak to. Before we enter, I have prepared several main questions, but the goal is to get the bigger picture of where the water comes from, and how it is distributed. But also whether there are top down procedures which are (not) beneficial for the farmers, and how it is governed. We are allowed to talk to the executive engineer but he is not very informative. Two engineers that are below the executive engineer in gradation are more eager and willing to explain and elaborate on my questions. When they explain there is no real effort by the PWD to succour the farmers hit by livelihood threatening water scarcity, the executive engineer interrupts and tries to convince me there are definitely several projects or efforts being propagated. The situation and integrity of this person was questionable.
limitations and ethics
Concerning ethics, there are four morals to be kept in mind when conducting social research (Bryman, 2012): firstly, the participant should agree to participate. Secondly, their privacy should not be invaded. Thirdly, no harm should be done to participants. Fourthly, they should not be lied or cheated to. These ethics guided my personal approach (together with my translator), in all situations, towards the villagers and the people that I spoke to. Before conducting each interview, it was made clear to the respondent what this study entails, how information would be used and whether they would agree to adhere. There was never any conflict, no lies were involved, and everybody complied with the research intent. One person has asked not to put his name although he was willing to provide information that I was allowed to use. His personal name is not mentioned in the report.
Using a translator, my partner during fieldwork Kalaimohan Mohan, a middle man in the conversation, will always bring insecurities. I believe we made the best of the situation and learnt a great deal in communicating with one another and third persons. However, there have been key question not been able to be translated, because of the difficult communication in translating from English to Tamil.
The location was chosen, as mentioned before, after gaining information that it concerned a genuine farmer’s village. This was pivotal for the research and after an interview with the panchayat president mr. Murugan, Ariyakoshti was selected as research area. The fieldwork was performed from march 12th 2017 until may 5th 2017, in which temperatures rose high, which
made mid day work almost impossible, for anyone. All notes would be typed out every day, or every two days, to retain as much knowledge during the fieldwork.
Results
Chapter 1. Climatology and natural external influences
Introduction
In this chapter the focus will lie on the climatological impact and the changes in weather conditions due to climate change factors over the period of 4 years (from 2014 to 2017) and how this affected farmers’ livelihood. For this chapter the area that will be discussed will vary from the whole of Tamil Nadu to the coastline of Cuddalore District only for the data available is mostly relevant on a larger scale but is better applicable on a district or local scale. The subject of climatic and external influences is of an introductory relevance to this research and has had enormous impact on the sustenance of people living in Tamil Nadu. To comprehend this subject, it is divided into two parts. First, the factual climatological impacts of the area over the period of 4 years, answering the question how the weather patterns have changed and what tangible changes have taken place. Secondly, how these fact-based effects influenced the farmers’ lives, from an intangible point of view. This will coincide by the question how farmers experienced all these climatic and other external influences, like the tsunami of 2004 and the thermal power plant that was built nearby and operational since 2015.
Tangible
In an interview with the State Secretary of the Federation of Farmers Association Mr. Ravindran, summed up the climatological impacts and extreme weather events from the year 2000 (the last 17 years). Every single year there were devastating weather impacts that influenced agricultural production. Between 2000 and 2014 there were 8 floodings, 4 cyclones (Nisha, Neelam, Thani and Jal, respectively), and 2 droughts. To maintain the four-year overview that was proposed earlier, the period of 2014 up to 2017 will be elucidated in more detail: In early 2014 the farmers of Ariyakoshti experienced a consecutive drought from the year before followed by heavy floods in the monsoon period, in which most farmers we spoke to indicate they had lost all their crops. The crops of 2015 were again subjected to floodings after which the year 2016 brought about the deficient monsoonal period causing the most severe drought in registered Indian history (Dileep, 2017; AFP, 2016).
Mr. Ravindran mooted that the amount of water that falls during the monsoon period actually has not changed, only the period in which it falls in. It was his impression that there is an equal amount of monsoonal water every year, but because the precipitation period shortens due to climate change, the possibility in holding the water in water bodies and the groundwater storage is reduced. However, this theory is refuted in the report on the northeast monsoon of 2016 by the India Meteorological Department, as an actual deficiency of 62% in rainfall of the
Northeast Monsoon of 2016 was recorded over Tamil Nadu (IMD, 2017). This is the first time since 1876 that these extreme numbers are encountered in Tamil Nadu (IMD, 2017).
Farmer and professor of Annamalai University with the Department of Civil Engineering Dr. Arutchelvan, explains that the 2004 tsunami has had great environmental impact on the soil and groundwater, with salination levels in the soil in some areas exceeding ocean salt levels. He says that the tsunami of 2004 reached the village and altered the groundwater system and it has not yet shown indications that the salination levels in the groundwater are to change to its former state.
Expanding on the topic of groundwater, dr. Arutchelvan tells us that Veeranam Lake was created to provide water security for the ever expanding population of Chennai and used to have a groundwater depth of 80 feet, whereas they are now drilling up to 400 feet deep. Also regarding individual farmers, he speaks worrisome about the groundwater level and quality. When asked what he sees as an option for the decreasing water availability being a farmer himself, dr. Arutchelvan says he has looked into the options of changing his agricultural production into aquaculture farming, which proves to be more sufficient in terms of water availability. In the coastal regions the farms use the brackish water input from the rivers, he explains.
Intangible
Feelings and experiences
As explained in the methodology, there were semi structured interviews and surveys conducted, to gain qualitative knowledge on the farmers’ lives. This has given information on the intangible characteristics of farmers in Ariyakoshti, like feelings and reasons behind decisions.
The first impressions of intangible characteristics were that the farmers were rather stunned by the lack of governmental support in the current year. Almost all of the respondents of either the interviews and the surveys mentioned at least once in the session that the government would not suffice in financial and/or structural and managerial aid. It was therefore also needed to find out what governmental organisations were involved in this process and are directly related to the village of Ariyakoshti. In the next chapter the governmental institutions will be discussed in relation to the farmers of the village.
In the survey the question which was used to indicate the direct personal point of view was: “How have you experienced the weather conditions over the last 4 years and what do you expect it to be next year?” The possible answers were (1) there were heavy floods, and there was no profit made; (2) there was more than enough water available; (3) there was just about
sufficient water; (4) there was drought, and there was no profit made. There were 30 respondents that answered the question about the historical occurrences of the last 4 years, and 25 respondents shared their view on what they expect 2018 will bring (See table 2).
heavy floods/no agriculture plenty sufficient severe drought/no agriculture
2014 77% 3% 20% 0 2015 7% 53% 20% 20% 2016 27% 33% 0 40% 2017 0 10% 0 90% 2018 (expect ation) 12% 36% 12% 40%
Table 2: Total of 30 respondents, for years 2014 to 2017. The expectation of 2018 was only answered by a total of 25 respondents.
There were 4 years discussed. 2014 was a year in which the monsoon rainfall was extensive and floods occurred in Cuddalore District. 77% of the respondents of Ariyakoshti had land that was flooded by the monsoon to an extent that agriculture was not or mostly not possible and there were substantial losses made or there was no profit made. In 2015 there were more divided results but 73% of the respondents had enough water to make a living. 2016 saw a remarkable differentiation in the responses given, as 67% of the respondents indicate that there was no agriculture possible. However, 40% of the respondents’ state that due to drought there were losses made and no agriculture was possible, in contrary to 27% of respondents that assert they had flooded lands which made agriculture unattainable. The year of 2017 brought severe droughts due to a lack of monsoonal rainfall, this showed in the survey results as 90% of the respondents communicate that there was no agriculture possible and losses were made by almost all of the respondents. This was with the exception of three farmers, 10% of the respondents, who were able to provide water for themselves by pumping water with diesel or electric pumps.
In the survey the respondents had to indicate what they would expect what the next year, 2018, will bring for them in terms of extreme weather events, or good availability of water and to what extent agricultural activities would be possible. These answers were as expected quite dissimilar, but notable is the amount of respondents (40%) that indicated to expect the same severe drought as this year with no agriculture possible. Interestingly, the governmental organization that provides scientific information to the village panchayat, the agricultural extension centre, has indicated that only 2017 would be a extreme year of drought, which is then forwarded to the villagers. The persistent negative view, going against the view of the
governmental organization, could be a mark of the amount of distrust the people of Ariyakoshti have towards the government as a whole.
52% of the respondents believe there will be no agricultural activities possible in 2018 due to extreme weather events, simply put: They have a negative view of the future. 12% of the respondents think the climatic occurrences will turn around again and are of opinion there will be excessive amounts of rainfall and floodings in 2018. With 36% of the respondents to have confidence in the possibility that the next year will bring prosperity again and water availability will be in abundance. The last 12% of the respondents think it will be just good, and agricultural purposes can be resumed in 2018.
Superstitious beliefs and traditional habits
The villagers of Ariyakoshti mentioned a couple of noticeable beliefs, that were not in the same line of thinking of my own. But even my research partner, who is highly educated, shared some of those superstitious inconceivables. First and foremost, on the topic of the power plant. Nobody whom we interviewed new much about the power plant, as I was repeatedly made aware that it was a nuclear power plant, which it isnt. It is a thermal power plant that is located between the villages of Kothattai, Ariyakoshti and Villianallur, within the Chidambaram taluk and works under jurisdiction of Cuddalore District. The current power plant generates up to 1200MW in two 600MW plants, but plans are under way to expand adding 3 times 660MW, carrying the thermal power that is generated to a total of 3160MW (IL&FS Tamil Nadu Power Company Limited, 2017). When regarding the website of the power plant itself there is no environmental information provision, moreover, it was not possible to arrange with representatives a meeting to converse about environmental matters during the time I was there with the contact provided by the website.
The people I did speak with, in the village, were very much against the power plant. There was a 35-year-old woman named Priya, who claimed that the power plant was the problem of the natural disasters of the last three years. As soon as the power plant was built and taken into use the monsoonal weather impacts changed. She and fellow farmers accompanying her, carried on assuring me that it takes all the heath from the power plant and concentrates it in the area around it, refraining it to rain. Moreover, they claimed it is bad for health, fertility and people’s lifespan. On top of that it is thought by these farmers that the power plant uses all the groundwater, perhaps for cooling, but it was also remarked that the rain stopped because of radiation.
After this gathering of people in a central place in the Ariyakoshti, where about twelve people stopped and had joined the questioning, I asked a young woman named Mala, who laid the
foundations of the local protest group opposing the power plant and its expansion, for more in-depth questions. She commented on the question what she thought were the biggest complications forced upon by the presence of the power plant, saying the areas of Ariyakoshti, Karikuppam, Kanchikuppam, Puttupettai and Chinnur are all heavily affected by the power plant. Problems like heavy sounds, vibrations, water problems, salt water intrusion, soil degradation and erosion have all been distinguished in direct relation to the power plant, she says, adding that the power plant actually takes a lot of the groundwater in the area for cooling and releasing contaminated water back into the ground. At the time of the conversation she awaits the panchayats approval for a protest against the power plant, which is planned for the next month.
In a conversation with a young man named Manni, we find out he works at the power plant as a security guard, although he despises the institution he claims, a job is a job. When asked about whether he will be at the protest, he nods approvingly. His parents are both farmers but it is not meritorious, the last few years. That is why he took the job, as it pays well for a local job and he needed the money. When asked further what he means by a local job, he advances saying he worked in Singapore for a year to earn good money. Many young people travel to Singapore or the Middle East to earn a high salary to support their families in hard times like these, he concludes.
In almost all the interviews the topic of the 2004 tsunami is mentioned for being a drawback they could not inhibit. Most of the interviews are unanimously, stating that the direct effect of the tsunami has deteriorated the soil in the village of Ariyakoshti, increasing the soils salination levels and worsening the potability of the groundwater. Captain Akbar Ali Jinah (46 years old), an educated man who speaks a little bit of English, contends that it was not the tsunami that worsened the groundwater system. He doesn’t believe natural things can shake up systems for such a long time. He believes the government is the problem in aggravating all the natural hazards and increasing ecosystem failure.
Another noteworthy perception is that the farmers do not speak of climate change, merely about the consequences of climate change. When speaking to Mannikandan, an old farmer who is adjoined by his more easily speaking nephew, he refers to the power plant, the tsunami and the cyclones as biggest influencers of the monsoon pattern changes. This was also, together with the government system and the lack of water, the most recurring answer on the survey question: What is the current problem in Ariyakoshti?
Conclusion - Tangible and intangible climate experiences
This focus of this chapter was to shed light on how the climate is experienced by the farmers and how the climate has changed of the last four years. It was set up from a tangible and intangible approach, to give factual knowledge, and attempt to explain how the farmers experienced these changes. Revi (2008) expressed the urgency in addressing water and climate related issues, and implementing adaptation strategies for the agrarian sector. It needs to withstand the deteriorating spiral that is the agrarian crisis which is worsening by climate impacts.
Every single year in the last four years, there have been extreme weather events that have made it either difficult or impossible to produce any crops. With 2017, including the start of the season in november 2016, as the worst drought in registered history of Tamil Nadu. The deficiency of the monsoon rainfall was more than 62%, as agricultural production almost entirely failed. The groundwater level is decreasing, and still tsunami influences are noticed with the soil being salinated and with potable groundwater level disturbances.
Almost all the respondents have reacted rather stunned towards the lack of governmental support during the current drought. The farmers were disappointed in the governments financial, structural and managerial aid. Furthermore, asking what the farmers would believe will be the climate impact next year (2018), 40% responded with the expectation that it would be equivalent to this year (2017) and more than half of the respondents expects that it will be another year with no agriculture possible due to extreme climate events. When speaking of the monsoon pattern changes, many of the farmers believe that the power plant, the tsunami and the cyclones all influence the monsoon pattern changes.
Results
Chapter 2 - institutional framework
Introduction
The following chapter will give an overview on the system of institutional entities that are involved with the water governance of Ariyakoshti and its famers. In the coarse of the field work, which was mostly focussed on the farmers of the village, there were often institutions mentioned which were then addressed and looked into. This approach has given a significant understanding on how the governance is experienced from the bottom up. Some of the institutions were open to interviews and, although the actual governance was difficult to verify and dig deeper into in the short period of time of the fieldwork, the different, or indifferent, perceptions of the farmers and the institutions was notable. This will be unfolded in the following of this chapter.
This chapter will be divided into 4 parts. First, the water governance system as experienced and found during the field work will be clarified and the way the different stakeholders are organised will be elucidated. Secondly, how the water infrastructure entails certain effects and how the governed water is distributed among the people. This is followed by an explication on the water wars that are of noteworthiness to address in this research, as it is a huge political issue and has had impacts that are felt even in the small village of Ariyakoshti. Concluding in this chapter will be an assessment of all notable water governance related activities from a theoretical point of view.
The water system
In this first part, the water governance system that was found during the fieldwork is clarified answering the guiding questions: What institutions are how ordered and hierarched, who has the power, who makes the decisions and what do they decide. In order to fully understand the hierarchy of institutions, specifically those directly affecting the farmers water availability on a local level, a sequential overview is required. In interviews with the people of Ariyakoshti there were important governing institutions mentioned, most notable the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Agricultural Extension Centre (AEC). The first, the PWD, is a by state government operating authority that focuses on the public sector and is divided into to factions, namely the Water Resources Department and the Buildings Organisation (Government of Tamil Nadu). In all the interviews conducted the name that was used to describe this organisation was the PWD, not the Water Resources Department, as will be the name which will be used henceforward. The second, the AEC, the Agricultural Extension Centre, being the informative outreach with the scientific research and governing practices from the government towards
When we first met the President of the Ariyakoshti Panchayat, Mr. Murugan, on the first day of field work, he explained us that the village gets its government regulated water from the water input of Veeranam Lake. Veeranam lake is the main water holding body of the region and was constructed as a water reservoir to restore the deteriorating water security for the city of Chennai (Narain, 2005). It has a water spread area of 38.85 square kilometre, and has a maximum inflow of water during the monsoon period of the NEM during october to december (PWD, 2017). It is located around 30 kilometres away from the village, and has a potential water level depth of 15 meter (47.5 feet). However, when we reached the lake, there was no water at all. The water in the lake is held by several compact dams to maintain the water level in the lake, but the distribution is controlled and managed via the Sethiyatope dam on the Vellar River, which passes Ariyakoshti on less than 1.5 kilometres. The whole water distribution system is managed by the PWD, and according to Mr. Murugan there is, in the general rule of speaking, a system to distribute the water to the neighbouring villages. He continues to explain that the village of Ariyakoshti gets water via a 20 kilometre canal that derives from the Sethiyathope dam that is connected with three villages, one being Ariyakoshti, and each village gets 10 days of water supply per month. Also there are several small canals going into the village that originate from the Vellar river. Executed by the PWD, the village Panchayat has struggled with politics and governing institutions over the last couple of years to have several canals built to supply most of the agricultural land of the village people and there are still more canals required to be able to provide an adequate water connection for overland flow to all the lands.
Evidently, we had to speak to PWD representatives and went to the regional office of the PWD in Chidambaram. Finding an office that is the overarching institution for the region is immensely difficult, as finding it on the internet is not straight forward and communicating with people, asking where to find the office proves confusing every time, but seemed the only way. It was an unprecedented relief to be able to speak a high level of English and to omit the insecurity of using the translator and not fully comprehend the lingual underlying intentions. That was needed. Because when we arrived unannounced there was slight panic, for it seemed they liked to be recognized by my interest but there was also a certain uneasiness to my arrival and interest. We were eventually seated in the office of the executive engineer Er. S. Aruna. He was not doing much, and let the assistant engineers mr. Vijaya Baskeron and mr. Kolanchinathan answer the questions.
Mr. Vijaya Baskeron and Kolanchinathan explain using a map, the water supply from the Sethiyathope dam for Ariyakoshti which has been appointed for 6.729 acres of agricultural land, as calculated by the PWD. This is in stark contrast to what the Panchayat president had
in mind, who opted that the total of agricultural land in Ariyakoshti would sum up to around 12.000 acres. However, the PWD engineers insist the amount of water every village gets appointed, is calculated by the PWD on the amount of land every Panchayat registers with the institution. If there are water shortages the villages will get an equal share as to the amount of land they have registered. I was only allowed to see the general information document, which was not very useful, as they were undisguisedly wary to the situation. Furthermore, it was shared that the PWD controls the opening and closing, managing and construction of the canals, the dams and the Veeranam Lake. It can be negotiated in certain situations that the village Panchayat requests more water, but this year there was almost no water to begin with. When the engineers were asked about whether there are policies put together that deals with the unfathomable drought of 2017, both assistant engineers are quickly to reply that there are no further actions taken by the PWD. The water level in the lake and upstream of the dam are simply to low to provide water downstream. The executive engineer, mr. Er. S. Aruna was utmost quickly to interrupt and to mention that there are several actions taken. It was mainly concerned on recommendations to farmers on the topics of water use and agricultural business, like information on horticulture, short term plantation programmes and irrigation methods. Also he asserted that plans for a new water holding tank are being considered. The educational proceedings by the PWD are not confirmed by any of the villagers of Ariyakoshti as there are only informative measures acknowledged from the AEC.
The AEC schedules a meeting with the village panchayat once a year, giving information on scientific test results on soil quality, contaminations like salination and acidity, fertilizers, weather anticipations and profitability of seeds and crops. The panchayat then educates the farmers of the village. Many of the farmers actually speak negatively about the AEC, it being a government institution and probably knowing more then they share with the farmers. The 85-year-old farmer, mr. Govindarajan, is eager to change his farming practices in order to gain better profits and understand what is good for the ecosystem. However, he feels like the weather conditions are so harsh, and the economic facilitations provided by banks and the government are so insupportable, that he is disappointed in the lack of information that is provided by the institution. As he, and many farmers with him, are willing to make changes but don’t see fit, simply because and I cite him: “there is not enough information provided to learn how to change, where to change and what to change”. Another farmer, who is in his 50’s and prefers to remain unnamed, complains that the AEC has never given actual useful information for the farmers of Ariyakoshti to use in their agricultural practices for the better of the people and to redress the ongoing situation regarding climatic distress. All the farmers who have spoken distinctively on the lacking of the AEC have never said any bad word on the
Panchayat. I, therefore, do not believe the panchayat has anything to do with any inadequacies with the disclosure of information.
Every year, all the farmers I have reached out to apply for government loans. This loan is different for small farmers and large farmers and can come in the form of money, seeds, fertilizers, and mechanical tools. This research will not go much into economic details, for that is not a disciplinary view that could be objectively presented in this research. What mr. Ramalingam, a 70-year-old farmer, explained was that the Corporate Society, which is a government institution, provides loans with a 6 month no interest policy. That is the common way the loans are provided among farmers in Ariyakoshti. After the 6 months the loan turns into a dept with interest, with another impediment being that you are not allowed to apply for a loan the following year unless you pay your debt.
Further institutions and government representatives that are involved with a small village like Ariyakoshti are the local politicians (MLA’s and MP’s), village administrative officers and local ward members, explains the panchayat counsellor mr. Sivaprakasam. Also the institutions like the thermal power plant and the Neyveli industrial zone are of big environmental influence of the area. But maybe the biggest influencer in the agricultural set up in the rural landscape is the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.
Many of the farmers have spoken out on the NREGA, both positively as negatively, but this will be discussed in the next chapter. Mr Chinnaiyan, was the first farmer to explain this act and how it influenced his farming behaviour. The NREGA is an act that provides for those in rural areas that can’t maintain their household anymore with the agricultural crisis that has been at stake in India (Aiyar & Samji, 2009). It provides livelihood security for people living in rural areas for which you can apply and secure a 100 days a year with wage employment. Most of the jobs are communal and unskilled labour (Ministry of Rural development, 2005). Because of the NREGA many agricultural labourers are now choosing the easy employment scheme, where the job doesn’t entail much hard work, in stead of the work on the field. Although the job does not pay as good as hard work on the field, it is steady and with no agriculture possible, often the only possibility, mr. CHinnaiyan says. However, this has taken away many labourers from potential labourers needed on farms. Despite that, the labourers who have chosen to remain available for farming practices have increased their wages by much, which makes the situation another issue to take into account, the farmer concludes.
During the fieldwork, speaking to the village representatives, under which Sivaprakasam, it becomes noticeable how intricate the hierarchy of governing works in India. When asked about how a hypothetical Ariyakoshti sustainable agriculture and water management
program could be made into a realistic project he says that first he needs to make a draft which has to be accepted by the village and unanimously by the panchayat, it then goes to the farmer’s union/bond, followed up by the taluk office. Once accepted it goes to the revenue district and guides its way to the district office, which in this case is Cuddalore. But it will need to get accepted on state level, which is the Chennai ministry of agriculture to be able to receive government support.
The insterstate water wars
With the climatological changes in rainfall output and output areas, there has been a rapid increase in disputes concerning the water sharing issues. Tamil Nadu, in contrast to neighbouring states Karnataka, Kerala and Andrah Pradesh, depends mostly on the Northeast Monsoon (NEM), rather than the Southwest monsoon (SWM)(IMD, 2017). Although the SWM, like the NEM, also underwent climatic variabilities, it experienced a normal to excessive precipitation outlet over Kerala in a seemingly extended monsoonal period (IMD, 2017). But more importantly, Karnataka and Andrah Pradesh experienced abundant rainfall during the december cyclones Vardah and Nada, which alleviated their water deficiency problem and provided an excess of approximately 130% for that month (IMD, 2017). PWD representative Er. Aruna calrifies that to secure water security of mentioned states, they shut river dams in order to keep the water within the states boundaries.
Figure (4): Cauvery main river water basin flowing through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Source:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:River_Cauvery_TA.png acquired on 13th august 2017
The Cauvery river system begins in the highlands of Karnataka, and is the source of the Vellar river that passes Ariyakoshti, see figure (4). In the end of 2016 the Cauvery river dams in Karnataka were shut which retained the water in state and held most of it from going
downstream into Tamil Nadu (MWR, 2017). This sparked an immediate aggravating dispute and outrage for equal share of water and the interstate relations (MWR, 2017). The current standing of the interstate Cauvery river water dispute has been going on for more than a decade and does not seem to settled any time soon. The last tribunal resolution was made in 2007 called the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal (CWDT), in which the Cauvery river total quantum of usable water was accredited to be 726 tmcft (MWR, 2017), plus 14 tmcft reserved for environmental purposes (ANI, 15 december 2016). In this tribunal, Tamil Nadu was alloted 419 tmcft (58%), Karnataka 270 tmcft (37%), Kerala 30 tmcft (4%) and Pondicherry 7 tmcft (1%) (MWR, 2017). However, with the river basin inflow being 425 (54% of total inflow) tmcft for Karnataka and 252 (32% of total inflow) for Tamil Nadu (Anand, 2004), the state of Karnataka has been ordered to release as much as 192 tmcft to Tamil Nadu at particular times (MWR, 2017).
Ever since this tribunal was finalized the states have tried to dispute and exploit to gain more privileged outcomes (Anand, 2004). Anand (2004) has researched the viability of such governing terms like the Tribunals’ award and believes that these constitutional schemes are of importance to straighten out the preponderance of the dispute and ameliorate water security. There are actually difficulties that remain, as there is much emotional adversity (Nair, Maramkal, Ravishankar, 7 february 2017; Anand, 2004), and with water scarcity increasing emotions do so too. With the drought of 2017 the state of Tamil Nadu has stepped to court to increase their initial stand that was set by the Tribunal (ANI, 15 december 2016), as Karnataka had decreased equal outflow and were court ordered to increase daily outflow to Tamil Nadu (ANI, 15 december 2016).
When questioned about the water wars, the people of Ariyakoshti admitted they are upset and discontent with the inequality of the neighbouring states with sharing the water with Tamil Nadu, and would want to see the dams that keep the so much desired water to open. Also they consider Tamil Nadu most drought hit, and believe keeping the water should be illegal. As one farmer mentions: “no one is allowed to stop the river, it is a natural river”.
Conclusion - Prerequisites and inadequacies
This chapter was laid out to describe how institutions influence water availability and how it is governed, who are responsible and how is it socially allocated? What are the effects of the interstate water wars and how should water be governed? Biswas (2010) explains that, if done properly, water governance can enable the environment and overthrow critical impediment like water scarcity, stress and thus: crisis.
The historical institutional perspective of water governance is implied by the states governing institution, the PWD. This institution is solely responsible for the water management for the water
to reach a village like Ariyakoshti. With equally calculated shares, given the total amount of arable land per village, the whole water system is regulated by the Veeranam lake water catchment body and the Sethiathope dam, by the PWD. The Ariyakoshti panchayat tries to have more canals built to lead water into the village when there is water flowing, but this takes a while. When speaking to the PWD representatives, it becomes clear that the water distribution is equal, however, there are no sincere programs or projects at hand to solve the water scarcity problem. The PWD should be the responsible institution to initiate sustainable development on water issues, through water governance.
Results
Chapter 3 - Farmers’ livelihood adaptation and coping capacity
Introduction
To highlight a contrast between different groups of farmers and its changes forced by water related complications I chose to research the differences in large farmers and small farmers. This proved to be the most interesting contrast related to water for several reasons. First, the economic potential of the two is very different, so much that you can actually speak of two different ways of farming. For example, the larger farmers often don’t live on or adjacent to their agricultural land in contrary to the smaller farmers, and small farmers cultivate primarily for their household and family, as explained by the village panchayat president mr. Murugan. Also other contrasts that were found in the process of the field work were not adamant enough to be interesting on a scientific level. Considered contrasts were crops, crops cycles, different water management approaches and geographical distinctions.
Although Murugan considers three groups of farmers in land size, taking other distinctive reasons into account, there are only two sizes intelligible. The state of Tamil Nadu has allowed small farmers, which the government considers below 5 acres, for their loans to be waived in years before, which signifies a categorization. Also in march 2017, after a long protest at the high court in Delhi, the Madras High Court has ordered the state of Tamil Nadu to wave the loans both for the small and large farmers, at least for those with loans from cooperative banks (Lakshmana & Alavi, 2017). There are more financial benefits for being a small or large farmer, as the 71-year-old farmer Ramalingam tells us. He only registers 4 acres of his total of 11 acres in order to gain financial benefits, like higher chances of loan waiving and positive tax interests. The larger farmers are in this paper considered to be all the famers in Ariyakoshti that have more than 5 acres of land, small farms are naturally the farmers that have 5 acres or less. Further characteristics are all specified by the more than 60 people in Ariyakoshti that we spoke to in both the in depth interviews and the surveys. The characteristics of the large farmers are generally in contrast with the smaller farmers. The larger farmers have the financial capacity to have workers do most or all of the work on the field. Also are they often in the possession of irrigation tools and have built electric or diesel pumps on their agricultural land.
The smaller farmers mostly use dug wells, ponds, or land flooding in the case of paddy. As big land owner and former captain Akbar Ali Jinah explains to us, that in the village are many hand pumps, but these are often contaminated and too salinated to use for the land, also this is a practice that in most occasions proves to be too labour intensive. However, there were two
small farmers with no more than 5 cents of acreage, that admitted to use the hand pump in certain occasions to keep crops alive to maintain the household.
As mentioned before, there is also a group of farmers that do not own land for agricultural purposes, but work on the lands of their employers, often in the village of Ariyakoshti. Although, many labourers will still work on the farm lands when needed, the NREGA has provided the labourers with a steady income for one third of the year in harsh times with no agriculture.
Land and Water use - a historical perspective and forced changes
According to mr. Ravindran, before climatic influences had such a large impact on the agricultural practices in Ariyakoshti, speaking about several decades ago, there was the possibility to plant three crops per year on the same field. That is how he started as a farmer when he took over from his father. But soon, as rain water became more unreliable, the fields could only carry a guaranteed two crops per year. Now we have entered a time in which a farmer cannot even be sure anymore if he will succeed in cultivating one crop in a year span, he says.
Panchayat counsellor Sivaprakasam notes, the usual practice of land cultivation in Ariyakoshti is sowing the paddy seeds when the rainy season is over, with the fields containing enough water for rice production as it is a semiaquatic crop. When the paddy is harvested after approximately 3-4 months, groundnut can ben sowed in the decomposing fields. In the ideal case and weather, the groundnut will have enough water in the soil to be harvested a couple of months before summer, allowing a third crop to be sowed like tomato, black gram, chili and kampu or other crops. However, since the impossible climatic impacts of the last years, the crops have not survived the extreme events, whether a drought or flood, as losses are made by every single one of the respondents. The losses are mostly made from accredited loans, as farmers even, when informed about the possible threat of a drought since november 2016, were too desperate and untrusting that the sowed the first crop. In several occasions in 2017, some farmers admitted they had even tried a second crop which failed.
Nevertheless, there has also been a succes story in 2017, executed by Sivaprakasam, but also other farmers. Accepting the AEC’s warning for a disrupted monsoon period and an unprecedented drought, they did not sow paddy but used the scarce rain to irrigate the land for less water requiring crops like groundnut or spices. In some occasions the groundnut thrived failry good, however there were no profits made with any of the respondents in this year (2017). There were also farmers that did not use their arable lands in expectation of failure. The anticipation on the rainfall however, shows willingness to adapt and the need to change their
The water comes from the Vellar river and is channelled through canals into the village. The Panchayat counsellor Sivaprakasam says they are working with the PWD to create more canals to connect more fields, but also they want a water catchment area nearby the village so the village can govern a certain part of the water distribution themselves and increase their own water security. Water storage for irrigation was asked as a question in the surveys, which showed as a result that smaller farms and poorer farmers often have their own catchment ponds, dug holes on their lands, to keep water for irrigation. The richer farmers use bore wells with diesel pumps or electric pumps, which is a costly practice, but very efficient as the water can be pumped under pressure to any location on the field and makes irrigation a lot easier.
Inequities
As mentioned before, the fact that the village of Ariyakoshti consists of solely one caste, contributes to an unexpressed respect to any resident. As both the panchayat president as the panchayat counsellor confirm, there are almost no issues between the farmers themselves. Sivaprakasam spoke of an incident in which small farmers used the water storage facility of a large farmer unannounced, which was considered stealing by the owner of the pump. This was settled in a panchayat meeting. There is not much indifference noticeable in the village between large farmers and small farmers. There are mostly financial factors that play a role in the inequity between them.
During the farming season, most labourers will work on the lands. This provides a daily income of around 150-250 rupees for a woman and 450-550 rupees for a man, taking into account that it includes an 8-hour work day with maximum effort. However, the NREGA provides easy jobs, one farmer even mentioned that he sat around under a tree in the shade all day, with wages varying between 100-200 for women and men. All in all, there are too many people choosing the NREGA jobs, in the opinion of the arable land owners. During this season with no agriculture possible many of the farmers have also tended to search for other means of earning a living, as many work as a mason with varying wages, but mostly similar to farm land labour. Others have sent familiy member to Singapore or the Middle East, or are planning to go themselves. Most jobs there are also in masonry, but pay more generously, they reassure me.
Even more extreme, definitely notable, but not yet an actual tendency, is the land speculation that will commence with the ground becoming more valuable since the powerplant has established in the area. Farmer mr. Selvaman, a very untypical man in relation to all the villagers I have spoken to in Ariyakoshti, is a large farm owner, and also practices aquaculture, for the financial security. He states that the land prices have gone up in ten fold, ever since the thermal power plant has opened and is now buying land for initiating the expansion plans. Mr.
