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Tanks in Today's Context:
Critical Issues in Raising 'Gross Tank Product'
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Time, Date
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0900 -
1300 hours, 28th January 2003 |
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Panel
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Ved Arya,
Arun Pandhi, Niranjan Pant, K V Raju |
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Coordinator
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Abhishek
Sharma |
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Contact
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a.sharma@cgiar.org |
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- Despite their dubious role in the agrarian
history of feudal India, our Zamindaars and Raja's did to
their subjects some small acts of kindness. One of these was
building tanks, several hundred thousand of them that pepper
the Indian landscape. Just three states--Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka
and Tamilnadu-had apparently well over 100,000 on the eve
of Independence. North Indian states too have tanks and similar
structures. Besides countless tiny johads and paal's, Rajasthan
has 4500 minor irrigation tanks, each several times bigger
than a typical tank in Tamilnadu or Sri Lanka. South Bihar's
Ahar-Pyne systems and Bundelkhand's Chandeli tanks are also
substantial and numerous structures bequeathed to local communities
mostly by the erstwhile Jagirdaars and Raja's. So central
have these been to village society and ecology, that progressive
regents like Sayajirao Gaikwad's rural development program
for the erstwhile princely state of Baroda essentially consisted
of giving each village a temple, a public library and a tank!
But today, India's tanks lie in a state of disrepair, partly
due to the onslaught of modernization and urbanization, but
partly also because their context has changed beyond recognition.
Evolution of modern irrigation systems has certainly taken
its toll; but above all, the rise of the pump irrigation technology
has fundamentally altered the organic relationship between
tanks and 'tank communities'. In this changed context, characterized
by growing water scarcity, is there scope for reinventing
this relationship?
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Author(s) / Speaker(s)
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PPT
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Topic
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| Presentation
of Experiences |
| Niranjan
Pant |
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Tanks
in India: A study of the Ahar-Pyne system in Bihar (Jharkhand) |
| R. Seenivasan |
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Review of DHAN's
work on tank rehabilitation |
| G.
Bhaskara Rao |
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Review
of SPWD's work on tank rehabilitation |
| V.
Ratna Reddy |
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Revival
of traditional water harvesting systems: SPWD's percolation initiative
(tentative) |
| Abhishek Sharma |
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Cock-Eyed View
of Tank Management- Results From a Study of 5 Tanks In Andhra
Pradesh |
| Presentation
of Action Agenda |
| Ved
Arya |
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Concept
note on community driven integrated water management and sustainable
livelihoods in a micro river basin in Karnataka |
| G.
Shriramappa |
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Oxfam
India's Strategy for Tank Revival in Southern India |
| R Sakthivadivel
and Abhishek Sharma |
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Summary of
Presentations and Outlining the Agenda for Panel Discussion |
| Panel
Discussion |
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Exploring
the role of tanks in India- Direction for future research: Research
and policy issues in tanks in different parts of India |
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