Technological and Institutional changes

The majority of tanks in the drought - prone areas of Andhra Pradesh irrigate less than 40 ha of land. There has also been decline in the number of tanks between 1955-56 and 1986-89 in Kurnool and Ananthapur. In Chittoor, Cuddapah, Mahabubnagar, and Nalgonda, the number of tanks has increased. Although the changes in the number of tanks are not unidirectional, it is interesting to note that the area irrigated under the tanks has ben declining uniformly in all drought - prone areas. In general this trend is observed through out our state but the percentage decline is more in the drought - prone areas as compared to non-drought prone areas. This indicates the deteriorated condition of tanks. At the same time well irrigated areas increased. The shrinkage of tank irrigation intensified after the mid - 1960s. After 1965, well irrigation overtook all other sources of irrigation.

During this period the State has seen extensive encroachment upon and transformation of percolation and smaller irrigation works into private land. Beginning with the early 1960s, well irrigation increased by leaps and bounds due to availability of credit facilities and electricity at subsidised rates. This transformation was aided by the increased privatisation not only of land but also of the ground water on private land. The along with improvements in water lifting technologies, made private command over irrigation of large areas, feasible. It made the dependence on common source like a tank, redundant for the rich and powerful in the villages. Tanks were no longer an asset that needed to be maintained but whose deterioration leading upto acquisition of the tank bed for private cultivation became the prime objective. An interesting product of this new institutional and technological scene is the practise of selling of well water for irrigation and the emergence of water lords.

There have been numerous suggestions to restore the tank system - regular maintenance and repair of tanks as per standards specified, raising of bunds to recover the capacity lost due to silting, desilting - cum - reclamation, to reduce the area of submergence and evaporation losses, checking of weed growth in tank bed to reduce transpiration losses, regulation of foreshore and tank bed cultivation, and afforestation and soil conservation of foreshore areas to minimise silting. History shows that tanks are a product of local initiative. It is therefore, necessary to understand the conditions under which indigenous institutions disappeared. It is also emphasised here that the need to evolve appropriate contemporary institutions in imminent.