Well irrigation in Gujarat - Systems of use, hierarchies of control

There was,a profound decay in water-harvesting systems during the early 19th century Gujarat, caused by political disturbances and later reinforced by colonial disinterest and ruinous rates of land-tax. Whereas in the past there were multiple forms of water conservation, the colonial period put major emphasis on wells, and its active encouragement to the use of mechanised pumps led to unsustainable extraction of groundwater since early 20th century. Nevertheless, it would be untrue as has been argued, to attribute the current water crisis to commercialisation of agriculture accompanied by rise of so-called economic individualism during; the colonial period. As this paper argues, the colonial rule did not destroy the traditional hierarchical 'village communities', but rather by granting property in land rights to water, it modified as well as strengthened their basis of power. It is this system which continues to deprive the rural poor from access to resources, and only recourse to a variety of local systems of water harvesting suited to the topography of particular area and controlled by those who need it, can do away with the inequitous system of water harvesting and distribution.