Social actors in traditional tank rehabilitation: a case study of Tamil Nadu (India)

Many conventional participatory resource appraisal projects in India have been criticized for their observed poor standard of equity. Here, the participating community is treated just as a free source of labour, and majority of them do not have any share to the benefits. The Vayalagam Tankfed Agricultural Development Program (VTADP) of the Madurai-based Development of Human Action (DHAN) Foundation is a positive exception to this trail. Apart from the regular technical and institutional aspects of tank management, the program has successfully included the other relevant dimensions of livelihood improvement of the tank communities. It has scaled up the level of equity and sustainability of the said program, and set an alternative example to the government funded tank rehabilitation programs. This paper attempts to explore the various mechanisms of community involvement of the VTADP and assess the nature of changes in community livelihood after the program implementation.