State perplexity : the politics of water rights and system turnover in Tamilnadu

The motivation for this paper is to trace historically the evolution of water rights and water laws in Tamil Nadu and their relevance for water resource management in the State. The paper discusses the traditional/customary water rights enjoyed by user communities for many centuries, the strengths weaknesses of these customary rights, methods by which the State appropriated these rights, the problems associated with management of water by the State, recent attempts and to transfer water rights to user communities as a part of a "System Turnover Programme" by the World Bank  and its policy implications. The paper, in particular, makes a critical analysis of the Tamil Nadu Farmers' Management of Irrigation Systems Act, 2000 in the context of turning over of rights to user communities under the above programme. The paper also presents two case studies with a view to discussing the appropriation of water rights by the State and the process of bureaucratization of water management. The case studies presented are Palar Anicut System (an age old irrigation system in the erstwhile North Arcot district) and Parambikulam Aliyar Project (a new irrigation project in Coimbatore district). [authors abstract]