Institutions, technology and water control; water users associations and irrigation management reform in two large-scale systems in India

Few studies of resource management have paid as much attention or intelligently surveyed the operational aspects of Water User Associations (WUAs) as Institutions, Technology and Water Control. The implementation of WUAs policies, argues this pioneering study, is shaped by the aspirations of its users and participants. Such an insight makes for a trenchant study of the implementation process of the WUAs. Relying on ethnographic research methods, Narain takes an inter-disciplinary approach to examine how institutions are shaped by technology. Calling attention to the internal organizational dynamics of the WUAs, the author argues that the emergence of institutions for collective action is shaped by technology and social relationships. The book makes a case for mainstream discussions of technology, the design of canal irrigation, and open discussions of irrigation management reform. The warabandi system of irrigation prevalent in northwestern India has a different potential for reform than does the shejpali system prevalent in western India. Vishal Narain’s account of this highly topical subject should be of interest to researcher’s and academics, NGOs, multilateral organisations and donors interested in irrigation management reform, collective action and community-based management