Traditional Water Mangament System of India

by Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty

The book is based on seminar proceedings on Traditional Water Management Systems organized by the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Bhopal and held in four components, at Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Pune and Bhandara. Apart from presenting history of water management in India from ancient to contemporary times, this book brings out managerial, legal and financial problems which stand in the way of recycling of local water harvesting structures. Simple techniques of conserving water, farmer managed irrigation systems, law and policy of water management, study of tanks, recharging of springs, Chalcolitic irrigation in Pune Distt. Etc. are some of the topics dealt with in details. As the theme of the seminar suggests, site-specific examples of various water management systems have been given from archaeological record and contemporary contexts.

This book has thirty three articles as well as suggestions and recommendations written by eminent scholars, which will prove useful in implementing various programmes. The papers bring out the fact that traditional water harvesting strategies continue to be relevant in development planning today. Such themes are not generally tackled by research organizations and governmental institutions. This work should, therefore, be a welcome addition to all libraries interested in the history and development of water management in India.

Table of Contents:

• Foreword
• Preface
• Towards a sustainable water policy by K.K. Chakravarty
• Traditional water management systems
  • Traditional systems of water management in Maharashtra/P.P. Dandawate, P.S. Joshi and B.S. Gajul
  • Inamgaon: the proto-historic irrigation system (with a note by S.N. Rajaguru)/M.K. Dhavalikar
  • Traditional Water Systems in the forts of Maharashtra/P.K. Ghanekar
  • The inscriptional evidence of ancient water management systems with special reference to Western India/Shobhana Gokhale
  • Water management in ancient and medieval India/M.S. Mate
  • Water Systems at Udayagiri: a search for its meaning/Meera Dass
  • Pre-Mughal Water Supply Systems in the Deccan (AD 1300-1650)/M.S. Mate
  • The Hydraulic System of some early historic sites of Kalahandi District, Orissa/Baba Mishra and Pradeep Mohanty
  • Water management concept in classical Indian literature/Vijay Paranjpye
• Traditional water management systems in contemporary times
  • Data on existing traditional water systems in Himachal Pradesh/R.G. Arya
  • Re-charging of springs: a revival of tradition/A.P. Joshi and Rumita Gupta
  • On the need to conserve the traditional urban Water Supply System in Pune/Shubhada Kamlapurkar
  • Traditional Water Management Systems in Bundelkhand/Sunanda Kirtane and Krishna Gandhi
  • Ancient waterworks as models for localized water management/J. Manuel
  • Note on practical field initiatives/U.C. Pandey
  • Phad System of Western Maharashtra (A traditional method of water harvesting and management by the farmers)/R.K. Patil
  • Pond systems in Panvel Taluka and their conservation (Traditional water harvesting in Panvel)/Makarand Pendse
  • Conservation of traditional water supply of Burhanpur Town/S.S. Raghuwanshi
  • Tanks of Kohlis in Gond Kingdom (Traditional water harvesting systems in Bhandara District of Maharashtra)/Manish Rajankar and Yogini Dolke
  • Strategies to protect the Dwindling domestic water supply: Kutch District/K.C.B. Raju
  • Ponds in Bhandara District and water management/Manish Rajankar and Yogini Dolke
  • Reviving traditional water resource development and management in Ramanathpuram District, Tamilnadu (with a note by R. Sreenivasan)/G. Vasudeo
• Short communications, suggestions and recommendations
  • Water management in the Himalaya-Ganga: reconciling interventions and complexity/Ajay Dixit
  • Suggestions on traditional water harvesting structures/Kamal Saxena, S. Ramanuja and Lavesh Kansal
  • Individual well re-charge techniques/K.C.B. Raju
  • Traditional drinking water resource management as solution towards sustainable systems in hills/Vijay Kumar
  • Traditional water management practices/Raman Patel
  • Farmer organizations and organizational and procedural changes (experiences from Maharashtra)/Vijay Paranjpye
  • Suggestions for overall improvement of ancient water management on government and technical levels/Vijay Paranjpye
  • Recommendations (with emphasis on the water management systems in Maharashtra)/Vijay Paranjpye
  • What other said/Gyani Lal Badam
  • Concluding remarks/Gyani Lal Badam and Ashwani Wanganeo.