economics of on-farm development - Institute for Social and ...

the completion <strong>of</strong> the works and serious imbalances between water supply,
itrigated area and crop patterns in the command area <strong>of</strong> completed projects,
accentuated the conflicts over water allocation and added to uncertainty <strong>of</strong> water
supply, its cost and productivity.
The growing problems <strong>of</strong> cost and time over-runs have, in turn, created
mounting antagonism towards big dams. followed by contrasting estimates on the
comparative cost effectiveness <strong>of</strong> large dams vis-a.-vis smaller ones. For instance,
the Planning Commission arrived at the unit cost <strong>of</strong> irrigation development in the
case <strong>of</strong> major! medium irrigation schemes at Rs.2800 per ha. against Rs. 800 for
groundwater. Kanwar (1988) reports the cost <strong>of</strong> groundwater development as
hardly one fourth <strong>of</strong> surface water development. Mitra (1997) shows that the cost
<strong>of</strong> major and medium irrigation projects per hectare was Rs. 1200 in the First
Plan against Rs. 691 for minor irrigation, which increased respectively to Rs.
35081 and Rs. 7331 during the Seventh Plan, registering an increase in costs to
the extent <strong>of</strong> 2834 per cent in the case <strong>of</strong> the former and 961 per cent in the
latter. However, such cost comparison is unrealistic, as these costs are reported at
Mollinga 1998), which, in turn, neutralised potential antagonism between different
classes. For example, in the recent past, there have been various agitations for farmer
rights, mainly representing the interests <strong>of</strong> rich peasants for subsidised electricity for
irrigation pumpsets, higher agricultural support prices and the like. Yet the fight is
presented as one between rural and urban areas thus masking both class antagonisms
within the agricultural sector and the rural rich and other groups (Ramamurthy, 1995).
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