Beneficiary Participation in Irrigation Water Management: The Kerala

Renewal is given based on the lists of office-bearers and the statements of accounts submitted
by BFAs. In Kerala only a fraction of registered BFAs used to apply for renewal every year.
More than 40 per cent of them remained unrenewed.
Only 236 BFAs out of 420 renewed their registration during the span of 11 years since 1986.
Renewals were regularly done only during the first three years, mainly to derive the benefit
of field channel lining. Out of the 236, 219 fall in this category. Only 17 are found to have
renewed since 1989 for all the rest eight years. Though all the 236 BFAs were registered as
per rules and had submitted the list of governing body members, only 170 are found to have
submitted their audited statements of accounts. Submission of the budget for the ensuing
year was a requirement for renewal; it was neither done by the BFAs, nor was it insisted
upon by CADA. Many office-bearers of BFAs were not aware of such a requirement.
Even this absolute number of 236 renewals, is misleading. Despite the statutory obligation
to renew BFAs every year, renewals were made after delays for years together (Table 4.5).
Out of 236 BFAs which were renewed, 227 had renewals, after varying periods of delay; 34
of them delay was of 1-3 years’ duration; 143 had renewed registration after 4-7 years of
delay and 50 of them after 8-11 of years delay. Once the field channel lining was achieved,
under the banner of BFA, every BFA, with very few exceptions, developed a tendency to fall
into passivity, ignoring statutory obligations and virtually becoming defunct. Even officebearers
of these defunct BFAs were unaware or feigned ignorance of the statutory requirements,
not to speak of their ordinary members. As per records, only nine BFAs, out of the 236,
which got renewed, did the renewal observing all formalities in time and every year. This
forms only 2.1 percent of the total number of BFAs registered over the span of 11 years,
1986 to 1996.
Table 4.5 Details on Delayed Renewals - Lapse in Years
Year 1-3 Years 4-7 Years 8-11 Years
1986 8 33
23
1987 10 105 27
1988 — 4
-
1989 — 1
-
1990 -
-
-
1991 -
-
-
1992 2 -
-
1993 2 -
-
1994 8 -
-
1995 4 -
-
1996 -
-
-
Total 34 143
50
Source: District Registrar of Societies (General) Palakkad
In brief, the heavy rush for registration and renewals evinced during the first two or three
Source: District Registrar of Societies (General) Palakkad
32