Role of local committees in changing times Gopal Datt Bhatta

8/7/2019 Role of local committees in changing times Gopal Datt Bhatta

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/role-of-local-committees-in-changing-times-gopal-datt-bhatta 1/4

10 | Farming Matters | September 2010

NEGOTIATING WATER > LOCAL ORGANISATION

Irrigation

The role of a local committeein changing times:

management



Farming Matters | September 2010 | 11

Mustang, in the Trans-Himalayanregion o Nepal, is one o thecountry’s most remote districts.The upper part o the district,at altitudes that start at 3,800metres above sea level, looks

like the Tibetan Plateau, with wind-eroded, rolling,yellow and grey hills. Rainall is less than 200 mmper year, so even though armers have sucient land,

they must keep part o it allow due to the shortageo water. The upper Mustang area used to be headedby a local king called Jigme Palwar Bista, but since2008 (when Nepal became a republic) his role is nowchiefy ceremonial. Local people respect him, and hestill plays a signicant role in the distribution o water,as part o a system that builds on the local hierarchiesand stratication which divides society into an upperruling class and a lower working class.Lomanthang is one o the many villages in thisdistrict. As in most villages, it has an irrigationcommittee which, in this case, consists o ninemembers. While the local king is its head, thecommittee is run by a chairman known as the

Ghempo. There are two Mithue or secretaries (one o whom is appointed by the king and the other one bythe Ghempo), and six Tshumies or messengers. Aterthe King, the Ghempo is the person with the mostinfuence, and he is the authority in issues relatedto irrigation and agriculture. All cases o conficts,ghts and robberies are brought to the Ghempo toadjudicate on. Ghempos are always members o theBista amily, and although they do not get a salary,

they receive 25 percent o all the nes imposed.The Mithue are next in the chain o command: onlyliterate males are appointed to this position. Servingas secretaries to the Ghempo, the Mithue keep allthe records related to the irrigation system. They alsohave the responsibility o managing the committee’snances. They do not get a salary or this work, butdo not have to contribute any physical labour. TheGhempo also appoints a number o Tshumi who actas the supervisors o the irrigation system, and as suchthey have important responsibilities. They have tostay close to the canals during irrigation (even duringthe night), and are responsible or reporting anyonecaught stealing water to the Ghempo. Similarly, i

The Trans-Himalayan region o Nepal is otenreerred to as the country’s desert. Water is ascarce resource that has traditionally been

managed through local norms and institutions.The remoteness o the region has limited the roleand infuence o the central government. Althoughthe locally managed irrigation system has beenrunning or centuries, recent developments makepeople wonder i this approach is sustainable inthe long run.Text and photos: Nilhari Neupane and Gopal Datt Bhatta

Himalayasin the



be permanently alert in taking care o the irrigationinrastructure. The sandy soils which predominate inthe region mean that the canals requently break, andthe committee needs to respond to this immediately.I there is a small breakage, the Tshumis have the

responsibility o repairing it. But i they cannot, thenthey ask each household to contribute with labour.Those who reuse to help have to pay a ne, or runthe risk o being excluded rom the system altogether.

Unequal relationships Critics o this system point out that it is based on an unequalor asymmetric relationship between the upperclass villagers, who run the system, and the lowerclass armers. Others argue that this is justied asarmers depend on the upper classes or ood intimes o scarcity, and also or loans and land. The

irrigation canals were built on the initiative o theupper classes, and they still play a crucial role inthe day-to-day management o the system, in termso decision making and networking. While armersprovide the manual labour, the upper classesprovide the necessary cash and inrastructure.This mutual interdependency has kept the systemunctioning as an ecient way o dealing with waterscarcity. According to Narendra Lama, leader o theAnnapurna Conservation Area Project, the system isbased on local knowledge, and because o this it workseciently.At the same time there are also many voices

demanding that armers get more water, that theirincome increases, or that roles and responsibilitieswithin the village change, giving them a strongervoice. Irrigation projects and programmes, in Mustang

12 | Farming Matters | September 2010

they nd livestock grazing in a eld with crops, theirowner is also taken to the Ghempo. They are alsoresponsible or collecting all the nes, by going doorto door. While they don’t get any salary or their workthey do receive part o the collected nes. Being part

o the committee brings them prestige, as well asgiving them priority in the irrigation rota.

Water allocations and localculture An ecient allocation system is essentialwhen rainall is limited. In general, the most commonmethod in the upper Mustang region is a lottery.The Ghempo throws the dice in the presence o the Mithue, Tshumi and all the local villagers todetermine the sequence or distributing water.However, the Ghempo can give priority to a specicplot regardless o the results o the lottery. Members

o the committee and other upper class armers havepriority over other villagers. Water allocation alsodepends on the type o crops cultivated. The rstpriority is given to wheat and naked barley, ollowedby peas, buckwheat, mustard and potato. All thevillagers know that wheat and barley are highlysensitive to water stress, and that yields suer i irrigation is delayed (showing that the water allocationpatterns have a scientic basis). Another reason orgiving priority to these crops is that they are themain staple oods in the region, and are also used ormaking chhyang, a popular drink.But the committee’s roles extend beyond the

allocation o water. One requent concern is toensure the maximum eciency when wateringplots, diverting the water to the next plot as soon aspossible. In addition, the committee members need to

Culture and traditions

For the local population water is both a utilitarianand a symbolic resource. Besides being used fordrinking, cleaning and irrigation, water is also seenas a divinity, and plays a central role in all villagerituals. Most villages have constructed a chorten near the source of water, on top of which they ya ag. These chortens are small edices made of stones and mud, and have different styles whichreect the local architecture. Villagers also plantvarious cold-tolerant species around the sourcesof water. These plants are considered to be sacredand are never cut. This is all done to ensure that thegods won’t become angry and to avert drought.

The clearest example of how culture governs the

management of water is seen during the Sakalukafestival which is celebrated on the third day of the rst Tibetan month (February/March), andrepresents an auspicious moment to begin theagricultural activities of the new year. During thisday, all villagers go to the king’s elds. They ploughthe eld, add manure, and start the agriculturalseason by sowing wheat seeds. Both the kingand the queen take part in the festival. And thenthe new irrigation committee is formed, and thecoming year’s water allocation schedules arehammered out. The whole village is ready for a newagricultural year.



and in other parts o Nepal, have tried to improve theavailability o water. Running with the support o thenational government or o donor organisations, theyall hope to benet armers. But they seldom recognisethe existing, locally-sanctioned norms, so they run the

risk o destroying the social capital that has developedover centuries. Many studies show the crucial rolethat such social capital plays in the governance o common resources. It takes a long time to developaccepted rules and norms o governance or theseresources, but relatively little time to erase them. Arequently mentioned example is the tank irrigationsystems in southern India, which were based on social

hierarchy and were the prevalent mode o irrigationbeore British colonial rule. When the Britishgovernment implemented a new set o ormal rules, itcompletely wiped out the existing social capital (based

on the inormal relationship between the ruling andthe working class), and the authorities were unable toreplace it and keep the irrigation system working. Thechallenge today is to develop more equitable ormalrules that build on existing social capital.Others recognise additional risks elsewhere. AmjiBista, the Ghempo in Lomanthang, has expressedhis concerns about the uture. Many young peopleare reluctant to ollow the traditional regulations andnorms, and he sees increasingly requent violationso the irrigation norms giving rise to conficts. “Theirrigation system used to unction properly in the pastbecause o a strong internal cohesion and becausethe dierent groups o people understood each other

very well.” There is a general eeling that, in the past,nobody dared to violate the rules, but that this isnot so anymore. These changing attitudes are partlyrelated to the interest o the younger generation inmigrating to the cities and not wishing to continue

arming. More diculties may emerge as a result o the stronger presence o the government in the area,and the increasing presence o development projects.

A balancing act The Lomanthangirrigation system has developed over hundreds o yearsand is rooted in a specic political, social, culturaland economic environment. It has proved to be an

ecient model or a semi-arid region. The socialhierarchy and the inormal rules and relationshipsascribe dierent roles and responsibilities to dierentsocial groups. However, the changes occurring

recently in Nepal are undermining the hierarchicalorganisation and the social capital on which thissystem depends. A dicult balancing act must nowensure that private and public eorts succeed inimproving the livelihoods o the population, whileat the same time ensuring that water continues to beavailable, and that armers are able to irrigate theirland.

Farming Matters | September 2010 | 13

The challenge Lomanthang faces is to develop more equitable rules on the basis of local social capital.

Nilhari Neupane works at the Giessen University, inGermany. Gopal Datt Bhatta is with the Himalayan Collegeof Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Purbanchal Univer-sity, Kathmandu, Nepal. E-mail: [email protected]

Documents

Role of local committees in changing times Gopal Datt Bhatta