How effective are Pani Panchayats: A fieldview from Maharashtra

Abstract

This paper focuses on the organisational dynamics of Pani Panchayats in the context of minor irrigation. Based on field material collected from the Pune District of Maharashtra, it examines the organisational viability of Pani Panchayat and the possibility of its replication on a wider scale. It addresses such questions as why certain conditions lead to the organisation of Pani Panchayats in some villages and not others despite the similarities in the problems faced by them on the irrigation front, and what are the factors and processes that explain their emergence and effective functioning. It tries to link the issues of organisational and financial sustainability of Pani Panchayats to those of equity and dominance at the level of village social structure.