The duties of the rulers of the land are simpler and less arduous. These duties are to protect the forests which regulate the supply, to keep the ancient irrigation works in thorough repair, and to utilize the surplus water escaping to the sea, by constructing supplementary works. All these measures have been, or are being taken; and Tinnevelli, with its busy port of Tuticorin, is among the most flourishing districts of British India.That is from an article, "Irrigation in Southern India," which is on the Tamraparani (Tamrabarani) river system. It was published in The Geographical Magazine--December 1, 1874.
Yes, 1874!
First, a back-story on what led me to reading this old piece from a time long, long ago. In a recent telephone chat, my father said he was writing a few things down about the village--Pattamadai--and some of the neighboring villages and towns. To keep himself busy, while, perhaps, passing along something useful to later generations.
This village is hot and dry, thanks to its location on the leeward side of the mountain ranges. Thus, the river, Tamrabarani, and an irrigation channel--the Kannadian Channel--play important roles. Sociocultural stories are tightly interwoven with the river and the channel.
A couple of years ago, I had shared with my father a newspaper article that I had read about these water bodies. He wanted me to send that to him.
But, now, I was no longer keen on that news item. The curious guy that I am, well, I wanted to know more than a simple news item.
Which is how I ended up reading that 1874 article on the Tamrabarani river system.
Free India, on the other hand, seems to have squandered the opportunity to build on what the British left behind.
Independent India and the democratically elected governments at the federal and state levels did not carry out the closing remarks of the 1874 article. Contrary to its call "to protect the forests which regulate the supply, to keep the ancient irrigation works in thorough repair, and to utilize the surplus water escaping to the sea, by constructing supplementary works" the post-1947 governments did nothing to augment the water systems and have practically done everything possible not to protects the forests.
As the article noted, "there can be no more short-sighted policy than to allow the villagers to waste and destroy forests on the preservation of which not only the prosperity but the very existence of the population of a whole district may be involved."
Alas, wasted and destroyed they have been.
The result: the dry and hot geography has become drier and hotter. Last January, when I was there, it was insanely hot. It was January, with the hottest periods a couple of months into the future!
I understand from my father that the Kannadian Channel is now nearly dry, when it ought to be full and plenty, and that a farm labor migration to nearby towns is well underway.
Stories like this make me wonder, sometimes, whether the dysfunctional democracy that "rules" India now was worth the struggle for independence. Would the British have taken better care of the anicuts and forests and, thereby, the peoples?
1 comment:
Oh yes, the British did a lot of good in India - no doubt. But there's no way they would have taken better care of forests or water - it is simply the pressure of population and the demands on resources. So the British were good and bad , as you say, but it was always right for them to go.
Incidentally there is a place in Andhra called Horseley Hills (still retains the British name). It was named after another British Collectors, but not sure if he was any relation of this Horseley.
Post a Comment