Consultation Summary
Improving Irrigation Systems for Agriculture in India (P165254)
Workshop on Improving Irrigation Services Delivery
February 15th -16th, 2018
Overview
A full day consultation to further sharpen the focus of the initiative and to get buy-in from a broad group of stakeholders was held at the Imperial Hotel, New Delhi on 15th of February, and a half-day follow-up session with key individuals on 16th February. This workshop was conducted under the aegis of the National Hydrology Project (NHP) and its intent was to describe prevailing conditions of irrigation services delivery in India and generate a widely shared appreciation of the problem through multi-stakeholder discussions with relevant members / institutions representing academia, civil society, government, engineers, industry, policy institutes and think-tanks. It sought to identify the (functional) problem as understood by key actors. The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) assisted with facilitating this workshop.
It was well attended with over 60 participants from State governments; [Telangana (Chief Secretary and Engineer-in-chief), Maharashtra (regulatory authority), Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Government of India agencies (Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Central Water Commission, and Central Ground Water Board)], research organisations and think tanks (International Water Management Institute, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Centre for Policy Research etc.), academia,leading global independent consultants, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Developmentetc. The list of participants is attached in AnnexureI.
The workshop opened with introductions by Vivek Srivastava (Lead Public Sector Development Specialist, World Bank) and Arunabha Ghosh (Chief Executive Officer, CEEW). The proceedings were organized in four sessions and a panel discussion. The detailed Agenda is provided in Annexure II.Each session began with a power point presentation(provided in Annexure III) explaining the context, prevalent low-level equilibriums and put forth two or three key questions stemming from these. The panel discussion was structured so as to get opinions on key issues from senior representatives from the Centre, State, and a Regulator.
The proposed study, its objective and relevance were broadly endorsed by various stakeholders within and outside government (CWC and state governments) with whom the mission met. The outcome of the workshop was to distil and get broad acceptance on the key problem statements - reducing non-beneficial water use and improving operations and maintenance of irrigation canal systems. A detailed action plan and methodology for further study will be worked out in smaller consultations.
The team in collaboration with the consultants will prepare a report outlining the context of the study, containing short papers on performance measurements, institutional arrangements, operations and maintenance and political economy, in line with the flow of the consultation, as well as detailed discussion summaries. It will also contain a detailed study methodology.
Objective
The consultation sought to understand
-What factors positively or adversely impact service delivery
-The current state of affairs in order to better understand possible interventions for improving irrigation service delivery in India
-Review the existing institutional arrangements for service delivery across the different states in India and explore the variation across and within states to identify the constraints to improving service delivery in irrigation systems
-Explore national and international best practices of successful service delivery arrangements relevant for India.
Discussion Summary
The first session delved into systems performance by steering the conversation on boundaries where performance should be assessed and the indicators neededfor doing so in the context of major irrigation systems. This was followed by the second session that saw deliberations on various incentives and lack thereof to operate and maintain irrigation infrastructure, and discussions on how tariffs should be set within service delivery. It covered cost recovery, tariffs and ways to incentivise funding for O&M as well as management of WUAs. The third session discussed the advantages and disadvantages of separating construction and O&M agencies, whether there is need for independent regulation, and to what extent and dwelt on the role WUAs perform in irrigation service delivery. The final session addressed linkages between irrigation, power, agriculture and other sectors that impact service delivery. It deliberated on the need for change, space for change and identifying feasible solutions to the issues raised through the day.
Each of the themes generated healthy debates on causes, underlying pathologies, necessityof change and the course of change. The participants shared their rich experiences from across states and sectors to support their arguments. The moderators steer the sessions and summarised points raised. The learning from the day drove the incisive consultation session on the 16th and laid the ground for a research framework for the work ahead.The half-day consultation outlined the main arguments from the previous day and contemplated the best way forward. A detailed report of the discussions is attached in Annexure IV.
Annexures
IList of Participants
IIAgenda
III PowerPoint Presentations
-Measuring System Performance
-O&M Financing in India
-Irrigation Institutions
-Resilience or Inertia
IVConsultation Report
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