Social organisation and irrigation: ideology, planning and practice in Sri Lanka's settlement schemes

Monsoon uncertainties, hydro-chemical infrastructures, and ecological time in Sri Lanka

“…The first response sought to motivate farmers through an appeal to Sri Lanka's own history as a hydrologic civilisation, and hence we characterise it as a turn to the past. MDIP planners drew from theories of social organisation linked with the rule of water (Wittfogel 1957), and Sri Lanka's own often romanticised history as an island of hydrologic civilisations (Gunawardana 1971;Leach 1959;Harriss 1984). Developed during the first decades of post-colonial independence, the MDIP appealed to the historical and cultural sensitivities of Buddhist farmers to encourage their obedience to the Mahaweli authorities by stressing the value of water as a natural but scarce resource and the importance of acting in a timely manner to be ready for water issues.…”

Analyzing the Performance of Alternative Institutional Arrangements for Sustaining Rural Infrastructure in Developing Countries<xref ref-type="fn" rid="fn1">¹</xref>

“…The incentives facing both sets of officials in a central government bureau can lead to a 28/1-PART, January 1993 compounding of perverse consequences regarding decisions about the infrastructure facilities to be designed and constructed and the investments to be made in operation and maintenance activities. To focus our discussion, we will examine the incentives involved in the construction and the operation and maintenance (O&M) of a large-scale irrigation system (Coward 1980;Harriss 1984;Wade 1984;Ascher and Healy 1990). Exhibit 6 contains our anticipated performance results for a central government bureau engaged in both the construction and the O&M of such a system.…”