82 Ethics and Systems Thinking
propagation of irrigation cooperatives, observed that the Maharashtra Govern-
ment had pursued the issue of handing over water to cooperative bodies of irriga-
tors for 30 years but ‘still full success is not in the offing’ (Gandhi, 1985, p14); and
others were more directly sceptical. Patil and Datye (1986, p2) wrote that the
Mohini Society ‘has not been replicated and 20 societies registered in the vicinity
are virtually defunct’. That this could be so is scarcely surprising. The location and
history of Mohini make it a classical case of the pampered pet project, where each
special measure reduces replicability. The levels of subsidy, of sugarcane cultiva-
tion, of high-level official concern for success, and especially of assured water sup-
ply, were not easy to repeat. Mohini, much visited and much mentioned, generated
a myth of water cooperatives in Gujarat. But it probably has been, and may well
remain, alone, an island of salvation.
In its section on Command Area Development, the Seventh Five-Year Plan has
farmers cooperatives again in the plural, assumes replicability and advocates their
spread:
The farmers’ associations and cooperatives established in some parts of the country have
been successful in the equitable distribution of water among their members, the bulk of
the water supply being given by the Irrigation Department, to such cooperatives. This
must be extended to other areas. (GOI, 1985, pII:82)Outside India, Mohini has been generalized to Gujarat State as a whole. One inter-
national authority wrote in 1986:
In Gujarat State in India, the irrigation agency sells water volumetrically in bulk to coop-
eratives, which distribute it and collect fees from their members (Repetto, 1986, p33)The myth of water cooperatives in Gujarat has, it seems, an ability to spread not
shared by the institution itself. It is believed in Washington as well as New Delhi.
Just how immortal the myth is will be shown in the Eighth Plan, to be awaited
with keen interest.
Naurangdeshar
In 1980 a long-term improved water management study was taken up in an area
of about 28,000ha under the Naurangdeshar Distributary of the Rajasthan Canal
(Bithu, 1983). Water flows and deliveries were measured and monitored at 21
main take-off points on distributaries and minors and at 20 tailend points on the
minors and subminors. Irrigation demonstration fields were established. Special 0
and M grants were made to improve operation and maintenance. Irrigators in the
area were occasionally contacted by water management staff to assess equitability
of irrigation water distribution and crop production.
The trial area did better than a control area. Cropping intensity was higher in
the trial area – 66 per cent against 47. More wheat, mustard and cotton were