Articles by R Maria Saleth

This article critiques theMihir Shah Committee report and the articles about it in this journal (24 December 2016). It says that although the report has intended to be an attempt at restructuring of water institutions, it has, unfortunately ended just as an exercise in restructuring “water organisations,” and its contents get reduced to a mere “preface” rather than a serious analytical attempt towards a practical approach to institutional restructuring in the water sector.

Rural Groups A Case Study of Rural Transformation in Tamil Nadu R Maria Saleth Treating the employment and income patterns underlying the observed occupational structure as an analytical tool and using primary information obtained from 218 households in four villages in Tiruchirapalli district of Tamil Nadu, this article aims to empirically explain as to how and why rural transformation has a differential impact on various rural groups in terms of employment and income diversification. It shows that since the income benefits of rural transformation are related more with asset ownership than with employment shares, employment diversification, though necessary, is not sufficient for income diversification among the rural poor. While occupational diversification does contribute to income stability, its role in income enhancement is severely constrained by lower wage rates in rural occupations where the poor groups participate the most.

Are Groundwater Markets Viable in Uttar Pradesh?
R Maria Saleth Dynamics of Groundwater Irrigation by Kripa Shankar; Segment Publications,
THE widespread occurrence of groundwater depletion and scarcity has prompted the search for institutional mechanisms to promote efficient, equitable and ecologically sustainable use of this scarce resource. While state-sponsored instruments like well-spacing and power tariff regulations have evidently failed, the spontaneous emergence of groundwater transfers among the farmers on their own accord has raised the hope of researchers in their search for an alternative institutional option for groundwater utilisation and management. Thanks to the efforts of a number of researchers who have meticulously documented the phenomenon of groundwater markets (GWMs) in various parts of the country, we have today a large body of knowledge on this localised but evolving rural institution Documented evidence till todate suggests a broad typology of GWMs functioning in different parts of the country While the GWMs in the water- scarce Gujarat have taken an almost agribusiness proportions with cash-based commercial transactions, in parts of Tamil Nadu they have displayed a different character with water rents being charged by sellers to the tune of about one-third of total output on buyers' farms! On the other hand, the GWMs in the relatively water- abundant Indo-Gangetic regions appear to fall somewhere in between the two extremes with a very mute form of commercial character. Despite the large body of literature on GWMs, a number of issues remain largely unattended or dealt with only tangentially. Apart from the legal and institutional issues that went largely ignored so far in the literature, there are the following two critical issues that still remain unsettled. Are the GWMs viable in strict economic calculations based on full cost principles? What are the economic linkages between groundwater selling and the utilisation of irrigation assets like tubewells/pumpsets? The book by Kripa Shankar provides empirical evidences from UP to gain new clues to and insights into these and other related issues involved in the use of groundwater and irrigation assets.

Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Beyond a 'Mountain Perspective' R Maria Saleth Sustainable Mountain Agriculture edited by N S Jodha, M Banskota and Tej Partap; Oxford and IBH Publishing Co, New Delhi, 1992; two volumes,

R Maria Saleth Studies in Minor Irrigation: with Special Reference to Groundwater by B D Dhawan; Commonwealth Publishers, New Delhi, 1990; pp viii + 209, Rs 200 (hardboard).