Articles by Robert Wade

Canal Performance in Northwest India Is It So Bad?
Robert Wade THE warabandi method of water allocation used for canal operation in Punjab and Haryana canals has often been held up as an effective method for ensuring equality of water supply (equal amount of water per unit area, independently of location in relation to water source). A recent paper by Malhotra, Raheja, and Seckler1 provided evidence to question this conclusion, and in reviewing the book which contains the paper I drew attention to the inequality which their evidence suggested.2 However, Malhotra and colleagues have subsequently greatly extended their data and their analysis,3 as a result of which their preliminary results published in the above- mentioned paper have been overturned. Their new paper deserves to be read by anyone concerned with irrigation, not only for its results but even more for its methodology.

powerful tribal maliks by conceding extensive local autonomy.
For the last three years the USSR has contributed upto 18 per cent of the Afghan budget, and released millions of dollars worth of foreign exchange to finance the import of consumer goods. As the Afghan Aid Committee report makes clear, Kabul has absorbed an influx of refugees from the countryside without suffering acute food shortages; Kabul's traditional position as a centre of trade has been combined with a government policy to release fifty tonnes of wheat per day on to the market at the subsidised rate of 120 a/s.

Corruption: Where Does the Money go?
Robert Wade "THERE is no single lawless group in the whole country whose record of crimes comes anywhere near the record of that .single organised unit, which Is the Indian Police Force''. So declared an Indian High Court judge in the early 1960s. He attracted severe censure for his remarks, hut they do still correspond with a widespread image of Indian police as endemically' corrupt.

February 13, 1982 ITALY Creeping Coup D'etat?
Robert Wade ITALY's P2 .scandal has run true to the form of scandals in Italy. A few marginal heads have rolled, a parliamentary enquiry has been launched, the papers have been full of rumours of espionage and massive corruption. By now the public is bored and the parliamentary enquiry has run into the sand. The most important questions remain unanswered. The organisers of the P2 must be well pleased with the outcome.

How to 'Destabilise' the Countryside THE government of Japan has recently given the Government of India an advanced- technology rice transplanting machine and rice combine-harvester. The machines are now in West Goda- vary district, where they ire to be adapted for use in Indian conditions by agricultural engineers and agronomists of the Andhra Pradesh Department of Agriculture. There is considerable excitement in official circles about the possibilities of these machines, because, it is pointed out, the cost of labour these days is becoming so high that rice farmers are finding the crop not economic. With these machines, labour costs can be reduced considerably, to the benefit of the farmer.