From: aparna@mipos2.intel.com (Aparna Krishnan)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.tamil,soc.culture.indian.telugu,sci.environment,soc.human.rights,alt.activism
Subject: Narmada - Are we opposing dev ? - CLARIFICATION
Date: 16 Oct 92 21:32:16 GMT
Organization: Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA


CLARIFICATION :
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In the end of the article Narmada.. Are we opposing development? Part I
we quoted some figures on the cost to benefit ratio.

>The BC ratio of the NSP is 1:0.17
>The BC ratio of the SSP is 1:0.38

BC FIGURES IS THE OFFICIAL TERM USED FOR THESE RATIOS, THE ABOVE FIGURES
ACTUALLY REPRESENT THE COST TO BENEFIT RATIO. In case of the NSP for example

WE WILL HAVE RETURNS OF ONLY 17 PAISE FOR EVERY RUPEE SPENT!
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Therefore read those figures as ------->

The cost to benefit ratio of the projects WITHOUT CONSIDERING INDIRECT
ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS ----

 : The NSP cost to benefit ratio is 1:0.17
 : The SSP cost to benefit ratio is 1:0.38

WITH ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS ----
 
 : The NSP cost to benefit ratio is 1:0.017
 : The SSP cost to benefit ratio is 1:0.24

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 SOME MORE ON IRRIGATION CLAIMS:
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While both water supply and power benifits of these projects
have been stressed, more emphasis has been placed on irrigation 
and drinking water supply, specially with a view to gain wider
support for these projects among the public. However, it has 
been pointed by several experts that the black cotton soil in
a significant part of the command area is not really suitable 
for canal irrigation. Due to the extra ordinary absorbent nature 
of the soil, it cannot be extensively irrigated except for rice, 
and that even for rice, irrigation must be carefully restricted
both in area and supply, if it is not to do harm.
The limitation of this soil otherwise ideally suited to the 
cultivation of several crops was recognised in the report of 
the Irrigation Commission as early as 1901-1903.

The wisdom of this observations has become apparant in recent 
years after the irrigation of Tawa Project ( one of the major 
projects of NVDP) started reaching the farmers of the Narmada 
valley.

Tawa Dam has been built on the Tawa river which is a left-bank
tributary of the Narmada. The Tawa Irrigation Project is located 
in Hoshangabad district of MP with a canal system on both banks. 
The project was designed to provide irrigation to about 2.5 lakh 
ha. of land. However it soon became better known for water logging 
than for irrigation, with seepage loss levels estimated by experts 
at around 60%.
The deputy Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural 
Research, studied the Tawa Command area and submitted a report
on it to the Govt. of India in March 78. In the report he said
" Even though the irrigation was provided only two years back, 
a number of villages have been severely afected by water logging.
In fact those areas which were most productive under unirrigated 
conditions have been affected the most because of their low-lying 
conditions". This project was designed to bring a huge area under 
paddy cultivation, ignoring local soil conditions which do not 
justify such a shift in the cropping pattern. The ICAR report 
quoted above says: " The project has been designed to provide 
irrigation to about 90,000 ha. of paddy. This is a new crop in
the area and I am of the opinion that this should be discouraged,
otherwise it will be nearly impossible to control water logging 
during the rainy season".