NIVEL DE LOGRO DE LA ACCIÓN

The geographical area of the Surya Multipurpose Irrgation Project can be divided into two parts: (1) the developed coastal belt (the bandarpatti) where various commercial crops flourish; and (2) the area east of the Sahyadri Mountains (the jungle patti).

The bandarpatti is about 30 kms wide, extending west from the railway line situated at the foot of the Sahyadri range. The area has a fairly well-developed, fairly evenly-distributed infrastructure including roads, transport facilities, banks, cooperatives, schools, factories, etc. The main crops cultivated are fruits, vegetables and paddy rice, which are sold commercially and consumed domestically. A fairly large portion of this area enjoys good irrigation. The main farming castes are the Kunbis and Agris, respectively; tribals do not traditonally inhabit the area. However, tribals do have a regular presence, since they increasingly migrate from the jungle patti to satsify demands of commercial crop farmers for cheap, abundant labour on their expanding operations.

The jungle patti lies to the east of the railway line, extending up to the Mumbai- Ahmedabad National Highway. The land is barren during dry seasons and the hills are thinly forested. Villages, which tend to be isolated and are sometimes inaccessible during monsoons, are characterized by an almost total lack of infrastructure facilities. The (virtually non-irrigated) subsistence-economy there is based on producing a single

crop – paddy – with grass grown on some pasture land. Nearly 70% of the jungle patti

population consists of tribals who have historically lived in forested areas there. Today, most tribals are agricultural labourers and small farmers, with few holding more than 5 hectares of land.

The Surya Multipurpose Irrigation Project is located in the jungle patti area and was designed to irrigate 24,000 hectares of land. Rainfall in the Surya Command Area is very high (3,000 to 4,000 mm annually), making paddy the largest crop in the area, under both rain-fed and irrigated conditions. Project planners did allow for some crop diversification, and projected that 40% of the area's irrigation potential would eventually facilitate commercial crops such as vegetables (Borude et al., 1986). Indeed, the potential for surface irrigation to transform production relations in the region was touted by other researchers during the construction phase of Surya:

Irrigation in Dahanu significantly affects the entire organization of production methods of cultivation, the cropping pattern as well as the relations of production. On the one hand it may lead to greater differentiation in terms of proleterianization of the small and the marginal peasant. On the other, the topmost class, the developed technology, HYV seeds, etc. A few better off adivasi middle peasants may improve their conditions my making use of the irrigation facilities. Extension of irrigation in Dahanu and other talukas in Thane may be an important factor in boosting agricultural production at least temporarily, on the one hand, and in establishing clearer capitalist relations on the

other. (Munshi, 1983, p. 221)

And yet, paddy remains the dominant crop in the Command Area today. And even though the Surya Project has been funded under the Tribal Sub-Plan and was intended to primarily benefit small-scale, marginal, tribal farmers, over time it has come to cater to the needs of agricultural populations in western parts of coastal Dahanu. It also irrigates the fields of Kunbi farmers in Saphale Village (Palghar block). And, as discussed, it now also serves the needs of the rapidly urbanizing Vasai-Virar sub-region on the periphery of Mumbai. Such persistent diversion of water from its originally intended purpose is an issue that is currently being challenged in Mumbai High Court by local activists.

Also, almost half of the total cultivable land in the Surya Command Area lies in the middle of one of the District’s largest protected forest areas. The canals and sub- minors (water channels designed to convey water to fields from canals) of the irrigation project criss-cross this forested area through a very hilly region, and irrigate only a very small portion of agricultural land owned by tribal farmers. At several places, the canal network and sub-minors are left incomplete due to non-clearances for construction from the Forest Department. In contrast, the canal system is soundly in place near Vanai Village (on the eastern side of the Project’s Command Area), where some sections of the tribal community there have managed to benefit from irrigation water. Nearby, close to the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Western Express Higway that passes through the Command Area, a substantial portion of agricultural land has also been opened up for urban and industrial development. That too creates further social, economic and environmental

pressures on the tribal community there - who seldom find employment in new establishments that arise.

A majority of inhabitants in the 105 villages of the Surya Command Area are also some of the poorest in Thane District. The area is characterized by chronic poverty and malnutrition; poor infrastructure; poor access to water for domestic use; and an absence of basic literacy. Most of its inhabitants migrate to Mumbai and coastal Dahanu from September to April in the post-monsoon season for seasonal employment.

While the Surya Command Area is populated by the tribal community, the adjoining areas of Surya Project (in the western coastal belt of Dahanu and Palghar blocks, on the Arabian Sea) are mostly inhabited by farmers of the Kunbi Maratha and Vadaval caste-clusters. In contrast to the economic stagnation of the Command Area, farmers from those communities have enjoyed a period of relative prosperity since the land reforms and Green Revolution of the 1960s. That largely stems from their proximity to Mumbai railway line, as well as from access to ground water for their fields. Thus, Kunbi Maratha and Vadaval farmers have good connections to markets in Mumbai where they sell their produce, and so have developed proximate relations with the economy of the city. The farmers there rely mostly on tribal labour from the interior of Thane (a majority of whom come from villages in the Surya Command Area) to work their fields between November and May. After that, tribal farmers return to their own fields to sow their monsoon crop.

However, that 'symbiotic' relationship is not exactly mutually enriching. The tribal community continues to face exploitative practices from the larger scale,

commercial, coastal farmers who pay them quite meagrely. Indeed, relations between the tribal community and the non-tribal, coastal community have become antagonistic. One of the leading social justice organizations in Thane District - the Dahanu-based

Kashtakari Sanghatana - has been at the forefront of organizing protests and marches over the Surya Dam issue. During the past two decades they have also been organizing seasonal labourers into a labour union.

In terms of land use, agricultural development is uneven in the Dahanu block. Paddy is the main staple crop in the adjoining coastal belt, and is cultivated on 4,141 hectares in 32 villages there. Slightly above 53% of paddy production in Surya Command Area is located on this coastal strip of Dahanu (even though there are a greater number of villages in the interior of the Command Area, and in other tribal areas of Dahanu block). In fact, that coastal acreage accounts for almost 24% of the total area under paddy in Dahanu, which reflects very uneven agricultural development in the region. Indeed, this extremely productive coastal area of Dahanu (about 6 km long by 12 km wide) is known as the ‘vegetable bowl’ of Thane District (Dewan, 1999).

However, in the past 5 years (because of proximity to the Arabian Sea), coastal farmland has suffered from the intrusion of salinity into groundwater aquifers, which has caused sometimes serious declines in agricultural production. The polluting presence of power plants on Dahanu coast since the late 1990s (to feed Mumbai's energy needs) have also adversely affected the agricultural economy there (Dewan, 1999). Consequently, to ameliorate their declining economic conditions, coastal area

Vadaval farmers have made access to water from Surya Project a key point in their demands of the State Government to help revive agriculture in their area of Dahanu.