Poverty alleviation through storage Dams

Of the world's 6 billion people, 2.8 billion — almost half — live on less than US$ 2 a day, and 1.2 billion — a fifth — live on less than US$ 1 a day, with 44 per cent living in South Asia. Indian sub-continent is one amongst several nations having populations of about 40 per cent below poverty line. Recent data from India's National Sample Survey suggest that the pace of poverty reduction slowed in the 1990s, particularly in rural areas. Development of water resources and power are identified as basic inputs for economic development of a country, more so for developing countries like India harbouring large population of poor economic status, especially in villages. Harnessing of water resources in India has been done since time immemorial through construction of storage reservoirs, considering short monsoon period of four months during which Indian rivers would receive bulk of their annual inflows with the rest of the year being dry. Requests for construction of storage dams mostly emanated from farmers with small holdings who constitute bulk of the Indian rural population. Recurrence of famines at frequent intervals and shortage of food grains were grave problems faced by the country till recent times. At the time of independence of the country in 1947 when the population was 330 million, the country was dependent on the food grain imports for meeting the requirements. Rightly, the policy-makers decided to give prime importance to harnessing water resources by construction of a number of dam projects in order to achieve self-sufficiency in food production besides developing hydroelectric power to foster industrial growth and thereby upgrade the living standards of millions of poor people.

Thanks to such foresighted policy for planned development of water resources and power under five-year plans, the country, as on today, has achieved not only self-sufficiency in food grain production capable of feeding the present population of about 1050 million (year 2002) but also has registered overall progress in almost all fronts. Thanks to the extensive irrigation facilities created by these dam projects, numbering over 3000 and having a live storage capacity of 177 Mm³ in 1995. Apart from fulfilling irrigation requirements, these dam projects have been meeting the drinking water needs of millions of people especially living in major cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, etc., as well as sizable rural population besides mitigating the damaging effects like loss of life and destruction of properties worth crores of rupees due to floods. Nagarjunasagar, Chambal, Bhakra, Mayurakshi, Hirakud, DVC Dams, Kangsabati, Jayakwadi, Koyna are some examples of such projects.

These dam projects also ensure employment opportunities, both during and post-construction periods, thus providing stepping stone to better standard of living. Rural poor people view these as harbinger of economic prosperity. The paper discusses the case history of some major storage dam projects, quantifying the various economic benefits gained by the rural poor.