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Big Dam, Big Failures: A Study of the Canal Irrigation System and the Deprived Tail-End Farmers in the Hirakud Command Area of Orissa, India

Since its liberation from colonial rule, India, a largely populated country, has always banked on mega projects to accelerate its economic development. However, such mega-development projects are found to generate very limited socioeconomic benefits for the very people for whom they were initially designed and planned. On the other hand, many such projects are benefiting the rich ‘omnivores’ and adversely affecting the livelihood of the land-dependent ‘ecosystem people’. This article deals with just such a story of ephemeral development, that of Independent India’s first mega project, the Hirakud Dam on the Mahanadi River. By making its main focus the issues of irrigation-water management and the plight of the tail-end farmers in recent years, this article highlights how the key objectives of India’s multipurpose river dam project, Hirakud, have failed during the last 50 years of its operation in terms of flood control, irrigation coverage and electricity generation.