Series: Wageningen University Water Resources Series. This book analyses the struggle over water in a large-scale irrigation system in Raichur District, Karnataka, South India. It looks at water control as a simultaneously technical, managerial and socio-political process. The triangle of accommodation of different categories of farmers, irrigation department officials and local politicians, involving water, votes, money, employment, credit and harassment, is documented. The book shows that the physical infrastructure, notably the division structures, are signposts of struggle, expressing the balance of power between farmers and the irrigation department, and that between head- and tail-end farmers. It concludes with a discussion of irrigation reform efforts in India: reasons for the very slow transformation of the sector, and how a more integrated perspective on irrigation could provide directions for the way forward.
Britain's famous overseas civil services - the Colonial Administrative Service, the Indian Civil Service and the Sudan Political Service - no longer exist as a major and sought-after career for Britain's graduates. In this detailed study the history of each service is presented within the framework of the need to administer an expanding empire. Close attention is paid to the methods of recruitment and training and to the socio-educational background of the overseas administrators as well as to the nature of their work. The prestigious incumbents of Government House are revealingly examined. The impact of decolonisation on overseas officials and the kinds of 'second careers' which they took up are documented. This authoritative narrative history is enlivened by recourse to Service lore and anecdotes.