Between Development and Retrogression: The state of Colonial Orissa Canals from inception to independence

Canal irrigation during ancient age had intended for agricultural promotion. Canals were generally constructed by rulers but managed by mostly common peasants. In the matter of irrigation management there was not much intervention of rulers. But during colonial period, the modern management method of canal irrigation was not a pro-peasant one. As per the open official claim, canals were constructed for the protection of crop but in disguise colonial masters had aimed for profit enhancement. To achieve this, they brought various laws time to time starting from 1850 to 1897, which had displeased peasant. On the basis of a few self-created statistics, they tried to show that the Coastal Canal Project of Orissa brought enhanced production and surplus income. But common peasants never had acknowledged the colonial claim rather considered canal as a symbol of colonialism and exploitation. Canal irrigation accelerated the process of commercialization of agriculture, brought water logging problem which caused the problem of malaria, brought the problem of food security by facilitating faster and huge food crop transportation to other provinces and countries with these boosted peasant migration from rural areas to canal colonies which affected rural agriculture because of labour shortage. British management policies and water related laws finally commoditized water which was a big shift from the concept of natural resources to commercial product. This irrigation further broke the economic backbone of the peasants by throwing them out of their hereditary engagement like salt, pottery and weaving industry. Hence, on the one hand canal helped colonizers to maximize income and on the other hand it ruined peasants. Key Words: Canal irrigation, Bad management, Sufferings of peasantry, commercialization of agriculture, commoditization of water, loss of food security.