Revisiting the Participatory Model of Development: Institutional Survival in Watershed Programmes in Four Indian States

Abstract

The watershed development programmes have been hailed as an important agent for overall rural development in India by enhancing livelihoods through natural resource management. The tenure for these government-funded projects end after five years but the benefits of the project are expected to be taken forward beyond the project duration through the active participation of the community-based organisations. This study aims to address the relatively untouched area of post-project management of watershed programmes, and draws experience from a primary survey covering 201 watershed projects in four major states of India, 3 to 5 years after the completion of the project period. Through the lens of institutional survival after the withdrawal of government funding, this paper follows the debate around the community-based institutions created for the purpose of project ideally meant to promote development through a ‘neat’ bureaucratic design that seeks to remove ‘political’ interference referred widely to as ‘anti-politics machines’ in the academic discourse. In reality, they leave out large sections of the community in terms of their representation. This paper questions the institution-building process and its outcome, particularly with respect to survival of the core watershed institution, that is, the Watershed Committee.