Editing Hydromanagement in Ancient India (section)

=== '''Discontinuities and Destruction during the Colonial and Modern Period''' ===
By the nineteenth century, the majority of pre-British patronage and investment networks had been dismantled, thereby eradicating various older water management strategies. In the 1830s, Sir Arthur Cotton and Major Proby Cautley made significant strides in irrigation in Southern India and Northern India, respectively. The East India Company, which by then controlled much of India, saw a huge business opportunity in irrigation and pooled the resources of many different groups. The Grand Anicut at Tanjore and the Jamuna canals in the Delhi area are being restored by a combination of philanthropy and commercial interest. The East Jamuna Canal and the Tamil Nadu canal system, both of which saw expansion and improvement in the 1820s, are the only two notable outliers. The colonial government attempted large-scale irrigation projects in the Deccan region in the hopes of immediate economic gains from water development. The "canal colonies" of Punjab, which were irrigated by a network of canals, are a shining example of successful imperial irrigation policy. Western Punjab's barren lands were transformed into fertile farmland thanks to British engineers' efforts to build a system of interconnecting irrigation canals in the 1880s. By connecting science and the colonial empire in an effort to regulate and commodify nature in order to utilise its productive powers, the history of Punjab 'canal colonies' shed light on the complicated interaction between the state, science, and nature in a colonial environment. Because of this, a massive bureaucratic apparatus was developed to oversee irrigation, which was centralized. Therefore, towards the conclusion of colonial administration, the British had proven that canal irrigation was economically feasible. Scholars like Mason have praised canal irrigation for preventing famines in India, but the performance of Indian agriculture as a result of canal irrigation has been contentious. While some believed that the Bengal famine of 1942, which killed four million people due to a lack of food, could have been avoided if not for the 'unbalanced irrigation development' that prioritized irrigation projects and investment in Punjab, Madras, and the United Provinces.

Thus, it may be stated that colonial rule altered property relationships and took ultimate control through ownership of all resources, including land, water, forests, and minerals, without an understanding of how the irrigation systems functioned. Also, communities were hit hard by a wide variety of taxes, including those on land, water, wells, subsoil, water, canals, etc. Longstanding social bonds and social cohesion were altered as a result of colonization, which shifted the economy from one based on resource collecting and food production to one centered on commodities (Dellapenna and Gupta, 2009)<sup>16</sup>. The British cleared vast areas of forest for mining coal and lumber and expanding farmland. Forests and communal irrigation systems were acquired by the state over time. Once shared amongst citizens, water is now solely the property of the state. At least since the 1860s, the government has argued that its monopoly on the nation's water supply is an inherent part of its right to exercise complete sovereignty over any and all resources within its borders. As a result, the Canal and Drainage Act of 1873 was passed in the late nineteenth century to exert authority in the public interest by stating that the government had the right to "use and manage for public purposes the water of all rivers and streams running in natural channels, and of all lakes."

By the end of nineteenth century, the majority of pre-British patronage and investment networks had been dismantled, thereby eradicating various older water management strategies. When the British implemented the raiyatwari system in 1886, tanks with a command area of 40 ha or more were given to the public works department (PWD), while smaller tanks were given to local bodies or vested in the people themselves. Because local governments lacked qualified engineers and the duties of water users were unclear, the system of farmers performing maintenance work, known as "kudimaramath” works, gradually deteriorated. Tanks became clogged, and supply and distribution channels also became clogged. The deterioration of the tank irrigation system has been a source of much debate since the mid-nineteenth century. According to the Public Works Commission's report from 1852, there was little voluntary community contribution. The upkeep of the irrigation network was completely neglected, not just on the mainland but also in Sri Lanka, and some of them were destroyed during the colonial period (Cohen and Jankarajan, 2009)<sup>7</sup>. Unplanned development and uncontrollable urbanization posed an even larger challenge to colonialism, which could be an outcome of the distinct forces of colonialism itself. Some natural and manmade activities are threatening the traditional Himalayan water resources. The main natural culprits are earthquakes and landslides, while water resources are being depleted as a result of all the road widening, hydropower projects, channels, and other development projects. Due to urbanization and industrialization, many water collection systems have fallen into neglect in recent years. Furthermore, the region's unregulated population development and lack of zoning restrictions frequently result in these historic structures being dismantled, neglected, and polluted. Furthermore, sanitation and sewage treatment must be improved and segregated from these systems; potential solutions include enhanced composting and recycling, but none of these systems are currently in place. Even with these resources, though, inaccessibility remains a hurdle. To help replenish the water harvesting system and minimize contamination, the most successful systems frequently have zoning rules or no-build zones. Unfortunately, even in areas where zoning restrictions exist, corruption and bribery can lead to illegal building and exploitation. The establishment of new zoning legislation Aside from these concerns, there is a dearth of knowledge regarding the functional and cultural value of water structures, which, when paired with the short-term financial incentive of unsustainable farming techniques, provides a burden to sustainable restoration.