The sociology of warabandi: a case study from Pakistan

Merrey, D. J. 1986. The sociology of warabandi: a case study from Pakistan. In Merrey, D. J.; Wolf, J. M. Irrigation management in Pakistan: four papers. Digana Village, Sri Lanka: International Irrigation Management Institute (IIMI). pp.44-66. (IIMI Research Paper 4)

This paper uses a case study to address a fundamental issue in irrigation management: the relationship between technology and the organization required to use that technology productively. When an irrigation system is developed over time by a local community, the technology and the organization evolve together. However, when engineers design and construct large scale irrigation systems, there is a tendency to concentrate on the civil works, and to assume that, at least on the local level, whatever organization is required will evolve by itself. This was the assumption of the designers of the large irrigation systems built by the British and post colonial governments in present day Pakistan and the northwestern states of India.

As there are few detailed studies of the actual operation of warabandi, this paper attempts to fill this gap in our knowledge of warabandi. Based on detailed field work in a village in Punjab Province, Pakistan, it takes an historical perspective on how the route of a particular watercourse, and the rotations on that watercourse, have evolved over time. It demonstrates the lack of "fit" or congruence between the imposed irrigation technology and the pre-existing social organization of the village. The attempts by some water users to adapt both the route and the rotation to solve social conflicts have proven unsatisfactory.