Unseen Side of Colonization of Irrigation Infrastructure in India: A Case Study on Embankments and Canals in Colonial Odisha 1880-1900

Abstract

Irrigation, alike other assets, is often considered one of the most important agricultural infrastructure in India due to its agro-based economic development. Colonization of Indian subcontinent and of Odisha as its integral part had its own legacy on the irrigation system showing relatively backward and underdeveloped. Therefore this paper makes an earnest effort to examine the colonial experience of Odisha with the effect of canal scheme of 1860s.This paper argues that the imperatives of colonial administration as well as its exploitative rule changed the very notion of the benevolentness by altering the physical nature and behavior of the floods in the delta. It also examines how the alteration of floods from a beneficial relationship with the Odia cultivators to a natural calamity was effected through a series of engineers' works like embankments and the canal scheme of 1860s. In addition, it tries to highlight the overall water management mechanism in coastal districts of Odisha during the colonial period.