History of Canal Irrigation in Coastal Orissa: 1866-1947

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History of Canal Irrigation in Coastal Orissa: 1866-1947 presents an authoritative description of the history of what was known as canal system in coastal colonial Orissa. The text is a strictly original work and primarily based on the author's research on economic history of Orissa. The main features of canal irrigation have been given in full detail for a clear-cut understanding of canal irrigation. Challenging earlier interpretations, the book moves away from a largely colonial or masterly narrative to a realistic history. The work provides a detailed account of the extension of canal irrigation system starting from its beginning. It also explains what led to the introduction of canal irrigation. A comprehensive study on various impacts of canal irrigation is also given and finally in disguisedly the book gives us important insights into the primary aim of the colonial rule which was the economic exploitation.

A comprehensive textbook book for the students of economic history and interested readers, History of Canal Irrigation in Coastal Orissa: 1866-1947 is essential reading for a broader understanding of the economic history of colonial coastal Orissa.

Baira Ganjan Dash teaches history at Dhamnagar College (Bhadrak), Fakir Mohan University. He is an emerging historian.

History of Canal Irrigation in Castal Orissa: 1866-1947 by Baira Ganjan Dash, was originally written as part of his M.Phil degree dissertation at the Department of History, Sikkim University, Gangtok, in 2017. I must commend Baira for having chosen to work on a dissertation on such a topic in times when research in our universities are drifting towards aspects of cultural theory. Economic history, one of the key areas of the discipline, demanding rigours of a high order is rarely a subject matter of research in our times. Baira decided to go against the fashion and I am happy to introduce this publication for this and a variety of reasons.

This book, which is a far more improved version of his dissertation will serve its purpose as a highly accessible illustration of Marxist historical method on the colonial irrigation system of coastal Orissa in the colonial period. The importance of the book lies in the fact that it could serve as the basis to further studies of this kind on the colonial irrigation system.

The book will also serve as an important model with immense value to anyone seeking to engage in research of the kind that we now address in the academia as area studies. Baira's access and selection of sources, primary for most parts, is indeed what makes this relevant. The most striking feature of this book, in my view, is the interconnection he makes between the enlargement/expansion of the various canals and its impact on the agrarian economy and agrarian market, all of these in the colonial context.

The extensive use of primary sources, culled from the Odisha State Archives with meticulous care and effort, has helped in constructing a very good picture of all changes brought about by the canal irrigation constructed by the colonial administration. It is simply written and therefore will be accessible to those seeking to study and make sense of the colonial project in the making of the irrigation system in coastal Orissa.

During the colonial period, Coastal Colonial Orissa mainly comprised of three districts, i.e. Cuttack, Puri and Balasore districts. They were situated on the east coast of India along the Bay of Bengal. The coastal Orissa was highly fertile in nature and plain. Its relation with Bengal was much closer than any other areas of colonial India. In 1803, Orissa passed from the hands of the Marathas to the British hands. Till 1905, Northern Orissa comprised of the above mentioned districts. In 1936, based on the language, Orissa was formed with six districts namely, three Coastal districts of Cuttack, Puri and Balasore, two southern districts Ganjam and Koraput and western district of Sambalpur.

The havoc played by the flood in 1855 attracted the attention of the British to this region and they began to gather expert opinions in order to mitigate the intermittent floods that affected Orissa severely. Capt. Harris was the one who proposed to construct channels to drain the surplus water that was emerged during the flood time. In addition to this, Arthur Cotton, an Engineer from Madras Presidency further proposed to construct canals for twin purposes: to irrigate the land and also for navigational purpose.' However, the immediate provocation was the great famine that hit Orissa in 1866. It played havoc on the human and other resources in the region. It was the same year that the British decided to invest on the canal system in Orissa. Hence, 1866 was a significant year in the history of Orissa. It changed the political economy of Orissa extensively.

Subsequently, Orissa had witnessed the construction of some major canals like, the Orissa Coast Canal, the Taladanda Canal, the Kendrapada Canal, the Pattamundai Canal and others. However; the process of the expansion of canal irrigation was very slow. Firstly, the people were reluctant with the new concept and also were apprehensive about the idea of water tax. Secondly, the annual rainfall in Orissa was adequate in most of the times. They had to depend on the canal for irrigation only when the monsoon failed. For these reasons, the process of canal expansion took a longer period of time. Once it was completed, the canals became yet another source of income to the British. Over a period, they collected a huge sum by canal as the water tax and navigational charges.

The policies of the British, beginning from the land tenure system to tax pattern, were not favourable for the peasants. One of the direct impact of the canal irrigation system was that with the extension of canal irrigation people belonged to the Coastal Orissa lost their which lead to the loss of self-dependency. For instance, Sohini Sengupta pointed out that with the loss of traditional water sources in western Orissa, people of that region had felt the loss of self-independency, which was due to the eradication of some old inherited provisions, such as the abolition of landlordship and free labour system.' It was the sole assumption of the colonialists that canal irrigation was the only cause for the expansion of agriculture, but it has been proved that the canal irrigation accompanied by population increase and their demand for more production brought little changes in the agriculture sector. But in real sense there was no expansion of agriculture as the common peasant was made to believe; but the peasants suffered in many ways. A time, the water tax was unaffordable to the farmers and the good rainfalls were the only saving grace. Some of the policies of the British were responsible for the destruction of Coastal Orissa's agricultural sector to a large extent. And still those adverse effects were apparent in the region.

**Contents and Sample Pages**