Delta

2021

Plan for the year: To document the impact of Climate Adaptation Project in Vennar Sub Basin and produce a report; to build campaigns against the project that cause severe impacts in the livelihoods of the farmers of the regions.

Work Done:

August:Fieldwork in Kaveri delta, along Harichandra river in Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts, talking to farmers and other local activists and experts. This work helped in developing a preliminary understanding of various issues caused by the implementation of Climate Adaptation in Vennar Sub-basin of Kaveri Delta project implemented with a loan from Asian Development Bank. It also highlighted the corruption in implementing the project: which included sub-standard constructions, illegal sand mining, improper implementation of participatory mechanisms etc. Following this, members from Atree joined us in the fieldwork.

September/ October:

Following the preliminary fieldwork it was decided to produce a documentary to communicate about the issues that were identified to draw attention to the ADB project. We collaborated with Comrade Talkies, who produce small documentaries on several social issues, and run a popular YouTube channel of the same name. We interviewed farmers who were affected by the implementation of the ADB project. One of the major issues that farmers faced was that, due to excessive extraction of silt from the bed, the water column went don, leaving farmers with less water to irrigate fields. We interviewed farmers in the villages such as Irulneekki and Thirurameshwaram. While in the regions of Talainayar, the issue was a clear struggle between the interests of aquaculture farm owners, one of whom was a former minister, and farmers. We interviewed farmers in villages like Vattakudi.

In this process we also assessed groundwater salinity in tube wells in Thiruvarur district to test the ADB’s claim of decreased salinity. This was done in collaboration with ATREE researchers and research assistants.

November:

As a followup to the documentary making process and to expand the work to Valavanar region. Fieldwork was carried out in regions that are irrigated by Valavanar were visited, to the south of Thiruthuraipoondi town. In this process we also met with members of the Stakeholders Group formed by WRD on behalf of ADB in this project. They said there were clear violations of rules in implementing the projects, resulting in a shoddy work, which further complicated the lives of local farmers. Also they claimed that members that raised these problems were systematically neglected from the group. A report on the impacts of the project was prepared based on field works.

December 2021:

The report was given to political parties such as CPIM, VCK and agricultural unions and members of the state planning commissions such as Janakarajan.

2022

April:

Fieldwork was done across Kaveri Delta to read temple inscriptions about agrarian resistance in Medieval Period, along with Prof. Subbarayalu, Rajagopal, Bala, Tatha, Prabh, Babu, Pearson, Gpi from April 22 to May 1.

May:

Presentation Made in Water City Research Group (Water, Crop, Labour and canal engineering in Kaveri Delta)

July:

Fieldwork along with Pearson (freelance journalist) to document the impacts of the ADB project. We met farmers, inland fishers, gleaners. In this fieldwork, VEllayar rivers were also focussed where ADB had implemented the project. As part of this fieldwork we visited Vattakudi village and documented the impacts of Adappar Tail end Regulator and aquaculture. We also visited Jeeva Nagar, a small hamlet located close to Oradiyambalam village in Talainayar Town Panchayath. Farmers of this hamlet were beneficiaries of LAFT land and now the shrimp farms that are allegedly owned by the ex. Minister O.S. Manian, have come up so close to their farms. These shrimp farms release used water into their fields and wetlands, nearly making their fields infertile.

August:

As a result of the fieldwork, an article was published in 101Reporters, focussing on the impact of the Tail End Regulator on the livelihoods of the people, particularly women fishers of Plankallimedu who depend on wetlands for their catch. (https://101reporters.com/article/society/All_in_a_days_work_In_neckdeep_water_holding_a_handwoven_basket_in_teeth)

2023

April:

A field work in Kaveri Delta, the main intention of this was pedagogical; to introduce people (scholars, media people) to the landscape of Kaveri Delta and to introduce the question that we are asking, and to come up with more questions and collaborations. Pietro, Babu, Neha, Ganesh, Arun, Arul, Nithya, Tatha, Aparna and others joined this fieldwork. We visited places along the coast introducing them to the issue of the ADB project. We visited temples to read inscriptions to historicise geo-engineering and Kaveri Delta. On the final day there was a brainstorming session where we came up with a work plan and questions to follow up.

June:

Field work done in Harichandra again. This time while talking with farmers we were able to collect testimonies on sand mining and the negotiations and deals that local political class struck deals with the contractors locally sanctioning illegal sand extraction.

September:

Presented in a workshop organised by AIPSN, on climate change impacts. Presentation was based on the ADB case to argue that mere engineering solutions framed as climate adaptation further impacts the livelihood of the working people of a region and clearly sides with extractive forces.

August 2023: Started working with Vanavil teachers in coming up with research projects that would get them acquainted with research methods. Tatha’s collaboration in this also made it an exercise to rethink maths, calculations around us, and also to employ empirical tools in this process. In the first session teachers came up with questions relating to availability and access to drinking water in Sikkal village; free bus scheme for women, irrigation related issues in Kaveri Delta, the role of caste in access to public and private education.

2024

April:

Fieldwork in Mayladuthurai district, to document gender wage gap in agriculture.

July:

With an intention to come up with a Tamil booklet on various issues of the delta, fieldwork was organised. In which many new people participated. We visited different places in the delta and discussed issues such as irrigation, labour, agriculture, land, climate, caste, extraction, etc. Following this fieldwork a brainstorming session was organised at IFP to discuss questions chapters and ideas for the booklet.

2025

February:

Fieldwork documenting issues related to paddy procurement in Nagapattinam district

March:

Fieldwork for interns in Nagapattinam on questions related to agricultural loan, land redistribution and paddy value chain