Abstract:
The Tamil Nadu government is attempting to revive the institution of kudimaramathu by leveraging a scheme sponsored by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development to rejuvenate small waterbodies in the state. How a payment for ecosystem services system can incentivise village panchayats to engage in tank management and, in turn, ensure the sustainability and longevity of the community-based programme beyond the life of the project is explored.
Description:
The authors thank Dinesh Kumar,A Narayanamoorthy, and K Sivasubramaniyan for their valuable reviews and comments. L Venkatachalam (venkat@ mids.ac.in) teaches at the Madras Institute of Development Studies. Kulbhushan Balooni (kbalooni@ iimk.ac.in) teaches at the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.
