Paper short abstract:

The present paper aims to explore the management of water resources through existing institutional structure by the indigenous community of Terai region in the state of Uttrakhand on Indo Nepal border.

Paper long abstract:

The present paper aims to explore the management of water resources through existing institutional structure by the indigenous community of Terai region in the state of Uttrakhand on Indo Nepal border. The Tharu is an indigenous community well known for water management in traditional agricultural practices. Traditional water management had constituted an important component of ethnoecology and Indigenous Knowledge among the Tharu. This is argued here that the environmental changes which have been caused due to mining, tourism, industrial and short sighted development initiatives have been proved detrimental to the existing system of management , governance and preservation of water. By using an ethnographic approach the paper tries to explore how the traditional agricultural practices which had been in harmony with the existing water management is being at stake because of ecological imbalance caused by so called development projects. They have serious consequences not only for agriculture, irrigation but also for productivity eventually affecting the sustainability of development practices.