Kudimaramathu is a scheme for restoring all the minor irrigation

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

s and

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s in

Tamil Nadu State Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost state of India. The tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population, Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, who speak the Tamil language—the state's official language an ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. This is the program taken up by the

Government of Tamil Nadu The Government of Tamil Nadu () is the administrative body responsible for the governance of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the capital of the state and houses the state executive, legislature and head of judiciary. Under the Const ...

led by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on 13 March 2017. In April 2022, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

launched a similar water body rejuvenation scheme called the Mission Amrit Sarovar.

History

In Tamil, ''Kudi'' means 'farmers or people'. ''Maramathu'' means 'repair'. It literally means the maintenance and management of waterbodies by people. It has existed in India even after the

British rule The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or dire ...

. During the summers, as one of the agriculturalists, they worked to deepen and widen the lakes, streams, ponds, canals and drains which are the sources of agricultural irrigation and drinking water. They also repair damaged

sluice A sluice ( ) is a water channel containing a sluice gate, a type of lock to manage the water flow and water level. There are various types of sluice gates, including flap sluice gates and fan gates. Different depths are calculated when design s ...

s. This work of citizens is called 'Kudi maramathu' (civic work). After the lakes etc. After Water resources like lakes, ponds were taken over by the

Tamil Nadu Public Works Department The Public Works Department (PWD) is one of the departments of Government of Tamil Nadu. The department is one of the oldest departments and became a government body in 1858. Objective The department is responsible for planning, designing, c ...

in independent India, such works were abandoned. It was briefly revived in Erstwhile United

Thanjavur district Thanjavur District is one of the Districts of Tamil Nadu, 38 districts of the States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. Its headquarters is Thanjavur (Tanjore) . The district is located in the delta of the Cauv ...

in 1975.

Kudimaramathu Works

During kudimaramathu work, The inner surface of the lake will be

dredge Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing ...

d from twice as far as the height of the bank. That is, if the height of the bank is 10 meters, they will move 20 meters in the inner part of the lake. This is done to prevent the weakening of the bottom of the bank and breakage of the lake bank. This is called

Sediment basin A sediment basin is a temporary pond built on a construction site to capture eroded or disturbed soil that is washed off during rain storms, and protect the water quality of a nearby stream, river, lake, or bay. The sediment-laden soil settles i ...

. The soil from the lake taken in this way is first poured into the ditches of the lake during the rainy season and leveled and the banks are strengthened with the remaining soil. The remaining silt for these works will be distributed to the farmers. The soil is also used for

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

and other needs. The bushes, thorn plants, garbage washed in during the rainy season in the lake will be disposed. Encroachments will be removed. Blockages in

s and culverts will be removed. These are the basic functions of Kudi Maramathu.

Benefits

As works are carried out every year, additional rain water is stored in the water bodies and the ground water level rises. Nutrient rich

Alluvial soil Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

excavated for plowing is applied to the agricultural fields as manure.

Post Independence

After the independence of India, the kudimaramathu works are carried out by the Irrigation Department, which functions under the Public Works Department of the State Governments.

Tamil Nadu State Government Scheme

In 2017, the Tamil Nadu government implemented the Kudimaramathu scheme to rejuvenate water bodies with the participation of agriculturalists reviving the age old practice of community participation in maintenance and management of tank irrigation systems. The Government sanctioned this special scheme of Rs.100/- Crore for the year 2016-17 and Rs.300/- Crore for the year 2017-18 to mitigate the impact of

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

s, increase the

water table The water table is the upper surface of the phreatic zone or zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with groundwater, which may be fresh, saline, or brackish, depending on the loc ...

and reduce

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

, and restore all water bodies in Tamil Nadu with the participation of farmers.

References