114 CHAPTER 9


Management of Irrigation Systems Act (APFMIS) was passed, a landmark law for participatory irrigation policy, which gave farmers’ organizations full authority over the management of canal infrastructure at the minor (secondary) level and below. In July 1997, the government started the first phase of irrigation transfer by creating more than 10,000 water-user associations.


The 1999 Elections


In an interesting reversal of the roles assumed in the 1994 elections, the Congress Party pursued a populist agenda in the 1999 election campaign, whereas TDP continued to pursue its proreform agenda. Most notably, the Congress Party promised to provide free electricity to farmers. Arguing that “free power is no power,” Naidu defended his reform course, which explic- itly included electricity charges. They asserted these positions when the state was in the middle of the power-sector reform process. Still, during the months prior to the elections, the Naidu government did introduce a number of “populist” schemes, which the opposition tried to dismiss as “scheme gim- micks.” The schemes included programs aimed at dalits (members of “sched- uled castes,” the term used for castes traditionally considered untouchable), other economically disadvantaged groups (officially referred to in India as “other backward castes” or “other backward classes”), tribal people, minori- ties, women, the handicapped, and other disadvantaged sections of the soci- ety. The TDP won the 1999 elections, and Naidu interpreted this victory as a popular approval of his reform policies.


TDP Rule under Chandrababu Naidu, 1999–2004 Based on the power-sector reform steps taken since 1996, the TDP–BJP coali- tion government launched a power-sector reform program in 1999, which envisaged the full privatization of electricity distribution by 2005. To support its implementation, the government requested a loan from the World Bank (using the instrument of multiphased adaptable program lending). A first project, involving a US$210 million loan, was launched in 1999 (World Bank 2004d). As a consequence of the government’s decision to reduce the subsidy to the power sector, the newly created APERC was responsible for approv- ing a tariff hike. APERC first convened meetings in the three largest cities to discuss a “philosophy paper” on tariff policy. According to a case study on participation in policy reform by the World Bank’s Participation and Civic Engagement Team, “The nature of the meetings, however, did not lead to a constructive exchange of views on the problems and how to resolve them. Instead, an unwieldy total of over 300 interested participants gathered in each city. Farmers, in particular, dominated the discussions, drowning out other voices and flatly opposing a tariff increase” (World Bank 2003a, 5).


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