This book is a sort of history of Nepal’s water resources development in the last two decades of the twentieth century. To me more importantly, it is also about how an engineer became a political economist and later a Cultural Theorist. In recounting such a journey, one can start from the early phase and proceed chronologically to the present. Alternatively, one can first tell the reader where one has arrived and then describe the various earlier stages of one’s thoughts and experiences. I have chosen this latter approach for several reasons. The battle in Nepal—and indeed in much of South Asia—to establish a water policy that is socially equitable, environmentally sound and technically low risk is far from over. Indeed, it may only have just begun. Most of the readers, I feel, may want to know where I stand now before asking where I came from. Another reason for starting with the present is that CT is a theory-in-making that tries to explain modern society with insights from social anthropology and its rich field data garnered from studies of small-scale, so-called ‘primitive’ groups. There is excitement in opening new vistas of applications with such a theory.

The author
Dipak Gyawali has been involved with the water sector in Nepal since 1979, initially as a government engineer and, since 1987, as an independent analyst. With training in both engineering (Moskovsky Energetichesky Institute) and resource economics (University of California at Berkeley), his research agenda focuses on the interface between technology and society, mainly around issues of water and energy. He works as a director of Nepal Water Conservation Foundation and is also Pragya of the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology.