ABSTRACT
The post-dam development has resulted in the Amriya lineage as a socio-economic unit breaking into various smaller units occupying different sides of the river, deriving their livelihood from different schemes and, in some cases, having different modes of livelihood. Post-Dam conditions, however, have greatly affected this basis of lineage integration: new conditions of livelihood and new sources of economic security have been provided by the agricultural schemes. In the post-dam period the changing economy and improvements in farm technology have had a very significant impact on the contrasting positions and the bond between big men and commoners. The post-dam economy has provided individuals with new sources of livelihood and replaced the network of what elite theorists have called 'horizontal relationships' by binding lineage members together through a more precise and specific set of vertical relationships with the scheme and its management.
