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Access to improved drinking water and sanitation has been declared a fundamental right by the UN General Assembly. However, around 25 and 50% of the global population lacked access to safely managed drinking water and improved sanitation in 2020, respectively. India, the second most populous country in the world, has around 3.7 and 31% of its population without access to improved drinking water and sanitation, respectively. This paper explores the factors determining a household’s access to improved drinking water and sanitation in India, using India Human Development Survey (IHDS) II data. The results indicate that urban households with bigger family sizes, with fewer rooms, married but uneducated household heads, belonging to forward castes, were more likely to have access to improved drinking water. Similarly, households with married female heads, belonging to forward castes, small household sizes, older aged heads with primary education, from Non-EAG (Empowered Action Group) states, located in urban areas, earning higher incomes and having more rooms were more likely to have access to improved sanitation. Findings suggest subsidized improved water and sanitation services and an increase in public investment to make these facilities affordable for poor rural households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a survey of selected Water Users' Associations (WUA) and their members in West Bengal, India, this paper examines the nature and determinants of member participation in irrigation management. WUA meetings were held on a regular basis with higher member participation under Tube Well, Check Dam and River Lift Irrigation schemes. Their physical characteristics (e.g., high sub-surface storage and flowing rivers with large catchment areas) and system features (e.g., centralized pump house and defined distribution infrastructure) contribute to better water availability, incentivizing the members to participate. Our regression analysis suggests that along with these factors, the socioeconomic attributes of members and their perception about the functioning and decision making of the WUA influence participation in the collective management of schemes. The more the members perceive the functioning of WUAs as democratic and transparent, the greater is their incentive to participate. Greater participatory involvement of the members in the form of donating land for irrigation construction and in training programs is also found to be crucial. So, this paper argues for making the decision-making processes within WUAs democratic and transparent, along with greater efforts toward capacity building of the members, including training for skill enhancement, management and provision of agricultural support practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provisioning of water and sanitation services has become one of the key determinants of SDGs. This review focuses on the trends in water and sanitation services and reforms in India and Ghana over the last two decades. The findings reveal that access to water has improved in India and Ghana at 81.5 and 92.7%, respectively. However, access to sanitation continues to be a challenge in both countries, with the currently reported coverage being 59.5% and 18.5%, respectively. The index of sustainable development goal (SDG) performance of Ghana and India stands at 65.4 and 61.9 with global rankings of 100 and 117, respectively. The adverse impacts of poor access to sanitation increasingly reflect on rising numbers of population suffering from water-borne diseases. From the policy perspective, the paper highlights the need for framing pro-poor water and sanitation policies; focusing on women and girls' education; promoting affordable water and sanitation services; promoting collaboration of stakeholders involved in the rural water and sanitation sectors; and increasing budgetary allocations by local governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As water is a state subject in India, an enormous variation of irrigation water pricing across the states is noticed. Revenue collection under irrigation water charges of the states is not encouraging. The present paper reviews the structures of water pricing mechanism in different states of India and suggests a way to achieve sustainable water resources management in India. Various reports, water policy documents, and major recommendations of the irrigation commission were reviewed and analyzed. It was observed that low revenue collection is mainly due to the low rate of water taxes, no periodic revision, and flaws in the current revenue collection mechanism across the states. The water regulatory authority should be made a statutory body to manage various water uses and their fair pricing. A volumetric pricing system can be implemented in wells and tube-well-irrigated areas and for surface irrigation, and this requires considerable investment in irrigation water supply infrastructure and development of operational plans. Until a well-developed volumetric system comes into practice, the current system of revenue assessment and collection must be rationalized and simplified. An appropriate power tariff policy for rural areas and inclusion of the irrigation sector in a ground water conservation fee is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This synthesis paper explores the reasons hindering water cooperation between India and Pakistan on the Indus River Basin. It argues that both domestic and international-level elements narrow the size of the 'win-sets' which make water cooperation between the two states highly challenging. Not only state actors but also the domestic actors in both India and Pakistan have repeatedly played 'water games'. Further, due to long-standing geopolitical and territorial conflicts between India and Pakistan, the strategies pursued so far by these states including 'securitization', 'issue-linkage' and 'alliance strategies' as leverage mechanisms, have also contributed to the lack of cooperation in their water realm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how progress towards meeting the sustainable development goal of providing universal and equitable access to drinkingwater for all is distributed across the spectrumof urban settlements. The studymeasures how urban local governments (N= 3,547) in a rapidly urbanizing country, India, have increased their coverage of water supply to households between 2001 and 2011. I use theories on multilevel governance of urban services to develop a multilevel linear regression to model the city- and state-level factors associated with growth in water supply coverage. The results show that 68% of cities and towns have recorded water coverage growth, but the extent of this progress is unequally distributed across cities in different states and between cities of different sizes. Small cities and towns, which house over two-thirds of India's urban population, have recorded significantly lowerwater coverage growth rates as have cities in low-income states. These findings suggest that policies for urban water infrastructure development should focus on smaller cities and towns if we are to achieve spatial equity in access to water for all in an increasingly urban world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motivation behind this paper is to understand the status of water resources management education provided in higher education institutions (HEIs) in India and decipher gaps between what is taught and what is needed in the field. The assessment has been carried out based on the information available on the respective websites of the HEIs using keywords. The authors have also reached out to faculty members and final-year students in universities/HEIs in India. There are a good number of HEIs in India, which offer educational programmes in waterrelated subjects, though their distribution is skewed and there seems to be a clear bias in favour of the technological aspects of water. Relatively fewer HEIs engage themselves in social, economic and gender-related issues. It is imperative to popularise research in the social, economic and regulatory aspects of water management. Not all HEIs have provided information about the areas of research they engage in, on their websites. Further, a limited number of faculty members and students have responded to the questionnaires. The preparedness of any country in addressing its current challenges can be gauged from the incorporation and subsequent entrenchment of these roles into the fabric of HEIs. This article can be looked upon as reference documents which will go a long way to enabling the identification of synergies, interlinkages and collaboration opportunities to find solutions for a plethora of challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water scarcity is a serious concern in emerging economies, as it impacts human development, livelihoods, environment and economic growth. Policies should be formulated in a way that reflects the problem of water scarcity and is oriented towards providing solutions. The science-policy interface can play a key role in translating scientific knowledge into policy action and in mitigating water scarcity of emerging economies like that of India. Hence, the paper aims to review scientific knowledge on water scarcity in India, and analyze the extent to which this knowledge is reflected in the water policies - to understand the science-policy interface. This has been done by extensive review of various scientific approaches used to assess water scarcity at the national and state level. The analysis indicates that Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat in the north-west, and Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the south experience high water scarcity. To analyze whether this scientific knowledge has been translated into policy, existing water policies were critically reviewed. The paper, by identifying key policy areas, discusses challenges and opportunities for strengthening the science-policy interface, in the context of water scarcity mitigation. The paper argues that translating scientific knowledge into policy action continues to be a major challenge in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports the main findings of a study, designed to develop a better understanding of institutional variations in working with the demand responsive approach (DRA) in rural water supply in the state of Odisha in India. Data for the paper were collected from twelve village communities, where water is being supplied either through their community based institution or through the local government institution of the Gram Panchayat. The findings suggest that the two types of institutions performed differently in implementing the DRA. It depicted that the DRA under the broader rubric of institutional reforms in the water sector has failed to address the question of social inequality, and rather had reinforced and extended the already existing inequity of Indian society to access to safe and secure drinking water in rural areas. The study highlights that participation, cost recovery, full operation and management transfer may be an efficient proposition, but not sustainable in the long run without proper investment in institution building and support from the state, especially in provisioning of basic services like drinking water to rural poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the dynamic interface of state-water users' relationships in large-scale surface irrigation in India and China, to inquire to what extent the issues encountered in large-scale irrigation management and governance are independent of regime characteristics. Though operating in very different overall political regimes, China and India exhibit strong similarities in the way a central state has attempted to relate with local water users, in the types of policy instruments deployed to shape that relationship, and in the problems encountered. Both China and India have a long history of state involvement in irrigation management. Both saw massive expansion after the late 1940s. The state then tried to extend its control in response to 'underutilisation' of the created infrastructure, revenue shortfalls and perceived inefficiencies and yield gaps. In recent decades the policy approaches have, at least rhetorically, emphasised water users' self-management and governance, including financial self-management/cost recovery. In both countries the instrument for this has been Water User Associations. Results have been mixed, to say the least, on all counts. Larger institutional and policy characteristics adhering to the problematic of the state-user interface subvert stated reform objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe water pollution is among the top policy priorities in both China and India. This paper undertakes a comparative case analysis to examine efforts in combating river pollution in two major rivers - the Yangtze in China and the Ganga in India. Our analysis suggests that efforts in combating river pollution in the two Asian giants have encountered substantial challenges, such as the lack of comprehensive legal mechanisms to control pollution at the basin level, the lack of coordination among multiple government agencies, and significant gaps in policy implementation. Our analysis also points out considerable differences between China and India in institutional structure, regulatory approaches and policy instruments in dealing with river pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the intricate issues that prompt water pricing reform in China and India. China adopts a comprehensive pricing framework of cost of resources, treatment and distribution, and environmental requirements, which has been gradually developed part by part since 1980 based on the perception and change of water issues in the country. India follows a simple approach of cost recovery, though its recent policy guidelines talk about more systematic pricing. The results present that both countries fail to realize water pricing policy targets regardless of different pricing structures. But China and India are on the same road and direction of water pricing and China goes a little farther. The treatment of water resources and its services, and property rights have a significant impact on pricing, and costs, including service, resources and environment, are difficult to recover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large numbers of households in cities around the developing world do not have access to one of the most basic of human needs a safe and reliable supply of drinking water. This paper uses the experience of India as a lens through which to view the problems of access to water in urban areas and the various options available for reform. Using two sets of data from the National Family Health Survey, as well as published and unpublished secondary sources, the paper presents the status of access to drinking water in urban India, the performance of India's urban water sector compared to other Asian metropolitan regions and the reform efforts that are under way in several Indian cities. A review of these ongoing reforms illustrates some of the political economy challenges involved in reforming the water sector. Based on this analysis, we draw out directions for more effective research, data collection and policy reform. While each country faces unique challenges and opportunities, the scope and range of the Indian experience provides insights and caveats for many low-income nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and evaluates the warabandi system of irrigation prevalent in NorthWest India and Pakistan. It argues that warabandi needs to be understood as a composite sociotechnical system comprising a physical infrastructure and a corresponding institutional arrangement for rationing and sharing water. This has implications for efforts at replicating the system in other parts of the region. An understanding of these features is also essential in assessing the prospects and potential for irrigation management reform in the region. The paper concludes by identifying some challenges and opportunities for management reform in the warabandi system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing consensus about the end of cheap oil, the consequences of global warming and the need for rural development are catalyzing the expansion of biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel. While most nations are promoting the expansion of conventional crops, India's strategy for biofuels is to promote Jatropha curcas, a drought-tolerant, perennial crop with little prior commercial track record. The aim of this paper is three-fold. (1) To compare the characteristics of various crops with their potential as biofuels in order to assess the relative advantages and disadvantages of Jatropha curcas. (2) To analyze the implications of current biofuel policies for food supply, agricultural water demand and the rural poor. (3) To highlight briefly some alternative strategies that can overcome drawbacks in the current strategy. One conclusion is that although Jatropha curcas has a low water requirement, which is an important benefit, it has several other disadvantages. Another recommendation that emerges from this paper is that biofuel policies should also focus on short-duration, multi-purpose and proven drought-tolerant crops like sweet sorghum that can be adopted by small landholders while wasteland rehabilitation policies should focus on broader array of options, which can provide greater direct benefits to the rural poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving access to water and sanitation for vulnerable groups has been a significant development priority in recent decades and this has been coupled with calls for water and sanitation to be recognised as fundamental human rights. However, to date there has been very limited attention on the right to water and sanitation for homeless people, despite their high vulnerability to a range of water and sanitation insecurities. Drawing on empirical data from the Indian cities of Delhi and Bangalore, this paper examines homelessness and the right to water and sanitation. It highlights the everyday practices and experiences of homeless people in their efforts to access water and sanitation, and sheds light on some of the factors that contribute to their water and sanitation insecurity. It concludes that addressing the human right to water and sanitation for homeless people will require going beyond a technical and sector approach, to the more challenging task of tackling the complex factors that create and sustain their vulnerability and marginality in urban spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater emerged as a major source of irrigation in India during the mid-1970s. However, a large expansion in well irrigation due to a massive rural electrification programme, government policies of promoting private tube well construction and large subsidies on electricity for agricultural use resulted in groundwater over-abstraction in many semi-arid and arid regions of India. In addition, most of the direct and indirect measures to regulate groundwater use have met with little success and have been largely ineffective in arresting groundwater over-exploitation. This paper reviews the institutional and market-based instruments that are now being advocated by scholars and practitioners as potential instruments for sustainable groundwater use. The review mainly focuses on research that examined the viability and impacts of establishing private and tradable water rights in groundwater and pro rata pricing of electricity for irrigation use as instruments to arrest the problems of groundwater over-exploitation in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on the dynamics of irrigation management, in terms of the analysis of interlinked agrarian relations, is very limited. This paper attempts to get a detailed grassroots view of farmers' knowledge of various issues pertaining to the relationship between agrarian structure, land and water. Data from 200 sample cultivators of different farm sizes and 20 landless labour households were collected from eight sample villages situated in head-reach and tail-end distributaries of branch canals in selected Hirakud irrigation commands in Odisha, India. An analysis of the nature of the interlinking of various agrarian markets in the studied distributaries showed that interlinked credit transactions are mostly prevalent among landless labour and small farm households. To some extent, they are higher in head-reach distributaries compared to tail-end distributaries. Research showed that the incidence of tenancy in the head-reach areas is also higher than the tail-end. There is a need for the adequacy, timeliness and reliability of water supply, and for equality in water distribution between head- and tail-reaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) service levels remain stubbornly low in rural India despite high levels of public expenditure recently. In many areas, this is because service levels have slipped back for reasons including inadequate protection of water sources (quantity and quality) and more attention given to capital expenditure than expenditure on operational and capital maintenance. This paper argues that adoption of a life-cycle cost approach (LCCA) could play a significant role in rectifying this by providing a framework for identifying and plugging gaps in the present pattern of expenditure. It is argued that LCCA will provide a sound basis for implementing the WASH Guidelines released by the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission in 2010. These guidelines signal a shift away from viewing the provision of WASH services as primarily an engineering challenge to one that requires activities that include source protection, institution building and long-term support and pro-poor planning, all of which need to be budgeted for by WASH service providers and/or users. Preliminary findings indicate that LCCA can be used to assess actual life-cycle costs of sustainable, equitable and efficient WASH service delivery. The challenge now is to investigate how best LCCA can be mainstreamed into WASH planning and other governance processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fight to water has been recently recognized as a fundamental human right by the United Nations, thereby clarifying its status as 'legally binding', making it 'justiciable' and enforceable. This development has been heralded as a key that holds great potential to change the lives of the billions who still lack access to clean water. Many of those deprived of enjoyment of the right are children, who constitute up to a third of the population in the developing world. What is the value added of the fights-based approach for access to water, especially for children? Would recognition of the fight to water as legally binding deliver real benefits to children in improving their access to water? Does it really offer anything new that can help them realize their fight to water more effectively? These questions will be explored in this paper using empirical evidence from India, where water has been legally interpreted as a fundamental fight, and as a welfare state, where there has been consistent effort on part of the state to improve children's access to water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on field investigations of initiatives to increase stakeholder participation in water management in Brazil and India, this paper provides insights into the practice of water sector reforms. Looking at the pace of reforms across both countries, we find that the process of creating institutions to facilitate stakeholder participation is proceeding rapidly but greater attention is required on administrative reforms and capacity building. We find that the supply and demand of participation opportunities is often mismatched, and that participation reforms in the water sector may follow two very different paths: the bureaucratic and the entrepreneurial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the value of an improved domestic water supply was investigated for economic development and gender relations in rural households in a drought-prone area. A comparative study executed with participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methods with groups of women from 11 micro-enterprises in ten villages and five control villages showed that,when an improved domestic water supply does not function, the entrepreneurs groups have a statistically higher loss of the economic use of water and time than the control groups. The extra income that women gain when the supply works and is used economically helps poor families to bridge the dry season. It could further be quantitatively proven that male female gender relations were significantly better in the entrepreneurs group. This was not so for mother-daughter relationships, which gave new insights into the need to address gender equality issues with the women themselves and with SEWA, the supporting agency. These findings support the view that rural poverty and the status of women would receive a significant boost if policy makers focused on providing employment opportunities for women along with improved water supplies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising energy prices, geopolitics and concerns over the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on climate change are increasing the demand for biofuel production. At present biofuel production is estimated at 35 billion liters, accounting only for a small part (~2%) of the 1200 billion liters of annual gasoline consumption worldwide. But the contribution of biofuels to energy supply is expected to grow fast with beneficial impacts including reductions in greenhouse gasses, improved energy security and new income sources for farmers. However, biomass production for energy will also compete with food crops for scarce land and water resources, already a major constraint on agricultural production in many parts of the world. China and India, the world's two largest producers and consumers of many agricultural commodities, already face severe water limitations in agricultural production, yet both have initiated programs to boost biofuel production. This paper explores the land and water implications of increased biofuel production globally and with special focus on these two important countries, using the WATERSIM model. It concludes that, although of lesser concern at the global level, local and regional impact could be substantial. In fact, the strain on water resources would be such in China and India that it is unlikely that policy makers will pursue biofuel options, at least those based on traditional field crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The already complex interrelationships between water, food, energy and the environment are facing both challenges and opportunities. Rising fuel costs and increasing concerns over the effects of climate change are reinvigorating policymakers' interest in renewable energy sources such as hydropower and bio-energy--both from biofuels as well as biomass. Development of any of these sources has the potential to generate positive economic and environmental benefits, yet, at the same time, they can cause negative food and equity impacts. This obviously entails major tradeoffs between the food, energy and environmental goals of water and energy development, allocation and management. Using both a brief global overview as well as a closer review of four case studies from India, Ethiopia, Jordon and the USA, this paper tries to (i) a present the nature of the tradeoffs under different hydrological, energy, agricultural and environmental contexts and (ii) provide some anecdotal evidence and illustrative cases for the available policy options for minimizing conflicts but maximizing synergies between water, energy, food and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]