Contesting Water Rights

Transcription

1 Contesting Water Rights

2 Mangala Subramaniam Contesting Water Rights Local, State, and Global Struggles

3 Mangala Subramaniam Department of Sociology Purdue University West Lafayette, IN, USA ISBN ISBN (ebook) Library of Congress Control Number: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover image: ( Water and People, 2017) S. Brintha Lakshmi Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer International Publishing AG part of Springer Nature The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

4 Preface Water is a basic need for all living beings. Yet access to clean water for all people across the world has been a challenge. Not having sufficient and safe water means being susceptible to diseases. It also leads to loss of time and educational and employment opportunities. Low incomes and limited access to water also mean choosing between paying for water, food, school fees, or medicines. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, 748 million people around the world lack access to an improved (clean, uncontaminated) drinking water source, while billions more lack drinking water that is really safe. Water as an issue has been constantly visible in my travels for my fieldbased research, especially in rural areas, for more than a decade now. I carry bottled water as I always worry about safe water in the regions to which I travel. And then I feel compelled to explain to my interviewees why I carry bottled water, especially because it could be construed as adhering to caste norms. This is ironic, considering that research about control over and privatization of water resources is the focus of this book. This book is an outcome of research I began way back in 2006, when I became interested in environmental resources and justice issues. Being fortunate to receive a competitive Asian Initiative Research grant from Purdue University, I used my one-semester sabbatical in 2007 to travel through parts of Rajasthan Udaipur and Alwar districts. Rajasthan, located in the north-western part of India, is relatively dry and infertile. The area includes some of the Thar Desert, also known as the Great v

5 vi Preface Indian Desert. I had learnt of ongoing development work in Udaipur and with the assistance of Sewa Mandir (a non-governmental organization (NGO)), I had the opportunity to visit interior rural areas and see at close hand the challenges posed by the shortage of water as well as the indigenous water saving techniques used. People had told me about the pani sansad (water parliament) sessions in the Alwar district and I was curious to attend it. Not knowing anyone at Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS), an NGO that enabled mobilizing residents for addressing the water crisis and protecting the environment, I faced some difficulties in locating the village, but was warmly welcomed at the session. As I observed the vibrant discussions about water-related issues among many of the men who approached the mike placed at the front of the gathering, I noted that women, with their heads covered by their saris, sat in silence. The image starkly brought the gender differences in water-related decisionmaking and management to the forefront. Subsequently in 2008, I was contacted by the Program Officer of the Ratan Tata Trust to inform me of a project they were interested in funding in collaboration with the International Water Management Institute (TATA-IWMI). It was about social movements concerning water. The core research group included a representative from TATA- IWMI, the Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management (SOPPECOM), the Madras Institute of Development Studies, India, and myself. The grant was released by the Trust. This was a tremendous opportunity to gain insights into the various small- and large-scale efforts to raise awareness about managing water resources and enable community ownership of such resources. I continued to maintain an interest in the struggles about water and published two articles about water rights (in 2012 and 2014). My interest in the challenges to the water crisis was revived and sustained through the discussions among a group of faculty members and graduate students focused on social movements (at Purdue). Late in 2013, I was involved in a committee that put together a list of scholars for the international workshop on Environmental Justice and Equitable Access to Natural Resources organized by Purdue s Center for the Environment. A principal concern of the workshop was to bring together scholars, activists, and others engaged in interdisciplinary environmental justice work. And then in 2016, when the water crisis unfolded in Flint, Michigan, I noticed some similarities between the developed and developing world

6 Preface vii relating to access to water. I wrote a blog as a member of the editorial board of the journal Gender & Society. My concerns were with the ways in which the marginalized the poor, racial minorities, and women are rarely recognized and included in discussions about managing environmental resources such as water. That was when I began to seriously consider a book about water not only focusing on local struggles, but spanning the local and global levels, and how such struggles need to be understood by considering the social, political, and economic context in which they occur. As Palgrave Macmillan had contacted me a few years earlier about the possibility of pursuing a book through them, I approached them with the idea. Their quick response and interest led to a formal contract for this book. West Lafayette, IN, USA August 2017 Mangala Subramaniam

7 Acknowledgements I acknowledge the countless NGOs, groups, activists, and scholars in India and elsewhere who welcomed me to see their work related to water and other development activities. It has been an incredible way to gain knowledge and insights into concerns about water. I am grateful to Purdue University for the Asian Initiative Research grant and to TATA-IWMI for the opportunities to meet activists and learn of water-related projects across India. I also would like to thank Neelima Khetan, Sanjiv Phansalkar, the employees of Tarun Bharat Sangh, and the many village residents in the Udaipur and Alwar districts. I thank the many activists and NGO representatives who shared information about their projects as part of the TATA-IWMI grant-related research. I have benefited from the research assistance of students. Jared Wright downloaded many documents pertaining to the global water forums as part of the work for the social movements group. I continued to track the documents and downloaded new ones, which I analyze in the book. My sincere thanks to Alexis Nelson of Palgrave Macmillan for working with me as I put together a book proposal. Her close review of my proposal, and particularly the book content, led to very useful comments for me to revise and sharpen it. This resulted in relatively good reviews for the book. After her departure, I worked with Kyra Saniewski and then later with Mary Al-Sayed, the new editor. I am very grateful to both Mary and Kyra for being exceptionally patient with me as I completed the manuscript. I delayed the submission of my manuscript for personal reasons and especially as I began a new position as the Butler Chair and ix

8 x Acknowledgements Director of the Butler Center. Thanks are also due to the publisher for making the watercolor illustration work for the cover possible. I am thankful for the help and support of family and friends outside my immediate academic realm. My late father, P. R. Subramanian, and late mother, Narayani, were very supportive of my research and writing endeavors. My mother was a feminist in her own way. She celebrated my accolades and constantly encouraged me to strive for more. I am indebted to my parents for their tremendous ability to make anything possible for me. I am very thankful for the support of my siblings and other family members, Vasanta, Brintha, Shobha, Ravi, and Yogi, who have all contributed to making this book project possible. Without their help and boundless energy, this book would not have been completed. I also appreciate Brintha s enthusiasm to develop an illustration for the cover of this book.

9 Contents 1 Introduction: Water Crisis 1 2 Neoliberalism, the Ambivalent State, and Community Struggles 25 3 Contesting Water Rights from Below 59 4 Controlling Water Resources from Above : Global Water Forums 95 5 Conclusion 153 Glossary 169 Index 173 xi

10 List of Tables Table 3.1 Main indicators for Kerala and Rajasthan 63 Table 3.2 Comparison of cases 67 Table 3.3 Comparison: struggles, state, strategies 80 Table 4.1 World Water Forums 102 Table 4.2 Alternative World Water Forums 112 xiii