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Participatory Irrigation
Management (PIM) |
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Participatory
Irrigation Management or PIM as it is popularly known
is now being recognised by different states in India as an important
approach in irrigation management. The experience of PIM has been
varied across the country. It began as a response to the crisis
in the irrigation sector which had affected irrigation performance,
recovery of water charges and importantly led to discontent among
farmers for untimely and uncertain access to water. PIM came in
as an alternative to the centralised and technocentric management
of the irrigation sector. Achievement of the professed goals has
depended on a variety of factors important among them being the
strategy or the approach followed by the state. Looking at the
experience of PIM in India we see the emergence of two kinds of
strategies -- the motivational strategy (bottom-up approach) and
the legislative strategy (top-down approach). It has largely been
seen that the bottom-up approach adopted by states like Maharashtra
and Gujarat have shown positive results in terms of achieving
the wider goals of PIM (though limited in its reach) as compared
to some other states where the approach has largely been top-down.
SOPPECOM and PIM efforts in Maharashtra
SOPPECOM’s contribution in the field of PIM is already recognised
both nationally and internationally. SOPPECOM set up the first
water users associations (WUAs) in Maharashtra and has done pioneering
work in developing methodologies, rules and policy guidelines
for formation of WUAs on existing irrigation projects. SOPPECOM
has assisted over 25 WUAs in their formative stages and in their
subsequent functioning.
Before the formal registration of SOPPECOM, the founder members
were associated with Centre for Applied System's Analysis in Development
(CASAD). Between 1987 and 1991, under the auspices of CASAD a
WUA was organised and stabilized in Minor 7 of Mula Project in
Ahmednagar district with financial support from Ford Foundation.
The Minor commands an area of 500 ha owned by about 300 farmers.
This WUA now takes water on volumetric basis from the Irrigation
Department and then distributes among the farmers in the command.
The WUA pays to Irrigation Department at volumetric rates and
assesses and collects from the members water fees on crop area
basis. SOPPECOM trained the farmers in the management of water
distribution, financial accounts maintenance and water audit.
The whole experiment was documented and a book `Farmers'
Participation in Irrigation Management - A Case Study of Maharashtra'
was published by SOPPECOM in association with Horizon India
Publishers in 1994 for wider dissemination of the results obtained.
Drawing inspiration from the success of Datta Water Society on
Mula Minor 7, more than 500 WUAs were registered on various major
projects in Maharashtra with the help of NGOs and irrigation officers
over the last decade. SOPPECOM has given support to NGOs who were
responsible for starting more than 200 WUAs.
Scaling up from the minor to the distributary
Encouraged by this success, SOPPECOM decided to scale up farmers'
participation at the distributary level - command of about 6000
ha and above. The objective was to enlarge the role of users in
the management of water, ultimately leading to the creation of
an effective voice of farmers in the management of the major and
medium irrigation projects. Area commanded by Distributary 4 of
Branch 1 of Mula Irrigation System was selected for a pilot project
(action research project).
WUA with equitable water distribution as its focus
Another project completed by SOPPECOM relates to the use of water
and land resources for the benefit of the landless labourers in
Khudawadi village,
Osmanabad district (Maharashtra). The village falls under
the command of Bori Medium Irrigation project. With the help of
SOPPECOM, a WUA was formed to manage the water within the command
of the Minor. The WUA decided that the landowners would get water
on an equitable manner. The WUA went a step further and allocated
15 percent of its water quota for landless labourers. One group
of landless labourers and women has already been formed (as a
registered organisation). This group has taken on lease wastelands
from landowners for a period of 15 years on the basis of produce
sharing arrangements for diversified biomass production and small
vegetable plots on which the allocated water is being utilised.
This was pilot project taken up by SOPPECOM in association with
Maitreyi, Mumbai and financial support from the Small Projects
Environment Fund (SPEF) of the Canadian International Development
Agency.
Conjunctive
use of surface and groundwater
SOPPECOM provided the necessary technical backup support to Samaj
Parivartan Kendra (SPK), an NGO based in Nashik, to organise three
WUAs on five minors in the command of Waghad project covering
an area of 1100 ha. The main focus of this programme was on conjoint
use of surface and groundwater. Farmers are paying water
fees for use of water from wells owned by them.
Tailender
Deprivation
SOPPECOM has been raising the issue of deprivation in the tailend
areas of irrigation projects. Our work in this area pointed out
that there was a dearth of studies focusing on the issue. The
all India study to understand the tailender problem initiated
by DSC was therefore a welcome initiative that provided us the
opportunity to understand this problem. SOPPECOM took up three
projects for this study – one major, one medium and one
minor – in Maharashtra. Many problems continue to plague
the irrigation sector. One of the most important of these problems
is that of tail-enders and other deprived sections within the
irrigation service areas -- a problem that cuts across regions
and size and type of projects. The study findings have been outlined
in the detailed report titled "Study
on Tailenders and other Deprived in Irrigation Commands in Maharashtra".
SOPPECOM has consistently worked for a policy change at the state
and national level and now the formation of WUAs on irrigation
projects has become mandatory in Maharashtra and some other states.
The successful initiation of a policy change of this magnitude
often increases the responsibility of those who have proposed
the policy changes. SOPPECOM’s expertise in the area of
PIM could be useful to train new cadres participating in the programme.
SOPPECOM’s position on PIM
has been outlined in the paper that was presented in the workshop
jointly organised with WALMI, Aurgangabd
Manual for
Participative Irrigation Management: Ministry
of Water Resources, Government of India requested SOPPECOM to
prepare a Manual for Participative Irrigation Management, especially
for use in Maharashtra State. The Manual was prepared in consultation
with the Irrigation Department, Government of Maharashtra.
Amendment to Irrigation Act for Participatory
Irrigation Management:
SOPPECOM as consultant to the Ministry of Water Resources - Government
of India, prepared the document entitled "Amendment to Irrigation
Act for Participatory Irrigation Management". |
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Watershed Development |
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Like PIM, watershed
development has been one of the important areas of SOPPECOM’s
involvement right from its inception. SOPPECOM sees watershed
based development as the lynchpin of rural development in dry
land areas – one that can integrate different sectors and
can provide the foundation for subsequent development. It is also
an important building block of SOPPECOM’s approach to the
restructuring of the water sector in more integrated, sustainable,
equitable and participatory lines.
In fact the engagement with watershed issues began even before
the formation of SOPPECOM as an organization, as some of the founding
members of SOPPECOM who were earlier part of CASAD were involved
in the assessment of watershed technologies as part of a Ford
Foundation supported project. (The hard copy of the report can
be ordered at SOPPECOM soppecom@vsnl.com)
Later Suhas Paranjape and K. J. Joy, Core Group members of SOPPECOM,
worked with Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samithi (BGVS), New Delhi in its
nation-wide watershed development programme. “Watershed
Based Development: A Source Book”, published by BGVS,
is an out put of this work.
On request from Maharashtra Council of Agricultural Education
and Research (MCAER), Pune, Suhas Paranjape and K. J. Joy brought
out a reworked and modified Marathi version of the above mentioned
Source Book. The book titled, Panlot
Kshetra Vikasachya Navya Disha : Sadhan Saksharata, Shashvat Vikas,
Samanyayi Vatap, is published by Maharashtra Council of Agricultural
Education and Research (MCAER), Pune.
Participatory Resource Mapping and resource literacy
By and large SOPPECOM’s involvement has been limited to
providing support services to the local NGOs who are working as
Project Implementation Agencies (PIAs).As part of this support
services SOPPECOM has taken up Participatory Resource Mapping
(PRM) and resource literacy programmes with many NGOs in Maharashtra
and outside. SOPPECOM firmly believes that resource literacy is
a pre-condition for informed participation of the local communities
in watershed development programmes. PRM is a very effective tool
for this and also could be the bridge between Participatory Rural
Appraisal (PRA) techniques and the more mainstream, “scientific”
data collection techniques employed by the research institutions.
PRM is both participatory and also uses scaled village cadastral
maps for data collection and hence is amenable to quantification.
Training NGO personnel in PRM and resource literacy is an important
activity of SOPPECOM.
Forum for Watershed Research and Policy Dialogue (ForWaRD)
ForWaRD is a collaborative initiative of three institutions, namely,
SOPPECOM, Gujarat Institute of development Research (GIDR), Ahmedabad
and Centre for Inter-disciplinary Studies in Environment and Development
(CISED), Bangalore. This is a take off from the review of the
watershed experience in Maharashtra and Karnataka undertaken by
K. J. Joy when he was a Visiting Fellow at CISED. The review has
been brought out as a technical Report “Watershed Development
Review: Issues and Prospects", by CISED in 2005 (available
at www.cised.org).
There are four simultaneous gaps that need to be bridged if the
research and policy dialogue process related to WDPs is to provide
meaningful results. These are 1) the conceptual gap — the
normative framework within which watershed development is taken
up is itself narrow; 2) the research gap — limited and poor
quality research that does not generate the required critical
feedback and prevents formulation of clear-cut policy recommendations;
3) the outreach gap — critical findings from rigorous studies
do not reach the policy makers, donors and practitioners, or the
wider public so no pressure is brought on these agencies to change
their policies and practices; and 4) the monitoring capacity gap
— inability of practitioners themselves to identify and
address some of these issues in the course of implementation.
If watershed development is to be more successful in every sense
of the term, these gaps need to be addressed urgently. In the
long run, this would require continuous and intense interaction
between policy-makers, researchers and practitioners. Given this
context, ForWaRD has made a modest beginning by initiating a programme
for a rigorous, multi-disciplinary, multi-locational action-research,
policy advocacy and capacity-building programme, in collaboration
with selected practitioners. It is a three-year research project:
two years are already over and it has one more years to go. Though
the mandate of ForWaRD is to work in the dry land track of India,
given the present institutional strengths and resource availability
it has decided to concentrate its work in the three states of
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Presently WaterAid
India, Ford Foundation and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust are financially
supporting this initiative.
One of the important contributions of ForWaRD has been its engagement
with the Technical Committee (Parthasarathy Committee) constituted
by the Ministry of Rural Development to review the watershed programmes,
especially the Hariyali guidelines. Some of the core group members
participated (and presented papers) in the one-day consultative
Committee meeting organised by the Committee in New Delhi. Later
we also helped the Committee organise its field visits in Maharashtra
as part of its consultative process. In July 2005 the Forum organised
a one-day consultative meeting of the Committee in Pune. The Chairman
of the Committee, Mr. Parthasarathy and its Secretary Anoop Badhwa
came for this meeting. Most of our Advisory Committee members
and some of the important NGOs also were present for the meeting.
The Forum presented a paper outlining its ideas about restructuring
and re-orienting the watershed programme in the country in more
integrated, sustainable, equitable and democratic lines. The paper
was finalised taking into account the suggestions and feedback
received from the meeting and formally submitted to the Committee.
The draft report of the Committee was shared with the Forum and
we also gave a detailed feedback on the draft report. The Committee
appreciated all these efforts and the report shows that the Committee
has taken on board some of the important suggestions. ForWaRD
published its first output in the form of an Occasional
Paper – Reorienting the Watershed Development Programme
in India – in February 2006. Economic and Political Weekly
organised a symposia on the Parthasarathy Committee report in
its issue Vol. XLI Nos. 27 & 28 dated July 8-14/15-21, 2006
and it also includes ForWaRD’s article “Issues in
Restructuring”.
Presently ForWaRD is engaged in building up a public domain database
on watershed development programmes and rapid assessment of completed
watersheds taking a 5% sample of all completed watersheds in the
three states. Efforts are also being made to initiate post facto
research taking a cluster approach in these three states.
The second output has been published in the form of Technical
Report titled, "Watershed Development in Maharashtra: Present
Scenario and Issues for Restructuring the Programme" which takes
review of the ongoing watershed programmes in Maharashtra state.
The first section is an overview of the state's agro-climatic
situation, and appraises the volume, scale and resources involved
in Maharashtra's watershed programmes with an analysis of regional
variations. This is the background on which the other sections
are formulated. The second section examines the impacts generated
by watershed development on ecosystems and livelihoods. Here sustainable
livelihoods are treated as an outcome or an end objective, resulting
from augmentation of ecosystem products and services. Different
variables and indicators are analyzed from available sources to
understand the impacts of ecosystem regeneration on livelihoods
and production. The third section focuses on sustainability of
resources /products and the related problems/issues thereon. Paucity
of hard-core scientific information is a drawback that was faced
by the researchers while examining this area. They attempt, therefore,
to understand the issue from (i) proxy variables (e.g. increase
in number of wells), (ii) from their own experience and observations,
and (iii) interaction with practitioners. The fourth section discusses
issues related to equity and access, as well as issues of gender
and other forms discrimination involved in accessing benefits
from investments and created resources. The last and fifth section
is on the processes of participation and governance in the context
of development intervention. This section covers participation
issues in the entire process of watershed rehabilitation from
planning, implementation, institution- and capacity building,
monitoring etc., onward. The last chapter concludes by summarizing
the review and highlighting/ flagging issues with certain recommendations
for improving the administration of the projects. This section
also looks into the need for generating knowledge and information
on certain critical areas related to watershed development through
research and studies.
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Rapid assessment of
completed watersheds taking a 5% sample of all completed watersheds
in the three states has been completed. Currently the compilation
of the data and the analysis of the data collected is under process.
For the next phase of the research, which is post facto research
phase, the research cluster of watersheds in each of the state
would be selected for a detailed study. The study will be primarily
focused on the impacts of watershed development on bio-physical
aspects of the watershed, impact on the agriculture and socio-economic
aspects of the communities of the area and impact of the socio-cultural
background of those areas on the maintenance and sustenance of
the water resources created during the implementation of the projects.
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Gender |
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An important cornerstone
of SOPPECOM’s perspective on integrated and equitable
access and management of resources has been the issue of gender
and natural resources. For more than ten years now, SOPPECOM
has been actively involved in this issue and has been working
with and supporting various initiatives in natural resource
management that promote gender equity through research as well
as pilot action programmes. It is one of the few organisations
working in the water sector that believes that reform in the
water sector cannot be achieved in the absence of an effort
to address class, caste, ethnicity and gender discrimination.
Similarly it also believes that gender equality is not the concern
of women and women’s groups alone and that unless every
sector and sphere takes this issue on board discrimination will
continue.
Relationship of women with environment has been widely debated
and positions have been polarized across the globe on ideological
and material grounds. Natural affinities of women with nature
have dominated the debate for long in the West although the
South has had difficulties in rationalizing these positions.
From being victims of the environmental crisis women began to
be recognised as the solution to the problem owing to their
material relationship with nature.
SOPPECOM understands the relationship between nature and women
as being located in larger social and political structures and
cultural practices, and in the symbolic construction of power.
Relationship between women and their environments is not homogenous
and unchanging but rather is diverse and dynamic. In our work
we therefore focus on understanding the nature of gendered knowledge,
resource access, control and use and the relationships between
the local and the more global issues affecting the sector. Our
experience of working with women in the rural areas on issues
of land and water and question of desertion shows that women
are actively involved in the change process. A little impetus
in the form of legal, organizational and capacity building support
usually goes a long way in the process of empowerment of women.
On the basis of these insights, SOPPECOM plans to encourage,
participate in and support interventions that can help bring
gender concerns at the centre of policy, practice and research
in the area of NRM specifically land and water.
Although gender is understood as a cross cutting theme and runs
through all of our various activities, we do work with a specific
focus on gender on a range of issues related to natural resources
and livelihoods. Some of them are listed here below.
Gender, water and rural livelihoods
Research
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Interface between
Gender, Water and Poverty (2008-2009)
The contemporary discourse on Water-Poverty-Gender
has largely, remained dis-jointed or has seen the relations
in isolation. Those focusing on water and poverty have been
overtly concerned about income poverty with only little
attention paid to the other aspects like health-education,
quality of life, property rights regime, equality, and resources
sustainability. At the same time, the gender discourse has
not moved beyond arguing for rights for women on the efficiency
and welfare grounds. Although it does recognize the need
for a shift from the earlier eco-feminist approaches where
there were assumptions made on relationships between women
and water, there is little effort made to empirically understand
the dynamic nature of this relationship and to problematise
them, especially in the Indian context. The proposed study
is an attempt in this direction. The field work will be
done in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh (Click
here for a full paper in this regard). |
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Situational
analysis of women water professionals in South Asia (2009)
There has been little research to understand why the numbers
of women working as water professionals in water bureaucracy
and elsewhere in the water sector are so low and the different
constraints these women face in their work. Questions like
are the numbers low because of the structure and content
of water sciences itself or is it because of organizational
culture are rarely asked. Further, there is little thought
given to women who work as water professionals in the different
sub-sectors of water and their constraints and positive
influences on the sector as a whole.
The present study located in Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Pakistan
and Sri Lanka is an effort to do just that. It is part of
a larger project initiated by SaciWATERs called the ‘Crossing
Boundaries’ (CB), which focuses on education, research/innovation,
knowledge based development and networking, in a combined
effort to contribute to a paradigm shift in water resources
management in South Asia (for the brief summary
and the full synthesis report for South Asia click here).
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Water
rights as women’s rights? Assessing the scope for
women’s empowerment through decentralised water governance
in Maharashtra and Gujarat (2006-2008)
This study was supported by the Women’s Rights and
Citizenship Unit of IDRC, Canada. It was part of a global
competition on research in the area of decentralization
and women. It was a collaborative study with Utthan, Gujarat
and TISS, Mumbai and its main objective was to look at the
water sector reform and their impacts on women.
Click here for the full report and the policy brief |
Women and land rights in Maharashtra
(2008)
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Mainstreaming
rights of single and deserted women ( 2003-2005 and 2005-2008)
The growing incidence of single and deserted women in Maharashtra
is a matter of concern. This coupled with a declining sex
ratio and an increasing burden on women in rural areas to
support their households is an area that needs further exploration.
SOPPECOM and Women’s Studies Unit of Tata Institute
of Social Sciences along with Stree Mukti Sangharsh Chalwal
in Western Maharashtra has done a preliminary study on the
livelihoods of Single and deserted women in Sangli district
of Maharashtra. The study looks at the socio-economic status
of deserted women and the resources they have at hand to
meet livelihood requirements. (For
the full report click here)
Another such study was done along with the Women’s
Studies Centre of University of Pune from 2005-2008. This
study tried to establish the extent of deserted women in
Pune district (full reports in English and Marathi
click here) |
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Gender
Concerns in the Context of Water Policies (2003-2004)
SOPPECOM is one of the key members of the Women and Water
Network that was launched in early 2000. It is presently
hosting the activities for the WWN. As part of its activities
supported by the India Water Partnership (IWP), WWN prepared
a report titled ‘Gender Concerns in the context of
Water Policies: Issues and Alternatives” This report
outlines gender concerns in drinking water and sanitation,
irrigation management and watershed management. It reviews
policies and practices in these three sectors.
WWN and SOPPECOM held a national level workshop around this
report where policy makers, practioners and academics in
the field of water and gender were present in a good number.
Click here for the Report.
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Livelihood project
in Bhusaval (2000-2006)
SOPPECOM in collaboration with the local organisation Sane
Guruji Shram Seva Kendra (SGSSK) with financial assistance
from the JRD Tata and Thelma J. Tata Trust, Mumbai worked
in Bhusaval district in the area of gender and rural livelihoods.
The primary objective of the project was to demonstrate
livelihood assurance and skill development of women in the
area of resource management (Click here for
the report) |
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Exploring possibilities
of livelihood options Rapid Assessment of 200 women SHG
members in Marathawada and Vidarbha (2006)
A short study was done with Chaitanya an NGO working with
several networks of SHGs in Maharashtra to explore the possibilities
of livelihood options for women members of the SHGs. For
a detailed report of the study see
'Exploring possibilities of livelihood options'.
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Gender Rights and
Alternative Resource Use (2001-2002)
This is a document that outlines different alternative practices
in land and water management. It is a practioners guide
which combines the theoretical issues with actual practices
in land and water management.
(link to the full report) |
Policy advocacy
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Gender
and Water
An action research project was launched on one minor canal
of a medium irrigation project in village Khudawadi of Osmanabad
district of Maharashtra. The main aim was to demonstrate
and draw the road map to a) establish water rights to landless
and women’s groups b) develop favourable institutional
arrangements for these groups c) develop sustainable cropping
practices using these water rights to meet livelihoods (link
to the full article)
This experiment added immensely to our understanding of
gender and water concerns and it was after this that SOPPECOM
actively engaged in policy dialogue on this question. It
participated in meetings held by the Irrigation Department
to discuss the newly introduced bill on farmer participation
in Irrigation management in 2002, it also proposed a
modified draft to make the PIM policies more gender
and resource poor inclusive and importantly it organised
civil society meetings to mobilize public opinion on the
question of equity in water rights.
Although some of the gender inclusive clauses were included
in the policy, the state government did not consider some
of the more important changes of delinking land rights from
membership to water user associations, a step that would
have gone a long way in getting women on these institutions.
The study on decentralization in the water sector and impacts
of women supported by IDRC, provided an appropriate space
for opening up the dialogue with the state government. The
team made a presentation of the study findings before a
group of senior officials from the water sector department
and is following up on some of these issues especially in
the area of building capacities of the women elected on
the managing committees of the WUAs. |
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Desertion
and Singlehood
In 2006 a workshop was organized to discuss the study findings
and proposed a larger collaborative effort with women’s
groups as well as Women’s Studies Centres across Maharashtra
to initiate a state level study that looks at the question
of desertion and the livelihoods of rural women. The study
would also look at the different poverty alleviation schemes
around natural resources and the access women have to these
schemes.
SOPPECOM has been presenting its study findings before various
women’s groups to mobilize opinion. |
Capacity building
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Gender
Water Equity Trainings (refer to trainings)
SOPPECOM is one of the key partners along with Tata Institute
of Social Sciences and SaciWATERs in the Gender water equity
trainings that are part of the Crossing Boundaries Project
of SaciWATERs. These trainings cater to a diverse set of
audiences from practioners, academics, government officials
to students of water studies. So far two trainings have
been completed successfully and two more would be launched
soon (Click here for reports of the two trainings).
Members of the team are also involved as resource persons
at the field level as well as at the meso and macro level
for capacity building around gender, resources and livelihoods
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Outreach and Partnerships
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The gender unit of SOPPECOM has
been consistently partnering with women’s groups and
women’s studies centres in Maharashtra and elsewhere
through collaborative studies or organizing of workshops
or trainings.
It has convened a sub-theme in the prestigious Indian Association
of Women’s Studies Conference in Lucknow in February
2008 along with Forum against Oppression of Women
(Click Here for Report)
As part of its outreach programme SOPPECOM has been partnering
with Fergusson College and the Women’s Studies Centre
of the Pune University on developing an understanding around
gender, natural resources and rural livelihoods
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Contact: feminism.soppecom@gmail.com
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Technology and Energy |
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SOPPECOM
believes that the choice of technology in development can have
a significant bearing – directly or indirectly - on sustainability,
livelihood, equity and participation. We believe that technology
choice should prioritise:
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Equal or comparable performance
or function as compared to conventional technology; |
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Some cost reduction; |
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Large energy saving; |
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Increase in component of local labour and
local materials; |
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Amenability to modular design and modules that can be
fabricated or manufactured in dispersed rural industries
or work places and assembled at site; |
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Opportunities for local skill upgradation
and development; and |
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Last but not least, potential to be understood and accepted
by the local communities. |
SOPPECOM and its members have therefore also been involved in
technology development in the areas of low external input, sustainable
agriculture, optimal equitable access systems for water source
development and distribution as well as rural infrastructure technology.
We see these as playing a dual role: firstly, bringing down the
economic and energy cost of development for the poor and secondly,
also laying the basis for a dispersed industrial system that can
join up with a sustainable agriculture to take us to a sustainable
prosperity for all.
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Water Conflicts |
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Forum
for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India
The Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India (hence forward Forum) is a recent collaborative initiative of some of the NGOs and research institutions that include Chalakudi River Samrakshana Samithi, Trichur; Centre for World Solidarity (CWS), Hyderabad; IWMI-Tata Water Policy Program, Anand; Pragathi, Bangalore; Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management (SOPPECOM), Pune; World Wild Fund (WWF) International, Hyderabad; World Water Institute (WWI), Pune; and VIKSAT, Ahmedabad. SOPPECOM functions as the nodal agency or the coordinating point. The initiative is supported by WWF International under its project, ‘Dialogue on water, food and environment’.
Discussions in civil society forums led to an awareness of the need to look at water conflicts and some information on a small number of relatively better known water conflicts in the south was collected and a summary of the cases was published as a small booklet (Doraiswamy R. and Biksham Gujja, 2004, “Understanding Water Conflicts: Case Studies from South India”, Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment, WWF-International, ICRISAT, Patancheru, AP and Pragathi, Bangalore). During a meeting in Bangalore organised to discuss this booklet participants described many more varied conflicts and it was felt that there is a need for paying more attention to water conflicts in India. It soon became clear that information on water conflicts was scattered, unorganised and many conflicts were documented inadequately or not at all. The Forum was born from this process.
The Forum formulated a small project titled, “Understanding Water
Conflicts in South India: Towards Evolving a Policy Dialogue”
and WWF agreed to fund this initiative. The project has three
main components:
1) Preparation of a compendium of case studies of water conflicts;
2) Media outreach; and
3) National event in the form of a National Policy Dialogue.
A Steering Committee (consisting of representatives of participating
organisations) and a smaller core group were set up to carry out
and guide the project activities.
Compendium of case studies of
water conflicts
One of the important activities of the project was to document
about 60 to 70 cases of different types of water conflicts in
India. Since the process was initiated by a group that had strengths
in peninsular India, it was decided to concentrate mainly on peninsular
India at this stage, and include only a few representative cases
from the rest of India. A common format for the case studies was
also decided. The case studies are not full-fledged research papers
but a summarised account of the conflict, the issues it involves
and its current status. In most cases, the authors have taken
care to capture the differing perceptions of the conflicting parties.
Many of them have been actively associated with the issue. To
allow inclusion of as many relevant case studies as possible a
word limit of 2500 words was specified and strictly enforced.
References to more detailed studies, analyses and literature,
wherever available, have been included. Each case study was sent
for review and a few did not make the grade. Reviewers’
comments were treated as issues to be addressed and so long as
they were adequately addressed, there was no attempt to modify
the case study to bring it in line with reviewers’ opinions.
The inputs from the Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India
– a two day meeting held on 21-22 March 2005 with a participation
of nearly 120 people drawn from politics, judiciary, activism,
farming community, academia, and media – have helped improve
the Compendium.
| The water conflict
cases have been classified into eight broad themes that
try to capture the dominant aspect of the conflict. These
are: |
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Contending water uses |
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Equity-Access-Allocations |
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Water quality |
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Sand excavation and mining |
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Dams and displacement |
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Micro-level conflicts |
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Trans-boundary conflicts |
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Privatisation |
Thematic review pieces (by renowned scholars and activists like
Ramaswamy Iyer, Sunita Narain, Paul Appasamy, Bharat Patankar,
to name some of them) that would introduce the theme and to some
extent the case studies covered under those themes are also included
in the Compendium.
 |
Economic and Political Weekly
brought out a special issue on water conflicts (February
18-24, 2006, Vol. XLI, No. 7) based on the Compendium. Apart
from the overarching introductory article the issue carried
18 case studies from the Compendium. |
 |
Routledge is bringing it out as a book, “Million
Revolts in the Making: Water Conflicts in India”,
by November 2006. Well known academic and former member
of the Planning Commission of India, Prof. A. Vaidyanathan
has written the foreword for the book. |
Media Outreach
Media outreach had two components, namely, regional print media
campaign and event activities (exhibition). The second core group
meeting held on 8th February at Hyderabad gave concrete shape
to the Media Outreach component.
The Forum entered into an understanding with five regional language
newspapers and carried out this campaign in Kerala, Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chattisgarh. Prize distribution
functions were organized in all these states. It was a very useful
and fruitful activity and gave a wide reach and visibility to
the Forum and also became a means to sensitise the wider public.
The Forum commissioned Rustam Vania to design and produce an exhibition
on the theme of water conflicts in India. This exhibition was
put up in ICRISAT during the National Policy Dialogue and the
response was good. This is a material that could be used widely
to sensitise the wider public on water and water conflicts and
could be used by different interested groups.
National Event
The National Event in the form of a Policy Dialogue was organised
on the 21st and 22nd March 2005 at ICRISAT Hyderabad. The 21st
meeting was of a smaller group, consisting of academics, NGO representatives,
some case study writers, activists and some policy makers. The
21st meeting was primarily organized to get more conceptual clarity
on water conflicts in India and also gets inputs about the draft
Compendium so that they would be of use to improve the quality.
The National Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts took place on
22nd March 2005. About 120 people drawn from politics, judiciary,
bureaucracy, academia, NGO and practioner community, media participated
in the policy dialogue. Apart from getting a good feedback on
the on the Draft Compendium which would improve the quality of
the Compendium most of the participants also felt that the Forum
should continue its work and activities on a long term perspective.
Recent Activities
Routledge India had agreed to publish the Compendium on water
conflicts in India as a book and the work had begun in the earlier
phase of Forum. The book, ‘Water Conflicts in India: A Million
Revolts in the Making’, was finally released in a function
organized at India International Center, New Delhi, on 13 December
2006. Prof. Saif-ud-Din-Soz, Minister, Water Resources, Government
of India, released the book. The publication was followed by a
panel discussion having senior scholar and Member, Planning Commission
of India, Dr. Kirit Parikh as the chairperson and some eminent
experts in the water research arena like Professor Y. K. Alagh,
Mr. Suresh Prabhu (Member of Parliament), and Dr. Mahesh Rangarajan
as panelists. About 70 to 80 people participated in the function.
The book captures wide variety of water conflicts in India in
one impressive compendium of sixty-three case studies. It is largely
a pre-analytical effort, and does not aim at a detailed analysis
of water conflicts, their root causes, and the ways ahead. However,
implicit in these “million revolts” is a demand for
change in the many ways we think about water and the many ways
we manage it. Most significantly, it is premised on the belief
that understanding and documenting the variety of conflicts in
terms of nature and scale will contribute to informed public debate.
Regional Book Launch cum Seminars
| The Forum has planned
to organize about five book launch-cum seminars in different
parts of the country with the following objectives: |
|
Give visibility to the Forum |
|
Give
visibility to the issue of water conflicts at the regional
and ultimately national level |
|
Bring together different stakeholders
in the water conflict and conflict resolution |
|
Wider consultation on vision and strategy
of the Forum |
Forum organised one such event in Kerala on 27 December 2006 at
Cochin with the initiative of Dr. A. Latha of Chalakudi puzha
Samrakshan Samiti, who is also a Steering Committee member of
the Forum. Dr. Sebastian Paul, Member of Parliament, launched
the book. Mr. C R Neelankantan, well known Social Activist in
Kerala chaired the meeting. Dr. K. N. Nair, Director, Centre for
Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram gave the keynote address.
The book release was followed by a daylong policy dialogue on
water conflicts. The cases from Kerala included in the book were
presented and discussed. The meeting also discussed what could
Forum do along with other organizations and initiatives in Kerala
on the question of water conflicts and the suggestions would be
included in the long term proposal that is being prepared.
Chalakudi Puzha Samrakshan Samithi with support from the Forum
also brought out a Malayalam booklet by the name ‘The Unseen
Side of Drought’. The booklet contains 20 of the best stories
carried by Mathrubhumi as part of the competition organized by
Forum in 2005. This book was also released on 27 December 2006.
Dialogue on Sardar Sarovar Project
The Forum aims to explore the possibility of initiating a process
of dialogue amongst opposing groups around some of the important
conflicts like the Saradar Sarovar Project, Polavaram Project,
etc. This would flow into next phase of the Forum where the emphasis
would be to actually get involved in some of the conflict situations
and try to resolve them through dialogue or at least try to come
up with a strategy by which the conflicting groups can come together
and discuss out issues to resolve the conflicts. The effort would
be to see that the Forum and the participating institutions make
a ‘real’ difference both at the policy and practical
level in resolving water conflicts.
Dialogue on Polavaram Project
The Forum set up a small committee (consisting of Prof. Sudarshan
Iyenger, Vice Chancellor, the Gujarat Vidyapeeth, Ahmedabad, Prof.
S. Parthasarthy, Director, Gujarat Institute of Development Research
(GIDR), Ahmedabad and K. R. Datye, SOPPECOM, Mumbai) to study
the various issues concerning the project, including the benefit-cost
ratio of the project, so that a more informed discussion and debate
can take place and also help take a more informed decision regarding
the project. The team has visited both the submergence and projected
command areas of the project and held wide-ranging consultations
with different stakeholders. The Committee also met Shri Ponnala
Laxmaiah, Minster for Major Irrigation, Government of Andhra Pradesh,
Hyderabad and Mr. Satish Chadra, IAS, Secretary, Major Irrigation
& Command Area Development, In-charge of Polavaram Project,
Government of AP, Hyderabad. The Forum also organised a visit
by some of the eminent persons like Prof. C. H. Hanumanta Rao
accompanied by a group of media persons in February 2007. The
report would be finalised soon and we hope to use the findings
of the report for wider dissemination and dialogue.
National Consultative Meeting
The Forum organised a National Consultative Meeting, “Towards
Conflict Resolution on Water Conflicts in India”, on 31
July 2007 at Mavalsrushti near Pune.
| The meeting had
two main objectives: |
| 1 |
To explore and synthesise ideas
which can become building blocks for evolving an approach
towards conflict resolution keeping in mind the varied nature
and complexities of the water conflicts in India and also
towards understanding what civil society initiatives can
do for conflict resolution, and |
| 2 |
To
get suggestions as to what the Forum could do in the next
phase of the Forum if it has to meaningfully engage with
and contribute to the process of conflict resolution. |
Around 50 persons drawn from academia, law, social and environmental
movements, policy, and media actively participated in the meeting.
The sessions were organised in an informal manner. The Forum had
requested all the participants to send their ideas towards the
resolution of water conflicts and Suhas Paranjape from SOPPECOM
synthesised these inputs from the participants and the learnings
from Forum’s work so far. The meeting began with introductory
remarks by K. J. Joy and Biksham Gujja trying to contextualise
the meeting in the overall context of water conflicts in India
and the work done by Forum so far.
The meeting also had a panel discussion on “towards resolution
of water conflicts: role of civil society initiatives”.
This was chaired by Prof. Sudarshan Iyenger from Gujarat Vidyapeeth,
Ahmedabad. Shripad Dharmadhikary from MANTHAN, Badwani; Nafisa
Barot from UTTHAN, Ahmedabad; Phillippe Cullet from IELRC, New
Delhi and Bharat Patankar from Shramik Mukti Dal, Kasegaon were
on the panel. |
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River Basin Management |
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SOPPECOM is also involved
in the project “Strategy and Methodology for Improved IWRM
– An Integrated Interdisciplinary Assessment in Four Twinning
River Basins” and STRIVER is the project acronym. It is
a European Commission project under the Sixth Framework Programme.
There are 13 institutions across the globe participating in this
three year research project and it is coordinated by Norsk Institutt
for Vannforskning (NIVA), Norway. From India two institutions,
namely, SOPPECOM and Institute for Social and Economic Change
(ISEC), Bangalore are involved in this study. The study involves
four basins, namely, Glomma (Norway), Tejo/Tagus (Spain/Portugal),
Sesan (Vietnam/Cambodia) and Tungabhadra (India) – two from
Europe and two from Asia.
STRIVER aims at contributing to the development of methodologies
to assess key challenges of integrated water resources management
(IWRM), namely, (i) water regimes in transboundary regulated rivers,
(ii) environmental flow, (iii) land and water use interaction,
and (iv) pollution. The methodology will be developed in a multidisciplinary
framework, including the coupling of biological/biophysical, social
economic and policy variables, and will be based on the combined
experiences from the four different river basins and will be expected
to help provide improved guidance for interdisciplinary IWRM.
More information on the project can be got from Striver website
http://www.striver.no
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