IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/cijwxx/v34y2018i1p28-41.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

India’s water management debate: is the ‘civil society’ making it everlasting?

Author

Listed:
  • M. Dinesh Kumar
  • Chetan M. Pandit

Abstract

This article discusses the bias of the growing constituency of civil society activists in India against conventional water management solutions implemented by the government, and the ‘alternatives’ they champion, which force the government to enter into an endless debate with these groups. The article goes into the fundamental reasons for this bias, and identifies four types of civil society activist: ‘professional’, ‘ideologue’, ‘romantic’ and ‘doomsday prophet’. The article also argues that water bureaucracies in India should adopt evidence-based policy making, subjecting the ‘alternatives’ to the same degree of scrutiny as the conventional ones, to end the policy dilemma, while enhancing the overall quality of design, execution and management of projects for better outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • M. Dinesh Kumar & Chetan M. Pandit, 2018. "India’s water management debate: is the ‘civil society’ making it everlasting?," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 28-41, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:cijwxx:v:34:y:2018:i:1:p:28-41
    DOI: 10.1080/07900627.2016.1204536
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/07900627.2016.1204536
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/07900627.2016.1204536?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Bank, 2011. "Social Protection for a Changing India : Executive Summary," World Bank Publications - Reports 2746, The World Bank Group.
    2. Amarasinghe, Upali & Shah, Tushaar & Turral, Hugh & Anand, B. K., 2007. "India’s water future to 2025-2050: Business-as-usual scenario and deviations," IWMI Research Reports H040852, International Water Management Institute.
    3. Mukherji, Aditi & Facon, T. & Burke, J. & de Fraiture, Charlotte & Faures, J. M. & Fuleki, Blanka & Giordano, Mark & Molden, David & Shah, Tushaar, 2009. "Revitalizing Asia's irrigation: to sustainably meet tomorrow's food needs," IWMI Books, Reports H042448, International Water Management Institute.
    4. Anantha K H, 2009. "Downward Dividends of Groundwater Irrigation in Hard Rock Areas of Southern Peninsular India," Working Papers 225, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore.
    5. World Bank, 2011. "Social Protection for a Changing India : Main Report," World Bank Publications - Reports 2745, The World Bank Group.
    6. Mukherji, Aditi & Facon, T. & Burke, J. & de Fraiture, Charlotte & Faures, J.-M. & Fuleki, Blanka & Giordano, Mark & Molden, David & Shah, Tushaar, 2009. "Revitalizing Asia's irrigation: to sustainably meet tomorrow's food needs," IWMI Books, Reports H042273, International Water Management Institute.
    7. Mukherji, Aditi & Facon, Thierry & Burke, Jacob J. & de Fraiture, Charlotte & Faures, Jean-Marc & Fuleki, Blanka & Giordano, Mark & Molden, David J. & Shah, Tushaar, 2009. "Revitalizing Asia's irrigation: to sustainably meet tomorrow's food needs," IWMI Books, International Water Management Institute, number 137954.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. J. M. Kandulu & J. D. Connor, 2017. "Improving the effectiveness of aid: an evaluation of prospective Mekong irrigation investments," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(2), pages 270-291, March.
    2. Liu, Zhuo & Suter, Jordan F. & Messer, Kent D. & Duke, Joshua M. & Michael, Holly A., 2014. "Strategic entry and externalities in groundwater resources: Evidence from the lab," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 181-197.
    3. Richard Ackermann, 2012. "New Directions for Water Management in Indian Agriculture," Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, Emerging Markets Forum, vol. 4(2), pages 227-288, May.
    4. Johnston, Robyn M. & Hoanh, Chu Thai & Lacombe, Guillaume & Noble, Andrew D. & Smakhtin, Vladimir & Suhardiman, Diana & Kam, Suan Pheng & Choo, P. S, 2009. "Scoping study on natural resources and climate change in Southeast Asia with a focus on agriculture. Final report," IWMI Research Reports H042414, International Water Management Institute.
    5. Pearly Wong & Srikantha Herath, 2014. "Equity in bulk water allocation: the case of the Mahaweli Ganga Development Project in Sri Lanka," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(4), pages 635-648, December.
    6. Willem Colenbrander & Barbara van Koppen, 2013. "Improving the supply chain of motor pumps to accelerate mechanized small-scale private irrigation in Zambia," Water International, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 493-503, July.
    7. Armando Barrientos & Sony Pellissery, 2012. "Delivering effective social assistance: does politics matter?," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-009-12, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    8. Imbert, Clément & Papp, John, 2020. "Costs and benefits of rural-urban migration: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    9. Ugo Gentilini, 2016. "The Other Side of the Coin," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 24593.
    10. Puja Dutta & Rinku Murgai & Martin Ravallion & Dominique van de Walle, 2014. "Right to Work? Assessing India's Employment Guarantee Scheme in Bihar," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 17195.
    11. Mukesh Sud & Craig VanSandt, 2015. "Identity Rights: A Structural Void in Inclusive Growth," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(3), pages 589-601, December.
    12. Gentilini,Ugo, 2016. "The revival of the"cash versus food"debate : new evidence for an old quandary ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7584, The World Bank.
    13. Ana Miranda, 2018. "Public food procurement from smallholder farmers: literature review and best practices," Working Papers 176, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    14. Mariana Infante-Villarroel, 2015. "Framework for the Development of Social Protection Systems," World Bank Publications - Reports 22320, The World Bank Group.
    15. Parmar, Divya & Banerjee, Aneesh, 2019. "Impact of an employment guarantee scheme on utilisation of maternal healthcare services: Results from a natural experiment in India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 285-293.
    16. Bahal, Girish & Shrivastava, Anand, 2021. "Supply variabilities in public workfares," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    17. Uma Purushothaman, 2011. "Indian and American Perspectives on Food Security," International Studies, , vol. 48(3-4), pages 281-303, July.
    18. Klonner, Stefan & Oldiges, Christian, 2022. "The welfare effects of India’s rural employment guarantee," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    19. Hickey, Sam & Sen, Kunal & Bukenya, Badru (ed.), 2016. "The Politics of Inclusive Development: Interrogating the Evidence," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198788829.
    20. Berg, Erlend & Bhattacharyya, Sambit & Rajasekhar, D. & Manjula, R., 2018. "Can public works increase equilibrium wages? Evidence from India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 239-254.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:cijwxx:v:34:y:2018:i:1:p:28-41. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/cijw20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.