What role do social welfare associations play in addressing water inequality in India

The marginalized and low-income people face a myriad of challenges while trying to access drinking water comparative to high caste and well-to-do families. The social economic factors such as household average income, education, and occupation affect the ease with which to access quality and sufficient water. The Indian water challenges have a long history and as much as the government has made some strides towards alleviating this problem, much of systems were designed and constructed with little to no public participation. The growing Indian population is also a contributor to the water problem over and above falling water tables and shrinking water sources (Busby). The water scarcity is an issue that transverses across local, regional, national and transboundary levels. The slum dwellings in the urban centers lack adequate quality water supply.

According to NSS, 69th round, most of the households to a tune of 94. 1 percent residing in the slum areas had improved levels of access to drinking water. Drinking water, in this case, encompasses borehole, public tap, piped water, protected well or spring water. The urban poor does not always have access to public services and therefore, they depend on multiple sources of water for survival. Cantonment Board receives the highest amount of water per day at 500 Lpcd followed at a far distance by Karol Bagh, which receives 337 lcpd. The above-cited towns illustrate the kind of imbalance in water distribution in the city of town of Delhi. Over half of the people residing in the town of Delhi live on low-income colonies and in abject poverty.

The water supply of these people is wanting, both in terms of quantities and supply. One predominant characteristic of this low-income localities is that they are not connected to the official network of piped water. It is worth noting that the caste system is discriminatory against individuals at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Some castes cannot access water and when they try to reach this scarce resource they face violence (Haider 8). The poor are considered and treated to as belonging to the low class and are often face difficulties to access water. Further, the water issue in India is highly politicized since councilors, as well as politicians, decide on who has access to water. The caste politics define the distribution and pricing of water (Madhale and Kumthekar 753).

However, the Act is more on paper as opposed to action since the government has been curtailing an effort to access information by the public. For instance, there exists limited information on water demand, the location of leakages, transmission points among other issues affecting the water supply. The Indian attorn general ascertains that there is scarce information on the size of the population living in different parts of cities across the country and this makes it impossible to calculate the adequate quantities of water required for various parts of the city. Therefore, water network allocation and distribution are highly dependent on assumptions instead of sound decisions based on actual figures (Comptroller and Auditor General of India). Since water meters are lacking in most of the water distribution points, it remains a challenge to track the amount of water entering the network.

It is worth noting that SWAS is an entity recognized by the government and its actions are limited to legal colonies (The World Bank 9). The implication of this limited action is that the poor and marginalized people living in illegal colonies have no access to such services, and as such, they are marginalized in the decision-making process. People from marginalized communities are less educated an aspect that limits their ability to understand the bureaucratic processes surrounding water management. Therefore, they cannot participate in or understand information coming from water authorities. The ability of such citizens to send their concerns to the press, write demands to the press, or NGO’s and stage demonstrations is all that they can bank on, but this does little to make the water system and management better.

The Indian constitutions does not recognize the right to water and therefore, the public can only access the protection to such right through judicial interpretation (Cullet, 2013). The residents find it easier to pay a bribe as opposed to seeking justice through the courts. Key Social Welfare Associations addressing water issues The urban political economy theory asserts that in a capitalist society markets operate within the dictates of human interests that revolve around concentration of power and wealth, human actors with powers and wealth organize the operations of the market economy (ChaiChian 56). These actors are keen to form coalitions and organizations, which help them to maximize selfish interest. It follows that, the Indian water system is congested by organizations and coalitions that dictate who gets water and when.

Water for people works predominantly in the South 24 Parganas and Sheohar districts. The organization advocates for water and sanitation solutions that gain traction through stakeholder involvement. The association embraces participation of the civil society, local government, private sector and local communities in a manner that allows them to understand what it takes to act and advance solutions that resonate well with the local community water supply (The World Bank). Therefore, the organizations bring together all partners while boosting the skills of the local self-help groups, NGOs and community-based associations to collaboratively come up with long-lasting solutions. The Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) projects have been working in collaboration with local communities to improve water access and alleviate the problem of walking long distances to get the commodity, especially by women and girls.

The SWAs have taken the initiative to reduce this gap by establishing performance indicators of water supply. Their interventions have been critical in measuring the efficiency levels in the provision of safe drinking water. According to Feitelson and Chenoweth (2002), water inequality is a scenario postulated by a nations inability to cater for the cost of sustainable and clean water for its entire population and at all times. This definition highlights the importance of accessibility and affordability of quality drinking water. When people have to walk long distances to access water regardless of whether they can afford or not, such a scenario posits water inequality (Case 101). The project produces highly replicable results by demonstrating how effective decentralized institutions can be, especially when working in collaboration with local communities (Haider 10).

The local communities record high levels of satisfaction in both quality and quantity of water received. Since its inception, the RWSS project was able to develop an innovative monitoring and evaluation system towards improving accountability and transparency. Where the aspects of transparency and accountability prevail, the locals can access water to sufficient and quality levels. Under the RWSS project, over 2,972 households residing in rural areas had the opportunity to benefit from water through rehabilitated household water schemes. The aim of their the WaterAid organizations is to inform, consult, involve, collaborate and empower the locals to take control of the happenings revolving around water issues. The organization facilitates this by forming Jalabandhu committees. The organization tested all the water sources in the Kirejholla village and was able to establish that fluoride levels were almost 3ppm way above the permissible levels of 0.

7ppm. The organization had to carry out awareness campaigns through the Jalbandhu committee (WaterAid). The fact that India has made progress in its effort to address the inequality staged by water crisis notwithstanding, the country still faces challenges due to low water levels owing to drought, falling ground levels, high demand from agricultural and industrial sectors, poor water resource management and pollution. According to the Water Poverty Index conceptual framework, water access and availability is a critical measure of water inequality. The model explains that people may be forced to walk long distances to access Water, or even when the water source is within reach, its supplies are limited (Lawrence, Meigh and Suvillan). Other people cannot access water due to their limited economic power even when the commodity is available.

The WPI conceptual frameworks are represented in four quadrant diagrams, which explain the varied condition typical of communities facing water inequality. This initiative engaged stakeholders from the private sector and NGO’s towards supporting rural communities (Fawcett and Joshi 8). The first-generation project was critical towards the elevation of water inequality as they gave various players an opportunity to test the ground and further advance the lessons-learned in-order to reform the entire sector. The second-generation project was staged in the 2000s and its objective was to facilitate a long-term sustainability in water systems by boosting the communal ownership of water projects. The local community and their respective authorities were expected to pay part of the capital expenses either in cash or in kind and later cater for operational and management cost in full.

On the other hand, village government agencies were expected to facilitate policy formulation, monitoring, and evaluation (Fawcett and Joshi 9). Further, such projects have been cited to improve transparency, accountability, and governance as facilitated by the aspect of decentralization. Some rural communities live in rocky and barren terrains where identification of water sources is a challenge. The SWAs have come up with initiatives through the decentralized model to avail water services to the local communities in India. One such initiative was the Jalwarajya project, which brought water to over 1. 2 million households living in remote hillside villages, most of the residents in the area were living below the poverty line (Fawcett and Joshi 10). Must of local communities have been able to access regular water supply.

One some of the missing links in the water systems managed at the national level is poor management, lack of accountability and transparency. The Social Welfare Associations have been able to fill this gap by employing bottom-up approach where locals are given the opportunity to own water system project, and allowing government agencies to carry out policy formulation, monitoring, and evaluation. The project advanced by SWAs facilitate dependable water supply through piped water and at a price that even the low-income families can afford. This solves any potential tensions that may emanate from water conflicts. pdf>. Ahmed, Deen and Natraj Kranthi. "Conceptual Framework for Water Poverty. " International Journal of Applied Engineering Research 13. PDF. indiana. edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/7269/1204. pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y>.

Busby, Mattha. India’s ‘worst water crisis in its history’ is only going to get worse, government think tank says. pdf>. Dev, S Mahendra and Sudhakar Yedla. Cities and Sustainability. Fatah, Sonya. In India, water and inequality are intertwined. Haider, Almas. Inequalities in Water Service Delivery in Delhi. <http://www. waterintegritynetwork. net/2016/02/02/inequalities-in-water-service-delivery-in-delhi/>. Malakar, Krishna, Trupti Mishra and Anand Patwardhan. "Inequality in water supply in India: an assessment using the Gini and Theil indices. " Environment, Development and Sustainability 20. Molotch, Harvey and John Logan. "Review: Urban Political Economy: The New Paradigm Matures. in/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Water-Supply-for-Urban-Poor-in-India-WEB. pdf>. The World Bank. India: Bringing Clean Drinking Water to India’s Villages. <http://www. <https://washmatters. wateraid. org/sites/g/files/jkxoof256/files/WaterAid_India_Country_Programme_Strategy_2016_2021.