IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/cijwxx/v34y2018i1p28-41.html

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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:iwt:bosers:h042448 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. 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.
    3. 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, January.
    4. World Bank, 2011. "Social Protection for a Changing India : Executive Summary," World Bank Publications - Reports 2746, The World Bank Group.
    5. repec:iwt:rerpts:h040852 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. World Bank, 2011. "Social Protection for a Changing India : Main Report," World Bank Publications - Reports 2745, The World Bank Group.
    7. repec:iwt:bosers:h042273 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. 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.
    2. Sanjukta Das, 2025. "Generosity of food security programs and expected poverty: evidence from variation across Indian states," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 32(5), pages 1434-1478, October.
    3. repec:wbk:wbpubs:24593 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. repec:wbk:wbpubs:17195 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Behrer, A.Patrick & Pullabhotla, Hemant, 2025. "Spilling over: The benefits of public works projects for groundwater in India," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Ana Miranda, 2018. "Public food procurement from smallholder farmers: literature review and best practices," Working Papers 176, International Policy Centre.
    9. Mariana Infante-Villarroel, 2015. "Framework for the Development of Social Protection Systems," World Bank Publications - Reports 22320, The World Bank Group.
    10. 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.
    11. Bahal, Girish & Shrivastava, Anand, 2021. "Supply variabilities in public workfares," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    12. Uma Purushothaman, 2011. "Indian and American Perspectives on Food Security," International Studies, , vol. 48(3-4), pages 281-303, July.
    13. Hickey, Sam & Sen, Kunal & Bukenya, Badru (ed.), 2016. "The Politics of Inclusive Development: Interrogating the Evidence," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198788829.
    14. 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.
    15. Imbert, Clément & Papp, John, 2020. "Costs and benefits of rural-urban migration: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    16. Shareen Hertel, 2015. "Hungry for Justice: Social Mobilization on the Right to Food in India," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(1), pages 72-94, January.
    17. Sujata Balasubramanian, 2015. "Is the PDS Already a Cash Transfer? Rethinking India's Food Subsidy Policies," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(6), pages 642-659, June.
    18. Klonner, Stefan & Oldiges, Christian, 2022. "The welfare effects of India’s rural employment guarantee," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    19. Mariana Infante-Villarroel, 2015. "Institutional Landscape for Implementation and Financing of Social Protection Programs," World Bank Publications - Reports 22326, The World Bank Group.
    20. Christopher Garroway, 2013. "How much do small old age pensions and widow’s pensions help the poor in India?," Development Papers 1306, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) South and South-West Asia Office.
    21. Lankford, B. & Makin, Ian & Matthews, N. & McCornick, Peter G. & Noble, A. & Shah, Tushaar, "undated". "A compact to revitalise large-scale irrigation systems using a leadership-partnership-ownership 'Theory of Change'," Papers published in Journals (Open Access) H047459, International Water Management Institute.
    22. Durba Biswas & L. Venkatachalam, 2015. "Farmers' Willingness to Pay for Improved Irrigation Water — A Case Study of Malaprabha Irrigation Project in Karnataka, India," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 1(01), pages 1-24.

    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.