by Dr Simi Mehta, Amita Bhaduri Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI)
Role Of Village Communities And Rural Local Governments
Decentralization is the transfer of powers and responsibilities from the central government to the elected authorities at the subnational level. In India, as organs of the government closest to the people, the Panchayati Raj system has been effective good governance tools.
In water resource management, greater devolution in the water sector has led to democratization across sectors. Local communities and rural local governments can play a pivotal role in creating a sustainable development water model. Local culture enhances water management programs’ success, as evident from the community-owned social and agroforestry project in the hamlets of Tentulipada and Nuapada in Orissa.
To highlight this relation between, Center for Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development, IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi and India Water Portal organized a web policy talk on “Decentralized Water Resources Management: Role of Village Communities and Rural Local Governments” on the occasion of World Wetland Day, as part of the series – The State of the Environment – #PlanetTalks.
Why Do We Need Decentralized Water Management?
Decentralized water management arises out of a need precipitated by certain issues. According to Mr Liby Johnson, Founder, Gram Vikas, these issues can be segregated into two broad categories – Natural-Technical and Managerial-Institutional.
Natural-Technical
Under this, issues are related to the exploitation of natural resources. These include lack of dependable water resources, erratic rainfall, contaminated groundwater, and rapidly depleting groundwater. Even the impact of production and market-related factors on water use, such as using methods to meet production demands, fall under this category. The technical aspect covers issues about the lack of in-village infrastructure to meet water requirements.
Managerial-Institutional
This covers issues of administration and institution. The primary challenge is the lack of a unanimous definition of community. The presence of varying interpretations stemming from different vantage points makes the definition itself incomprehensible and thus becomes a hindrance to our understanding of a community.
Additionally, plans designed for water management are made outside user communities, they are often front heavy with technical and capital overload, and they invariably become incompatible with community-based use. This is further augmented by flaws in implementation resulting from an inadequate delegation of operations, the minimal scope for effective community participation, and gram panchayats’ incapability to manage water resources.
Elements Of A Sustainable Model
For an effective and sustainable model of decentralized water management, certain elements need to be accounted for. Mr Johnson categorizes these elements into Natural-Technical and Managerial-Institutional.
Natural-Technical
Under this, the demand for greater investment in source sustainability, appropriate technology support for demand management such as support for making better crop choices, and weather information are included. It is observed that local communities have been able to plan more strategically if they have information about their local weather conditions. The demand for decentralized water quality management systems is also clubbed in this category.
Managerial-Institutional
This covers demands for the empowerment of the gram panchayats as the governing institutions. Mr Johnson emphasized the need for interaction between the gram panchayat and village communities as governing bodies and user communities, respectively. Such connections will ease the challenges of coordination. The decentralization of technical skills at the village level is crucial. Additionally, there is a need for meaningful convergence of resources at the gram panchayat level so that government investments can contribute towards water security.
Principles For Success
Gram Vikas, an organization based in Odisha, has worked for decentralized water management programs in rural communities. They have been successful in the decentralization of water resources by the following certain principles:
Inclusive community participation ensures every household, including the poorest and the socially excluded, contributes to the program. The process promotes affirmative steps to ensure that women and poor people are included in managing assets and processes.
The entire community contributes to capital and maintenance costs. The shared costs allowed for individual concern for results and made the village administration accountable.
People take responsibility from an early stage to generate consensus, mobilize local contributions, manage construction and take charge of operations and maintenance. Creation of corpus fund and the maintenance fund ensure in-built financial stability.
Challenges To Decentralized Water Management
The prevalent inequalities and power dynamics within village communities are crucial challenges. The gender, caste, and class differences within villages communities are prominent barriers. Commenting on gender mainstreaming and community-level participation of women, Dr Indira Khanna stressed the need for women to be part of the planning process and offer their perspectives as they are the primary victims.
Mr Johnson recalled how women have often taken the lead in mobilizing communities and completed the task with maximum benefits. However, women’s participation is subjected to the nature of the community. In some cases, there has been evidence of sustained control in the decision-making process. To counter such inequality, different approaches such as creating parallel platforms to engage with women need to be undertaken.
Similarly, caste and class inequalities hinder inclusive community participation. Mr Johnson recommends efforts in implementing an all-inclusive approach. He experienced that patience and reasoning with the upper caste community members help in battling inequalities, especially in water since it’s a universal need and thus crosses over inequalities.
Another barrier is the rural-urban conundrum and the associated costs. Mr Johnson recommends adopting different parameters for distinction. Rather than categorizing as rural and urban, he stated that differences should be made based on the prevalence of local resources of water. Decentralized and distributed water systems from local resources of water are cost-effective and thus help in reducing costs while simplifying the rural-urban divide.
Contemporary challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, increased prevalence of natural disasters such as Tsunami, and the consequences of tourism need to be addressed. Commenting on the complexities brought upon by the pandemic, Mr Johnson elaborated how hygiene came to acquire prominence.
However, he notes awareness currently limits itself to washing hands and ignore other aspects of hygiene. Commenting on natural disasters, resilience and preparedness within village communities are essential. Increasing tourism activity trends have also led to struggles for resource sustainability and thus need to be taken into consideration.
The Way Forward
It is imperative not to get overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem. Different entities have to make sure they put in maximum effort. Policies of decentralized water management have to empower the gram panchayat and govern it since it has to be the locus of governance and control.
The panchayats have to be freed from constraints overutilization of financial resources and need to be given greater autonomy. While there will be umpteen challenges of capability, corruption, and other issues, eventually, the panchayat will take the right decisions for the community’s common good. The linkages between village communities and panchayats will ensure responsiveness and accountability. The Gram Panchayat as the government is the key to ensuring long-term water security in the country – Liby Johnson.
Additionally, the panchayats have to be complemented with active Gram Sabhas. Most importantly, there needs to be greater awareness about the limits of nature, cognizance of our desires and the ugly footprint we as humans leave behind. A conversation on the value of natural resources and the value of water for mankind is the need of the hour. The pressure for change and reform should come from the people and not from the top- Dr Indira Khurana.