Drenched in subsidies

Human development query for fast-growing India. Why do poor pay more for
water? Water stress can be managed. Every $1 invested in 10,000 check dams
in Gujarat has yielded $1.5 in returns over three years. Scaling this up to
a national level can result in a five-fold increase in the monsoon

 ARUNABHA GHOSH

H UMAN development is about allowing people to lead the lives that
theyvalueandenabling themtorealisetheirpotentialashuman beings. Access to
water, a simple outcome that many of us take forgranted,hasimplicationsforimproving life chances, expanding choices, and the exercise of basic human freedoms. Water for life in the household and water for livelihoods through production are two of the foundations for human development.Yet the global water crisis is not one of physical scarcity but rooted in poverty and inequality.

The crisis in 'water for life' is the widespread violation of the basic
human right to water. One in every six people in the world is denied the
righttoclean,accessibleandaffordablewater.Thatviolationtranslates
intonearly2millionavoidablechild deaths each year. Diarrhoea kills 4,50,000
children in India every year,morethaninanyothercountry.

Thecrisisin'waterforlivelihoods'is equallyrelevanttoIndia.Withrapid urbanisation and industrial growth, competition for water will increase. InSouthAsiatheshareofnon-agricultural
sectors in water use is expected to rise eight-fold by 2050.

So,whatisdrivingthecrisisinwater? The 2006 Human Development Report found
that the source of the problem lies in poverty, inequality and the institutions that regulateaccess to water. The limited coverage ofwaterutilitiesinslumsmeansthat thepooreroneis,themoreonepays for water, sometimes five to ten times what people even in New York would pay. The costs of connecting to the water mains average $41 in South Asia, a significant barrier for poor households. As a result, those who are rich
enough to havepipedwaterinthehousebenefit from the low cost of water. In
Bangalore,therichest20percentof residents get about 30 per cent of the water
subsidies, while the poorest fifth get only 10 per cent.

What is worse is that we remain too polite about the lack of sanitation -
and our politeness costs lives. Even as India will meet the
MillenniumDevelopmentGoalsof halving the number of people without water,
only one in three Indians has access to any form of improved sanitation.
Poor sanitation is the main reason for the transmission of diseases. Even
basic forms of sanitation have a dramatic effect in reducing the risk of
disease. In Bangladesh access to a pit latrine can reduce the risk of
diarrhoea by over 20 per cent.

The Bangladesh example is illustrative. Since 1990 Indian incomes
haverisenfaster.Buttherateofsanitation coverage is now higher in
BangladeshthaninIndia.Thisowes largely to the Total Sanitation Campaign,
spearheaded originally by NGOs and now part of a national
strategy.WestBengal'sinvestments in sanitation, particularly in Midnapur
district, have resulted in two million additional toilets and
sanitationcoverageof40percent(compared with 12 per cent in 1991).

Community organisations have also shown initiative in India. The National
Slum Dwellers Federation, in conjunction with other NGOs, pioneered a new
approach to design and manage public toilet blocks in response to the
inability of poor households to install latrines in Mumbai. The model has
since been adopted in Pune through collaboration with municipal
authorities.Astheseexampleshighlight,itis notthelackoftechnologyorawareness
that is the problem.

Driving the crisis in water for livelihoodsis often policy-induced scarcity.Unregulated groundwatermining, thanks in large part to electricity
subsidies, has resulted in a groundwater overdraft in India of 56 per cent.
If financial institutions were usedasananalogy,fewbankswould
endorsecashwithdrawalstothisextent. We fail to remember that the
environmentisnotjusttheprovider of water resources but its banker.
Inequalities are to blame as well. In India about 13 per cent of the
population has access to irrigation. Within this group the richest
onethirdoffarmersreceives73percent of the subsidy. Richer farmers, who can
afford to dig deeper tube wells, draw on groundwater reserves while small
and marginal farmers suffer. In northern Gujarat falling water tables pose a
direct threat to the smallholder dairy industry.

Tail-endfarmerssufferatwindisadvantage: less water and more uncertainty. In
India and Pakistan it is typical for tail-end producers to receive less than
a third of the water for farmers at the head of the canal. Little surprise,
then, that poverty among tail-end farmers in India is
typicallyabout11percentagepoints higher.

But water stress can be managed - and again there are examples
fromwithinIndia.Every$1invested in10,000check-damsinGujarathas yielded $1.5
in returns over three years. Scaling this up to a national level can result
in a five-fold increase in the monsoon crop. Lowcost drip irrigation in
Andhra Pradesh has doubled output for the same amount of water. In arid
parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharastra, micro-irrigation kits are in use.

What should be the priorities then?Thereisnoblueprint,butseveral principles
are applicable. First, make water a human right - and mean it. This means a
coherent national strategy for water. It means targeting inequalities and a
regulatory structure that holds utilities accountable for increasing access
to thepoor.Second,rethinktariffstructuressothatthoseluckyenoughto
haveconnectionsdonotwastewater andthattheadditionalrevenuesare used to
cross-subsidise the poor. Third, sanitation is critical and lagging behind,
yet it has the greatest potentialforreducingtheriskofdisease.Fourth,regulategroundwater usage both to protect the environment as well as small farmers. Fifth, substantially
increase community participation,particularlyofwomen
andmarginalfarmers,inmakingdecisions on water infrastructure.

Being born poor, or as a girl, or in a slum is not choices people make. But
where we are born has implications for access to a basic resource like
water - and our life chances. As a fast-growing economy, and emerging world
power, the choice to improve the life chances of the most vulnerable is one
that India has to make.

The writer, a policy specialist with UNDP, is one of the authors of the
just-released 'Human Development Report 2006' arunabha.ghosh@undp.org

EMAIL
arunabha.ghosh@undp.org



URL :
http://70.86.150.130/indianexpress/ArticleText.aspx?article=10_11_2006_008_011