Books and Reports
The book documents about 63 case studies on different types of water conflicts across India. This includes conflicts between uses and users at different levels, ranging from individual systems to sharing of waters among riparians in inter-state and international river basins. Conflicts remain an endemic feature of the water sector. The book is an effort to contribute to an informed public debate on water conflicts in India, with a possibility of their resolution too.
The output is a result of the joint initiative on Campaign around Right to Water and Sanitation in India between Forum and WaterAid India. The content of Right to Water is developed based on the series of workshops conducted in India in different parts of the country and the feedback received from the participants. The booklet talks about the legal and institutional arrangement that exists within India and what arrangements are required in order to ensure that everyone has access to basic needs of water. Forum has also proposed a tentative model which talks about the water tariff and ensuring a ‘social minimum to all’.
The compendium comprises of four different sector reform initiatives on domestic water and sanitation in India. There are numerous sector reform initiatives taking place in the water sector to ensure that equal domestic water is available to everyone. Some of these initiatives are taking place at local scale and some by the central. However, the implications of these initiatives vary depending on the geographical scale, the institutional set-up, participation of the people and the water tariff associated. The reform initiatives highlighted in this compendium are, schemes proposed by the Government, public-private partnership and public-public partnership.
This is a compendium of 11 case studies, specifically talking about the conflicts related to drinking water and sanitation in India. Water for drinking and sanitation are the basic needs of human beings, however, these needs often gets sidelined in the context of other uses, especially when water is required for livelihood. Again there is a question, should the basic needs be met, especially the people in the urban areas, by compromising the needs of the rural people? The report is an attempt to look at the finer nuances of water allocations and the conflicts arising out of it.
The book is the result of Forum’s continuous effort to document various types of water conflicts across India. This compendium comprises of 18 case studies in the Northeast part of India. The process of documentation has been instrumental in creating awareness and networking, which the Forum believes is a valuable asset for any grassroot work on water conflicts. The Northeast region of India is rich in ethnic diversity and has abundant natural resources. The case studies capture the threat on the water resources and ecological security due to large number of hydropower projects planned in the region. Moreover, the indigenous people feel insecure, as they are not involved in the decision-making process.
This is a unique report where an attempt has been made to look at floods from the point of view of conflicts and contestation-an issue that has remained unexplored till date. This initiative was taken to understand, disseminate knowledge, and initiate a dialogue around flood induced conflicts, which shall help to devise better strategies to deal with floods and their impacts. The compendium includes 11 case studies which capture the issue of embankments and floods, reservoir operations, interstate disputes, floods in cities, rehabilitation related conflicts and floods in areas of low rainfall like Rajasthan. Case studies are covered from almost all over India.
This is the action taken report, based on the information, stakeholder meetings, Focussed Grooup Discussions conducted to resolve the conflicts between the farmers of the Hirakud command area and the Odisha Government about water allocation from the Hirakud dam. The Odisha state Resource Centre was formed with the objective to bring together local civil society groups, social movements and other stakeholders and understand the interconnected conflicts around Hirakud dam. The report puts forward certain recommendations to resolve the ongoing conflicts.
This report talks about the action research study undertaken by the Chalakudy Puzha Samrakshana Samithy and Forum. The plan to construct a large dam across the Chalakudy river in Kerala triggered conflict and this was strongly opposed by the Local Panchayats. The proposal if implemented would have altered the flow fluctuations and would have affected the livelihoods of the farmers dependent on Chalakudy for irrigation. The report talks about the attempt made by the Kerala State Centre to improve the water management at the Chalakudy River Diversion Scheme (CRDS), through a participatory approach and has tried to promote farmstead level water conservation. This is expected to resolve the conflict among the beneficiaries of the CRDS.
The report is the outcome of the working group set by the Forum to develop a framework, which can act as an instrument for conflict resolution and conflict prevention. The Forum believes that the current legal and institutional set-up does not take into account the bio-physical and socio-cultural peculiarities of water. The alternate framework proposed by the working group talks about these aspects, including the discourse around right to water and equity, principles and doctrines of decentralised and participatory form of governance and management, subsidiarity and trusteeship.
The Forum has made a continuous effort to document the various types of conflicts talking place across India and at various levels. Through its established research centre in Odisha, the Forum brought out the various conflicts, both existing and emerging. The process of documenting conflicts in Odisha involved a host of activities and instruments, which led to the identification of 19 important case studies in the state. These are centred on dams, displacement, diversions, pollution and conflicts due to water sharing. The interesting part of this compendium is that the case studies have been written by non-academicians, each author bringing their own emphasis to the case study.
(Price: Rs. 100/-)
Edited by: K.J. Joy, Priya Sangameswaran, A. Latha, Shripad Dharmadhikary, M.K. Prasad, K.P. Soma
Published by: Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts
The Forum believes that the issue of entitlements and allocations for livelihood needs and ecosystem needs are the most important reasons for most of the water conflicts in India. The report talks about the changing discourse of water like institutional changes, introduction of tradable rights, and emphasis on water pricing. The report also talks about the four different needs- basic, livelihood, environmental and socio-cultural- that should ideally be a part of the conceptualisation of right to water. Efforts are made to bring out the complexities involved in each case, rather than suggesting ‘one size fits all’ solution.