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2016 | Book

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Politics of Water Conservation

Delivering Development in Rural Rajasthan, India

Author: Saurabh Gupta

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

This book examines the politics of rural development with special reference to watershed development interventions in the desert province of Rajasthan in India. Watershed development (and rainwater harvesting) is one of the most significant rural development interventions in rainfed areas of India since the early 1990s. A range of developmental actors including the state watershed department, international donors, NGOs and grassroots organisations are involved in sponsoring watershed development projects. Using multi-sited ethnography and conversational interviews with the deliverers as well as recipients of development, the book compares and contrasts the watershed interventions of the state and two different kinds of NGOs in Rajasthan. While conventional studies on watershed development have focused on the evaluation of ‘success’ or ‘failure’ of particular projects, whether implemented by the state or NGOs, the book moves beyond this narrow analytical gaze to look at the roles, agendas and interests of multiple development agencies, often partnering together and sometimes competing with each other as part of, what the author calls, the ‘watershed development regime’.

Taking cue from watershed development and water conservation projects over the last two decades, the book engages with the larger question of ‘how’ of delivering development. It examines the complex processes of cooperation, competition, negotiations, contestations and conflicts between different stakeholders, including the agents of development and differently positioned rural social groups in the context of Rajasthan. The book demonstrates that the recent interventions in watershed development and rainwater harvesting have considerably shaped the politics of development in Rajasthan in a number of ways: by becoming a site for the remaking of the ‘state’ and its internal relations, by disturbing the local hegemony in the countryside, by creating new relations of

patronage between diverse agents and recipients of development, by increasing the associational capacity as well as creating new conflicts (intra and inter village) and by initiating competition and cooperation between the various agents of development over control of local resources and power.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
This introductory chapter sets out the main objectives, research questions and significance of the study on which this book is based. It explains the notion of the ‘watershed development regime’ and highlights the centrality of power relations in analysing the development interventions in the countryside. It is argued that the study takes us beyond the narrow analytical consideration of evaluating the ‘success’ or ‘failure’ of particular watershed interventions. Instead, making use of multi-sited ethnography of water conservation activities of different agencies (state, non-governmental and international), it explains the ‘how’ of development delivery in rural Rajasthan.
Saurabh Gupta
Chapter 2. Understanding the Politics of Watershed Development
Abstract
This chapter provides a critical analysis of the mainstream theoretical tradition (new-institutionalism and its offshoots—social capital, participatory and ‘synergy’ approaches) and the main alternative theoretical traditions (new-traditionalist, and anti/post-development positions) to understand issues related to use of, and access to natural resources in particular and the power of development in general. It discusses the mainstream approaches to the management and development of natural resources and common property resources in rural areas. These approaches based on collective action by resource users, ‘participation’ of rural communities in development projects, enhancement of ‘social capital’ within a group of resource users, and partnership between the state and civil society organisations, the author contends, conceal relations of power and inequality. Furthermore, it discusses the main alternative theoretical traditions to understanding and analysing issues related to rural development and natural resources development. It presents the main propositions of ‘new-traditionalism’ (or neo-populist ideas) and argues that they also neglect conflicts within a given community over governance of local natural resources. In the end, this chapter refers to some recent studies on power relations in rural development interventions (or ‘new directions’ in post-development), which take us beyond discursive determinism, and present a more nuanced understanding on the nature and power of development regimes.
Saurabh Gupta
Chapter 3. Rajasthan: The Land of Rajas (Kings) and Droughts
Abstract
This is a background chapter providing a selective analysis of historical context and agrarian relations in Rajasthan that are relevant to the understanding of contemporary watershed development interventions and their effects on local politics, social relations of land and water use, state–civil society relations, livelihood and relations of caste. The chapter provides a brief sketch of the land tenure system and agrarian relations in feudal/colonial times, the impact of land reforms in post-colonial period, changing patterns of rural leadership and social mobility and the emergence of civil society actors in Rajasthan. Furthermore, it presents a discussion on the significant changes taking place in the agricultural development, village common resources and their governance in the colonial and post-colonial periods, limits to agricultural productivity and the growing importance of seasonal migration.
Saurabh Gupta
Chapter 4. National Goals, International Agenda and Local Needs
Abstract
Following on the preceding critical review of ‘new institutional’ and ‘post-development’ literature, the questions raised in this chapter are: What are the linkages between local needs, national goals and international agenda vis-à-vis development of rain-fed areas? How have the institutional forms and practices changed with regard to governance of natural resources in the past two decades as a result of interventions by the state watershed department? What evidence supports the ‘depoliticisation’ thesis in the context of rural development in Rajasthan? And how do the state practices of decentralised management of natural resources converge with the wider processes of democratic decentralisation in the countryside? The chapter presents a brief historical background of water conservation in the state of Rajasthan and the emergence of a new apparatus in the form of the Department of Watershed Development and Soil Conservation (DWD&SC) in the early 1990s. It discusses the changes in the policy guidelines for watershed development and analyses some of the projects implemented by DWD&SC and funded by foreign donors, especially the Swiss-funded People’s Action for Watershed Development Initiative (PAWDI) and the World Bank-funded Integrated Watershed Development Project (IWDP). Finally, it shows the tensions within DWD&SC owing to recent policy changes in favour of democratic decentralisation in the state.
Saurabh Gupta
Chapter 5. Development Specialists and Grassroots Workers
Abstract
This chapter discusses the initiatives of an NGO (that the author shall call Gram Vikas Manch) in the field of natural resource development. The NGO is based in Udaipur district of south Rajasthan and has been active since the last four decades. What is its main agenda and how does it operate in its ‘field of action’ (Udaipur villages)? How do its developmental interventions change existing relations of power and patronage in rural communities, and create new relations of patronage? What is its relationship with other elements of the watershed development regime? These are the main analytical questions that are addressed in this chapter in order to highlight the interplay between the various actors involved in governance and control of local natural resources; to illustrate the dynamism of institutional forms and practices and to demonstrate complex processes of negotiation, cooperation and conflict in ‘community based natural resource management’ programmes led by non-governmental development organisations. The chapter presents the in-depth case study of the NGO using an organisational ‘life history’ approach. It evaluates the changing role of the NGO from demanding development to delivering development since the early 1990s, and presents narratives from some villages to highlight the micro-politics of resource management. Finally, it explains the relationship of the NGO with the wider development regime.
Saurabh Gupta
Chapter 6. ‘Village Republics’ and People’s Movement
Abstract
This chapter is on Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS), a grassroots organisation inspired by the Gandhian notion of ‘village republic’ (village self-rule and self-reliance). The organisation has worked in Alwar district of northern Rajasthan for close to 25 years and has received fame at the international level for its work on rainwater harvesting. TBS claims to have revived the traditional practice of rainwater harvesting through building large number of johads (small concave-shaped earthen dams constructed at the foothills to check soil and water run-off). To what extent do TBS’s claims of being ‘alternative’ hold true? The chapter addresses this question by analysing TBS’s ideology and examining how it uses the discourse of ‘traditional knowledge’ and ‘community participation’ to maintain exteriority vis-à-vis the development regime. It discusses its main agenda and activities and its operation in its ‘field of action’ (Alwar villages). It explores TBS’s relationships with rural social groups and the other elements of the watershed development in rural Rajasthan. The chapter presents the organisational structure, ideology and agenda of TBS and describes what is unique about TBS in terms of water conservation activities. It highlights TBS’s Gandhian lineages and use of religion and folk knowledge in achieving high moral ground and distinct identity as an agent of development. Furthermore, it provides some examples to explain the problems of conflict and cooperation in management and development of natural resources under TBS’s direction and critically analyses TBS’s claims of ‘drought proofing’ and ‘community self-reliance’.
Saurabh Gupta
Chapter 7. Conclusion: Notes on the Politics of Rural Development in Rajasthan
Abstract
This concluding chapter revisits the debates and theoretical issues discussed earlier on and analyses them on the basis of empirical evidence presented in the previous three chapters. It presents the main findings of the study in the form of notes on the heterogeneous nature of development regimes, overlapping institutional terrain, limitations of depoliticisation thesis, participation, partnership and ‘synergy’, gender and equity, community and social capital and new leaders and development actors. This is followed by a summary of the overall arguments of this book, presented in the form of concluding remarks.
Saurabh Gupta
Metadata
Title
Politics of Water Conservation
Author
Saurabh Gupta
Copyright Year
2016
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-21392-7
Print ISBN
978-3-319-21391-0
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21392-7