Stakeholder meeting in Gurgaon

The SaciWATERS stakeholder meeting held in Gurgaon on the 13^th of December 2012, began with Dr Narain, setting the agenda for the meeting. He expressed, that the role of SaciWATERS is that of a dialogue facilitator and that it wanted to promote mutual accountability amongst the main stakeholders. They being the community and the PHED. Further Aman Dewan, with prior consultation from the community, set out the main points that had to be discussed. Two main issues were cropped up; the first being that the Dharamsala line of the village is not able to get access to PHED water supply. The second issue was that a Tube-well is needed beyond the railway line so that people not serviced by the PHED can also access a safe water source. 

In Sultanpur a settlement of Balmiks live beyond the railway line, the PHED does not have permission to supply water beyond that point, as it comes under the jurisdiction of the railways. The Balmiks being lower caste people are often refused water by the upper castes, as they feel that their presence pollutes their water sources. Due to this lack of social cohesion, amongst the different castes of the village, the Balmiks suffer the most.  Starting with the first issue, the people said that, they want a larger capacity motor to increase pressure of the water supply. The PHED responded, that the mess was due to illegal water connections, and that if people installed taps then, he would ensure that sufficient water will be provided. 

Understanding the concern of the community, the PHED team said that it shall try to increase the allocation of time; water is supplied, from 20 to 30 minutes. The issues were concluded by agreement that the Panchyat will cut illegal connections and get the village water connections registered, further to which if water availability is not sufficient; the PHED shall install a larger motor. The second issue was a relatively more harmonious issue. The PHED was in agreement that a tube-well must be present, and that a resolution should be given proclaiming that area as a Dhaani, as they are getting government patronage. It was agreed that within a week, the Panchayat will present the resolution to the PHED, which would then process it. 

Dr Narain showed concern towards the timeline of this activity, to which the PHED replied, that they shall be informed about funds availability during a meeting in April, and thus this issue will be fixed post that. The meeting concluded on a positive note, with the community agreeing to try out legal water connections and the PHED also assuring the people, that if even that did not work out, they shall be ready with their next set of solutions. Personally it was great to see the stakeholders interact, such dialogue does not leave room for doubt, thus furthering the trust levels between stakeholders.

Thus the stakeholders meeting was a great opportunity for SaciWATERS to fulfill its agenda as a catalyst for change.

Stakeholders Workshop, Gurgaon

DATE: 22.6.2012

VENUE: RAMADA, BMK, GURGAON

The second stakeholders’ workshop in Gurgaon under the IDRC Supported project ‘Water security in periurban South Asia: adapting to climate change and urbanization’ was organised on the 24^th of June, 2012 at the Ramada, BMK, Gurgaon. Dr. Vishal Narain began by highlighting the agenda of the meeting which was mainly to:

-         Assess how far the PHED had come in terms of performing the tasks agreed to at the last meeting to improve the water access of communities in the villages of Sultanpur and Jhanjhrola Kheda

-         Identify any other areas  that needed face to face dialogue between the water users and the PHED (Public Health Engineering Department)

-         Identify the further course of action during the last year of the project to improve water security in these two villages

-         Identify ways of continuing this process of dialogue between the PHED and the water users beyond the project period 

 Dr. Vishal Narain then highlighted some of the work that had been taken up by the PHED and the progress made since the last meeting as also some of the issues that had been raised by the PHED in relation to local water management practices.

The PHED made a few suggestions and urged the villagers to try and pursue those at their level. These included -

• ·         Informing the PHED about the illegal connections in the village, so that FIR could  be lodged against those who pursued such practises.
• ·         Forming a Water Committee to monitor the work and maintenance of the system

Some more suggestions that came from the PHED included compulsory registration of personal tubewells with the Central Groundwater Board;  otherwise they would be seized very soon by the authorities. On enquiring about the tank set up by the PHED in Sultanpur on a portion of a private land, the PHED officials informed that it could not be shifted from the current location, but the owner could be compensated. Also regarding the alternate day availability of water for some of the households in the Sultanpur village, the PHED mentioned that as per their records, they were supplying 70 litres per day per person, but due to illegal connections, most of the water was being taken away by other households leaving some without any water.

The meeting concluded with some concerns that were raised by women panch members from Sultanpur, who felt that water quality testing was very important. Apart from this, there was a need to provide an alternative source of fresh water especially considering the poor families who did not have any means of filtration. Also a pipe connection for households across the railway line was of urgent need.

Summary and Conclusions

This meeting saw a lot of change in the attitude of both the villagers as well as the PHED. Since the purpose of the meeting was to foster dialogue between the water users and providers, and to find ways to jointly improve or solve the problems, both sides conducted themselves very well. As against the usual blame game and anarchy characterising the relationship between the water users and providers, this had taken the form of a disciplined, structured and focused interaction to chalk out a future course of action.

Capacity building workshop of Junior Engineers from Public Health Engineering Department, Gurgaon

The capacity-building and training workshop of the employees of the PHED (Public Health and Engineering Department) was organized on the 12^th of April, 2012. It was attended by nineteen employees of the rank of Junior Engineer (JE), two employees of the rank of Sub-divisional Engineer (SDE) and two employees of the rank of Executive Engineer (EE). They represented the divisions of Gurgaon, Faridabad and Sohna.

         

          Participants from Gurgaon, Faridabad and

 Sohna divisions of PHED 

Dr. Anjal Prakash briefing the participants
 about peri-urban water security project 

The workshop began with an introduction by Dr. Anjal Prakash on SaciWATERs and its activities as well as the on-going IDRC supported project on Water Security in Peri-urban South Asia – Adapting to Climate Change and Urbanization. He then lead the participants through a game in which they were given cards to introduce themselves in pairs as an ice-breaking exercise and to share their expectations from the workshop as well as one major challenge each  that they faced in their jobs and with regard to dealing with water as a resource. 

    

PHED Officials penning down their
expectations from the training

Participants sharing with their colleagues, 

expectations from the training, organizational challenges 

& challenges of dealing with water as a resource

The participants  identified several challenges that they were faced with: prominent among these were the low awareness among water users about how precious water resources were, rampant misuse of water, widespread illegal connections, abuse by water users including threats and occasional physical violence, poor distribution infrastructure and frequent burning of motors. They expressed concern over any lack of fear of public authority among water users because of which they misused water and abused PHED property.  While electricity thefts were considered as punishable in society,  the same did not seem to apply to water, that was considered a much more basic good and water thefts as legitimate ways of quenching thirst and meeting basic needs.  Another issue was the relationship between energy and water; on account of erratic power supply, water users pump water whenever electricity is available. Understaffing and the absence of mutual accountability relations between the water users and providers was another problem.

This was followed by a presentation by Dr. Vishal Narain who spoke about the need for the training of the employees of the PHED in the larger context of the current project. He said that urbanization and climate change were both impacting the water availability in peri-urban locations. These were aggravating the impacts of water insecurity already experienced by people on account of such factors as caste, class, gender and location. While the project was only of three-year duration, a long term engagement of the workshop participants with their field settings made a case for a sensitization to issues of peri-urban water security. The aim of the workshop was to supplement and enhance their skills in dealing with managerial and social issues.

 

Dr. Vishal Narain briefing PHED officials
about rationale of the training 

As part of the role play, a dialogue in
progress between the villagers and PHED officials 

This was followed by an interesting role play led by Dr. Anjal Prakash in which the participants split into two groups; one each representing the villagers and the PHED. Two senior participants were designated as observers. The team representing the village then approached the team representing the PHED. The villagers complained to the PHED regarding the absence of water supply for ten days; a blame game and accusations followed. After the role play, the observers presented their observations, namely, that the villagers while accusing the PHED of poor supply did not mention the specific problem or reasons. Nor did the PHED representatives try to find out or explore what the problem was. The overall message was that both sides should have communicated more effectively and clearly.

This was followed by a discussion on several problems in providing water supply to peri-urban locations.  An important issue raised was that rapid urbanization invited migrants who came in as temporary settlers in areas where they were not registered or shown as inhabitants. This leads to underestimation of population to be served and results in several errors in planning. Since water is considered basic to human sustenance, water thefts are not even recognized as such.  Field staffs often face the lure of money as a corrupting influence on one hand and threats and physical assault on the other.  Even if PHED property is damaged and an FIR is sought to be lodged, such a request is not entertained.

This was followed by a short presentation by Dr. Anjal Prakash on gender issues in water supply and he shared experience with a range of water supply improvement options and solutions in peri-urban, urban and informal contexts. He also gave examples of cases where water supply had improved even under conditions of water scarcity and suggested the possibility of organizing an exposure visit of PHED employees to see such successful experiments. 

In the afternoon, the group was joined by representatives from Sultanpur village. The afternoon session began with the screening of a participatory video that was scripted, acted out and shot by a group of women from Jhanjhrola Khera. The video was about the health effects of consuming unsafe water and how women could take precautions through a wide range of options for treating water before drinking. 

  

Screening of Participatory Video
 from Jhanjhrola Khera

The village headman from
Sultanpur interacting with PHED officials 

This was followed by a dialogue between the representatives of Sultanpur and the workshop participants. The former shared their experiences and problems in getting drinking water in the village. They get water from the Gurgaon Water Supply Channel. There is a problem of water distribution internally. They have cement pipes that are easy to rupture or break or take illegal connections. These pipes need to be replaced by D.I. (Ductile Iron) pipes. The workshop participants from the PHED said that it was important to have tutis (taps) installed over all the connections to prevent wastage of water. Mr. Pradeep Kumar, the Executive Engineer in-charge of Sultanpur then suggested that as a follow-up to the local stakeholders meeting that was organized in the village, he had placed order for replacement of the pipe by a D.I. pipe, that had been approved. In due course, this would be done and then through a village level meeting, they could develop a plan for forming a water management committee and handing over the distribution infrastructure to them.

The meeting ended with a round of circulation of cards on which the participants scribbled their major learning. For most participants, the major takeaway was the need for more effective communication between water users and service providers. As a follow-up, Dr. Anjal Prakash suggested a continued engagement with the PHED and the possibility of further capacity-building activities through exposure visits as well as training on technical issues and subjects. 

National Seminar on Design and Planning for Sustainable Habitat

Dr. Vishal Narain presented his paper 'Peri-urban water flows: implications for governance and urban planning" at the National Seminar on Design and Planning for Sustainable Habitat organized at India  Habitat Center, New Delhi on July 15 and 16, 2011. The seminar was attended by a mix of noted academics, representatives from the Government, architects, urban planners and designers. In his presentation, Dr. Narain spoke about how urban expansion processes were affecting the water access and security of periurban residents around Gurgaon. He emphasized that the dichotomous nature of urban planning and rural development led to the exclusion of periurban flows from the purview of planning. As cities expand, much more attention would be needed to the concerns of periurban locations. The distinction between rural and urban water supply would lose its significance and it would become increasingly necessary to recognize the flows of water between rural and urban areas and account for them better in planning for water resources. This stimulated some interesting discussion about the need to shift the unit of planning from rural/urban to a regional level.

Workshop on ICTs, Climate Change and Water

Dr. Vishal Narain participated in an international workshop on ICTs, Climate Change and Water organized by the IDRC, Canada and APC, Alliance for Progressive Communications in Johannesburg from July 7 to 10, 2011. The workshop was attended by about 30 participants from around the world. The workshop sought to develop a research agenda around the theme of ICTs, Climate Change and Water. Several issues were discussed such as the role that ICTs can play in reducing vulnerability to the water related impacts of climate change, improving access to information, securing greater transparency and disaster risk reduction. The workshop was an interactive one and participants worked in smaller groups to develop research ideas and proposals that were subsequently presented in plenaries. Much attention was paid to the challenges that large cities were faced with in dealing with the water related impacts of climate change, and the stresses that urbanization created. 

6th International Conference on Interpretive Policy Analysis

Dr. Vishal Narain presented his paper “Narratives, discourses and power: the appropriation of land and water at the periphery of global cities” at the 6^th International Conference on Interpretive Policy Analysis at Cardiff, .UK. from June 23 to 25, 2011. His paper was presented in the session “Whose city is it anyway? Planning, politics and exclusion at the periphery”.  Drawing on fieldwork in Budheda and Sadhrana villages in Gurgaon, in his paper he focused on how the so-called millennium cities expanded by engulfing the land and water resources of their peripheral villages and how certain narratives about the glory of millennium cities provided a justification for such expansion. These narratives in turn are located in neo-liberal discourses and discourses surrounding globalization, even as there is a debate among scholars of globalization and urbanization on the relative roles of local and global forces in shaping these processes. These ideas were echoed in another presentation by Timothy from the STEPS Center who focused on urban expansion on the other side of Delhi- into Ghaziabad. Discussions focused on how we need to frame counter- narratives and how new and alternative narratives about the pockets of deprivation engendered by these processes can inform urbanization policies that are more equitable.

Workshop on water justice issues in South Asia

Dr. Vishal Narain presented his paper “Whose land? Whose water? Water rights, access and justice in a periurban context” at a workshop on water justice issues in South Asia organized by Wageningen University, the Netherlands and SOPPECOM, Pune in Pune from April 18 to 22, 2011.  Drawing on his research in Budheda and Sadhraana villages, he drew attention to how current patterns of urbanization created patterns of water use and access that were inequitable. Drawing on his work in Sadhraana and Budheda villages, he explained how current urbanization processes take shape by drawing upon water and land resources from the peripheral villages. Most urban expansion takes place by acquiring land from the peripheral villages; since water rights are tied to land rights, acquisition of land implies loss of access to water sources as well. Besides, urban elite are able to move into the peripheral areas and extract water using expensive water extraction technologies not affordable by locals, because of which local residents are unable to access water. Thus, current policies for urban expansion and the current legal and institutional framework for groundwater access together conspire to create a pattern of water use that is inequitable.

Dr. Narain emphasized that since urbanization would be an important trend in South Asia in the years to come, and much of this growth takes place in periurban locations, water justice issues in periurban contexts constitute a ripe area for water justice research in the region. This theme was later indeed taken up – following subsequent discussions in the workshop – as a major theme for water justice research in South Asia – by the workshop organizers. 

Presentation at the National Consultation on Urban Drinking Water and Sanitation for the 12th Plan

The National Consultation on Urban Drinking Water and Sanitation, for the Planning Commission of Government of India, to provide input into the approach paper to the 12th Five Year Plan was held on December 15, 2010 at New Delhi. A submission pertaining to peri-urban areas which have emerged over the last six months during the scoping study phase of the Peri-Urban Water Security Project was made by Dr. Vishal Narain and Ms. Sreoshi Singh having the following points: 

Mainstreaming Periurban Issues in Policy and Planning 

As urbanization proceeds, the distinction between ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ tends to get blurred, and more of the intermediary, periurban zone becomes visible. Periurban issues need better reflection in policy and planning.

1. There is a need for rigorous studies of the carrying capacity of cities. Urban expansion plans need to be based on the carrying capacity of cities. Otherwise, the ecological foot-print of cities continues to spill over the peripheral areas, engulfing the land and water resources of the peripheral villages, depriving locals their access to land, water and other natural resources. This breeds a pattern of urbanization that is inequitable and unsustainable. Urban development policies need to revisit and revise the existing building by-laws in peri-urban areas, which often ignore the negative consequences of urban expansion for the socially and economically marginalized communities who are affected by the development enclaves leading to reduced access to clean and safe water sources as well as other natural resources.

2. Increasingly, we need to devise ways of breaking the rural and urban dichotomy in planning. The focus of urban authorities on urban expansion and rural authorities on rural areas often implies that the relationships across ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ go unaddressed. Even if the peri-urban areas fall within a development zone, the focus tends to be largely urban-centric with little efforts to integrate rural development with the activities undertaken. The 74^th Amendment to the Constitution of India provides for the creation of DPCs (District Planning Committees) to integrate planning at a district level. There is a need for such committees to be set up and similar other institutions as well to better integrate planning across rural and urban areas.

3. There is a need to better recognize flows of water across rural and urban areas. The dichotomy between ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ water supply is superficial and overlooks the flows of water between rural and urban areas – that will become more visible with ongoing processes of urbanization. Often expansion of urban water supply is at the expense of rural water supply, as peri-urban residents give away their land and water to allow canals to pass through to quench urban thirst, or allow water to be transported from their villages to the city in tankers.

4. There is a need for policies to conserve natural resources in peri-urban areas through local community initiatives, instead of giving them away on lease to development enclaves, to serve their water needs for recreational purposes. They are often a source of livelihoods for the landless as well as for the resource poor farmers.

Project presentation at IDRC- SARO

On November 8, 2010, Vishal Narain made a project presentation at the IDRC - SARO in New Delhi. The purpose of the presentation was to share the project conceptualization, objectives and methodology as well as emerging insights from the field. Present at the presentation were Mark Attwood, Programme Leader, Climate Change and Water, Marco Rondon, Senior Programme Specialist, Climate Change and Water, Sara Ahmed and other colleagues from IDRC and Marie-Helene Zerah,  Senior Researcher Fellow, Centre de Sciences Humaines, New Delhi. Surabhi Mehrotra from Jagori shared results from their UPE/CCW project  Women's Rights and Access to Water and Sanitation in Asian Cities, based in two urban resettlement colonies in Delhi.

The presentation by Vishal was followed by a round of discussion on a number of issues such as the project conceptualization, similarities or variations across the research sites, the dynamics of land acqusition in the research location, and how the team would address issues of equity and vulnerability in the research sites , as well as the interaction of stressors from climate change and urbanization. 

Workshop on ‘Towards Sustainable and Climate Resilient Urban Development’

One of our Lead Researchers, Dr Vishal Narain and Senior Research Fellow, Ms Sreoshi Singh, participated in a workshop titled ‘Towards sustainable and climate resilient urban deelopment’  held at the Indian Habitat Centre, organised jointly by IRADe (Integrated Research and Action for Development) and ISET(Institute for Social and Economic Transition).

The workshop showcased the efforts of ACCCRN (Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network), which works in ten cities in 4 countries aiming to make these cities resilient to the impacts of climate change. Surat, Gorakhpur and Indore are the three Indian cities that have undertaken some resilience planning under the auspices of the ACCCRN.

The workshop, itself, was structured around the study and identification of vulnerable groups of people in these cities. SLDS – or shared learning dialogues - were an important aspect of the methodology used in developing climate resilient city plans. The thrust of much of the discussions in the workshop was on mainstreaming climate resilience into City Development Plans and Master Plans. An important issue identified in the deliberations – with particular relevance for our work - is the absence of carrying capacity studies for cities, which need to be the basis of urban planning and expansion. Indeed, periruban issues arise because the carrying capacity of cities is perhaps not systematically studied or factored into the expansion plans of cities. This is a general point relevant across our study locations.

Several other issues came up in the course of the deliberations with some relevance for our work:

1)      To understand vulnerability, one needs to look at the irregular income streams of households and the factors that contribute to the irregularity  

2)      The lack of climate data and information can be an important stumbling block in research

Dr Narain's notes 

All the discussions seemed to stay confined to the sustainability and climate resilience of the cities and those who lived in them. Even when participants spoke about the poor, it was with reference to the poor who lived in the cities, rather than those at the peripheries whose land and water these cities would acquire to grow, or even to become sustainable and climate resilient.

I spoke to other researchers about our project, who found the concept interesting, relevant and topical. Notably I took this opportunity to interact with the ISET Team . I spoke to representatives of TARU, the Action Research Unit, which has an office in Gurgaon.

International conference on ‘Pathways to sustainability: agendas for a new politics of environment, development and social justice’

One of our Lead Researchers, Dr Vishal Narain, participated in an international conference held by STEPS (Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) Centre attached to Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, UK.

In a session titled, ‘Contesting sustainabilities in the periurban interface’, Dr Narain presented a paper on ‘Reframing the narrative: the land and water nexus in the periurban interface’.

Other papers presented in the session were:

1) Re-imagining Desakota through a ‘Toad’s eye science’ approach by Dipak Gyawali, Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology

2) Contesting sustainabilities in the peri-urban interface: the case of water in Ghaziabad by Lyla Mehta and Pritpal Randhawa

3) A periscope on the peri-urban by Adriana Allen, University College London (unable to present)

4) The Ghaziabad case study by Alankar, Sarai, Delhi

Dr Narain’s notes

The discussion focused on South Asian peri-urban issues. It was also a good opportunity to learn about the STEPS center peri-urban project that focused on what happened when villages in Ghaziabad were brought into the fold of municipal corporations. They have conceptualized peri-urban somewhat differently from us, looking at former villages now under the fold of urban authorities, the implications of this process for systems of water access and management, the lack of interest and focus among urban authorities, as well as the resulting marginalization and exclusion faced by peri-urban residents in terms of their access to water.

I used this opportunity to speak about our project with other researchers working on similar issues.   

5th International Conference on Public Policy and Management

One of our Lead Researchers, Dr Vishal Narain participated in the 5^th International Conference on Public Policy and Management organized by the Center for Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He presented a paper titled ‘Urbanisation and the land-water nexus: changing water use and access in periurban Gurgaon, India’ in a session on water sector reforms. The participants varied from academics to researchers to civil servants.

Several issues emerged from the discussion following the presentation, most importantly:

1)      The large-scale acquisition of land as well as loss of water in peri-urban settlements has implications for food security

2)      It is important to explore local low-cost solutions for the use of sewage water in peri-urban agriculture

Dr Narain’s notes

 It was a good opportunity to share results from the field with  a diverse group of actors engaged with water issues from several perspectives. Notably, several alumni of IIM- B’s  public policy programme – most of them civil servants were present on the occasion and it was a good forum to talk about these issues to policy-makers.

 It was also an opportunity to network with other peri-urban researchers  who has earlier worked on periurban agriculture,  land acquisition issues,  health issues in semi-urban areas and  common property resources in periurban settlements.