[Dec 2007, Volume 4 Quarterly Issue] Pdf File size - The IIPM Think ...

MORE MARKETS, LESS GOVERNMENT
ly to skew further the economics of agriculture
that is already leading to large
scale suicides of farmers. Moreover, it is
likely to have a casacading effect on prices
of essentials like foodgrains.
In Indore, an Asian Development
Bank (ADB) loan for Urban Water Supply
has put a condition that all public
standposts must be phased out and the
city Municipal Corporation has taken an
in-principle decision that this should be
done unless the person (who happens to
have a standpost in front of the house)
agrees to pay the bills. The logic is that
public stand posts are a source of leakage
and do not yield revenue. Removing
standposts certainly fits into the process
of making the system more market oriented
– no supply without payment – but
impacts the poor very hard.
Less Market, More Accountable
Government
It is difficult to escape the conclusion
that the marketisation of the system can
only be at the cost of social responsibility.
‘More Market’ in the water sector is
likely to hit hard the most vulnerable sections
of the society, and those living on
the margins are likely to be pushed out
even from there. It is also likely to have a
deleterious impact on livelihoods of
farmers and a cascading effect on millions
of other poor as food prices too
could be affected. Further, the market
cannot handle the many critically important
externalities – social, ecological,
cultural and religious- associated with
water. Commodification and marketisation
of water will also create the dangers
of monopolistic control on this vital resource.
Thus, the advocacy of ‘More
Market’ in the water sector is a sure recipe
for disaster. However, this does in any
way mean, automatically, that business as
usual is fine or that more ‘governmentas-usual’
is the answer. For there is no
denying that the myriad problems of the
water sector – lack of access, inequity,
deteriorating quality, destruction of environment,
displacement due to dams
etc. – are in many ways due to the gross
inefficiency, corruption and mismanagement
by the public agencies handling
water resources. However, water, with its
vital necessity for our very daily survival
as well as its central role in livelihood,
economy, society and culture has to be
under public control. But this public control
has to be really ‘public’ –that is, by
the community at large and not just by
the Government or bureaucratic agencies.
What we need is an accountable,
responsible, transparent and participatory
system of managing water –
Less Markets, More Accountable
Public Systems.
Endnotes
1
D’souza 2006 Page 128-129
2
World Bank 1999a Page ix
3
ibid
4
World Bank 1999b to 1999f
5
World Bank 1999a
6
Since water is primarily a state subject,
the reforms have to take place at the
state level.
7
World Bank 2004
8
World Bank 1999b Page 133-134
9
Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory
Authority Act (MWRRA)
2005, Clause 11 (i)
10
World Bank 1999c Page 29
11
World Bank 1999d Page 108
l2
For more information, see for example
Water: Private, Limited Issues in Privatisation,
Corporatisation and Commercialisation
of Water Sector in India,
Manthan Adhyayan Kendra 2006,
available at www.manthan-india.org
References
• D’souza Rohan (2006): ‘Drowned and
Dammed – Colonial Capitalism and
flood control in Eastern India’, Oxford
University Press, New Delhi.
• Dwivedi Gaurav, Rehmat and Shripad
Dharmadhikary (2007): ‘Water: Private,
Limited’, Manthan Adhyayan
Kendra, Badwani, Madhya Pradesh.
• World Bank (1999a): ‘Initiating and
Sustaining Water Sector Reforms: A
Synthesis’, World Bank, Washington
D.C. and Allied Publishers Limited,
Mumbai.
• World Bank (1999b): ‘Inter-Sectoral
Water Allocation, Planning and Management’,
World Bank, Washington
D.C. and Allied Publishers Limited,
Mumbai.
• World Bank (1999c): ‘Groundwater
Regulation and Management’, World
Bank, Washington D.C. and Allied
Publishers Limited, Mumbai.
• World Bank (1999d): ‘The Irrigation
Sector’, World Bank, Washington D.
C. and Allied Publishers Limited,
Mumbai.
• World Bank (1999e): ‘Rural Water
Supply and Sanitation’, World Bank,
Washington D.C. and Allied Publishers
Limited, Mumbai.
• World Bank (1999f): ‘Urban Water
Supply and Sanitation’, World Bank,
Washington D.C. and Allied Publishers
Limited, Mumbai.
• World Bank (2004): ‘Water Resources
Sector Strategy’, World Bank, Washington
D.C.
THE INDIA ECONOMY REVIEW
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