ADVERTISEMENTS:
Accessibility to drinking water has been considered as a fundamental right of citizens in India but as far as the question of availability of water resources is concerned, uniformity does not exist everywhere. People get water as per their strength and influence. Thus, distribution of water resources and supply of water is controlled by economic status. In India too, as in other countries of the world, policy regarding providing fresh water to all and giving maximum priority to rural areas has been adopted.
According to World Water Supply and Sanitation Evaluation Report 2000 A.D., target has been laid down that 50 per cent population facing problem of drinking water supply would get rid of it by 2015 and all persons would get safe drinking water by 2025 A.D. The same was repeated in the World Environment Conference held at Johannesburg in 2002 A.D.
In India, as per the above policy, stress has been laid on drinking water supply to rural areas, and among uses of water, the policy has given first priority to drinking water and has promised to provide fresh drinking water to all citizens of the country.
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If all the water resources of India are estimated, it becomes clear that there exists an estimated annual flow of 1,86,9000 crore cubic metres water in 10,360 rivers and companion rivers having a minimum length of 1.6 km each, but due to geographical circumstances, only 32 per cent (6,90,000 crore cubic) water of these sources is available for use. Secondly, India has in-completing groundwater capacity of 4, 39, 00.9 crore cubic metres. Water supply for domestic consumption in rural areas is generally made from groundwater sources.
In our country, the responsibility for providing drinking water supply in rural areas vests with the government but the central government, through its drinking water supply department, assists in the efforts of the state governments by providing financial assistance, policy guidelines and technical support.
In this process, complete investment is by the government and private participation is almost negligible. The central government had constituted a National Drinking Water Mission in 1986, and in 1991, its name was changed to Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission. This mission was entrusted the responsibility of supplying drinking water in rural areas. After setting up the mission, the country has made a good progress in the field of rural drinking water supply.
However, in spite of continuous efforts to provide drinking water, we have been able to solve the problem in only 86.9 per cent rural settlements in India. About 11.7 per cent settlements are still without safe drinking water supply. Through a recent report it has been made clear that in settlements in rural areas, 15 per cent persons are suffering from problems related to quality of water. Among these problems, the main problem is of fluoride, arsenic, iron element, and pollution due to nitrate and salinity.
In spite of so many efforts for providing drinking water in rural India, water supply system is disturbed on account of the fact that the common man has developed the presumption that water is a social asset and responsibility for providing it vests completely with the government.
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They forget that water is a rare economic resource whose management should be made on a community basis by organizations at local levels. The tendency of rural people for remaining dependent on others is completely responsible for it. Hence, participation of local people should be ensured in rural water supply arrangements and responsibility of maintenance of water sources should also be entrusted to them.
At present, water supply arrangements are operated by Public Health Engineering Department or Water Boards. Hence, there should be participation of people in planning, selection of technique and operation of the system. Participation of local bodies, private sector and non-government organizations (NGOs) should also be there.
According to a present estimate, an investment of about 45,000 crore rupees is required for providing fresh drinking water services at the minimum level to all rural settlements. It will be difficult for the government alone to manage it due to various obstacles hence other concerned beneficiaries and related persons will have to join in for the implementation, operation and maintenance of the project.
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The role of NGOs would be particularly important in it. Presently, this strategy is being treated as an important one in the country. Under this strategy, the participation of the rural community in the rural water supply programme is felt necessary and the following projects have been started under this programme:
Community-based Perspective:
The work of planning and execution of these systems was done by the government department and it was implemented for beneficiaries at the end. These systems were implemented, but they kept the local needs, priorities regarding technology, its feasibility and desire of people to bear the cost of services in mind to a limited extent only. The result was that while preparing the outline and design of water supply schemes, attention towards financial aspects like capital cost and maintenance cost of proposed systems was not paid.
The local community should be included in the following ways for stability of the system:
1. Community initiative and capacity building.
2. Community participation in capital investment.
3. Community ownership and implementation.
4. Operation, maintenance and community management.
5. Reliable water source to fulfill community needs.
Regional studies have indicated that when consumers are participants in the operation and maintenance work of the system, they are prepared to happily contribute money also for it. When they are confident that they would be able to manage the amount needed for operation and maintenance, and reliable arrangement of water supply would be possible, they willingly join the process.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
In the traditional government programme, people neither know about technical aspects nor do they have any choice for selecting an alternative out of the available technologies. By not making local people participants in preparing the outline of the project, mostly sub-standard materials are used, workmanship is also sub-standard, and proper management of maintenance is also not possible.
World Water Supply and Sanitation Evaluation Report, 2000, has identified the following regional obstacles. They are as follows:
1. Financial obstacles
2. Institutional problems
3. Shortage of sufficient human resources
4. Lack of political commitment
5. Lack of community participation
6. Insufficiency of operation and maintenance
7. Lack of education regarding health and sanitation
8. Lack of quality of water
9. Lack of communication and sufficient information.
All these facts apply to India.
Sector Reform Project:
After 73rd Constitution Amendment Act in India, responsibility for rural water supply was entrusted to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) within the areas of their rights. The Government of India is assisting PRIs for empowerment and capacity building, so that they are able to discharge their responsibility satisfactorily.
A better solution would be to empower the Gram Sabha, which is a constitutional body and all adult voters are its members. Gram Sabha should be made responsible regarding participation in implementation and review of projects and drinking water system.
For achievement of desired targets, the Government of India made policy changes in 1999 regarding reforms in the rural drinking water supply sector. Broad changes have been made in this area. Stress has been laid on empowering the local community, planning, selection of alternative techniques, implementation of the techniques, and participation of people in operation and maintenance of supply of water.
Stress is also being laid on increasing awareness of people about their effective participation in programmes regarding water supply. The community should have interest in operation and maintenance of water supply schemes because they are its owners. About 10 per cent of capital investment and total cost of operation and maintenance should be borne by them. Under this new policy, the role of the State is that of an ‘assistant’ rather than a ‘donor’.
The amount under Sector Reform Project is directly released to the District Water and Sanitation Mission, which is a multi-disciplinary organization and has been constituted with the objective of control, supervision and directing the execution of the projects.
In some districts where Panchayati Raj Institutions are sufficiently active and where they have properly stabilized, they are implementing projects instead of District Water and Sanitation Mission. After getting the experience of the first phase, more reforms would be made in it and would be implemented in the remaining districts of the country also accordingly.
Institutional Set-up:
A national level organization which includes experts from different fields acts as the National Project Sanctioning Committee. The secretary of the Water Supply Department is its Chairman. This organization is responsible for complete coordination of the activities of the organization and preparing its directives.
At the state level, the present institutional structure or specially constituted State Water and Sanitation Mission is responsible for preparing policy guidelines and directions, establishing coordination with the central government, other state governments and regional assistants, supervision and evaluation of project implementation work, audit of accounts etc. District Water and Sanitation Mission or Panchayati Raj Institutions themselves implement the projects.
They are also responsible for taking decisions on projects, looking after their planning and management, receiving central funds and auditing them, selecting partners in private sector and NGOs, constituting village water and sanitation committees along with selection of Panchayat and government functionaries, convincing the community, capacity building, implementing of project activities, operation and maintenance of projects after their preparation, etc.
Operational Process:
Under the test project, demand has been generated as a result of conducting awareness campaign and capacity building. Village Water and Sanitation Committees would be constituted in these villages and they would be responsible for preparing the actual plan of drinking water system, implementing it and thereafter for its operation and maintenance.
It would be a sub-committee of the village Panchayat, which is the lowest body in the three-tier system of Panchayati Raj. The functioning of Village Water and Sanitation Committee is performed according to the rules and procedures laid down in the Panchayati Raj Act/Rules.
This body is solely responsible for implementation of projects and is the main base for reform processes. Sufficient representation is given to women and members of weaker sections of society in this committee, and other beneficiaries, non-government organizations and subject matter specialists are also included in this committee.
Scheme Cycle:
A 36-month cycle is prescribed by this project. It includes:
1. Phase of Organizational Forming (3 months).
2. Sanitation and Identification Phase (12 months).
3. Village Water and Sanitation Scheme/System Planning Phase (9 months).
4. Implementation and starting of work (12 months).
During the project period, other activities like testing of quality of water, institutional community arrangement, evaluation of different aspects of project/scheme and other related matters would also be organized.
Conclusion:
As per the existing estimate, an investment of Rs 45,000 crores is required for providing the minimum level of satisfactory services for supply of fresh drinking water in all rural settlements. It would be difficult for the government alone to arrange for it because of different obstacles. Hence, it would be necessary to make other concerned beneficiaries and related persons as partners for implementation of the project, and its operation and maintenance.
The role of non-government organizations would also be important in this respect. At present, this strategy is being given importance in the country and under it, realizing the importance of community participation in rural water supply, the following projects have been started.
After achieving the target to a considerable extent through 100 per cent government investment, now this scheme has been formulated according to which demand based and community oriented programmes would be executed very early. This change would depend on the time spent on success of test projects implemented under the Sector Reform Programme.
Through these projects such models would be prepared which could be replicated. Arrangements are being made so that through sector reform project experiments, the standard of living of common people specially of rural areas, is improved to a large extent.
Villagers would be thereby encouraged to take over responsibility of other community programmes of rural development also on their shoulders. It is hoped that a revolutionary change would come in all development-oriented activities on a long term and permanent basis.
After development of a model in a particular area through test projects, many projects similar to them would be prepared in the country. Not only would the government make constructive contribution in such projects, but common people, representatives of political parties, NGOs, public communication media and private sector would also play an important role. But test projects of sector reform are quite complicated. Their scope is also vast. Implementation of 63 test projects itself is a challenging task.
Swajaldhara Scheme:
The central government had started this scheme on 25 December 2002, with the objective of ensuring cent-per-cent coverage of water supply in rural areas of the country. This is a demand based drinking water supply scheme which includes development of pipelines at suitable places as per requirement of the people, and renovation of traditional water conservation methods like baoris, tanks, ponds, lakes etc. and such other sources, so as to increase availability of water.
The central government would implement this scheme in the whole of the country. In the beginning, this scheme was implemented in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan. In all, 882 projects of these states had been sanctioned.
Since, this project is need-based and to be implemented through community participation, the beneficiary group of the water source has to form a committee and pass a resolution through the village Panchayat with the consent of the people of the village. It is essential 10 register it under Societies Registration Act, 1860. It would be the responsibility of the Committee to establish the water source and operate and maintain it.
In all, 10 per cent of the total investment of the project is to be borne by the people of the village or the panchayat, whereas 90 per cent is borne by the government. In case there are 50 per cent or more Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe population in any village as per 2001 census, the people’s contribution would be only 5 per cent.
The Government of India has adopted this strategy of rural drinking water supply by giving it an institutional shape so as to ensure community participation.
The Swajaldhara scheme is implemented on the basis of three following important principles:
First:
To ensure community participation of rural people through preparing an outline relating to drinking water facilities, financial control and capacity to take management decisions.
Second:
Role of the government as service facilitator rather than as service provider.
Third:
Participation by sharing cost in cash or partly in cash and partly in kind and taking over complete responsibility of operation and maintenance by beneficiaries.
Objectives of the Scheme:
This scheme has the following objectives:
1. To establish a suitable drinking water source for sufficient water in all rural habitations as per demand of local residents of rural areas.
2. To arrange safe drinking water for all rural people as per their requirement.
3. To ensure installation of hand pumps, and look after their repair and maintenance with the coordination of villagers.
4. To create health awareness about diseases caused by unsafe water by providing safe drinking water, thereby reducing water borne diseases.
5. To ensure drinking water supply in schools, villages and habitations suffering from scarcity of drinking water.
6. To give importance to renovation of traditional water sources.
7. To save time consumed by rural women in fetching water from far off places and convincing them for making better use of such saved time.