Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

Women and Water Policy 245
rather than an exception. Cities like Delhi, Bangalore and many others
have already signed contracts with large water companies like the French
Vivendi, Suez and Thames Water for drinking water and sanitation
facilities. Examples outside of India, like the famous Cochabamba case in
Bolivia, have shown the disastrous results that ensue when private interests
take over water provisioning. This has serious implications for a large
section of the poor, who may not be able to afford drinking water in the
new scenario.
The new policy approach perceives the problem as primarily one of
scarcity—of finances and of water resources. What then follows as a logical
outcome is the emergence of policies geared towards managing demand
rather than extending supply. Therefore, a new set of directives falls
into place, which treat water as an economic good that has to recover the
costs incurred (on its development and management) through its use.
This new thinking has its roots in the early 1990s, when the economies of
most countries were stagnant and there was a general reconsideration
of the role of the state in the economy. This was also the period when
most countries were in the process of introducing a structural reform
agenda.
In the water sector, a natural fallout of this thinking was the changing
role of the government from a provider to a promoter and facilitator, the
involvement of the private sector, NGOs and communities as service
providers, and the need for strong institutions (Ballabh 2004; Cleaver
1995; van Koppen 1999; Zwarteveen 1998). Much of this policy discourse
is largely relevant to public-sector irrigation and keeps groundwater
almost entirely out of its purview. This chapter, therefore, largely focuses
on public-sector irrigation and the gender issues within it.
HOW SCARCE IS WATER?
Posing scarcity as the only problem forces water-deprived poor women
and men to not stake any claims on water. The conflict between men of
different groups, which is already severe, deepens further when women
want to stake independent claims over water. Better and more revenue
generating options are preferred, and this is reflected in the present
water policies where industrial water use gains priority over water for