Reconceptualisation of Everyday Practices in the wider social-ecological system of the peri-urban interface

Reconceptualisation of Everyday Practices

in the wider social-ecological system of the

peri-urban interface: A case of Gurgaon

Madhulikaa Abhineshababu Sridevi

FLXP5

Reconceptualisation of Everyday Practices in the wider social-ecological

system of the peri-urban interface: A case of Gurgaon

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the MSc Building and

Urban Design in Development

Author: Madhulikaa Abhineshababu Sridevi

Candidate number: FLXP5

The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London

Word count: 10,850

Submission date: 15th September 2020

Abstract

This dissertation aims to investigate different connotations of everyday practices for

the users as wells as the environment in the peri-urban interface by re-evaluating

them through the combined frameworks of cultural ecology, feminist political ecology

and intersectionality embedded within the social-ecological systems framework.

Through the analysis of the everyday practices of wastewater utilisation for agriculture

in the case study of Budhera and Badsa – two villages in the PUI of Gurgaon – it is

argued that situating the everyday practices in the larger social-ecological system

has enabled the understanding of the embedded implications of the same. It is found

that though the everyday practices facilitate wastewater use, agricultural wages and

gendered roles seen in the case of freshwater agriculture are reproduced in wastewater

agriculture as well. While the social-ecological systems framework was useful

in identifying variables important to the wastewater utilisation, cultural ecology in

tandem with feminist political ecology and intersectionality enable the unpacking of

multiple layers of power hierarchy engrained in the social-ecological system. Hence,

the analysis of everyday practice needs to go beyond resource access in this case to

assess other factors like working condition of farmers, gendered roles, impact on the

ecology.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to DPU, Bartlett, UCL for giving me this wonderful opportunity of pursuing

my masters degree in Building and Urban Design Development. I am deeply

indebted to my dissertation supervisor Prof. Adriana Allen for her constant support,

encouragement and timely guidance. Her valuable feedback helped shape my thought

processes and was crucial in bringing the dissertation to its current form.

Thank you, BUDD staff -Dr.Catalina Ortiz, Dr.Giovanna Astolfo, Prof. Camilo Boano,

Dr.Giorgio Talocci and GTAs Ms.Azadeh Mashayeki and Ms.El Anoud Majali -and my

classmates for making my time, albeit a short one, at the BUDD studio an enriching

and unforgettable one. Thank you once again for making the in-person to online class

transition seamless and enjoyable. I am happy that we were able to triumph over

COVID-19 in this regard and did not let it rob us of a fruitful learning experience!

I am indebted to research scholars Dr. Sumit Vij, Mr. Adithya Singh and Dr. Vishal

Narain for taking time to answer my questions regarding the gender-caste-environment

nexus in the chosen case study area.

I would not be the person I am today, if not for the values instilled in me by my

schoolteachers. I take this opportunity to thank them profusely! I would like to express

my gratitude to my undergraduate college and professors. I would not have been able

to embark on this journey of discovering and falling in love with urbanism without

the exposure and guidance provided by my undergraduate college and my wonderful

professors- thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I have always considered myself to be extremely lucky to be a part of a very loving,

supportive and amazing family. I am grateful to my parents, grandparents, cousins and

extended family- a special shoutout to my family in the UK - for showering unconditional

love and support at all times! Heartfelt thanks is due to all my friends, from

school, architecture college and the new friends I made in London for extending their

support whenever I needed it.

Above all, I thank God for the strength to pursue this dissertation.

Contents

List of figures, maps and Abbreviations

1. Introduction ......................................................... 6

1.1 PUI and the “everyday practices” ........................ 6

11.2 Dissertation structure, Methodology and

Limitations ......................................................... 7

1.3 Brief Outline of the case study ............................ 7

2. Theoretical and Analytical framework .....................9

2.1 Social-Ecological Systems and the PUI ...............9

2.2 The idea of ‘culture’ in CE ............................... 11

2.3 The convergence of CE and FPE - a desideratum ..12

3. Uncertainity of water resources in the PUI of

Gurgaon - A contextual analysis ...........................15

4. Everyday practices - Governance systems of

wastewater ................................................................21

4.1 Budhera ............................................................21

4.2 Badsa ...............................................................24

4.3 Inferences from the interactions(I) and

outcomes(O) in the wastewater SES -

discussion: ........................................................26

5. Conclusionary Remarks ......................................29

5.1 Reflections on future research scope .................30

References ..............................................................31

Appendix 1 - Interviews ..........................................35

Appendix 2 - The privatisation of Gurgaon ................40

Appendix 3 - Table showing the factors hypothesized

to affect irrigation system management ...................42

List of Figures

Fig 1: Conceptual model of a SES .............................10

Fig. 2: Graphic representing the overall changes in

the agricultural SES of Gurgaon ...............................16

Fig. 3: Graphic representing the SES of Gurgaon and

the relationships between them ................................18

Fig 4: A wastewater johad in Badsa ...........................24

Fig 5: Wastewater runnel in Badsa ...........................25

List of Maps

Map 1: Location of Budhera and Badsa .........................8

Map 2: Map showing the overall layout of villages,

canals, STPs and WTPs in the PUI of Gurgaon ..............17

Map 3: Map showing the overall layout of villages,

canals, STPs and WTPs in the PUI of Gurgaon ..............22

Map 4: Map showing the layout of different households

in Budhera ..................................................................23

Abbreviations

CE – Cultural Ecology

ECO – Related Ecosystem

FPE – Feminist Political Ecology

GS – Governance systems

GJC – Gurgaon-Jhajjar Canal

GWS – Gurgaon Freshwater Supply

HUDA – Haryana Urban Development Authority

I – Interactions

IMT – Industrial Model Township

INR – Indian Rupee

Km – Kilometer

NCR – National Capital Region

O – Outcomes

PE – Political Ecology

PHED – Public Health and Engineering Department

PUI – Peri-Urban Interface

RS – Resource system

RU – Resource Unit

S – Social-economic-political setting

SES – Social-Ecological System

SESF - Social-Ecological System Framework

STP – Sewage Treatment Plant

U – Users

WTP – Water Treatment Plant

1. Introduction

1.1 PUI and the “everyday practices”:

As the line between urban and rural spaces blurs and their functions are increasingly interacting

with each other, uncertainty in the peri-urban interface(PUI) has become a common occurrence

among the peri-urban poor (Allen et al., 2016) and manifests itself in various sectors, most

common being a scenario of “governance vacuum”, leading to emergence of adaptive mechanisms

taken up by the peri-urban poor to sustain themselves. “Needs-based” practices often

imply individual or collective action initiated by the users of the resource towards procuring and

using it – arising from a lack of governmental policies and/or infrastructure to satisfy their basic

requirements and as a result, everyday practices have become the norm in many cases (Allen et

al., 2016). At the same time, Singh and Narain (2020) state that everyday practices can act as

mechanisms of governance in the PUI that enable resource utilisation outside the statutory realm

and stress on the need to recognise these practices before claiming a situation of governance

vacuum.

At this point it becomes critical to go beyond the façade of effectiveness and investigate these

everyday practices formulated by the peri-urban community members to analyse the possibility

of (re)production of injustices towards actors and the environment and (re)assess the roles of the

stakeholders. Jooshi and Moore (2004) state that questioning of the effectiveness and acceptability

of everyday practices should be encouraged in order to gain a holistic understanding of

their working. Echoing this Faldi et al., (2019) suggest that everyday practices shouldn’t blindly

be hailed as the apt solution that will overcome all state and market failures. The probability of

management conflicts, exclusion and discrimination of certain groups in the process of everyday

practice must be acknowledged and examined. In certain cases, these modes of mutual helping

can reshape power asymmetries (Joshi and Moore, 2004; Mitlin, 2008; Narain, 2017) and

therefore necessitates the (re)examination of the larger hydro-socio political dynamics. Since

everyday practices are rooted in the livelihoods and quotidian routine of its users, social and

cultural factors can be key in understanding the drivers behind them. Through their research,

6

Faldi et al., (2019) conclude that an all-encompassing detailed analytical framework accentuates

interlaced elements of the everyday practice that may be unnoticed when observing the practice

from a specific perspective. With due acknowledgement to previous research that is successful

in establishing the undeniable importance of the emerging everyday practices in the PUI (see

Allen et al., 2016; Vij et al., 2019; Narain, 2015; Mukherjee, 2020; Button, 2016; Pilo’, 2016),

this dissertation aims to reconceptualise everyday practices in the PUI by placing it in a

wider, comprehensive analytical framework to understand its holistic implications on

stakeholders as well as the larger SES it is practiced in. Therefore, the possibility of multiple

meanings of everyday practices apart from its function as a governance system or satisfying

the function/requirement they have been formulated for will be explored. This understanding will

be crucial to determine the sustainability of the SES itself and also the effectiveness of any future

policy or development program formulations by government or international bodies around the

everyday practice.

This dissertation’s focus pivots around the investigation of the above statement by using instances

of everyday practices of wastewater resource utilisation by farmers in the PUI of Gurgaon (now

known as Gurugram), India through the chosen frameworks: cultural ecology(CE) in tandem with

a feminist political ecology(FPE) and intersectionality framework embedded in the social-ecological

systems framework(SESF) – as elaborated in chapter 2. In essence, these modes of

cooperation formulated by the peri-urban farmers in the form of everyday practices is an attempt

to manage the resource efficiently due to the deteriorating choice and changing flows of water

sources in the PUI. While Chapter 3 outlines and dissects the wider themes in the SES and identifies

suitable variables from the SESF by employing the chosen analytical framework, Chapter

4 applies these variables in the critical analysis of the everyday practices in the PUI of Gurgaon.

Chapter 5 will put-forth the concluding remarks and outline further research scope.

1.2 Dissertation Methodology and Limitations:

This analysis will be centred upon a case study approach using existing research studies and

secondary data available to analyse the research focus through the framework outlined in Chapter

2. Interviews were also conducted over a phone call with three researchers and faculty, Dr. Sumit

Vij, Mr. Aditya K. Singh and Dr. Vishal Narain (see Annexure 1), who have extensively worked

on water governance, climate change impacts and gender relations amongst many others in

the PUI of Gurgaon, to better understand the nuances of on-ground realities. However , relying

majorly on secondary data and phone interviews to understand the power asymmetries and

gender-caste-environment nexus means to acknowledge that the data could be influenced by the

positionality of the researcher (Castán Broto and Neves Alves, 2018). Though interviews were

conducted in the hope of alleviating such presumptions, it cannot be entirely avoided. Thus, it is

necessary to be reflective while analysing the data. The lack of primary data due to fieldwork limits

exploration of latent dynamics in wastewater resource appropriation as argued by May (2015).

1.3 Brief outline of the case study:

The PUI of Gurgaon located in the Indian state of Haryana, is an intriguing case study where the

relatively recent use of wastewater in agriculture facilitated by different adaptation strategies of

the peri-urban farmers in the form of everyday practices, has resulted from uncertainty of the

7

Jhajjir

Haryana

New Delhi

Gurgaon

Faridabad

Haryana

Map 1: Location of

Budhera and Badsa

Source: Author’s own

Rewari

Haryana

Mewat

Haryana

India

Haryana

Delhi-Haryana state boundary

Gurgaon District

Gurgaon Block

Haryana

Budhera

Badsa

Gurgaon city

availability of water resources for irrigation and agriculture. Mutual cooperation methods acting

as potential forms of governance are able to permit the use of wastewater and help facilitate the

livelihoods of peri-urban farmers. Budhera and Badsa (see Map 1), two peri-urban villages,

are chosen since wastewater agriculture is largely prevalent here and facilitated by everyday

practices. Though Badsa does not technically lie within the Gurgaon district, it has been largely

affected by water infrastructure construction meant to satisfy the needs of the residents of Gurgaon

as elaborated in chapter 3. The aim to is not view both villages in a comparative fashion

for their cases to contribute to the research focus as a whole. Though the use of wastewater is

widespread, the peri-urban farmers of Gurgaon don’t consume the produce themselves (Narin,

2017; Vij et al., 2019). The dynamics of wastewater users and their practices when placed in

the larger SES, seem to have layered implications on the actors as well as the environment as

investigated in Chapters 3 and 4.

8

2. Theoretical and Analytical framework

This chapter outlines the concept of social-ecological systems framework(SESF) and aims to

add layers of cultural ecology(CE) and feminist political ecology(FPE) in order to make the

SESF interdisciplinary and enable a comprehensive, critical analysis. The SESF is used as a

guideline to identity variables that will be instrumental to re-problematise everyday practices of

wastewater use in the PUI of Gurgaon. Chapter 2 is structured to start with an introduction to the

SES and re-examines the research questions to find suitable variables to analyse the case study.

This chapter aims to define the term ‘culture’ in CE and argue that its intersection with FPE and

intersectionality will provide for a transdisciplinary and comprehensive analysis of SES in the

PUI. This dissertation aims to add to the diversity of existing interdisciplinary SESF literature by

using the CE framework along with FPE and intersectionality analytical structure in the peri-urban

context.

2.1 Social-Ecological Systems and the PUI:

A social-ecological system(SES) is one where the ecological system is integrated with the social

system(s) and defined by their relationship with each other (see Figure 2) (Berkes, 2017; Anderies

et al., 2004).The SESF developed by Ostrom (2007, 2009) provides a multi-disciplinary

platform to investigate the interactions between the social landscape and the bio-physical variables

to navigate relationships between people and resources in the SES. Structed using first-tier

and second-tier variables, the SESF provides scope for defining third-tier variables specific to

the case at hand, thereby situating the framework into the context of the case study. The process

of situating will rule out the probability of arriving at a universal solution while conceding that

issues in SES rarely arise due to a single cause (Ostrom, 2007). The analysis of the relationships

at various spatial and temporal levels enables comprehension of the whole complex, adaptive

system through dissection of multiple variables at the broader as well as the specific levels (Ostrom,

2009). The SESF therefore encompasses the actors-flows-areas relationship (see Faldi et

al., 2019) and particular facets relevant to the case study can be defined as third-tier

9

External forces on

social actors

External forces

on resource &

infrastructure

A

Resource

Between public infrastructure

and resource dynamics

Between resource and

resource users


and resource

B

Resource

Users

Between resource

users

and public

infrastructure

D

Public

Infrastructure

Between users and

public infrastructure

providers


providers and public infrastructure

C

Public

Infrastructure

Providers

External

forces

on

social

actors

Fig 1: Conceptual model

of a SES

Source: (Anderies, Janssen and

Ostrom, 2004)

External forces

on resource &

infrastructure

variables under the second-tier variables. Hileman et al. (2016), observe that while the SESF

does not present a unique set of variables to study SESs, it provides a synthesised and finegrained

approach that allow “for many different combinations of variables and pathways to conflict.”

Although many frameworks explore the relationships within the SESs, Partelow (2018) and

Binder et al. (2013), argue that the SESF is the most comprehensive one and handles social and

ecological systems in equal profundity. The SESF is used as a tool in this dissertation to lay out

the probable nodes of interactions to make the analysis of the wastewater SES a comprehensive

and through one, moving beyond initial SESF works highlighting just “resourse users, incongruence

between individual and collective rationality and the problem of maintaining cooperation”

and towards an assessment of interactions that affect long-term robustness (Sandler, 1992;

Udehn, 1993; Ostrom et al., 1994 in: Anderies et al., 2004).Hoque, Quinn and Sallu (2017)

enunciate that an interdisciplinary outlook in SESF can prove useful to study the complexities

of the human-environment interactions and processes and help in the synthesis of a grounded

analysis which can be useful to point out power hierarchies that may not necessarily “fit within

the boxes and arrows of the system model”. However, they also caution against the use of “social

theories as addendums to ecological frameworks” as it can be ineffective and unproductive.

At this point dissecting the research questions(see chapter 1) will enable the identification of

important variables to be considered while assessing impacts of wastewater systems on the

relationships prevalent in the SES. To be able to examine the politics of collective action that

constitutes everyday practices, it is essential to first identify the systems and the stakeholders involved

in the process and the multiple identities that may be associated with them(gender, caste,

political position) which may affect the process of the usage of wastewater. A combined lens of

CE, FPE and intersectionality(in section 2.3) will be useful to further identify and problematise

this. Drawing on the SESF’s terminology proposed by Ostrom (2007, 2009), the broad SES in

consideration in terms of first-tier variables would translate to: wastewater irrigation systems as

the resource system(RS) with wastewater being the mobile resource unit(RU). Additionally, the

farmers would be the broad category under which the users(U) can be defined who use the RU to

achieve the desired outcome(O) through agriculture. The interactions(I) that take place between

the different users/user-groups to achieve the desired outcomes(O) are interceded by everyday

practices of the users which can be considered as governance systems(GS) in Ostrom’s(2007)

1 Meinzen-Dick et al.(2002)

define collective action as

one that can “take place

through an organisation,

around informal social

groups or as a result of

spontaneous response to

critical events.”

10

SESF terminology.

2

Social and political

organisations, technology

and storage techniques,

settlement models are

all constituent of cultural

mechanism (Sutton and

Anderson, 2009)

The next step would be to place these actors in the wider SES and situate their practices into the

larger socio-economic and political setting(S) – the PUI of Gurgaon, to be able to go beyond

implications of relationships between users and resource alone. Being the place where urban

and rural functions interact and coexist, the PUI is home to “unique socio-ecological transitional

spaces” (Nagendra and Ostrom, 2014). Fragmentation is widely prevalent in the PUI; manifestation

of this phenomenon can be seen in social, economic, governance and even transportation

sectors (see Cowan, 2015; Narain, 2017 for fragmentation in the PUI of Gurgaon). Hence, uncertainty

is a common theme in the PUI’s resources, evolving land use patterns and institutional

framework which can be a stimulus to inspire or threaten the environment and/or adaptability

of cultural mechanisms(as mentioned in the following section). In such an unpredictable scenario,

ecological problems are exacerbated due to legal pluralism and incompetent planning/

governance structure(s). Access to resources, peri-urban commons, framing practices, farmers’

livelihoods are heavily compromised due to rapid urbanisation and power hierarchy trajectories.

In certain cases, as inferred by Ostrom (2009) from the analysis of case studies presented by

Wilson and Thompson (1993) and Mwangi (2007) addressing pastoral systems in Mexico and

Africa respectively, organisation of stakeholders at larger scales helped increase overall predictability

in prevailing scenario of property rights uncertainty at small/individual levels. As a part of

this complex web, peri-urban agriculture is trying to stay afloat while avoiding predatory urbanisation

trajectories. This is where the SESF proves useful in decoding complex relationships and

consequently benefiting from the CE framework by assessing the inherent cultural mechanisms.

Concurrently while creating a situation of ambiguity, the PUI’s continuous state of transition

provides opportunities for better institutional governance. Nagendra and Ostrom (2014) in their

analysis of urban lakes in Bangalore, argue that the state of partial development of the PUI provides

an opportunity to enhance participation of the local stakeholders in matters of governance

and conservation that ultimately contribute to an environmentally just space. Chapter 3 details

out the wider SES in the villages of Budhera and Badsa and simultaneously defines the second

and third-tier variables in the SESF determined as important to the dissertation in relation to the

research questions and analysis of existing applications of SESF in the case of water, irrigation

systems and agriculture.

2.2 The idea of ‘culture’ in CE:

The idea of ‘culture ecology’ (CE) in social science has been explored broadly within the fields

of anthropology and geography to critically examine the complex relationships between people,

culture, society and their environment as a tool to comprehend environmental problems;

thereby resulting in multiple connotations in response to changing “critical concerns” in a SES

(Mathewson, 2006; Sutton and Anderson, 2009). The nature-culture core deals with a plethora

of concerns, out of which the narrative of everyday practices and natural resource management

will be the broad focus of this dissertation. Though the idea of culture can be both empirical

and non-empirical, the materiality of culture will be the fulcrum of this paper. Therefore ‘cultural

practices’ will be explored as opposed to cultural beliefs in its cognitive form. The credibility of

culture (in any form – pre/post manifestation as knowledge) is not in question here; rather culture

as a mechanism is assessed in association with FPE and intersectionality whose combined

benefits are elaborated in the next section.

11

Assessing the relationship between culture and reality is crucial as the former is said to “construct

or model” the latter. Culture helps us decode the motive behind the everyday environmental

practices – which could vary from economic, religious and societal implications – and stray

away from “mechanistic explanations” that fail to accommodate the human factor (Ellen 1982

pp.233-4 in: Milton, 1996). Social capital is found to be a strong motivator in natural resource

management – especially in the case of commons – where social norms form the basis for collective/individual

action constituting everyday practices. Social norms can be a result of cultural

or social standing, relationship between actors or “a consideration within a social group” that

in turn mobilises everyday practices. At times social capital is found to possess transformative

capacity that enables efficient management of resources but not always without implications of

power asymmetries (Narain et al., 2019). Milton (1996) further states that the motive behind

the everyday practices, is a blend of perceptions and interpretation of culture within the diverse

environments of the SES it is exercised in. Therefore, it is difficult to term this motive as being

entirely ‘good’ or ‘bad’. In turn, culture situates humans in the ‘real’ world; positioning itself as

a salient feature of the human-ecology connections in the SES. For this practice of situating to

be successful, it is important to acknowledge culture not in its static, universalistic meaning

but rather in the idea of cultural perspectives that portray multiple outlooks which have been

acknowledged to have adaptability mechanisms (Milton, 1996). Thus, it’s possible to look past

the myth that culture has to be centuries old and helps in the analyses of emerging practices as

well. Adaptive mechanisms of culture can be a result of either empirical (e.g. physical modification)

or non-empirical (e.g. social/religious beliefs/faiths) procedures (Sutton and Anderson,

2009) or an amalgamation of the two. However, culture must be not be romanticised since it may

be maladaptive towards the habitat in certain instances, especially when there are a lot of unknowns.

Adaptive mechanisms of culture can result in refined organisation of economic, social

and political systems or technology. Husted’s (2005) study on the impact of cultural variables

on environmental sustainability stated that “sensitivity towards cultural variables will allow for

more finely tuned economic, business and educational policies instead of the typical ‘onesize-fits-all’

approach.” The SESF variables outlined in section 2.1 and in Chapter 3 can take

advantage of the concept of culture outlined in this section to make the analysis multi-layered.

But to understand the driving forces behind them, political ecology is necessary as elaborated

in the following section.

2.3 The convergence of CE and FPE – a desideratum

“…cultural ecology focused on how landscapes changed, not why.” (Graddy, 2013)

Independently, the CE framework is excellent to measure the operation of the social structure

of systems – as elucidated in the previous section – but to delve into the depths of the ‘whys’

of functioning, a PE lens is required. Broadly, the PE framework uses the lenses of politics and

ecology to go beyond the dichotomy of nature and society in order to decode the complex, dynamic

process of urbanisation (Heynen, et al., 2006). PE brings to the forefront power dynamics

ingrained in the environment to present a nuanced understanding of “how perceptions and constructions

of nature and politics actively shape material reality” (Goldman and Schurman, 2000).

The nexus of PE and CE help contextualising community-level practises in the larger political

and economic milieu in the SES in a manner that is both intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary

(Zimmerer, 2007); diversifying the early CE that was apolitical by definition (Mukherjee, 2020).

The necessity of this nexus has been prompted by the increasingly urgent need to situate and

12

understand problems broadly categorised as ‘environmental’ (Zimmerer, 2007). Vij et al., (2018)

articulate that utilising the PE framework in cooperation studies allows for its profound comprehension

in the PUI context and can be useful to explore “the frontiers for the co-existence of

urban, peri-urban and rural social groups.”

However, in this dissertation, FPE in association with an intersectionality lens as opposed to

PE is considered a better fit. FPE is particularly attentive to the functioning of gendered roles

in power relations to assess impact of cultural mechanisms on daily socio-ecological habits at

various levels. In other words, FPE adds a gender dimension to the PE framework and hence is an

apt fit to analyse socio-cultural implications of stakeholder roles in everyday practices (Elmhirst,

R., 2011). FPE also helps provide a clearer understanding of the identities impacted by cultural

perspectives and/or identities associated with implementation of certain practices. The acknowledgment

of culture’s adaptive nature through the CE lens – as explained in section 2.2 – can help

go beyond the notion of gendered labour and unequal access to resources as merely “cultural

givens” to “socially produced relations that are shaped in the domain of nature through cultural

praxis, discourses and politics in locally distinct ways” (Gururani, 2002).

A deeper scale of analysis at the community and household level is facilitated by the FPE framework

thereby highlighting deeper roots of cultural mechanisms. For example: Truelove (2011)

incorporated a multiscalar approach by assessing the relationship between social identities and

the city through her FPE analysis of water injustices in the PUI of Delhi. Papers have used the

FPE lens to analyse role of women in urban agrarian systems. While Hovorka (2006) highlights

renegotiation of women’s marginalised positionality in Botswana due to their changing roles in

urban agriculture; Kasanga et al., (2019) illustrate the impact of mechanisation on culturally differentiated

gendered labour distribution in Northern Ghana where mechanical innovations mostly

cater towards men’s roles on the agriculture field. Disruption of this equation was found difficult

due to prevalence of “strict culturally constructed gendered norms” (Kasanga et al., 2019). It is

necessary to take into consideration that while the former example is situated in an urban setting,

the latter is in a rural setting which has completely different implications in terms of overall socio-economic

and political setting(S) from the PUI of Gurgaon.

In recent years, FPE has expanded to include intersectionality into its framework to be able to explore

power asymmetries beyond the binary gender definitions within complex social structures

to understand multiple socio-environmental subjectivities at the intersection of social labels like

class, caste, race and others imbedded in the cultural landscape (Loftus, 2019; Sundberg, 2017)

in the changing urban/peri-urban contexts. In a similar vein, Thara (2016) superimposes roles

of caste, class, race and legal status on fisherwomen in Udupi, India to understand the implication

of these multiple identities when it comes to mobilisation for resources through various

strategies and political resources and ultimately the sustenance of their livelihoods. Nightingale

(2011) explores the gender-environment nexus to highlight the complexity of gender-based roles

when superimposed with caste hierarchies in both materialistic and symbolic ways in the prevailing

unique ecological conditions in Nepal’s community forestry and hence the gender-caste

dynamism cannot be understood in isolation. Castán Broto and Neves Alves (2018) explore

the application of the intersectionality lens to everyday practices to state that this combination

helps researchers remain “attentive to production of new and unexpected forms of exclusion in a

dynamic context.” They also emphasise on the importance of considering the “ultimate material

results” of the everyday practices to be able to gain a realistic and holistic understanding of the

associated dynamics of recognition, inclusion, participation. An intersectionality lens further

13

stresses on the need to place everyday practices under continuous critical (re)examination owing

to constant changing or uncertain contexts like the PUI as outlined in section 2.1.

In conclusion of chapter 2: The amalgamation of the CE, FPE and intersectionality framework

within the SESF will enable the unpacking of multiple socio-cultural identities and how they are

comprised within everyday practices of farmers in wastewater irrigation and agriculture in the

PUI of Gurgaon. While the CE framework emphasises on the concept of adaptability of culture

through cultural mechanism within the SES, the possibility of a multiscalar and/or intersectionality

lens within the FPE framework allows for a layered interpretation of cultural perspectives in

conjunction with the environment. This in turn is useful to re-problematise everyday practices

and situate them within the larger SES.

14

3. Uncertainty of water resources in the PUI of Gurgaon – A contextual analysis of

the SES:

This chapter navigates the contextual analysis of the larger socio-economic and political setting(S)

of the PUI of Gurgaon that encompasses the everyday practices of wastewater utilisation

in order to determine suitable second-tier and third-tier variables from the SESF. The variables

from Meinzen-Dick’s (2007) list of factors hypothesized to affect irrigation management are

chosen after a review of relevant SESF literature (Annexure 3). The overall outcomes(O) of the

wastewater SES are also outlined here with specificities of each village mentioned in Chapter 4.

The frameworks of CE, FPE and intersectionality are used simultaneously throughout within the

SESF framework to enable a layered analysis. Figure 2 sums up the changes the SES of agriculture

has been subjected to and the Figure 3 portrays the SESF variables considered in relation to

the case study and the relationships among them.

3

Gurgaon was earlier a part

of the British state of Punjab

which was later partitioned

into Punjab and Haryana in

1966.

4

The state of Haryana has

a traditional form of water

storage called johads which

doubles up as a means of

groundwater recharge.

The PUI of Gurgaon has undergone rapid transition in the past few decades due to unprecedented

rate of urbanisation propelled by neo-liberal policies and privatisation strategies (see

Gururani, 2013; Bhattacharya and Sanyal, 2011; Goldstein, 2016). The social composition of

the Gurgaon district is diverse consisting of the caste groups of Pundits, Jats, Yadavs, Gujjars,

Balmiks and Harijans/scheduled castes in the decreasing social hierarchy. The men belonging to

caste-groups of Jats and Yadavs were major agricultural landowners while Gujjars and Balmiks

were majorly engaged in livestock rearing though some men from this caste owned smaller land

holdings than Jats and Yadavs (Narain et al., 2019; Gururani, 2019). Urbanisation of Gurgaon

and setting up the municipality of Gurgaon in 2008 has caused multitudinous impacts on water

resource and the agricultural system in both qualitative and quantitative ways, consequently

affecting the agriculture system as illustrated below.

Historically during the colonial period, between 1898-1948, the political ecology of eastern

British Punjab 3 – where Gurgaon is located – was deemed as pastoral lands and irrigation canals

were not built here as opposed to Western and Central Punjab which were extensively developed

to promote agriculture of commercial crops. This eastern region of British Punjab was

categorised as an area with “scanty rainfall and uncertain crops” (Thorner, 1996) and hence

15

Water

source

Crops

cultivated

Livestock

rearing

1898 - 1948

Colonial PE

strategies

1966

Green

Revolution

late 1970s - 1980s

Start of

realestate

boom

Water

source

Crops

cultivated

Livestock

rearing

1898 post - 1948 1980

Noticeable

Colonial

decrease

PE

in

strategies four-month

rainfall

pattern

A system of johads, open water

wells and four-month monsoon

Tube wells, groundwater extraction

Freshwater from canal

Wastewater from canal

wheat - rainfall dependent

less water-intensive vegatbles A system of johads, open water

and fruits


mustard - canal water dependent Tube wells, groundwater extraction

wheat - canal water dependent


was designed to “increase acreage of low-value food-cum-fodder

Livestock rearing

cultivation”(Gururani,

paddy - GJC water dependent

Wastewater from canal 2019).

Livestock rearing

Therefore, to supplement their livelihood, livestock rearing was deemed necessary by farmers

and over time, this region dominated in cattle sale in British Punjab by 1930s. Due to the lack of

major irrigation canals, agriculture practiced in the arid Gurgaon district was heavily dependent

on the freshwater from traditional system of open sweet water wells and the johads 4 and the

‘chau-maas’ or four-month monsoon season for water (Vij, 2014). As a result, rain-fed crops

and crops that are less water intensive were cultivated in Gurgaon. Apart from catering to water

needs, johads and wells were spaces of social aggregation for men and women villagers with

strong undercurrents of caste dynamism. Access to sources of freshwater are controlled by caste

dynamism with certain caste groups being able to use only certain wells. This division is usually

not proportionate to the population but rather serves the interests of the higher caste groups like

Pundits, Jats and Yadavs. This is elaborated in context of each village in the next chapter.

In the peri-urban village of Budhera, the major crop was channa(chickpeas), along with wheat

and bajra(pearl millet) (Mishra and Narain, 2018). Muskmelon(cantaloupe) was also found to

be cultivated in the tibba 5 lands (Vij, 2014) along with vegetables like tori(ridged gourd) and

matar(peas) amongst others. The tibba lands, though a labour-intensive source of irrigation owing

to their greater soil porosity, were the major irrigation source for agricultural economy till

the construction of the Gurgaon freshwater supply(GWS) canal in 1992 and the National Capital

Region(NCR) canal (Mishra and Narain, 2018). Before the construction of the Gurgaon-Jhajjar

canal in 2005, the concept of wastewater agriculture was unknown in Gurgaon.

1992

1966

Construction

of

Green

GWS canal

Revolution

Water

source

Crops

cultivated

Livestock

rearing

1898 - 1948

late 1970s - 1980s 2005

Colonial PE

strategies

post 1980

2008-09

1966

Green

Revolution

Construction Mix of chemical

effluents in

Start

of GJC

of

canal

Noticeable

realestate decrease GJC from in IMT,

boom four-month Manesar

rainfall

pattern

1992

late 1970s - 1980s

Start of

realestate

boom

Construction

of GWS canal

post 1980

Noticeable

decrease in

four-month

rainfall

pattern

2005

1992

Construction

of GWS canal

Fig. 2: Graphic representing

Mix of

the

chemical

effluents in

overall

changes GJC in from the IMT, agricultural

SES of

Manesar

Gurgaon

Construction

of GJC canal

Source: Graphic: Author’s

own; information adapted

from Gururani (2013,2019);

Mishra and Narain (2018)

LEGEND

GWS

PE

GJC

2008-09

A system of johads, open water


Tube wells, groundwater extraction


Wastewater from canal

Livestock wheat - rainfall rearingdependent

Gurgaon Water Supply

Political ecology

Gurgaon-Jhajjir Canal

2005

less water-intensive vegatbles

and fruits

mustard - canal water dependent

wheat - canal water dependent

paddy - GJC water dependent

5

Vast stretches of high

sand dunes with porous

sandy soil and sweet

groundwater that enabled

groundwater recharge in

Gurgaon were called tibba

lands (Mishra and Narain,

2018).

Construction

of GJC canal

2008-09

Mix of

cal eff

GJC fr

Manes

wheat - rainfal

less water-inte

and fruits

mustard - can

wheat - canal

paddy - GJC w

Even before the construction of the GWS canal in 1992, Gurgaon was faced with the Intensive Agricultural

Development Program, or the ‘Green Revolution’ as it was popularly known, in the year

1966 and was under severe pressure from the real-estate market from the late seventies-eighties.

The advent of the Green Revolution and the introduction of high-yielding crops, chemical fertilizers,

irrigation fertilizers and modern technology did not benefit Gurgaon like other districts of

Haryana that were already supported by an extensive irrigation canal system and high agricultural

productivity(Gururani, 2019). Only the elite(Jats and Yadavs) were able to afford these modern

interventions which additionally marginalised the lower castes like the Gujjars, Balmiks and

Harijans. Further, the significant depletion of traditional water resources due to land procurement

as a result of the booming real-estate market, made farmers increasingly dependent on tube

wells that encouraged groundwater extraction – a method that proved expensive for marginal

farmers. The traditional four-month rainfall pattern was slowly seen to disappear post 1980 and

16

Map 2: Map showing

the overall layout of

villages, canals, STPs

and WTPs in the PUI of

Gurgaon

Najafgarh Drain

Delhi

Delhi Indira Gandhi

International Airport

LEGEND

GWS

NCR

G-J

Delhi-Haryana

State boundary

Freshwater

Wastewater

Village boundary

STP - Sewage

Treatment Plant

WTP - Water

Treatment Plant

Gurgaon Water

Supply

National Capital

Region Canal

Gurgaon-Jhajjir

Badsa

GWS canal,

NCR canal and

G-J STP canal

(Parallel)

Budhera

Chandu

Budhera

WTP

See Map 3 for more detail

Basai WTP

Badshahpur

Naala

Dhanwapur

STP

Haryana

Behrampur

STP

Naala

wastewater runnel

Source: Adapted from Vij et al., (2018); Google maps

the resulting lack of rainfall in the PUI of Gurgaon further increased the need for a stable source of

water (see Narain and Prakash, 2016). The rain-fed johads were slowly drying up and ultimately

became filled with domestic wastewater. Indiscriminate and continuous extraction of groundwater

from the nineties has now ultimately led to the increase in salinity of the groundwater making

it impracticable for agriculture. Concomitantly, liberalisation of the Indian economy and onset

of globalisation in the 1990s coupled with neo-liberal state policies – of the then new state of

Haryana and at the national level – that invited industries to set up in Gurgaon made way for a real-estate

boom and farmers were captivated to sell their land to private developers (Narain, 2017;

Gururani, 2013). The close proximity to the Delhi international airport (12km) and the national

capital Delhi (32km) further accelerated this unprecedented growth both in terms of land use

change – from agricultural/pastoral to commercial, residential, recreational – as well as population

growth (see Annexure 2). The arid lands of Gurgaon implied cheaper land value which made

it all the more attractive for purchase by private developers like Delhi Land and Financing(DLF).

Moreover, in Budhera and other villages in the PUI of Gurgaon, it was profitable for farmers to

sell tibbas as opposed to carrying out the labour-intensive irrigation process (Mishra and Narain,

2018). It was increasingly a common practice for farmers to move closer to city centre in search

of better livelihood opportunities. During the real-estate boom, some farmers did so after selling

their land(s) while others started giving out their agricultural land on tenure basis (Narain, 2017;

elaborated in chapter 4).

To meet the water demands of the increasing population in the city of Gurgaon as a result of

rapid urbanisation, residential townships, farmhouses, migration of people in search of jobs

and opportunities, the freshwater supply canals –GWS canal, NCR canal - wastewater disposal

canal Gurgaon-Jhajjar canal(GJC) several sewerage treatment plants (STP ) and water treatment

plants(WTP) were constructed (see Map 2) by acquiring land from the city’s PUI which were

originally agricultural lands, commons used for grazing livestock or lands containing johads. The

canals constructed were not technically canals but took the form of runnels (see Figure 5) from

which framers could easily procure water for agricultural and domestic requirements by

17

RU1:

Mobility

Resource Unit(RU)

RS9:

Location

Resource System(RS)

RU7:

Spatial and

temporal

distribution of

water

RS7:

Supply

predictibility

RS1:

Wastewater

RS5:

Relative

Scarcity

RS4:

Wastewater

infrastructure

RS2:

Wastewater system

boundary

RS4b:

Furrows

RS4c:

Pipe outlet

U6:

Social capital

U1:

Relevant

users

U1a:

Gender-roles

U2:

Socioeconomic

attributes of

users

Users(U)

U2c:

Land

tenure

U2a:

caste

GS6:

Collective-choice

rules

Governance System(GS)

GS5:

Operational

rules

GS8:

Monitoring

process

O1:

Socioeconomic

performance

O1a:

Water distribution

equity

O1b:

Water use

efficiency

O1d:

Crop Yield

GS3:

Network

structure

O2a:

Flooding

O2:

Ecological

performance

O3:

Externality to

the system

U8:

Importance of

resource

I4:

Conflicts among

farmers

Outcomes(O)

I5:

Investment in

maintenance

I6:

Lobbying

activities

Interactions(I)

Social, Economic and Political

setting(S) - PUI of Gurgaon

Fig. 3: Graphic representing the SES of Gurgaon and the relationships between them.

Source: Author’s own

18

installing hand pumps, tube wells or pipe outlets. Since these three canals were dug parallel

to each other, the same set of villages, consisting of Budhera and Badsa, were affected twice in

terms of loss of agricultural land. The construction of a WTP in the village of Budhera, further

added to the farmers’ land and livelihoods loss. The introduction of the canals in the ecological

systems increased groundwater levels drastically – making immediate fields uncultivable while

simultaneously facilitating greater water availability for other fields. Due to this, wheat and mustard

were extensively cultivated in Budhera and Badsa to capitalise on the growing urban population

and the practice of vegetable cultivation in Budhera diminished with the selling of the tibbas.

6 Third-tier variables U1a

and U2a have been defined

by the author.

7

The farmer who takes

another’s land under a tenancy

agreement is known as

a tiller.

8

A third-tier variable under

the resulting ecological

performance outcome(O2)

variable.

At this point it is crucial to note that the Gurgaon district was always known as an arid land and

was never abundant in water resources. Water required for agricultural, livestock and human

needs were met through the system of open wells and johads. The rapid urbanisation further exacerbated

the water resource scarcity. Thus, in the case of the PUI of Gurgaon, the start of wastewater

agriculture was not a linear process. The probability of the use of mobile resource unit(RU),

wastewater, from the GJC and the setting up of an irrigation resource system(RS) seemed like a

feasible option due to the perineal nature(RS7) of wastewater and the increasing salinity, scarcity

and uncertainty of freshwater sources and the deteriorating climate pattern(ECO1). This echo’s

Ostrom’s (2009) statement relating to productivity of resource system, “users need to observe

some scarcity before they invest in self-organisation.” However, in this case, it is not the scarcity

of the resource unit(RU) wastewater that drives the collective action, rather it is the scarcity of

the freshwater resources. The management of the wastewater resource unit(RU) has largely been

facilitated by farmers through “everyday practices” propelled by collective action unique to each

village in the PUI of Gurgaon, which act as governance systems(GS). From the research of previous

SESF studies on irrigation systems carried out by Araral (2009) and Meinzen-Dick (2007)

on factors that affect farmer participation in collective action strategies around irrigation systems

and the practice itself, they predominantly define them into three broad-ranging categories:

“characteristics of the resource, resources users and institutional context”. Characteristics of the

resource can be determined by assessing the variables scarcity of the resource(RS5), predictability

of supply(RS7) (Araral, 2009). RS5 in relation to the water system in the PUI of Gurgaon

has been discussed throughout this section. The perineal nature of wastewater makes third-tier

variables RS7a and RS7b which categorise the resource supply as either seasonal or interannual

and second-tier variable RU2 which is used to determine seasonal water availability irrelevant.

Consequently, since the source of the wastewater is a canal, the spatial distribution of the wastewater(RU7)

is restricted to only agriculture lands situated in peri-urban villages which house the

wastewater canal, thereby geographically restricting the use of wastewater(RS9). The second

category, characteristics of resource users, calls for the variables socioeconomic attributes of

users(U2), importance of the resource(U8), norms/social capital(U6) and networking strategies

employed by the users which can be examined with the variables network structure(GS3), operational

rules(GS5), collective choice rules(GS6), monitoring and sanctioning process(GS8) to

understand each users’ roles and identities in the functioning of everyday practices. Although

this section broadly defines the user as ‘farmers’ to further problematise what seems like a

cohesive occurrence, third-tier variables namely U1a 6 – gender, which detail gender roles in

the working of the everyday-practice; U2a – caste, that deal with impacts of caste hierarchy;

U2c - land tenure, that emphasises agricultural landowner-tiller 7 dynamics are defined to further

enrich the analysis which will be explored in the context of each village in Chapter 4. In addition

to this, the Chapter 4 will also detail out the interaction dynamics – which can range from information

sharing(I2), conflicts among users(I4), investments made towards maintenance(I5) and

19

lobbying activities(I6) – and socioeconomic outcomes(O1) as a result of the everyday practices.

During construction of the canal in 2005, the Jhajjar Irrigation department encouraged and permitted

farmers to request for installation of pipe outlets along the canal by paying a “wastewater

tax” which was later abolished as a result of lobbying activities(I6) elaborated in section 4.2. Further,

the Jhajjar irrigation department in charge of this canal is only concerned about the structural

integrity and maintenance of the canal and there is no active supervision or intervention

towards irrigation activities (Mishra and Narain, 2018). Though treated wastewater is said to be

rich in nutrients which could drastically reduce the use of fertilizers (IWMI, 2003; Raschid-Sally

and Jayakody, 2009), the farmers in the PUI of Gurgaon were forced to use a lot of fertilizers due

to low yields, making the input cost equivalent to that of freshwater irrigation (Mishra and Narain,

2018). One significant negative externality to the wastewater SES(O3) that ultimately affected

crop yield rates was: post the construction of the GJC in 2005, for more than a year in 2008-09,

chemical effluent discharge from the Industrial Model Township(IMT), Manesar located 20km

from Budhera and 25km from Badsa, was allowed to be mixed in the wastewater canal without

consultation or intimation to the farmers using the wastewater from this canal (Mishra and

Narain, 2018). This caused irreversible damage to the soil due to the heavy chemicals from the

effluents. The open nature of the runnel makes adjacent agricultural fields in Budhera and Badsa

susceptible to flooding(O2a 8 ) and consequently crop damage in case of heavy rainfall as was

noticed during the field visit in 2010 by Narain(2011). Further, the increasing population in the

Gurgaon municipality and the expanding city limits are mounting pressure on water distribution

authorities, PHED and HUDA, to close the GJC to be able to serve as drainage canals for the municipality(Narain

and Singh, 2017b). In the case of maintenance/repair of the wastewater canal,

the farmers are not provided with prior information regarding its closure nor are they informed

about the availability of wastewater in the canal by the Jhajjir Irrigation department (Narain and

Singh, 2017b).

Yet farmers continue to use this wastewater till date as it is the only perineal source(RS5 ) of

water and the limited agency they have in changing the narrative (Mishra and Narain, 2018). One

of the socio-economic outcomes(O1) of this SES is an increased monocropping(O1d) practice

by restricting farmers’ choice of crop to paddy and wheat. This was the second noticeable crop

pattern change after the introduction of wheat and mustard post the construction of the freshwater

canals. The switch from wastewater to freshwater for paddy and wheat cultivation necessitates

investment in tube wells and will prove expensive for marginal farmers. It is interesting to note

that farmers in the villages of Budhera and Badsa do not consume the crops grown via wastewater

cultivation; they prefer freshwater produce for their own consumption.

The following chapter 4 elaborates the everyday practices and seeks to re-problematise this

norm by placing it in the complex larger SES, outlined here, using the CE and FPE lens. The

peri-urban villages of Budhera and Badsa are specifically chosen from the PUI of Gurgaon as the

3 canals mentioned in the discussion above pass through these villages and wastewater resource

availability seen here has different impacts on their SES as shown below. The aim to is not view

them in a comparative fashion but for the cases of these villages to contribute to the research

focus as a whole.

20

4. Everyday practices – Governance systems of wastewater:

9

Especially after a

Harijan was elected as

the Sarpanch (leader of

village-level constitutional

body) in 2009, the political

position was used to steer

administrative decisions

and ensure water security

for their caste members

(Narain, VIj and Dewan,

2019).

Chapter 4 is structed to outline the everyday practices and the inferences obtained from the

re-problematisation of the interactions(I) and outcomes(O) as a result of the everyday practices

in place. Map 3 shows a detailed view of the two villages and the water infrastructure and the path

of the freshwater and wastewater canals through them. The following sub-sections start with the

current social profile of the village and proceed to highlight the functioning of the governance

systems(GS) through interactions(I) among users(U) and the resultant outcomes(O) within the

larger SES of the two villages of Budhera and Badsa. The importance of the resource(U8) coupled

with the resource scarcity(RS5) as seen in the previous chapter play a significant role in

managing wastewater in the PUI of Gurgaon as there are no governmental institutions that manage

its distribution otherwise. Absence of governmental institutions in supervision/regulation of

the wastewater allocation from the canal renders the inclusion of related governance system(GS)

variables irrelevant to the analysis. A deeper analysis into the network structure(GS3), operational

rules(GS5) collective choice rules(GS6) and monitoring and sanctioning process(GS8) helps

dissect the everyday practices in both villages. While this section outlines the working of the

everyday practices in both villages, a deeper analysis of the gender roles(U1a) of the users(U)

is seen in section 4.3 along with implications of equity of water distribution(O1a) and water use

efficiency(O1b) as a result of the everyday practices.

4.1 Budhera:

Budhera is located 15km away from the city of Gurgaon with a total population of 5800 people

in 900 households. The social composition of the village has been described by Narain et al.

(2019), based on their field work from December 2012-February 2013, is as follows. The residents

fall under the caste groups of Harijan, Balmiks, Yadavs and Pundits. 50% of the population

is made up of the Harijans while the rest is divided among the other castes. The Pundits and

Yadavs are the major land-owning groups who practice agriculture. Few of the Balmiks own land

21

Chandu

Budhera

WTP

Basai WTP

Badshahpur

Naala

Badshahpur

Nalla

Badsa

GWS, NCR canal

and G-J STP canal

(Parallel)

Budhera

Delhi

Haryana

LEGEND

Delhi-Haryana

State boundary

Freshwater

Wastewater

Village boundary

STP - Sewage

Treatment Plant

WTP - Water

Treatment Plant

GWS

NCR

G-J

Gurgaon Water

Supply

National Capital

Region

Gurgaon-Jhajjir

Naala

wastewater runnel

Towards

Behrampur

STP

Towards

Dhanwapur

STP

GWS Canal

G-J STP

Canal

Najafgarh Drain

Najafgarh Drain

NCR Canal

Map 3: Map showing the overall layout of villages, canals, STPs and WTPs in the PUI of Gurgaon

Source: Adapted from Vij et al., (2018); Google maps

GWS Canal

22

Map 4: Map showing

the layout of different

houselholds in Budhera

Source: Narain, Vij and Dewan,

(2019)

10

The Jhajjar Irrigation Department

sanctions farmers’

application of installing a

pipe outlet in the wastewater

canal (Mishra and

Narain, 2018).

11

A pre-decided part of the

produce is paid to to the

landlord by the tiller in the

tenancy agreement ‘Kann’

(Narain, 2017).

12

Under ‘Ugai’, the tiller

is deemed responsible for

all expenses and they pays

the landlord a pre-decided

amount (Narain, 2017).

but majority of them are involved in livestock rearing. Though the households are spatially

segregated (see Map 4) based on the inhabitants’ caste, Narain, Vij, and Dewan (2019) state

that the effect of caste hierarchy on social relations is not as pronounced today 9 . Landowners

irrespective of caste, are mostly men. Agricultural landholdings in this village is relatively small

in size, approximately 1-4 acres. The cumulative 2500-acre agricultural land available in the

village is majorly irrigated using wastewater from the Gurgaon-Jhajjar canal for commercial

crops like paddy and wheat (Narain, 2020). Men of the village are involved in irrigation activities

whereas women are restricted to what is classified as petty jobs on the field – sowing, weeding,

fodder collection and harvesting. Further fodder collection and feeding livestock is now seen as

the exclusive job of women due to shift to stall feeding. These dynamics are dealt with in detail

in the forthcoming section 4.3. There is also prevalence of groundwater irrigated fields whose

produce the farmers use for their own consumption. The crop pattern change that accompanied

the wastewater agriculture had a deeper social impact; Budhera once famous for muskmelon

cultivation, received a high amount of marriage proposals due to the abundant availability of

sweet water which are now technically non-existent (Vij, 2014).

Forms of cooperation around the use of wastewater are motivated by factors outlined above and

realised through social capital norms(U6) and self-organisation initiatives. While wastewater

allocation is approved by the state 10 , the distribution and regulation of this resource is carried out

by a ‘Bhaibandi’ (brotherhood in Hindi) network(GS3) of mutual cooperation. The farmers who

constitue the Bhaibandi network are either the owners of the agricultural land themselves, tenants

who work on sharecropping or tenancy arrangements or labourers. The tenants and labourers can

either be locals or migrants which in turn reveals that the users(U) involved in peri-urban farming

are slowly evolving. It is crucial to note here that, physical proximity of agriculture land rather

than prevalent social relations of tenancy is the basis for this network. These tenancy (‘kann 11 ’,

‘ugai 12 ’) and sharecropping (‘saajedaari’ ) agreements are systems followed by peri-urban elite

landowners, some of whom have migrated to the city in search of better opportunities but still

desire to maintain a hold over their property (Narain, 2017). In case of the latter, sharecropping

is increasing becoming an impractical option.

In the bhaibandi form of cooperation, the wastewater flow is diverted by farmers through the

construction of manmade facilities(RS4) like ‘dhouras’ furrows/watercourses to adjacent fields

up to 1km away – indicative of an invisible governance system boundary – from the pipe outlet

23

Fig 4: Wastewater johad

in Badsa

Source: Narain and Singh,

(2020)

of the wastewater canal (Mishra and Narain, 2018). The watercourses are collectively

maintained(I5) annually or bi-annually by the members of this network. Since a very rudimentary

yet effective form of irrigation infrastructure(RS4) is in play here, third-tier variables detailing

use of roads(RS4d) and headworks(RS4a) is irrelevant. Stuffed jute bags in the pipe outlet act

as local control structures(RS4c) for the flow of wastewater. However, it is not always a “happy

picture”. Conflicts of interest(I4) have been noticed by Vij et al., (2018) during their fieldwork.

When wastewater overflows – due to improper stuffing of jute bags(RS4c) – into a neighbouring

farmer’s land at a time he happens to be using freshwater for irrigation of crops for self-consumption,

conflicts may arise. Due to a prevailing operational norm(GS5) among the farmers is

to allow for autonomy in deciding what crop each one wants to cultivate, this sometimes results

in a scenario of “forced cooperation” (Mishra and Narain, 2018; Vij et al., 2018). The frequency

of such conflicts was higher among small land-holding farmers whose fields were adjacent to

each other. Conflicts were also observed between the irrigation department and the farmers

through confrontations with the gate regulator of the control structure(RS4c) of the wastewater

runnel when the flow of wastewater is insufficient to meet their irrigation requirements. The

intensity of the conflict ranges from largely verbal to occasionally physical that may involve

throwing the gate operator into the runnel. The labour wage in the village is based on labourers’

nativity and gender rather than the type of work that is done – men get paid around INR 150/day

while women get paid INR 100/day (Narain, 2017); while this is the rate for migrant labourers,

local labour is more expensive. This implies that a migrant female worker gets paid much lesser

than a local female labourer. These wages are paid irrespective of the type of water used in agriculture

indicating insensitivity to the discomforts faced by the farmers practicing wastewater

irrigation(see section 4.3).

13

Social profile of Badsa

is outlined as indicated by

Singh (2020) and Narain

(2020).

4.2 Badsa :

In Badsa, located 17km from Gurgaon, peri-urban agricultural land holdings are comparatively

larger than Budhera and the landowners are involved in the agricultural activities. The social

composition of this village is such that its residents are majorly made up of Jats and Yadvas–

who are the predominant agricultural landowners – while also having scheduled caste residents

in smaller numbers. Labourers – both local and migrants – are employed in some of the agricultural

fields, although the majority of the agricultural work is carried out by the landowners .

Tenancy arrangements, though lesser in number than Budhera, are similar in nature. Agriculture

24

Fig 5: Wastewater

runnel in Badsa

Source: Narain and Singh,

(2020)

land ownership and on-field gendered role dynamics in Badsa is similar to that of Budhera 13 .

Farmers in Badsa, use the wastewater from the Gurgaon-Jhajjir canal for irrigation of paddy and

wheat, via the Mundakhera pump house since the agricultural fields are above the level of the

canal. In addition to this, they have also converted johads, initially used to store freshwater, into

wastewater ponds to facilitate irrigation by collectively channelling wastewater from the canal

using man-made furrows(RS4) (Singh and Narain, 2019). By this method of storage, the farmers

are able to secure wastewater supply from “flow” to a “stock” – a collective adaptive response

due to transitional patterns of water availability for agriculture(see chapter 3). Though johads

come under the jurisdiction of the village panchayat, it doesn’t exert strict rules on johads’

functioning. Farmers pay INR 100/acre of land to be irrigated to facilitate the construction of

furrows soon after wastewater agriculture became prevalent(Singh and Narain, 2019). Collective

mobilisation by the farmers(I6) also ensured that the “wastewater tax” collected by the Jhajjar

Irrigation Department(INR 90/acre per year) for using the wastewater for irrigation was abolished.

They refrain from paying the tax for a resource identified as ‘waste’ by the state stating that,

“;s rks xank ikuh gSA tc dqN ugh gksrk] rc bldks bLrseky djrs gSaA”

(This water is dirty and bad for any use; we use this water when there is no other choice of irrigation)

(Singh and Narain, 2019).

The non-cooperation of farmers in Badsa and Budhera forced the Jhajjar Irrigation department to

withdraw the tax collected(Mishra and Narain, 2018). During their fieldwork, Singh and Narain

(2019) found that though financial capital was contributed by the farmers according to the size

of respective landholdings, they did not mind if in certain cases excess wastewater in relation to

size of landholding was used and took the following stance:

“bl xans ikuh is D;k >xM+k] ftldks ftruk pkfg, mruk yksA”

(What is the need to fight for this dirty water? Whoever needs it can use it without any constraint).

It is mostly the men who are involved in maintaining the johads and the furrows; women are not

found to participate (Narain, 2020; Singh, 2020). Their contribution lies in fulfilling domestic

duties and collecting fodder. These “gendered ideologies that work to maintain unequal relations

of power”(Gururani, 2002) are discussed further in the following section.

25

4.3 Inferences from the interactions(I) and outcomes(O) in the wastewater SES –

discussion :

Both villages put forth instances of cultural adaptation where wastewater has been adopted as

the main source of water for irrigation due to a prevailing scenario of freshwater scarcity. The

subsequent necessity of livelihood survival supported by the emergence of a new urban centre,

has pushed farmers to resort to wastewater to irrigate their fields. This has enabled the cultivation

of water-intensive commercial crops like paddy and wheat in the arid PUI of Gurgaon, which

may not have been possible solely with groundwater sources and modern technology. In a way,

wastewater has helped sustain the practice of agriculture in the PUI of Gurgaon (Narain, 2020)

when availability of water resources were uncertain (refer chapter 3) and helped the peri-urban

dwellers maintain their identity as ‘farmers’; though it is debatable since many farmers especially

the peri-urban elite are now looking for other opportunities in the urban areas (Narain,

2017). In both villages there have been cases where farmers have experienced itching on their

legs and foul smell as an outcome of wading through their fields in knee-deep wastewater. With

the course of time, farmers realised that applying mustard oil provides a slippery coating which

helps prevent itching; but there is no solution for the foul smell yet (Singh and Narain, 2019).

Further, it was observed that soil fertility rate significantly reduced after a period of 3- 4 years,

particularly after the 2008-09 incident of mix of chemical effluents in the Gurgaon-Jhajjar canal

in 2008-09. Therefore, continuance of this everyday practice could prove maladaptive to the

environment. The commercial crops sown here are sold to the mandis(local wholesale markets)

in the city of Gurgaon and Delhi, significantly contributing to food demands of both cities; yet

the farmers and their families do not consume this produce themselves. Thus, signalling a clear

“notion of impurity” that the farmers have regarding the practice of wastewater irrigation and the

resource(RS1) itself (Narain, 2020).

This notion percolates to the interactions(I) associated with the wastewater use efficiency(O1a)

and conflicts(I5) that emerge from this. Narain and Singh (2017a) state that the necessity of

an intense conflict over a resource could be fuelled by its nature. Thus, the tag of ‘waste’ in

wastewater might not present itself as worthy of conflict. Cox (2014) states that collective action

conflicts pivot around excessive consumption of the resource(wastewater in this case) and the

challenge of motivating individuals to contribute to the physical and social infrastructure that

makes such an action feasible . But in light of both the villages in the PUI of Gurgaon, it is found

that excessive use of wastewater from the canal is almost never looked upon as a problem. For

instance, in the case of Badsa were in spite of monetary investment(I5) made proportionate to

the size of their fields and therefore the amount of wastewater needed, towards the maintenance

of furrows, there is no strict regulation or supervision of wastewater use. Conflicts mentioned in

the case of Budhera (section 4.1) occur due to the overflow of wastewater from one field to another

and is not concerned with the quantity of wastewater used by the individual farmers. Thus,

excessive use of wastewater(O1a and O1b) from the source is rarely problematic. These practices

are in stark contrast to the gender(U1a) and caste(U2a) dynamism observed in the case of

drinking water or freshwater access in the very same villages of Budhera and Badsa. Women have

socio-culturally been assigned the work of water collection for drinking purposes and household

activities. In Budhera, lower caste Harijan women are allowed to collect water only from a particular

well among the 6 wells of the village, despite the fact that they are more in number (see

section 4.1; Narain et al., 2019). While there is an overall differentiation that manifests in gender

roles (women collecting water as opposed to men), it is not a linear relationship; caste hierarchy

26

further complicates this discrimination as seen in the case of the Harijan women of Budhera. In

this context, it is interesting to note that in both villages, the wastewater access is not marred by

any caste dominance, but it is only restricted by topographical and geographical aspects. But

there are other indirect socio-economic dynamics in play. In Budhera, it is economically feasible

for agricultural fields that are located adjacent to or within 1 kilometre from the Gurgaon-Jhajjar

canal to access its wastewater through the Bhaibandi network. The farmers beyond a radius of

1-2km from the canal are forced to use diesel motor pumps to be able to use wastewater for

irrigation which may prove very expensive for small landholding farmers and tillers. As outlined

in section 4.2, the wastewater from the johads in the village of Badsa is free to access by all

farmers.

The term ‘Bhaibandi’ – ‘bhai’ means brother and ‘bandi’ means bond in Hindi – is highly indicative

of the male-dominated agricultural practice in peri-urban Gurgaon. Women’s participation

is majorly seen in activities like sowing, weeding, fodder collection and harvesting (see Narain,

2011, 2020; Vij, 2020) – similar to gender-roles(U1a) observed in the agricultural fields irrigated

with freshwater. Most of the women engaged in these activities do so as a form of spousal

support (Narain, 2020). In addition, since the wastewater irrigation process involves steps like

application of a permit from the Irrigation department and negotiation with neighbouring farmers

which are seen as activities requiring decision-making and negotiation skills, women are not involved

(Vij, 2020). A similar trend is observed in the village of Badsa where women are excluded

from any activities associated with the maintenance of the wastewater johads or in the irrigation

processes but are involved in the weeding, sowing and fodder collection activities (Singh, 2020;

Narain, 2020). It is also not clear if the women of Badsa were consulted in the decision to change

the function of the johad (Singh, 2020). Narain (2020) also speculated on the possibility of the

implied changing socio-cultural relations as historically the johads were used to fulfil domestic

water needs including water for livestock and served as a place of social congregation. Therefore,

women who are primarily responsible for carrying out domestic duties might have had a

connection with the johads which may have diminished with the changing dynamics surrounding

the johads instigated by manmade systems put in place to facilitate wastewater irrigation . Apart

from being denied decision-making responsibilities, the other responsibilities of women in the

PUI of Gurgaon have further increased with the shift to stall feeding for livestock since grazing

livestock - which has socio-culturally been the work of men – has increasingly become difficult

with the depletion of commons due to canal construction related land acquisition mentioned

in chapter 3. Men in Budhera claimed that they do not know how to cut fodder and that their

wives(birbani) are responsible for that, according to a tai(an elderly woman) residing there (Vij,

2014). This accumulates on to women’s existing domestic household duties, significantly increasing

their burden and resulting in a situation of “feminisation out of compulsion”(Pattnaik et

al., 2018). A women migrant labourer is further disadvantaged as she receives the lowest wage

when compared to other groups(section 4.1).

Though there is a lack of feminisation of on-field agriculture activities and a clear division of

labour in the PUI of Gurgaon, as Pattnaik et al., (2018) explain a scenario of feminisation of

agriculture may not necessarily indicate their empowerment and could result in “feminisation of

agrarian distress” as seen in the case of wastewater agriculture in the PUI of Hyderabad. Women

took up irrigation activities in wastewater agriculture of leafy vegetables as men moved towards

urban areas in search of better opportunities to financially support their families apart from doing

their household duties. Devi and Buechler, (2009) found that these women often refrain from

accepting this as it is considered “socially unacceptable” for women to participate in irrigation

27

in India. This is a clear example of how “culture givens” (Gururani, 2002) has been used to

justify gendered roles so much so that women are not ready to accept their involvement. A similar

justification of women’s exclusion from irrigation and decision-making activities is observed

in the chosen case study.

Although it is undeniable that new forms of cooperation make wastewater resource available

and accessible to many farmers giving them an opportunity to continue practising agriculture,

(Vij et al., 2018) it should be noted that unequal wages with respect to nativity and gender for

agricultural labourers – indicative that migrants were considered as “cheap labour” – and the

gender roles seen in freshwater agriculture seem to have percolated into wastewater irrigated

agricultural field dynamics indicating insensitivity to farmers’ discomforts caused due to wading

long hours in wastewater irrigated fields. Despite this, the wastewater irrigation is undoubtedly

gaining popularity among farmers. The liberal accession rights of wastewater and its constant

availability along with advocation from the state(see chapter 3) further add to the cause. While

some peri-urban elite farmers have managed to seize oppurtunies in the urban core and migrated

there, labourers and other marginal farmers left behind, hint at a desperation in having to use

wastewater in the agricultural process (Singh and Narain, 2019). In addition to this, urbanisation

and extension of the Gurgaon city limits is forcing PHED and HUDA authorities to cover up

the wastewater runnels to serve as a closed drainage system for the city dwellers; threating the

wastewater’s perineal nature(RS5) of availability to farmers.Hence farmers in Budhera and Badsa

cultivating paddy and wheat are increasingly hesitant to continue this practice.

28

5. Conclusionary Remarks:

In this case of the PUI of Gurgaon, it has been observed that the everyday practice – of bhaibandi

and the adaptation of the johads – is one that emerged as an adaptive mechanism in the recent

past from a situation of uncertainty of water resource availability for agriculture. Though the

everyday practices of wastewater in the PUI of Gurgaon facilitated the access of the wastewater

resource and reduced the burden on the state in terms of wastewater disposal, the embedded

implications of the same at the wider as well as the community or village level were accentuated

through the application of the chosen analytical and theoretical framework in Chapter 3.

From chapter 3, it is evident that placing everyday practices in the larger SES facilitates the

understanding of its holistic implications in terms of understanding the ecological and social

sustainability and merits the need for deeper discussions of its implications. The SESF framework

was useful in ensuring that almost all of the variables – including anthropological and

ecological aspects – that impacted the wastewater SES in peri-urban Gurgaon were considered

and the relationship of each variable with other variables in the SES was studied. The inherent

actor-flow-area variables(Faldi et al., 2019) in the SESF enabled a disaggregated yet an overall

comprehensive investigation of the everyday practices of wastewater in the peri-urban villages

of Budhera and Badsa. Further, the incorporation of the CE, FPE and intersectionality frameworks

enriched the SESF by providing additional layers of complexity to the second-tier variables of

users(U), interactions(I) and outcomes(O). The CE framework ensured that cultural mechanism

and cultural perspectives were in play to enable a finer understanding of socio-cultural roles and

adaptation strategies in the fragmented PUI of Gurgaon. FPE and intersectionality lenses helped

to explore the impact and ontological basis of multiple perspective, identities and co-construction

of identities of the stakeholders involved. An example seen in this dissertation would be the

case of agricultural labourer wages. While women receive lesser pay than men, migrant women

are paid even lesser than local women labourers. Thus, the added identity of a migrant further

disadvantaged women. In addition to this, the intersectionality lens provided the scope to make

the process of examining everyday practice an iterative one which is particularly very essential in

the PUI where uncertainty is widely prevalent in many sectors.

The inferences (see section 4.3) obtained from the interactions(I) and outcomes(O) of the SES

clearly indicate a reproduction of freshwater agriculture dynamics – in terms of different labour

29

wages for locals-migrants and men-women, tenancy agreements – without taking into consideration

the added health discomforts for farmers engaged in wastewater agriculture. While

freshwater access in Budhera had strong caste connotations, wastewater access for irrigation (in

both villages) did not witness any such rule or restrictions. As the multiple layers associated with

wastewater irrigation were unpacked, it was found that wastewater agriculture – though nationally

and globally being promoted as a significant contributor to food security and in closing the nutrient

loop (see Marshal and Randhawa, 2017) – in the PUI of Gurgaon was largely threatened by

urbanisation trajectories and the reluctance to practice the same by the farmers due to discussed

“notions of impurity”. Despite being aware of the pernicious effect wastewater irrigation has on

soil fertility, farmers are forced to utilise it due to a prevailing situation of uncertainty of water

resources in the PUI. Through these findings presented here and throughout the dissertation, it is

argued that it is imperative to take into consideration a deeper, holistic perspective before making

the everyday practice as the norm or as substitutes to a situation of “governance vacuum”.

4.1 Reflections on future research:

In the application of FPE and intersectionality lenses in the users variable of SESF framework, the

variable of age, marital status and their dynamics as a result of their intersection with gender was

not dealt with at a deeper level due to a lack of data (Narain, 2020; Singh, 2020). Further investigation

on this nexus could enrich the understanding of power dynamics at the household and individual

level which in turn could facilitate a more nuanced understandings of further limitations

or vulnerabilities experienced at this intersection. In addition to this, a comprehensive study on

the historical use of johads in the PUI Gurgaon can shed light on changing socio-cultural roles

surrounding its use which will be instrumental to analyse the changing role of women. Relationship

between the amount of rent paid in the various tenancy agreements(see 4.1) and location of

land merits further discussion to understand the economic status of the farmers whose fields are

benefited by the proximity to the wastewater runnel. This opens to discussion the possibility of

further marginalisation of marginal farmers or vice-versa. Further investigation could be carried

out to investigate the probable role of farmers associations (there was no evidence found to suggest

the existence of any; Narain, 2020; Singh, 2020) for the sustenance of everyday practices

as the existence of such community organisations has helped to build solidarity of farmers and

women in particular (see Devi and Buechler, 2009; Thara, 2016).

Future research could investigate if farmers are aware of any of the ‘Krishi Yojnas’ (the multivarious

schemes introduced by the Government of India to financially support farmers and the practice

of agriculture and if they make use of the same. Singh (2020) and Narain (2020) mentioned

that there was no explicit reference to any government schemes by the farmers during their

fieldwork interviews. These schemes could provide much-needed relief in terms of financial aid

in the looming situation of uncertainty present in the PUI of Gurgaon for marginal farmers. Faldi

et al., (2019) suggest that the resource users may be incentivised through suitable policies and

schemes to “devote more time to collective co-production of services” (van Ejik & Steen, 2014).

Health implications of the use of wastewater for agriculture for farmers in the peri-urban villages

of Gurgaon were only briefly mentioned here. Hence it must be studied at a deeper level along

with the health impact of consumers of the crops amongst the growing peri-urban food security

debate that highlights the crucial role the PUI could play in ensuring food security for the PUI as

well as the expanding city. .

30

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34

Annexure 1 - Interviews

Interviews were conducted over a phone call with 3 prominent research scholars who have done

extensive fieldwork in the chosen case study – the villages of Budhera and Badsa in the PUI of

Gurgaon from the years 2012-2019.

Interview with Dr. Sumit Vij, Postdoctoral Researcher, Public Administration and Policy Group,

Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands

Date: 13 th August 2020 via phone call

1. Do women play any specific role in the agricultural process involved in wastewater

irrigated fields, apart from fodder collection for livestock (Vij, 2014)?

The role of women in agriculture is limited to petty work. They mostly participate in harvesting of

the crop, sowing seeds, fodder collection and weeding of the fields.

2. Is there a taboo associated with women working in wastewater fields?

No, there is no such explicit taboo associated with women working in wastewater fields. Moreover,

it wasn’t a major focus of the research study, so it is hard to definitively comment.

3. Have women moved on to other forms of occupation once wastewater agriculture practice

became the norm?

As stated earlier, women are not primarily involved in wastewater agriculture and their role is

confined to petty tasks. Wastewater irrigation involves a fair amount of decision making and

negotiation which is mostly carried out by the men.

35

4. Is the practice of wastewater irrigation confined to any one particular caste? In other

words, is this practice biased towards a particular caste and/or dominated by any caste

in particular?

Wastewater irrigation is not dominated or biased towards any caste. Sharing of resources/

wastewater depends on the proximity of lands and mutual cooperation between owners/workers

of the agriculture fields.

5. Vij et al., 2018 mentions that migrants carry out wastewater agriculture in Budhera

through sharecropping or tenancy arrangements. Are these migrants all men? Are these

farmers migrants from Bihar as mentioned in the village composition of Budhera in

Narain (2017)? Do the women in these families contribute in any form to the agriculture

practice?

It was observed that the labourers working in the field were mostly men. However, it is unclear

whether women migrants may have been involved in ‘behind the scenes’ work. Although majority

of these migrants are from Bihar, migrants from other parts of India were not uncommon.

Interview with Mr. Aditya K Singh, PhD Researcher, Department of Geography, Durham University,

United Kingdom

Date: 21 st August 2020 via phone call

1. Do women play any specific role in the agricultural process involved in wastewater

irrigated fields, apart from fodder collection for livestock?

Wastewater irrigation is mostly male dominated, and women are only assigned petty tasks like

collection of fodder etc. Often women have to walk long distances to fetch fodder.

2. What is the social profile of Badsa?

Jats and Yadavs are the two main communities in Badsa and both these communities own land.

The landowners till the fields and may occasionally employ additional labrourers or migrants. The

sarpanch of the village belongs to the Jat community.

3. How are the johads maintained/looked after?

There is no formal committee to look after the johads. Locals whose fields are close to the

johads may take responsibility to look after them.

4. Did women have a say in the conversion of freshwater johads into wastewater johads?

Are women involved in any of the community initiatives related to the maintenance of

the johads like cleaning, attending meetings? Was this process dominated by men/

women from higher castes?

Women are not involved in the maintenance of the johads. There is no information on whether

they were consulted. It was observed that they did not participate in these processes.

36

5. Is there a taboo associated with women working with wastewater in Badsa?

No taboo was observed. Since this was not a focus of the research study, there were no explicit

questions asked regarding this to the villagers.

6. Is the practice of wastewater irrigation confined to a particular caste? In other words, is

this practice biased towards any caste or dominated by a particular caste?

No, I did not come across any restrictions to wastewater access/use based on caste.

7. The authors of Vij et al., (2018) mention that migrants carry out wastewater agriculture

in Budhera through sharecropping or tenancy arrangements. Is this a similar trend in

Badsa as well? Are these migrants all men? Do the women in these families contribute

in any form to the wastewater agriculture practice?

Migrants carrying out wastewater agriculture were observed to be men. However, there isn’t

sufficient evidence to comment on the extent of involvement of women, other than the fact that

the do not participate in irrigation of the fields.

8. Is the abolishment of wastewater usage fees common to the peri-urban interface (PUI)

or unique to Badsa?

It is common to the entire PUI of Gurgaon.

9. Do mandis buy wastewater produce for less/more? Do farmers declare that it is wastewater

produce before selling it?

No, farmers do not declare wastewater produce before selling it.

10. What are their ownership statuses of the johads of Badsa?

The johads are under the jurisdiction of the village panchayat. However, they can be accessed by

all residents without any restrictions whatsoever.

11. Have the farmers taken advantage of any government schemes to help their agriculture

practice? – e.g Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana?

Government schemes did not fall under the purview of this research study; therefore, no explicit

questions were asked regrading this. The participants of the study (farmers) did not mention that

they benefited from any specific government schemes. However, when the STP engineers were

questioned, they mentioned that wastewater is treated in STPs. Canals which closely resemble

runnels have been constructed which enables the growth and cultivation of water intensive crops

like paddy in a previously dry area. Hence, the role of government in aiding wastewater agriculture

cannot be ruled out entirely.

37

Interview with Dr. Vishal Narain, Professor, Public Policy and Governance at the Management

Development Institute Gurgaon

Date: 21 st August 2020 via Skype call

1. When it comes to wastewater irrigated agricultural fields, do women play any role in the

agricultural process apart from fodder collection? (I have read that women in Budhera

were traditionally confined to fodder collection for livestock which is now difficult

because of loss of commons due to urbanisation – did wastewater irrigation stop this

practice of women?)

Women are mostly involved in sowing, fodder plucking. They do not participate in irrigation. Most

of the women who work in the fields are spouses of the farmers who own/rent the land and do

so as a form of spousal support.

2. Is there a taboo associated with women working in wastewater fields?

There is no specific taboo associated with women working in wastewater fields. Farmers, in general,

don’t consume the produce obtained from wastewater irrigation therefore there is this notion

of impurity associated with wastewater.

3. Is the practice of wastewater irrigation confined to a particular caste? In other words, is

this practice biased towards one caste and/or dominated by a caste in particular?

No, neither caste nor economic status influence wastewater irrigation. There is little difference

between high caste and low caste farmers in terms of access to or use of wastewater. The economic

status of the person tilling the land, owner/tenant, also doesn’t affect wastewater irrigation

dynamics. Major factors that influence wastewater irrigation are physical proximity to wastewater

source.

4. The authors of Vij et al., 2018 mention that migrants carry out wastewater agriculture

in Budhera through sharecropping or tenancy arrangements. Are these migrants all

men? Are these farmers migrants from Bihar as mentioned in the village composition of

Budhera in Narain (2017)? Do the women in these families contribute in any form to the

agriculture practice?

As far as I observed, only men were working on the field. Most of the migrants employed are

from Bihar. It is possible that women have a role to play but they weren’t present on the fields.

5. Have the farmers taken advantage of any government schemes to help their agriculture

practice? – e.g Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana?

There was no specific mention of any government schemes that the farmers benefited from.

6. Did earlier function of Johads involve women participation in Badsa? What was the

earlier social dynamism around the johads?

Johads were historically used for collecting drinking water, washing, bathing and livestock maintenance.

Women may have participated in these activities. Since this was not the focus of the

research study, there was no further investigation.

38

7. In Sadhraana PU village, fresh water is added to wastewater – does this help lower the

social stigma against wastewater?

Runnel contains domestic wastewater to which fresh water is added. Treated water from STP is

not used here.

8. Are the different everyday practices in Budhera & Badsa reflective of the difference in

size of landholdings (Budhedra has smaller landholdings whereas Badsa has larger

landholdings)?

No apparent impact due to size of landholdings; wasn’t specifically investigated as a part of the

research study, however, it seems plausible.

9. Has wastewater helped sustain farming in the PUI?

I strongly agree that wastewater has helped sustain farming in the PUI. Urbanization and climate

change have led to loss of rainfall and there has been a tremendous increase in the reliance on

wastewater for irrigation purposes. However, farmers only use wastewater in their fields in the

absence of fresh water, as a ‘last resort’. Long term effect of using wastewater includes reduction

in soil fertility.

39

Annexure 2 – The privatisation of Gurgaon

The National Capital (NCT) Delhi adopted a policy of urban decongestion and decentralisation

in the 1960s to ease the tremendous stress on the capital due to increasing population density

beyond its civic capability. The National Capital Region (NCR) – consisting of 15 districts from 3

different states 1 – was formulated for this purpose. The establishment of the NCR was invariably

an invitation for commercialisation/industrialisation. Gurgaon was a result of commercialisation

where privatisation was an important catalyst. Located within 50kms of the NCT, Gurgaon has

rendered itself as a “very high influenced town” by the NCT (Morya and Ram, 2019).

Although many scholars claim Gurgaon to be a posterchild for Indian neo-liberal success or a

product of strategic, indigenous private capital ventures; Gururani (2013) makes a strong case

for “a history of contradictory planning imperatives and ambiguous goals of sovereignty” –

which she further proceeds to define as “flexible planning” – the reason for Gurgaon’s uneven

development and fragmentation at various levels. The practice of “flexible planning” encapsulates

manipulation through creation of policies 2 to suit political and elite agency that often

dangerously blurs the line between legal and illegal wandering into the zone of “sanctioned illegality”

(Gururani, 2013). These “compromises” or negotiations could be made by manoeuvring

relationships of caste, religion, patronage and political connections to one’s advantage. Flexible

planning was thus a concoction of political, economic and social characteristics. A range of

actors 3 were its facilitators whose frequent meddling in matters of land acquisition and planning

helped them to establish a strong agency.

Thus, this practice was instrumental in fostering ‘patches’ of land uses – from residential to commercial/entertainment

to offices – strongly cementing the ‘pocketism’ phenomenon in Gurgaon.

Urban forms and functions were thrust into the once primary agrarian landscape. What started

with a Maruti Suzuki 4 car manufacturing unit factory, soon developed the agrarian area to one

that housed vast multi-national companies (MNC), office complexes, residential colonies – on

its way to realising a dream of utopia. Delhi Land Financing(DLF) was a major player in this

process of rapid urbanisation having developed political allies with the then ruling party Indian

1

The NCR consisted of Gurgaon,

Faridabad, Panipat,

Sonipat, Rohtak, Jhajjar,

Rewari, Mewat, Palwal

from Haryana; Ghaziabad,

Gautam Budh Nagar, Bulandshahr,

Meerut, Baghpat

from Uttar Pradesh; Alwar

from Rajasthan

2

These consist of practices

like redrafting plans, facilitation

of compromises and

exemptions and at times

utilization of brute force.

3

Including government

officials, party politicians,

business elites, caste/community

leaders, powerful

‘personalities’

4

A collaborative manufacturing

unit set up by Japan’s

Suzuki Motors with India’s

Maruti Udyog Limited in the

early 1980s.

40

5

There was no interstate

or state-level bodies set

up to oversee urbanisation

in NCR at the time or even

much later. Adding to this

uncertainty was the newly

created state of Haryana

in 1966 (earlier Punjab)

just before the realisation

of the plan of NCR. Thus,

there was no apt legal body

to which development

activities needed to be

adhered to.

National Congress and the Haryana Urban Development Authority(HUDA) (Goldstein, 2016).

Post DLF’s entry, multiple smaller builders, private developers, investors and multinational companies

made their way to Gurgaon. Private developers provided premium networked infrastructure

consisting of a private metro system, private companies, private water supplies (Cowan,

2015). But all these were confined to the property/land under their development plans – further

fragmenting the services available and creating unequal access of resources. A huge influx of

people – corporate professionals and low-income migrant labourers – was witnessed in the district

of Gurgaon due to the emerging employment opportunities, residential suburbs and its close

proximity to New Delhi. This is reflected in the drastic population growth rate of 42.85% between

1991-2001 (Gupta and Nangia, 2005 in: Gururani, 2013) and 74% growth rate between the

years 2001-2011 (Government of Haryana, 2011 in: Prakash, 2017). Even though development

was projected in these areas as a result of its newly gained status as ‘NCR’, the momentum was

unprecedented and unregulated leading to uneven development and socio-economic fragmentation

of land. The government found it very difficult to keep up with this pace of urbanisation

and there was no state-led institution 5 to oversee or regulate the process. As Goldstein (2016)

describes, “uncoordinated efforts of builders have created a built environment that scholars

describe as a city of islands and of unconnected enclaves, in which governance is as divided

as its discrete gated communities and urban villages.” The practice of “flexible planning” was

conveniently extended to the way natural resources were utilised. Private borewells became the

norm for townships, shopping malls, MNCs and other such large establishments. “Quick solutions”

to infrastructural problems were adopted – lack of formal supply of electricity propelled

the MNCs/residential townships to turn to diesel generators; lack of formal supply of water led

to groundwater extraction, private canal construction, and open discharge of sewerage were just

some of the examples resorted to. Thus, access and distribution of water and the waterscape as

a whole were heavily compromised by flexible planning and pocketism.

41

Annexure 3 – Table showing the factors hypothesized to affect irrigation system

management

Source: Adapted from Ostrom, (1992); Subramanian, Jagannathan and Meinzen-Dick, (1997); Tang, (1992); Uphoff,

(1986); Ostrom, (2007) in: Meinzen-Dick, (2007)

42

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Reconceptualisation of Everyday Practices in the wider social-ecological system of the peri-urban interface

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