Falling or stagnant agricultural growth, increasing dependence on groundwater, climate variability, swift industrialization, and unplanned and unregulated urbanization in South Asia have spawned a variety of challenges for water resources governance, management and use: groundwater overdraft; insufficient, ill-managed and poor-quality freshwater supply vis-à-vis escalating demand; and water pollution. Water policies in each of the South Asian countries thus call for a more holistic understanding for the efficient management, equitable distribution and sustainable use of this scarce resource.
Analyzing the economic, demographic and ideological context in which water policies are framed and implemented, this book argues for an integrated framework in formulating and implementing water policies in South Asia. It also highlights some common missing links in the national policies: problems of techno-centric and blueprint approach to water management, growing influence of international donor agencies and inadequate concern for issues such as equity, sustainability, gender sensitivity, accountability, regional diversity in property rights regimes and water management practices, and regional conflicts over water access. The innovative and nuanced knowledge on water resources produced from detailed case studies in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be useful for professionals, academics, policymakers and activists as well as those in development studies, environmental studies, natural resource management and public administration.
List of Tables. List of Figures. List of Maps. List of Abbreviations.
Foreword. Acknowledgements. Introduction: An Agenda for Pluralistic and
Integrated Framework for Water Policies in South Asia Anjal Prakash, Sreoshi
Singh, Chanda Gurung Goodrich and S. Janakarajan Part I. Conceptual Framework
for Water Resources Policy
1. Interface between Water, Poverty and Gender
Empowerment: Revisiting Theories, Policies and Practices Amita Shah and Seema
Kulkarni
2. Seeing Women and Questioning Gender in Water Management Margreet
Zwarteveen
3. "Water Policies are Never Implemented, but Negotiated:"
Analyzing Integration of Policies Using a Bayesian Network Saravanan V.
Subramanian and David Ip Part II. Informing Water Resources Policies: The
South Asian Experience
4. Institutional Design Perspective, Capacity
Constraints and Participatory Irrigation Management in South Asia Jayanath
Ananda
5. Integrated Water Resources Management: From Policy to Practice
through a Comprehensive National Water Management Plan: A Case Study of
Bangladesh Sultan Ahmed
6. Watershed Management Policies and Programs in
Bhutan: Empowering the Powerless Thinley Gyamtsho
7. Scale, Diverse
Economies, and Ethnographies of the State: Concepts for Theorizing Water
Policy Priya Sangameswaran
8. Credit Conditionality and Strategic Sabotage:
The Tale of the First Decade of Pakistans Irrigation Reform Muhammad Mehmood
Ul Hasan Part III. Water and Climate Change: Newer Dimensions That Should
Shape Water Policies
9. Hydro-Hazardscapes of South Asia: Redefining
Adaptation and Resilience to Global Climate Change Daanish Mustafa
10.
Climate Change and Groundwater: Indias Opportunities for Mitigation and
Adaptation Tushaar Shah Part IV. International Experiences of Water Reform 11.
Anjal Prakash is Executive Director, South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies (SaciWATERs), Hyderabad, India.
Sreoshi Singh is Research Fellow, SaciWATERs, and a doctoral candidate at the Center for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad, India.
Chanda Gurung Goodrich is Principal Scientist, Empower Women, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, India.
S. Janakarajan is Professor of Economics, Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), Chennai, India.
