Dear All, 

Ms. Sruthi will present her Pre-synopsis as per the detail below:

Date: 13th September 2023

Time:  1530 - 1630 hrs.

Venue: CTARA Conference Room No.1

Topic: Sanitation and Domestic Water Pollution – Examining Governance through Hierarchical and Network Approaches

Guide: Prof. N C Narayanan

RPC Members: Prof. Subodh Wagle, Prof. Satish Agnihotri

Water pollution is a ubiquitous phenomenon which is endangering health and livelihood of millions around the world. In India despite stringent environmental regulations like Environment Protection Act 1986, Water Act 1974, water pollution is rampant with CPCB data suggesting that 78% of waste water is left untreated: it is either released into water bodies or fields. The persistence of pollution highlights the inadequacies of the dominant bureaucratic hierarchy mode of regulatory water quality governance in effectively managing pollution in the country. A potential solution is the adoption of a network approach, wherein researchers from various disciplines, as well as members from civil society and state, collaborate to generate alternative visions of water quality governance. This study attempted to understand water quality governance by laying down an integrated picture of the governance process of two governance approaches. To understand the performance of each of these approaches, I employed an analytical framework informed by the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework. This study is conducted in two phases – in the first phase I attempted to understand the bureaucratic hierarchy approach of water quality governance in India by laying down an integrated picture of the institutional structure and examining the same through the analytical framework. The effectiveness of the institutional structure can be determined by examining its respective components – policies, laws, and institutions through a legal and institutional framework. The findings of this analysis indicate that the bureaucratic hierarchy approach prioritizes the accomplishment of organization-specific objectives and targets within sectoral silos. Additionally, the research highlighted that the structural inadequacies, such as capacity, independence, and transparency, have severely undermined the accountability mechanisms, emphasizing the need for institutional strengthening of organizations involved in water quality governance. The differential capacities and capabilities of local, regional, and national organizations predispose water quality governance to be the prerogative of the national government. I show how this along with scalar mismatch and a reluctance of the central government to cede power to local governments, directly leads to water quality decline. An alternative approach to enhance water quality governance is a network governance approach to address the limitations of the bureaucratic hierarchy approach. In the second phase of my research, I explore a bottom-up approach by investigating a specific initiative - the Canal Rejuvenation Project (CRP) in Alleppey. This project was initiated by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2017 in collaboration with the Kerala Institute of Local Governance and Alleppey Municipality. The study examines the various activities undertaken as part of the project, including the drivers and challenges of the two primary activities and the strategies employed for these activities. Although the Canal Rejuvenation Project activities achieved some degree of success, it was discovered that the network mode of governance was plagued by the inability to secure the support of political players, ultimately resulting in the failure of many of the activities and excessive delays due to institutional inertia. Additionally, the high cost associated with actors' transactions and relationships highlighted the need for thorough attention to process design and management, particularly in the realm of network management. Interestingly, as the state was involved, the issues that were observed in bureaucratic hierarchy (such as bureaucrats working in silos, unfamiliarity with updated knowledge systems) were also replicated in this context. The findings from this work explain how the network governance project, with relatively little political power, skilfully used scientific knowledge and contextual translation of it to gain power and leveraged it to influence the actions of more powerful political players. While the CRP does reconfigure the relationships between different actors, it is still entrenched in the dominant power relations. In the midst of facing organizational challenges such as the temporality and sustainability of the organization, the CRP had to employ various tactics to negotiate their demands with the powerful elite. This was especially challenging in the sociopolitical context of Kerala, which is defined by patriarchal patron-client relations and asymmetric social relationships. My work is an empirical account that contrasts the complementary governance role that was initially envisaged for the network governance approach of CRP with the challenges such an arrangement faces in the regional context of a small town in Kerala.