Mr. Rohit Kumar Prince will present his APS as per the details below:

Date: Tuesday, 30th September 2025

Time: 1400 - 1530 hrs.

Venue: Conference Room No.1

Title: Rural Drinking Water Governance: An assessment of macro issues and micro manifestations in Bihar

Supervisor: Prof. N C Narayanan

Co-supervisor: Prof. Parmeshwar D. Udmale

RPC Members: Prof. Subodh Wagle and Prof. D. Parthasarathy

Abstract:

This study is based on rural drinking water governance reforms and their manifestation in the sub-national context of Bihar, India. Providing rural drinking water supply (RDWS) to all households has emerged as a Sisyphean task in India. Major shifts in approaches have happened in the RDWS sector since the 1970s, for instance, from supply-driven to demand-driven approaches, largely influenced by multilateral agencies through a variety of strategies such as decentralisation and community participation. With the emphasis on decentralisation and power to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), community-based RDWS programs were also promoted across different states. The two trends came together in the late 1990s and continue to shape the ongoing national Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to provide universal coverage of functional household tap connections to all rural households. A major challenge that surfaced in all such programs in the past two decades is not only their implementation but also poor sustainability and equity.

Prior to JJM, the Government of Bihar had launched the Har Ghar Nal ka Jal program in 2016 for universal coverage of households through tap water supply connections. This study explores the changing role of the state in water service provision and argues that water reforms in Bihar are a product of global sectoral reforms, decentralisation and the socio-political scenario that led to the politics of social justice in the state. The availability of funds with PRIs provided a financial autonomy to the state to plan and implement its own water supply program, which was later reflected in a change in centre-state relations in the water sector. While the program has achieved huge coverage due to new governance arrangements, it has eventually been dominated by engineers with increased technocratic control and reduced community involvement. The study further takes a hydrosocial territory approach to explore the sustainability and equity challenges emerging out of new governance arrangements. It first provides the interests of different stakeholders at the scheme level based on stakeholder analysis. The study also found that politics at the scheme level has led to the exclusion of certain communities, the decentralisation efforts have been overshadowed by technocratic centralisation, and the service delivery remains a distant dream for many.