Ms. Sruthi Pillai will present her APS as per the detail:

Date: 11th October 2022

Time: 1545 -1715 hrs.

Venue: CTARA Conference Room No.1

Topic: Co-production for sanitation - Navigating participatory and environmental governance approaches to address water pollution

Guide: Prof. N C Narayanan

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

Abstract

Water pollution is a ubiquitous phenomenon which is endangering the 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. This points towards the inability of the command and control mode of regulatory environmental governance in controlling pollution in the country. Further limited institutional capacity and finances have led to several small towns struggling to deliver services which can limit and address the problem of pollution. To address this problem, it is important to undertake a transdisciplinary approach wherein researchers from multiple disciplines collaborate with each other as well as stakeholders from the state and civil society to address problems which emerge in real world scenarios. This study looks at the role of one such transdisciplinary project –  Canalpy in addressing the problem of water pollution in a small town in the southern state of Kerala in India – Alappuzha.

Previous APSs have reviewed the command and control mode of environmental governance architecture for water pollution summarising the policy, legal and institutional frameworks. This APS revisits these findings from the lens of transparency, accountability, and participation by conducting a legal and institutional analysis of the institutional structure. My findings illustrate how structural weakness associated with capacity, independence, and transparency has led to extremely deficient accountability mechanisms and indicates a need to focus on institutional strengthening of organizations involved in water quality governance. It also analyses a solid waste management initiative through the lens of co-production. Through this study, I illustrate the strategies employed by CANALPY, a citizen initiative to induce service coproduction, especially working with the local governance with the role of various actors, their roles in coproduction, and the power dynamics between them.

Event Date: 
Tuesday, October 11, 2022 - 15:45 to 17:15