Mr. Rohit Kumar Prince will present his pre-synopsis as per the details below:
Date: 9th December 2025
Time: 1600 - 1800 hrs.
Venue: CTARA Conference Room No.1
Title: Beyond Targets and Tap Water Infrastructure: Sustainability and Equity in Rural Water Governance in Bihar
Supervisor: Prof. NC Narayanan
Co-supervisor: Prof. Parmeshwar D. Udmale
RPC Members: Prof. Subodh Wagle and Prof. D. Parthasarathy
Abstract:
This study analyses rural drinking water governance in Bihar, India, using a hydrosocial approach to examine the interactions between water infrastructure, institutional arrangements, and social power relations. The research investigates how global trends toward decentralization and participatory management have been adapted within India’s rural water sector, with a specific attention to sustainability and equity issues.
The empirical context of the study focuses on Bihar, which launched the Har Ghar Nal ka Jal (piped water to all households) programme in 2016, three years before the national Jal Jeevan Mission. Unlike most Indian states that adopted decentralized delivery models, Bihar exercised state autonomy by retaining centralized engineering control through its expanded Public Health Engineering Department.
The research applies two complementary analytical frameworks. The FIETS (Financial, Institutional, Environmental, Technical, Social) framework evaluates sustainability across fiscal viability, administrative capacity, water source, infrastructure functionality, and community participation. The hydrosocial territories framework examines how infrastructure decisions, operational protocols, and access rules produce spatial patterns of inclusion and exclusion shaped by existing social hierarchies.
Methodologically, the study operates at three scales: (1) national-level analysis of the Jal Jeevan Mission dashboard data, examining coverage metrics, water quality parameters, and functional status indicators; (2) state-level investigation of Bihar’s policy choices, budgetary allocations, procurement processes, and engineering practices; and (3) ward-level fieldwork documenting scheme location decisions, household connection distribution, breakdown response patterns, and operation and maintenance arrangements. This multi-level design reveals how national performance targets interact with state bureaucratic routines and local power structures to produce systematic governance outcomes.
Key findings show high household tap installation rates coexisting with inconsistent service delivery, inadequate operation and maintenance systems, and socially differentiated access. Infrastructure placement, connection decisions, and repair prioritization function as mechanisms of territorial control that reinforce existing social stratification rather than disrupting it. The study demonstrates that addressing rural water service failures requires restructuring accountability mechanisms and institutional arrangements, not merely improving technical designs.