Case study on sustainable development project in india
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Along with being a basic human need, water is also a basic constituent for the survival of eco-systems of which people and their cultures are important components. The water resources distribution in India, predominantly an agrarian economy, is highly asymmetric and has been accompanied by severe decline in per-capita water availability during the past 50 years, with agriculture being the maximum water user, leading to over-exploitation of ground water and steadily depleting water tables along with a heavy energy bill. Gujarat State falls in a water stressed zone of the country and is also the victim of intra-state asymmetric water availability leading to an unwanted socio-economic disparity, with the following results: a poor literacy rate in water-deficit districts; concentration of industry and housing in regions with better water resources endowment; and demographic change, e.g. the shift of the prime workforce from drought-prone districts to water-surplus districts. This in turn denies the right to life, development, health, food, education and work for these migrant communities. To ensure a balanced development when there is less than one acre per capita of cultivable landholding and over 14 000 villages out of 18 563 are suffering from water scarcity, there is no other alternative but to transfer water from surplus to scarce areas of the state. This paper aims to raise some critical questions on water issues, food security, energy viability, rights of people, and most importantly, water security in the context of sustainable development.