why is provision of easy access to clean water, a challenging task for the government in a large country like India.
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India's water crisis is often attributed to lack of government planning, increased corporate privatization, industrial and human waste and government corruption. In addition, water scarcity in India is expected to worsen as the overall population is expected to increase to 1.6 billion by year 2050.
Answer:
India has long faced the challenge of providing safe drinking water to over 700 million people in more than 1.5 million villages. In 1972, the government began to improve rural water supply, and in the mid-1980s the issue was declared a national priority. As a result, by 2011, 95 percent of India’s rural population had access to some form of water supply infrastructure. In practice however many systems were no longer functional. The key issue was that systems were designed and constructed by state engineering agencies with little participation from local communities. People lacked a sense of ownership, and maintenance was neglected. Consumers also treated water as a right to be provided free-of-cost by the government, making systems financially unsustainable. Moreover, a growing population led to the mounting demand for water, with the result that water tables were falling and many water sources were shrinking or drying up altogether. At the same time, rural households had begun to demand higher levels of service. While in the 1990s, rural communities were satisfied with village wells and hand pumps, many now sought piped household connections.
In response to the government’s efforts to test various reform options, four generations of Bank projects have pioneered new models of service delivery. Projects spanning ten states have built on lessons learnt from earlier ones, with the experience gained helping shape the government’s national strategy for the sector.
First generation projects: Between 1991 and 1996, IDA projects sought to shift the responsibility of rural water supply schemes from government institutions to local communities. Communities could now choose the systems they wanted and were willing to pay for. They then planned, procured, constructed, and managed their own water supply systems. For the first time, NGOs and private sector consultants were used to support rural communities. These projects were the forerunners of reform in the sector.
Second generation projects: In the 2000s, projects sought to ensure the long-term sustainability of systems by strengthening local ownership. Communities and local governments were to pay a part of the capital costs in cash or kind, and meet O&M expenses in full. Government agencies were to become facilitators and focus on policy formulation, and monitoring & evaluation. Since this was the first time that village governments were managing large and complex activities, the challenge was to build their capacity on all fronts. Government agencies too were new at playing the role of facilitator.
Third generation projects: From 2005 onwards, projects took a programmatic approach where a common framework was adopted for planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation across the State, irrespective of the source of funding or the implementing agency. Important linkages were introduced between village water and sanitation committees, local governments, and state technical agencies to provide long-term technical, financial and political support for community efforts.
Fourth generation projects: More recently, projects have adopted a results based approach that emphasizes outcomes by linking financing to the achievement of key indicators, and strengthens state governments’ capacity in implementation. The decentralization model is now being scaled up in four low-income states – Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh - through a national level project.