Reconceptualisation of Everyday Practices in the wider social-ecological system of the PUI

Reconceptualisation of Everyday Practices in the wider social-ecological system of the peri-urban interface: A case of Gurgaon Madhulikaa Abhineshababu Sridevi FLXP5

Reconceptualisation of Everyday Practices in the wider social-ecological system of the peri-urban interface: A case of Gurgaon A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the MSc Building and Urban Design in Development

Author: Madhulikaa Abhineshababu Sridevi Candidate number: FLXP5 The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London

Word count: 10,850 Submission date: 15th September 2020

Abstract

This dissertation aims to investigate different connotations of everyday practices for the users as wells as the environment in the peri-urban interface by re-evaluating them through the combined frameworks of cultural ecology, feminist political ecology and intersectionality embedded within the social-ecological systems framework.

Through the analysis of the everyday practices of wastewater utilisation for agriculture in the case study of Budhera and Badsa – two villages in the PUI of Gurgaon – it is argued that situating the everyday practices in the larger social-ecological system has enabled the understanding of the embedded implications of the same. It is found that though the everyday practices facilitate wastewater use, agricultural wages and gendered roles seen in the case of freshwater agriculture are reproduced in wastewater agriculture as well. While the social-ecological systems framework was useful in identifying variables important to the wastewater utilisation, cultural ecology in tandem with feminist political ecology and intersectionality enable the unpacking of multiple layers of power hierarchy engrained in the social-ecological system. Hence, the analysis of everyday practice needs to go beyond resource access in this case to assess other factors like working condition of farmers, gendered roles, impact on the ecology.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to DPU, Bartlett, UCL for giving me this wonderful opportunity of pursuing my masters degree in Building and Urban Design Development. I am deeply indebted to my dissertation supervisor Prof. Adriana Allen for her constant support, encouragement and timely guidance. Her valuable feedback helped shape my thought processes and was crucial in bringing the dissertation to its current form.

Thank you, BUDD staff -Dr.Catalina Ortiz, Dr.Giovanna Astolfo, Prof. Camilo Boano, Dr.Giorgio Talocci and GTAs Ms.Azadeh Mashayeki and Ms.El Anoud Majali -and my classmates for making my time, albeit a short one, at the BUDD studio an enriching and unforgettable one. Thank you once again for making the in-person to online class transition seamless and enjoyable. I am happy that we were able to triumph over COVID-19 in this regard and did not let it rob us of a fruitful learning experience!

I am indebted to research scholars Dr. Sumit Vij, Mr. Adithya Singh and Dr. Vishal Narain for taking time to answer my questions regarding the gender-caste-environment nexus in the chosen case study area.

I would not be the person I am today, if not for the values instilled in me by my schoolteachers. I take this opportunity to thank them profusely! I would like to express my gratitude to my undergraduate college and professors. I would not have been able to embark on this journey of discovering and falling in love with urbanism without the exposure and guidance provided by my undergraduate college and my wonderful professors- thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I have always considered myself to be extremely lucky to be a part of a very loving, supportive and amazing family. I am grateful to my parents, grandparents, cousins and extended family- a special shoutout to my family in the UK - for showering unconditional love and support at all times! Heartfelt thanks is due to all my friends, from school, architecture college and the new friends I made in London for extending their support whenever I needed it.

Above all, I thank God for the strength to pursue this dissertation.

Contents

List of figures, maps and Abbreviations

1. Introduction ......................................................... 6 1.1 PUI and the “everyday practices” ........................ 6 11.2 Dissertation structure, Methodology and Limitations ......................................................... 7 1.3 Brief Outline of the case study ............................ 7 2. Theoretical and Analytical framework .....................9 2.1 Social-Ecological Systems and the PUI ...............9 2.2 The idea of ‘culture’ in CE ............................... 11 2.3 The convergence of CE and FPE - a desideratum ..12 3. Uncertainity of water resources in the PUI of Gurgaon - A contextual analysis ...........................15 4. Everyday practices - Governance systems of wastewater ................................................................21 4.1 Budhera ............................................................21 4.2 Badsa ...............................................................24 4.3 Inferences from the interactions(I) and outcomes(O) in the wastewater SES discussion: ........................................................26

5. Conclusionary Remarks ......................................29 5.1 Reflections on future research scope .................30 References ..............................................................31

Appendix 1 - Interviews ..........................................35 Appendix 2 - The privatisation of Gurgaon ................40 Appendix 3 - Table showing the factors hypothesized to affect irrigation system management ...................42

List of Figures Fig 1: Conceptual model of a SES .............................10 Fig. 2: Graphic representing the overall changes in the agricultural SES of Gurgaon ...............................16 Fig. 3: Graphic representing the SES of Gurgaon and the relationships between them ................................18 Fig 4: A wastewater johad in Badsa ...........................24 Fig 5: Wastewater runnel in Badsa ...........................25

List of Maps Map 1: Location of Budhera and Badsa .........................8 Map 2: Map showing the overall layout of villages, canals, STPs and WTPs in the PUI of Gurgaon ..............17 Map 3: Map showing the overall layout of villages, canals, STPs and WTPs in the PUI of Gurgaon ..............22 Map 4: Map showing the layout of different households in Budhera ..................................................................23

Abbreviations CE – Cultural Ecology ECO – Related Ecosystem FPE – Feminist Political Ecology GS – Governance systems GJC – Gurgaon-Jhajjar Canal GWS – Gurgaon Freshwater Supply HUDA – Haryana Urban Development Authority I – Interactions IMT – Industrial Model Township INR – Indian Rupee Km – Kilometer NCR – National Capital Region O – Outcomes PE – Political Ecology PHED – Public Health and Engineering Department PUI – Peri-Urban Interface RS – Resource system RU – Resource Unit S – Social-economic-political setting SES – Social-Ecological System SESF - Social-Ecological System Framework STP – Sewage Treatment Plant U – Users WTP – Water Treatment Plant

1. Introduction

1.1 PUI and the “everyday practices”: As the line between urban and rural spaces blurs and their functions are increasingly interacting with each other, uncertainty in the peri-urban interface(PUI) has become a common occurrence among the peri-urban poor (Allen et al., 2016) and manifests itself in various sectors, most common being a scenario of “governance vacuum”, leading to emergence of adaptive mechanisms taken up by the peri-urban poor to sustain themselves. “Needs-based” practices often imply individual or collective action initiated by the users of the resource towards procuring and using it – arising from a lack of governmental policies and/or infrastructure to satisfy their basic requirements and as a result, everyday practices have become the norm in many cases (Allen et al., 2016). At the same time, Singh and Narain (2020) state that everyday practices can act as mechanisms of governance in the PUI that enable resource utilisation outside the statutory realm and stress on the need to recognise these practices before claiming a situation of governance vacuum.

At this point it becomes critical to go beyond the façade of effectiveness and investigate these everyday practices formulated by the peri-urban community members to analyse the possibility of (re)production of injustices towards actors and the environment and (re)assess the roles of the stakeholders. Jooshi and Moore (2004) state that questioning of the effectiveness and acceptability of everyday practices should be encouraged in order to gain a holistic understanding of their working. Echoing this Faldi et al., (2019) suggest that everyday practices shouldn’t blindly be hailed as the apt solution that will overcome all state and market failures. The probability of management conflicts, exclusion and discrimination of certain groups in the process of everyday practice must be acknowledged and examined. In certain cases, these modes of mutual helping can reshape power asymmetries (Joshi and Moore, 2004; Mitlin, 2008; Narain, 2017) and therefore necessitates the (re)examination of the larger hydro-socio political dynamics. Since everyday practices are rooted in the livelihoods and quotidian routine of its users, social and cultural factors can be key in understanding the drivers behind them. Through their research, 6

Faldi et al., (2019) conclude that an all-encompassing detailed analytical framework accentuates interlaced elements of the everyday practice that may be unnoticed when observing the practice from a specific perspective. With due acknowledgement to previous research that is successful in establishing the undeniable importance of the emerging everyday practices in the PUI (see Allen et al., 2016; Vij et al., 2019; Narain, 2015; Mukherjee, 2020; Button, 2016; Pilo’, 2016), this dissertation aims to reconceptualise everyday practices in the PUI by placing it in a wider, comprehensive analytical framework to understand its holistic implications on stakeholders as well as the larger SES it is practiced in. Therefore, the possibility of multiple meanings of everyday practices apart from its function as a governance system or satisfying the function/requirement they have been formulated for will be explored. This understanding will be crucial to determine the sustainability of the SES itself and also the effectiveness of any future policy or development program formulations by government or international bodies around the everyday practice.

This dissertation’s focus pivots around the investigation of the above statement by using instances of everyday practices of wastewater resource utilisation by farmers in the PUI of Gurgaon (now known as Gurugram), India through the chosen frameworks: cultural ecology(CE) in tandem with a feminist political ecology(FPE) and intersectionality framework embedded in the social-ecological systems framework(SESF) – as elaborated in chapter 2. In essence, these modes of cooperation formulated by the peri-urban farmers in the form of everyday practices is an attempt to manage the resource efficiently due to the deteriorating choice and changing flows of water sources in the PUI. While Chapter 3 outlines and dissects the wider themes in the SES and identifies suitable variables from the SESF by employing the chosen analytical framework, Chapter 4 applies these variables in the critical analysis of the everyday practices in the PUI of Gurgaon.

Chapter 5 will put-forth the concluding remarks and outline further research scope.

1.2 Dissertation Methodology and Limitations: This analysis will be centred upon a case study approach using existing research studies and secondary data available to analyse the research focus through the framework outlined in Chapter 2. Interviews were also conducted over a phone call with three researchers and faculty, Dr. Sumit Vij, Mr. Aditya K. Singh and Dr. Vishal Narain (see Annexure 1), who have extensively worked on water governance, climate change impacts and gender relations amongst many others in the PUI of Gurgaon, to better understand the nuances of on-ground realities. However , relying majorly on secondary data and phone interviews to understand the power asymmetries and gender-caste-environment nexus means to acknowledge that the data could be influenced by the positionality of the researcher (Castán Broto and Neves Alves, 2018). Though interviews were conducted in the hope of alleviating such presumptions, it cannot be entirely avoided. Thus, it is necessary to be reflective while analysing the data. The lack of primary data due to fieldwork limits exploration of latent dynamics in wastewater resource appropriation as argued by May (2015).

1.3 Brief outline of the case study: The PUI of Gurgaon located in the Indian state of Haryana, is an intriguing case study where the relatively recent use of wastewater in agriculture facilitated by different adaptation strategies of the peri-urban farmers in the form of everyday practices, has resulted from uncertainty of the 7

Jhajjir

New Delhi

Haryana

Map 1: Location of

Gurgaon Faridabad Haryana

Rewari Haryana

India Haryana

Budhera and Badsa Source: Author’s own

Mewat Haryana

Delhi-Haryana state boundary Gurgaon District Gurgaon Block Haryana Budhera Badsa Gurgaon city

availability of water resources for irrigation and agriculture. Mutual cooperation methods acting as potential forms of governance are able to permit the use of wastewater and help facilitate the livelihoods of peri-urban farmers. Budhera and Badsa (see Map 1), two peri-urban villages, are chosen since wastewater agriculture is largely prevalent here and facilitated by everyday practices. Though Badsa does not technically lie within the Gurgaon district, it has been largely affected by water infrastructure construction meant to satisfy the needs of the residents of Gurgaon as elaborated in chapter 3. The aim to is not view both villages in a comparative fashion for their cases to contribute to the research focus as a whole. Though the use of wastewater is widespread, the peri-urban farmers of Gurgaon don’t consume the produce themselves (Narin, 2017; Vij et al., 2019). The dynamics of wastewater users and their practices when placed in the larger SES, seem to have layered implications on the actors as well as the environment as investigated in Chapters 3 and 4.

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2. Theoretical and Analytical framework

This chapter outlines the concept of social-ecological systems framework(SESF) and aims to add layers of cultural ecology(CE) and feminist political ecology(FPE) in order to make the SESF interdisciplinary and enable a comprehensive, critical analysis. The SESF is used as a guideline to identity variables that will be instrumental to re-problematise everyday practices of wastewater use in the PUI of Gurgaon. Chapter 2 is structured to start with an introduction to the SES and re-examines the research questions to find suitable variables to analyse the case study.

This chapter aims to define the term ‘culture’ in CE and argue that its intersection with FPE and intersectionality will provide for a transdisciplinary and comprehensive analysis of SES in the PUI. This dissertation aims to add to the diversity of existing interdisciplinary SESF literature by using the CE framework along with FPE and intersectionality analytical structure in the peri-urban context.

2.1 Social-Ecological Systems and the PUI: A social-ecological system(SES) is one where the ecological system is integrated with the social system(s) and defined by their relationship with each other (see Figure 2) (Berkes, 2017; Anderies et al., 2004).The SESF developed by Ostrom (2007, 2009) provides a multi-disciplinary platform to investigate the interactions between the social landscape and the bio-physical variables to navigate relationships between people and resources in the SES. Structed using first-tier and second-tier variables, the SESF provides scope for defining third-tier variables specific to the case at hand, thereby situating the framework into the context of the case study. The process of situating will rule out the probability of arriving at a universal solution while conceding that issues in SES rarely arise due to a single cause (Ostrom, 2007). The analysis of the relationships at various spatial and temporal levels enables comprehension of the whole complex, adaptive system through dissection of multiple variables at the broader as well as the specific levels (Ostrom, 2009). The SESF therefore encompasses the actors-flows-areas relationship (see Faldi et al., 2019) and particular facets relevant to the case study can be defined as third-tier 9

External forces on social actors

Fig 1: Conceptual model of a SES

B

External forces on resource & infrastructure

Resource Bet

wee

n pu b and lic inf reso rastr urce uctu re

D

Public Infrastructure

Source: (Anderies, Janssen and Ostrom, 2004)

Betw publ een use r ic in fra s and prov structu re iders

Between resource users and public infrastructure

A

Resource Users

e ctur stru nfra mics lic i pub e dyna ee n rc Betw d resou an

d e an ourc s e r een sers Betw source u re

C

Public Infrastructure Providers

ture struc infra infrac i l pub public een d Betw iders an ture v pro struc

External forces on social actors

External forces on resource & infrastructure

variables under the second-tier variables. Hileman et al. (2016), observe that while the SESF does not present a unique set of variables to study SESs, it provides a synthesised and finegrained approach that allow “for many different combinations of variables and pathways to conflict.” Although many frameworks explore the relationships within the SESs, Partelow (2018) and Binder et al. (2013), argue that the SESF is the most comprehensive one and handles social and ecological systems in equal profundity. The SESF is used as a tool in this dissertation to lay out the probable nodes of interactions to make the analysis of the wastewater SES a comprehensive and through one, moving beyond initial SESF works highlighting just “resourse users, incongruence between individual and collective rationality and the problem of maintaining cooperation” and towards an assessment of interactions that affect long-term robustness (Sandler, 1992; Udehn, 1993; Ostrom et al., 1994 in: Anderies et al., 2004).Hoque, Quinn and Sallu (2017) enunciate that an interdisciplinary outlook in SESF can prove useful to study the complexities of the human-environment interactions and processes and help in the synthesis of a grounded analysis which can be useful to point out power hierarchies that may not necessarily “fit within the boxes and arrows of the system model”. However, they also caution against the use of “social theories as addendums to ecological frameworks” as it can be ineffective and unproductive.

At this point dissecting the research questions(see chapter 1) will enable the identification of important variables to be considered while assessing impacts of wastewater systems on the relationships prevalent in the SES. To be able to examine the politics of collective action that constitutes everyday practices, it is essential to first identify the systems and the stakeholders involved in the process and the multiple identities that may be associated with them(gender, caste, political position) which may affect the process of the usage of wastewater. A combined lens of CE, FPE and intersectionality(in section 2.3) will be useful to further identify and problematise this. Drawing on the SESF’s terminology proposed by Ostrom (2007, 2009), the broad SES in consideration in terms of first-tier variables would translate to: wastewater irrigation systems as the resource system(RS) with wastewater being the mobile resource unit(RU). Additionally, the farmers would be the broad category under which the users(U) can be defined who use the RU to achieve the desired outcome(O) through agriculture. The interactions(I) that take place between the different users/user-groups to achieve the desired outcomes(O) are interceded by everyday practices of the users which can be considered as governance systems(GS) in Ostrom’s(2007)

1

Meinzen-Dick et al.(2002) define collective action as one that can “take place through an organisation, around informal social groups or as a result of spontaneous response to critical events.”

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SESF terminology.

2

Social and political organisations, technology and storage techniques, settlement models are all constituent of cultural mechanism (Sutton and Anderson, 2009)

The next step would be to place these actors in the wider SES and situate their practices into the larger socio-economic and political setting(S) – the PUI of Gurgaon, to be able to go beyond implications of relationships between users and resource alone. Being the place where urban and rural functions interact and coexist, the PUI is home to “unique socio-ecological transitional spaces” (Nagendra and Ostrom, 2014). Fragmentation is widely prevalent in the PUI; manifestation of this phenomenon can be seen in social, economic, governance and even transportation sectors (see Cowan, 2015; Narain, 2017 for fragmentation in the PUI of Gurgaon). Hence, uncertainty is a common theme in the PUI’s resources, evolving land use patterns and institutional framework which can be a stimulus to inspire or threaten the environment and/or adaptability of cultural mechanisms(as mentioned in the following section). In such an unpredictable scenario, ecological problems are exacerbated due to legal pluralism and incompetent planning/ governance structure(s). Access to resources, peri-urban commons, framing practices, farmers’ livelihoods are heavily compromised due to rapid urbanisation and power hierarchy trajectories.

In certain cases, as inferred by Ostrom (2009) from the analysis of case studies presented by Wilson and Thompson (1993) and Mwangi (2007) addressing pastoral systems in Mexico and Africa respectively, organisation of stakeholders at larger scales helped increase overall predictability in prevailing scenario of property rights uncertainty at small/individual levels. As a part of this complex web, peri-urban agriculture is trying to stay afloat while avoiding predatory urbanisation trajectories. This is where the SESF proves useful in decoding complex relationships and consequently benefiting from the CE framework by assessing the inherent cultural mechanisms.

Concurrently while creating a situation of ambiguity, the PUI’s continuous state of transition provides opportunities for better institutional governance. Nagendra and Ostrom (2014) in their analysis of urban lakes in Bangalore, argue that the state of partial development of the PUI provides an opportunity to enhance participation of the local stakeholders in matters of governance and conservation that ultimately contribute to an environmentally just space. Chapter 3 details out the wider SES in the villages of Budhera and Badsa and simultaneously defines the second and third-tier variables in the SESF determined as important to the dissertation in relation to the research questions and analysis of existing applications of SESF in the case of water, irrigation systems and agriculture.

2.2 The idea of ‘culture’ in CE: The idea of ‘culture ecology’ (CE) in social science has been explored broadly within the fields of anthropology and geography to critically examine the complex relationships between people, culture, society and their environment as a tool to comprehend environmental problems; thereby resulting in multiple connotations in response to changing “critical concerns” in a SES (Mathewson, 2006; Sutton and Anderson, 2009). The nature-culture core deals with a plethora of concerns, out of which the narrative of everyday practices and natural resource management will be the broad focus of this dissertation. Though the idea of culture can be both empirical and non-empirical, the materiality of culture will be the fulcrum of this paper. Therefore ‘cultural practices’ will be explored as opposed to cultural beliefs in its cognitive form. The credibility of culture (in any form – pre/post manifestation as knowledge) is not in question here; rather culture as a mechanism is assessed in association with FPE and intersectionality whose combined benefits are elaborated in the next section.

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Assessing the relationship between culture and reality is crucial as the former is said to “construct or model” the latter. Culture helps us decode the motive behind the everyday environmental practices – which could vary from economic, religious and societal implications – and stray away from “mechanistic explanations” that fail to accommodate the human factor (Ellen 1982 pp.233-4 in: Milton, 1996). Social capital is found to be a strong motivator in natural resource management – especially in the case of commons – where social norms form the basis for collective/individual action constituting everyday practices. Social norms can be a result of cultural or social standing, relationship between actors or “a consideration within a social group” that in turn mobilises everyday practices. At times social capital is found to possess transformative capacity that enables efficient management of resources but not always without implications of power asymmetries (Narain et al., 2019). Milton (1996) further states that the motive behind the everyday practices, is a blend of perceptions and interpretation of culture within the diverse environments of the SES it is exercised in. Therefore, it is difficult to term this motive as being entirely ‘good’ or ‘bad’. In turn, culture situates humans in the ‘real’ world; positioning itself as a salient feature of the human-ecology connections in the SES. For this practice of situating to be successful, it is important to acknowledge culture not in its static, universalistic meaning but rather in the idea of cultural perspectives that portray multiple outlooks which have been acknowledged to have adaptability mechanisms (Milton, 1996). Thus, it’s possible to look past the myth that culture has to be centuries old and helps in the analyses of emerging practices as well. Adaptive mechanisms of culture can be a result of either empirical (e.g. physical modification) or non-empirical (e.g. social/religious beliefs/faiths) procedures (Sutton and Anderson, 2009) or an amalgamation of the two. However, culture must be not be romanticised since it may be maladaptive towards the habitat in certain instances, especially when there are a lot of unknowns. Adaptive mechanisms of culture can result in refined organisation of economic, social and political systems or technology. Husted’s (2005) study on the impact of cultural variables on environmental sustainability stated that “sensitivity towards cultural variables will allow for more finely tuned economic, business and educational policies instead of the typical ‘onesize-fits-all’ approach.” The SESF variables outlined in section 2.1 and in Chapter 3 can take advantage of the concept of culture outlined in this section to make the analysis multi-layered.

But to understand the driving forces behind them, political ecology is necessary as elaborated in the following section.

2.3 The convergence of CE and FPE – a desideratum “…cultural ecology focused on how landscapes changed, not why.” (Graddy, 2013) Independently, the CE framework is excellent to measure the operation of the social structure of systems – as elucidated in the previous section – but to delve into the depths of the ‘whys’ of functioning, a PE lens is required. Broadly, the PE framework uses the lenses of politics and ecology to go beyond the dichotomy of nature and society in order to decode the complex, dynamic process of urbanisation (Heynen, et al., 2006). PE brings to the forefront power dynamics ingrained in the environment to present a nuanced understanding of “how perceptions and constructions of nature and politics actively shape material reality” (Goldman and Schurman, 2000).

The nexus of PE and CE help contextualising community-level practises in the larger political and economic milieu in the SES in a manner that is both intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary (Zimmerer, 2007); diversifying the early CE that was apolitical by definition (Mukherjee, 2020).

The necessity of this nexus has been prompted by the increasingly urgent need to situate and 12

understand problems broadly categorised as ‘environmental’ (Zimmerer, 2007). Vij et al., (2018) articulate that utilising the PE framework in cooperation studies allows for its profound comprehension in the PUI context and can be useful to explore “the frontiers for the co-existence of urban, peri-urban and rural social groups.”

However, in this dissertation, FPE in association with an intersectionality lens as opposed to PE is considered a better fit. FPE is particularly attentive to the functioning of gendered roles in power relations to assess impact of cultural mechanisms on daily socio-ecological habits at various levels. In other words, FPE adds a gender dimension to the PE framework and hence is an apt fit to analyse socio-cultural implications of stakeholder roles in everyday practices (Elmhirst, R., 2011). FPE also helps provide a clearer understanding of the identities impacted by cultural perspectives and/or identities associated with implementation of certain practices. The acknowledgment of culture’s adaptive nature through the CE lens – as explained in section 2.2 – can help go beyond the notion of gendered labour and unequal access to resources as merely “cultural givens” to “socially produced relations that are shaped in the domain of nature through cultural praxis, discourses and politics in locally distinct ways” (Gururani, 2002).

A deeper scale of analysis at the community and household level is facilitated by the FPE framework thereby highlighting deeper roots of cultural mechanisms. For example: Truelove (2011) incorporated a multiscalar approach by assessing the relationship between social identities and the city through her FPE analysis of water injustices in the PUI of Delhi. Papers have used the FPE lens to analyse role of women in urban agrarian systems. While Hovorka (2006) highlights renegotiation of women’s marginalised positionality in Botswana due to their changing roles in urban agriculture; Kasanga et al., (2019) illustrate the impact of mechanisation on culturally differentiated gendered labour distribution in Northern Ghana where mechanical innovations mostly cater towards men’s roles on the agriculture field. Disruption of this equation was found difficult due to prevalence of “strict culturally constructed gendered norms” (Kasanga et al., 2019). It is necessary to take into consideration that while the former example is situated in an urban setting, the latter is in a rural setting which has completely different implications in terms of overall socio-economic and political setting(S) from the PUI of Gurgaon.

In recent years, FPE has expanded to include intersectionality into its framework to be able to explore power asymmetries beyond the binary gender definitions within complex social structures to understand multiple socio-environmental subjectivities at the intersection of social labels like class, caste, race and others imbedded in the cultural landscape (Loftus, 2019; Sundberg, 2017) in the changing urban/peri-urban contexts. In a similar vein, Thara (2016) superimposes roles of caste, class, race and legal status on fisherwomen in Udupi, India to understand the implication of these multiple identities when it comes to mobilisation for resources through various strategies and political resources and ultimately the sustenance of their livelihoods. Nightingale (2011) explores the gender-environment nexus to highlight the complexity of gender-based roles when superimposed with caste hierarchies in both materialistic and symbolic ways in the prevailing unique ecological conditions in Nepal’s community forestry and hence the gender-caste dynamism cannot be understood in isolation. Castán Broto and Neves Alves (2018) explore the application of the intersectionality lens to everyday practices to state that this combination helps researchers remain “attentive to production of new and unexpected forms of exclusion in a dynamic context.” They also emphasise on the importance of considering the “ultimate material results” of the everyday practices to be able to gain a realistic and holistic understanding of the associated dynamics of recognition, inclusion, participation. An intersectionality lens further 13

stresses on the need to place everyday practices under continuous critical (re)examination owing to constant changing or uncertain contexts like the PUI as outlined in section 2.1.

In conclusion of chapter 2: The amalgamation of the CE, FPE and intersectionality framework within the SESF will enable the unpacking of multiple socio-cultural identities and how they are comprised within everyday practices of farmers in wastewater irrigation and agriculture in the PUI of Gurgaon. While the CE framework emphasises on the concept of adaptability of culture through cultural mechanism within the SES, the possibility of a multiscalar and/or intersectionality lens within the FPE framework allows for a layered interpretation of cultural perspectives in conjunction with the environment. This in turn is useful to re-problematise everyday practices and situate them within the larger SES.  

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3. Uncertainty of water resources in the PUI of Gurgaon – A contextual analysis of the SES:

This chapter navigates the contextual analysis of the larger socio-economic and political setting(S) of the PUI of Gurgaon that encompasses the everyday practices of wastewater utilisation in order to determine suitable second-tier and third-tier variables from the SESF. The variables from Meinzen-Dick’s (2007) list of factors hypothesized to affect irrigation management are chosen after a review of relevant SESF literature (Annexure 3). The overall outcomes(O) of the wastewater SES are also outlined here with specificities of each village mentioned in Chapter 4.

The frameworks of CE, FPE and intersectionality are used simultaneously throughout within the SESF framework to enable a layered analysis. Figure 2 sums up the changes the SES of agriculture has been subjected to and the Figure 3 portrays the SESF variables considered in relation to the case study and the relationships among them.

3 Gurgaon was earlier a part of the British state of Punjab which was later partitioned into Punjab and Haryana in 1966.

4 The state of Haryana has a traditional form of water storage called johads which doubles up as a means of groundwater recharge.

The PUI of Gurgaon has undergone rapid transition in the past few decades due to unprecedented rate of urbanisation propelled by neo-liberal policies and privatisation strategies (see Gururani, 2013; Bhattacharya and Sanyal, 2011; Goldstein, 2016). The social composition of the Gurgaon district is diverse consisting of the caste groups of Pundits, Jats, Yadavs, Gujjars, Balmiks and Harijans/scheduled castes in the decreasing social hierarchy. The men belonging to caste-groups of Jats and Yadavs were major agricultural landowners while Gujjars and Balmiks were majorly engaged in livestock rearing though some men from this caste owned smaller land holdings than Jats and Yadavs (Narain et al., 2019; Gururani, 2019). Urbanisation of Gurgaon and setting up the municipality of Gurgaon in 2008 has caused multitudinous impacts on water resource and the agricultural system in both qualitative and quantitative ways, consequently affecting the agriculture system as illustrated below.

Historically during the colonial period, between 1898-1948, the political ecology of eastern British Punjab3 – where Gurgaon is located – was deemed as pastoral lands and irrigation canals were not built here as opposed to Western and Central Punjab which were extensively developed to promote agriculture of commercial crops. This eastern region of British Punjab was categorised as an area with “scanty rainfall and uncertain crops” (Thorner, 1996) and hence 15

Livestock rearing

Water source

Crops cultivated

Construction of GWS canal

Construction of GJC canal

2008-09

Construction of GWS canal

2005

1992

post 1980

Noticeable decrease in four-month rainfall pattern

2005

1992

late 1970s - 1980s

1966

Start of realestate boom

Mix of cal eff GJC fr Manes

Fig. 2: Graphic repMix of chemiresenting the overall cal effluents in changesGJCinfromtheIMT,agriculManesar tural SES of Gurgaon

Construction of GJC canal

2008-09

Water source

Green Revolution

Construction Mix of chemiStart of canal Noticeable of GJC cal effluents in realestate decrease in IMT, GJC from boom four-month Manesar rainfall pattern post 1980 2008-09

rainfall pattern

Construction of Green GWS canal Revolution

late 1970s - 1980s 2005

Noticeable Colonial decrease PE in strategies four-month

1992 1966

Start of realestate boom

post 1980 1898 - 1948

Green Revolution

late 1970s - 1980s

1898 - 1948 Crops cultivated

1966

1898 - 1948 Water source

Colonial PE strategies

Colonial PE strategies

Source: Graphic: Author’s own; information adapted from Gururani (2013,2019); Mishra and Narain (2018)

Livestock rearing

Crops cultivated

LEGEND A system of johads, open water wells and four-month monsoon

Livestock rearing

wheat - rainfal

less water-inte and fruits

Tube wells, groundwater extraction

A system of johads, open water wells and four-month monsoon Tube wells, groundwater extraction

Freshwater from canal

mustard - can

wheat - rainfall dependent

Wastewater from canal

wheat - canal

less water-intensive vegatbles A system of johads, open water and fruits wells and four-month monsoon

Livestock rearingdependent wheat - rainfall

paddy - GJC w

Freshwater from canal

mustard - canal water dependent Tube wells, groundwater extraction

Wastewater from canal

wheat - canal water dependent Freshwater from canal

Livestock rearing paddy - GJC water dependent was designed to “increase acreage of low-value food-cum-fodder cultivation”(Gururani, 2019).

Wastewater from canal Livestock rearing Therefore, to supplement their livelihood, livestock rearing was deemed necessary by farmers and over time, this region dominated in cattle sale in British Punjab by 1930s. Due to the lack of major irrigation canals, agriculture practiced in the arid Gurgaon district was heavily dependent on the freshwater from traditional system of open sweet water wells and the johads4 and the ‘chau-maas’ or four-month monsoon season for water (Vij, 2014). As a result, rain-fed crops and crops that are less water intensive were cultivated in Gurgaon. Apart from catering to water needs, johads and wells were spaces of social aggregation for men and women villagers with strong undercurrents of caste dynamism. Access to sources of freshwater are controlled by caste dynamism with certain caste groups being able to use only certain wells. This division is usually not proportionate to the population but rather serves the interests of the higher caste groups like Pundits, Jats and Yadavs. This is elaborated in context of each village in the next chapter.

In the peri-urban village of Budhera, the major crop was channa(chickpeas), along with wheat and bajra(pearl millet) (Mishra and Narain, 2018). Muskmelon(cantaloupe) was also found to be cultivated in the tibba5 lands (Vij, 2014) along with vegetables like tori(ridged gourd) and matar(peas) amongst others. The tibba lands, though a labour-intensive source of irrigation owing to their greater soil porosity, were the major irrigation source for agricultural economy till the construction of the Gurgaon freshwater supply(GWS) canal in 1992 and the National Capital Region(NCR) canal (Mishra and Narain, 2018). Before the construction of the Gurgaon-Jhajjar canal in 2005, the concept of wastewater agriculture was unknown in Gurgaon.

less water-intensive vegatbles and fruits mustard - canal water dependent wheat - canal water dependent paddy - GJC water dependent

GWS Gurgaon Water Supply PE Political ecology GJC Gurgaon-Jhajjir Canal

5

Vast stretches of high sand dunes with porous sandy soil and sweet groundwater that enabled groundwater recharge in Gurgaon were called tibba lands (Mishra and Narain, 2018).

Even before the construction of the GWS canal in 1992, Gurgaon was faced with the Intensive Agricultural Development Program, or the ‘Green Revolution’ as it was popularly known, in the year 1966 and was under severe pressure from the real-estate market from the late seventies-eighties.

The advent of the Green Revolution and the introduction of high-yielding crops, chemical fertilizers, irrigation fertilizers and modern technology did not benefit Gurgaon like other districts of Haryana that were already supported by an extensive irrigation canal system and high agricultural productivity(Gururani, 2019). Only the elite(Jats and Yadavs) were able to afford these modern interventions which additionally marginalised the lower castes like the Gujjars, Balmiks and Harijans. Further, the significant depletion of traditional water resources due to land procurement as a result of the booming real-estate market, made farmers increasingly dependent on tube wells that encouraged groundwater extraction – a method that proved expensive for marginal farmers. The traditional four-month rainfall pattern was slowly seen to disappear post 1980 and 16

Map 2: Map showing the overall layout of villages, canals, STPs and WTPs in the PUI of Gurgaon LEGEND Delhi-Haryana State boundary Freshwater Wastewater Village boundary STP - Sewage Treatment Plant WTP - Water Treatment Plant GWS NCR G-J Naala

Gurgaon Water Supply National Capital Region Canal Gurgaon-Jhajjir

Na ja

Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport

fga

De

rh D

Ha

rai

n

rya

lhi

na

Badsa Budhera GWS canal, NCR canal and G-J STP canal (Parallel)

Chandu Budhera WTP

Basai WTP See Map 3 for more detail

Ba

Dhanwapur STP

ds

ha h Na pur ala

Behrampur STP

wastewater runnel

Source: Adapted from Vij et al., (2018); Google maps

the resulting lack of rainfall in the PUI of Gurgaon further increased the need for a stable source of water (see Narain and Prakash, 2016). The rain-fed johads were slowly drying up and ultimately became filled with domestic wastewater. Indiscriminate and continuous extraction of groundwater from the nineties has now ultimately led to the increase in salinity of the groundwater making it impracticable for agriculture. Concomitantly, liberalisation of the Indian economy and onset of globalisation in the 1990s coupled with neo-liberal state policies – of the then new state of Haryana and at the national level – that invited industries to set up in Gurgaon made way for a real-estate boom and farmers were captivated to sell their land to private developers (Narain, 2017; Gururani, 2013). The close proximity to the Delhi international airport (12km) and the national capital Delhi (32km) further accelerated this unprecedented growth both in terms of land use change – from agricultural/pastoral to commercial, residential, recreational – as well as population growth (see Annexure 2). The arid lands of Gurgaon implied cheaper land value which made it all the more attractive for purchase by private developers like Delhi Land and Financing(DLF).

Moreover, in Budhera and other villages in the PUI of Gurgaon, it was profitable for farmers to sell tibbas as opposed to carrying out the labour-intensive irrigation process (Mishra and Narain, 2018). It was increasingly a common practice for farmers to move closer to city centre in search of better livelihood opportunities. During the real-estate boom, some farmers did so after selling their land(s) while others started giving out their agricultural land on tenure basis (Narain, 2017; elaborated in chapter 4).

To meet the water demands of the increasing population in the city of Gurgaon as a result of rapid urbanisation, residential townships, farmhouses, migration of people in search of jobs and opportunities, the freshwater supply canals –GWS canal, NCR canal - wastewater disposal canal Gurgaon-Jhajjar canal(GJC) several sewerage treatment plants (STP ) and water treatment plants(WTP) were constructed (see Map 2) by acquiring land from the city’s PUI which were originally agricultural lands, commons used for grazing livestock or lands containing johads. The canals constructed were not technically canals but took the form of runnels (see Figure 5) from which framers could easily procure water for agricultural and domestic requirements by 17

Resou rce Sy s

) RS ( m te RS1: Wastewater RS9: Location

RS2: Wastewater system boundary

RS4: Wastewater infrastructure

) (RU t i Un

RS4c: Pipe outlet RS5: Relative Scarcity

Us er s(

U1: Relevant users

U)

Resou rce

RS7: Supply predictibility

RS4b: Furrows

U1a: Gender-roles

RU1: Mobility

RU7: Spatial and temporal distribution of water

U6: Social capital

U2a: caste

U8: Importance of resource

) GS GS5: Operational rules GS3: Network structure

GS6: Collective-choice rules

I5: Investment in maintenance

GS8: Monitoring process

O1b: Water use efficiency O1d: Crop Yield

O2a: Flooding O2: Ecological performance O3: Externality to the system

comes(O) Out

O1: Socioeconomic performance O1a: Water distribution equity

I4: Conflicts among farmers

I6: Lobbying activities

Interactions(I )

ernance Sys Gov tem (

U2c: Land tenure

U2: Socioeconomic attributes of users

Social, Economic and Political setting(S) - PUI of Gurgaon Fig. 3: Graphic representing the SES of Gurgaon and the relationships between them.

Source: Author’s own

18

installing hand pumps, tube wells or pipe outlets. Since these three canals were dug parallel to each other, the same set of villages, consisting of Budhera and Badsa, were affected twice in terms of loss of agricultural land. The construction of a WTP in the village of Budhera, further added to the farmers’ land and livelihoods loss. The introduction of the canals in the ecological systems increased groundwater levels drastically – making immediate fields uncultivable while simultaneously facilitating greater water availability for other fields. Due to this, wheat and mustard were extensively cultivated in Budhera and Badsa to capitalise on the growing urban population and the practice of vegetable cultivation in Budhera diminished with the selling of the tibbas.

6

Third-tier variables U1a and U2a have been defined by the author.

The farmer who takes another’s land under a tenancy agreement is known as a tiller.

7

A third-tier variable under the resulting ecological performance outcome(O2) variable.

8

At this point it is crucial to note that the Gurgaon district was always known as an arid land and was never abundant in water resources. Water required for agricultural, livestock and human needs were met through the system of open wells and johads. The rapid urbanisation further exacerbated the water resource scarcity. Thus, in the case of the PUI of Gurgaon, the start of wastewater agriculture was not a linear process. The probability of the use of mobile resource unit(RU), wastewater, from the GJC and the setting up of an irrigation resource system(RS) seemed like a feasible option due to the perineal nature(RS7) of wastewater and the increasing salinity, scarcity and uncertainty of freshwater sources and the deteriorating climate pattern(ECO1). This echo’s Ostrom’s (2009) statement relating to productivity of resource system, “users need to observe some scarcity before they invest in self-organisation.” However, in this case, it is not the scarcity of the resource unit(RU) wastewater that drives the collective action, rather it is the scarcity of the freshwater resources. The management of the wastewater resource unit(RU) has largely been facilitated by farmers through “everyday practices” propelled by collective action unique to each village in the PUI of Gurgaon, which act as governance systems(GS). From the research of previous SESF studies on irrigation systems carried out by Araral (2009) and Meinzen-Dick (2007) on factors that affect farmer participation in collective action strategies around irrigation systems and the practice itself, they predominantly define them into three broad-ranging categories: “characteristics of the resource, resources users and institutional context”. Characteristics of the resource can be determined by assessing the variables scarcity of the resource(RS5), predictability of supply(RS7) (Araral, 2009). RS5 in relation to the water system in the PUI of Gurgaon has been discussed throughout this section. The perineal nature of wastewater makes third-tier variables RS7a and RS7b which categorise the resource supply as either seasonal or interannual and second-tier variable RU2 which is used to determine seasonal water availability irrelevant.

Consequently, since the source of the wastewater is a canal, the spatial distribution of the wastewater(RU7) is restricted to only agriculture lands situated in peri-urban villages which house the wastewater canal, thereby geographically restricting the use of wastewater(RS9). The second category, characteristics of resource users, calls for the variables socioeconomic attributes of users(U2), importance of the resource(U8), norms/social capital(U6) and networking strategies employed by the users which can be examined with the variables network structure(GS3), operational rules(GS5), collective choice rules(GS6), monitoring and sanctioning process(GS8) to understand each users’ roles and identities in the functioning of everyday practices. Although this section broadly defines the user as ‘farmers’ to further problematise what seems like a cohesive occurrence, third-tier variables namely U1a6 – gender, which detail gender roles in the working of the everyday-practice; U2a – caste, that deal with impacts of caste hierarchy; U2c - land tenure, that emphasises agricultural landowner-tiller7 dynamics are defined to further enrich the analysis which will be explored in the context of each village in Chapter 4. In addition to this, the Chapter 4 will also detail out the interaction dynamics – which can range from information sharing(I2), conflicts among users(I4), investments made towards maintenance(I5) and 19

lobbying activities(I6) – and socioeconomic outcomes(O1) as a result of the everyday practices.

During construction of the canal in 2005, the Jhajjar Irrigation department encouraged and permitted farmers to request for installation of pipe outlets along the canal by paying a “wastewater tax” which was later abolished as a result of lobbying activities(I6) elaborated in section 4.2. Further, the Jhajjar irrigation department in charge of this canal is only concerned about the structural integrity and maintenance of the canal and there is no active supervision or intervention towards irrigation activities (Mishra and Narain, 2018). Though treated wastewater is said to be rich in nutrients which could drastically reduce the use of fertilizers (IWMI, 2003; Raschid-Sally and Jayakody, 2009), the farmers in the PUI of Gurgaon were forced to use a lot of fertilizers due to low yields, making the input cost equivalent to that of freshwater irrigation (Mishra and Narain, 2018). One significant negative externality to the wastewater SES(O3) that ultimately affected crop yield rates was: post the construction of the GJC in 2005, for more than a year in 2008-09, chemical effluent discharge from the Industrial Model Township(IMT), Manesar located 20km from Budhera and 25km from Badsa, was allowed to be mixed in the wastewater canal without consultation or intimation to the farmers using the wastewater from this canal (Mishra and Narain, 2018). This caused irreversible damage to the soil due to the heavy chemicals from the effluents. The open nature of the runnel makes adjacent agricultural fields in Budhera and Badsa susceptible to flooding(O2a8) and consequently crop damage in case of heavy rainfall as was noticed during the field visit in 2010 by Narain(2011). Further, the increasing population in the Gurgaon municipality and the expanding city limits are mounting pressure on water distribution authorities, PHED and HUDA, to close the GJC to be able to serve as drainage canals for the municipality(Narain and Singh, 2017b). In the case of maintenance/repair of the wastewater canal, the farmers are not provided with prior information regarding its closure nor are they informed about the availability of wastewater in the canal by the Jhajjir Irrigation department (Narain and Singh, 2017b).

Yet farmers continue to use this wastewater till date as it is the only perineal source(RS5 ) of water and the limited agency they have in changing the narrative (Mishra and Narain, 2018). One of the socio-economic outcomes(O1) of this SES is an increased monocropping(O1d) practice by restricting farmers’ choice of crop to paddy and wheat. This was the second noticeable crop pattern change after the introduction of wheat and mustard post the construction of the freshwater canals. The switch from wastewater to freshwater for paddy and wheat cultivation necessitates investment in tube wells and will prove expensive for marginal farmers. It is interesting to note that farmers in the villages of Budhera and Badsa do not consume the crops grown via wastewater cultivation; they prefer freshwater produce for their own consumption.

The following chapter 4 elaborates the everyday practices and seeks to re-problematise this norm by placing it in the complex larger SES, outlined here, using the CE and FPE lens. The peri-urban villages of Budhera and Badsa are specifically chosen from the PUI of Gurgaon as the 3 canals mentioned in the discussion above pass through these villages and wastewater resource availability seen here has different impacts on their SES as shown below. The aim to is not view them in a comparative fashion but for the cases of these villages to contribute to the research focus as a whole.

20

4. Everyday practices – Governance systems of wastewater:

Especially after a Harijan was elected as the Sarpanch (leader of village-level constitutional body) in 2009, the political position was used to steer administrative decisions and ensure water security for their caste members (Narain, VIj and Dewan, 2019).

9

Chapter 4 is structed to outline the everyday practices and the inferences obtained from the re-problematisation of the interactions(I) and outcomes(O) as a result of the everyday practices in place. Map 3 shows a detailed view of the two villages and the water infrastructure and the path of the freshwater and wastewater canals through them. The following sub-sections start with the current social profile of the village and proceed to highlight the functioning of the governance systems(GS) through interactions(I) among users(U) and the resultant outcomes(O) within the larger SES of the two villages of Budhera and Badsa. The importance of the resource(U8) coupled with the resource scarcity(RS5) as seen in the previous chapter play a significant role in managing wastewater in the PUI of Gurgaon as there are no governmental institutions that manage its distribution otherwise. Absence of governmental institutions in supervision/regulation of the wastewater allocation from the canal renders the inclusion of related governance system(GS) variables irrelevant to the analysis. A deeper analysis into the network structure(GS3), operational rules(GS5) collective choice rules(GS6) and monitoring and sanctioning process(GS8) helps dissect the everyday practices in both villages. While this section outlines the working of the everyday practices in both villages, a deeper analysis of the gender roles(U1a) of the users(U) is seen in section 4.3 along with implications of equity of water distribution(O1a) and water use efficiency(O1b) as a result of the everyday practices.

4.1 Budhera: Budhera is located 15km away from the city of Gurgaon with a total population of 5800 people in 900 households. The social composition of the village has been described by Narain et al.

(2019), based on their field work from December 2012-February 2013, is as follows. The residents fall under the caste groups of Harijan, Balmiks, Yadavs and Pundits. 50% of the population is made up of the Harijans while the rest is divided among the other castes. The Pundits and Yadavs are the major land-owning groups who practice agriculture. Few of the Balmiks own land 21

wastewater runnel

Naala

GWS, NCR canal and G-J STP canal (Parallel)

hi

a yan r a H

Del

Source: Adapted from Vij et al., (2018); Google maps

l

Chandu Budhera WTP

NCR Cana

rain

rh D

fga

Na ja

Map 3: Map showing the overall layout of villages, canals, STPs and WTPs in the PUI of Gurgaon

G-J

NCR

Gurgaon Water Supply National Capital Region Gurgaon-Jhajjir

WTP - Water Treatment Plant

STP - Sewage Treatment Plant

Village boundary

Delhi-Haryana State boundary Freshwater Wastewater

Badsa

GWS

LEGEND

in rh Dra

a Najafg

GWS Canal

Budhera

GW

an

SC

al

Basai WTP

GJS Ca TP na l

Towards Behrampur STP

r hpu sha ala d a B Na

pur hah alla s d N Ba

22

Towards Dhanwapur STP

Map 4: Map showing the layout of different houselholds in Budhera

Source: Narain, Vij and Dewan, (2019)

The Jhajjar Irrigation Department sanctions farmers’ application of installing a pipe outlet in the wastewater canal (Mishra and Narain, 2018).

10

A pre-decided part of the produce is paid to to the landlord by the tiller in the tenancy agreement ‘Kann’ (Narain, 2017).

11

Under ‘Ugai’, the tiller is deemed responsible for all expenses and they pays the landlord a pre-decided amount (Narain, 2017).

12

but majority of them are involved in livestock rearing. Though the households are spatially segregated (see Map 4) based on the inhabitants’ caste, Narain, Vij, and Dewan (2019) state that the effect of caste hierarchy on social relations is not as pronounced today9. Landowners irrespective of caste, are mostly men. Agricultural landholdings in this village is relatively small in size, approximately 1-4 acres. The cumulative 2500-acre agricultural land available in the village is majorly irrigated using wastewater from the Gurgaon-Jhajjar canal for commercial crops like paddy and wheat (Narain, 2020). Men of the village are involved in irrigation activities whereas women are restricted to what is classified as petty jobs on the field – sowing, weeding, fodder collection and harvesting. Further fodder collection and feeding livestock is now seen as the exclusive job of women due to shift to stall feeding. These dynamics are dealt with in detail in the forthcoming section 4.3. There is also prevalence of groundwater irrigated fields whose produce the farmers use for their own consumption. The crop pattern change that accompanied the wastewater agriculture had a deeper social impact; Budhera once famous for muskmelon cultivation, received a high amount of marriage proposals due to the abundant availability of sweet water which are now technically non-existent (Vij, 2014).

Forms of cooperation around the use of wastewater are motivated by factors outlined above and realised through social capital norms(U6) and self-organisation initiatives. While wastewater allocation is approved by the state10, the distribution and regulation of this resource is carried out by a ‘Bhaibandi’ (brotherhood in Hindi) network(GS3) of mutual cooperation. The farmers who constitue the Bhaibandi network are either the owners of the agricultural land themselves, tenants who work on sharecropping or tenancy arrangements or labourers. The tenants and labourers can either be locals or migrants which in turn reveals that the users(U) involved in peri-urban farming are slowly evolving. It is crucial to note here that, physical proximity of agriculture land rather than prevalent social relations of tenancy is the basis for this network. These tenancy (‘kann11’, ‘ugai12’) and sharecropping (‘saajedaari’ ) agreements are systems followed by peri-urban elite landowners, some of whom have migrated to the city in search of better opportunities but still desire to maintain a hold over their property (Narain, 2017). In case of the latter, sharecropping is increasing becoming an impractical option.

In the bhaibandi form of cooperation, the wastewater flow is diverted by farmers through the construction of manmade facilities(RS4) like ‘dhouras’ furrows/watercourses to adjacent fields up to 1km away – indicative of an invisible governance system boundary – from the pipe outlet 23

Fig 4: Wastewater johad in Badsa Source: Narain and Singh, (2020)

of the wastewater canal (Mishra and Narain, 2018). The watercourses are collectively maintained(I5) annually or bi-annually by the members of this network. Since a very rudimentary yet effective form of irrigation infrastructure(RS4) is in play here, third-tier variables detailing use of roads(RS4d) and headworks(RS4a) is irrelevant. Stuffed jute bags in the pipe outlet act as local control structures(RS4c) for the flow of wastewater. However, it is not always a “happy picture”. Conflicts of interest(I4) have been noticed by Vij et al., (2018) during their fieldwork.

When wastewater overflows – due to improper stuffing of jute bags(RS4c) – into a neighbouring farmer’s land at a time he happens to be using freshwater for irrigation of crops for self-consumption, conflicts may arise. Due to a prevailing operational norm(GS5) among the farmers is to allow for autonomy in deciding what crop each one wants to cultivate, this sometimes results in a scenario of “forced cooperation” (Mishra and Narain, 2018; Vij et al., 2018). The frequency of such conflicts was higher among small land-holding farmers whose fields were adjacent to each other. Conflicts were also observed between the irrigation department and the farmers through confrontations with the gate regulator of the control structure(RS4c) of the wastewater runnel when the flow of wastewater is insufficient to meet their irrigation requirements. The intensity of the conflict ranges from largely verbal to occasionally physical that may involve throwing the gate operator into the runnel. The labour wage in the village is based on labourers’ nativity and gender rather than the type of work that is done – men get paid around INR 150/day while women get paid INR 100/day (Narain, 2017); while this is the rate for migrant labourers, local labour is more expensive. This implies that a migrant female worker gets paid much lesser than a local female labourer. These wages are paid irrespective of the type of water used in agriculture indicating insensitivity to the discomforts faced by the farmers practicing wastewater irrigation(see section 4.3).

13

Social profile of Badsa is outlined as indicated by Singh (2020) and Narain (2020).

4.2 Badsa : In Badsa, located 17km from Gurgaon, peri-urban agricultural land holdings are comparatively larger than Budhera and the landowners are involved in the agricultural activities. The social composition of this village is such that its residents are majorly made up of Jats and Yadvas– who are the predominant agricultural landowners – while also having scheduled caste residents in smaller numbers. Labourers – both local and migrants – are employed in some of the agricultural fields, although the majority of the agricultural work is carried out by the landowners .

Tenancy arrangements, though lesser in number than Budhera, are similar in nature. Agriculture

24

Fig 5: Wastewater runnel in Badsa

Source: Narain and Singh, (2020)

land ownership and on-field gendered role dynamics in Badsa is similar to that of Budhera13.

Farmers in Badsa, use the wastewater from the Gurgaon-Jhajjir canal for irrigation of paddy and wheat, via the Mundakhera pump house since the agricultural fields are above the level of the canal. In addition to this, they have also converted johads, initially used to store freshwater, into wastewater ponds to facilitate irrigation by collectively channelling wastewater from the canal using man-made furrows(RS4) (Singh and Narain, 2019). By this method of storage, the farmers are able to secure wastewater supply from “flow” to a “stock” – a collective adaptive response due to transitional patterns of water availability for agriculture(see chapter 3). Though johads come under the jurisdiction of the village panchayat, it doesn’t exert strict rules on johads’ functioning. Farmers pay INR 100/acre of land to be irrigated to facilitate the construction of furrows soon after wastewater agriculture became prevalent(Singh and Narain, 2019). Collective mobilisation by the farmers(I6) also ensured that the “wastewater tax” collected by the Jhajjar Irrigation Department(INR 90/acre per year) for using the wastewater for irrigation was abolished.

They refrain from paying the tax for a resource identified as ‘waste’ by the state stating that, “;s rks xank ikuh gSA tc dqN ugh gksrk] rc bldks bLrseky djrs gSaA” (This water is dirty and bad for any use; we use this water when there is no other choice of irrigation) (Singh and Narain, 2019).

The non-cooperation of farmers in Badsa and Budhera forced the Jhajjar Irrigation department to withdraw the tax collected(Mishra and Narain, 2018). During their fieldwork, Singh and Narain (2019) found that though financial capital was contributed by the farmers according to the size of respective landholdings, they did not mind if in certain cases excess wastewater in relation to size of landholding was used and took the following stance: “bl xans ikuh is D;k >xM+k] ftldks ftruk pkfg, mruk yksA” (What is the need to fight for this dirty water? Whoever needs it can use it without any constraint).

It is mostly the men who are involved in maintaining the johads and the furrows; women are not found to participate (Narain, 2020; Singh, 2020). Their contribution lies in fulfilling domestic duties and collecting fodder. These “gendered ideologies that work to maintain unequal relations of power”(Gururani, 2002) are discussed further in the following section.

25

4.3 Inferences from the interactions(I) and outcomes(O) in the wastewater SES – discussion : Both villages put forth instances of cultural adaptation where wastewater has been adopted as the main source of water for irrigation due to a prevailing scenario of freshwater scarcity. The subsequent necessity of livelihood survival supported by the emergence of a new urban centre, has pushed farmers to resort to wastewater to irrigate their fields. This has enabled the cultivation of water-intensive commercial crops like paddy and wheat in the arid PUI of Gurgaon, which may not have been possible solely with groundwater sources and modern technology. In a way, wastewater has helped sustain the practice of agriculture in the PUI of Gurgaon (Narain, 2020) when availability of water resources were uncertain (refer chapter 3) and helped the peri-urban dwellers maintain their identity as ‘farmers’; though it is debatable since many farmers especially the peri-urban elite are now looking for other opportunities in the urban areas (Narain, 2017). In both villages there have been cases where farmers have experienced itching on their legs and foul smell as an outcome of wading through their fields in knee-deep wastewater. With the course of time, farmers realised that applying mustard oil provides a slippery coating which helps prevent itching; but there is no solution for the foul smell yet (Singh and Narain, 2019).

Further, it was observed that soil fertility rate significantly reduced after a period of 3- 4 years, particularly after the 2008-09 incident of mix of chemical effluents in the Gurgaon-Jhajjar canal in 2008-09. Therefore, continuance of this everyday practice could prove maladaptive to the environment. The commercial crops sown here are sold to the mandis(local wholesale markets) in the city of Gurgaon and Delhi, significantly contributing to food demands of both cities; yet the farmers and their families do not consume this produce themselves. Thus, signalling a clear “notion of impurity” that the farmers have regarding the practice of wastewater irrigation and the resource(RS1) itself (Narain, 2020).

This notion percolates to the interactions(I) associated with the wastewater use efficiency(O1a) and conflicts(I5) that emerge from this. Narain and Singh (2017a) state that the necessity of an intense conflict over a resource could be fuelled by its nature. Thus, the tag of ‘waste’ in wastewater might not present itself as worthy of conflict. Cox (2014) states that collective action conflicts pivot around excessive consumption of the resource(wastewater in this case) and the challenge of motivating individuals to contribute to the physical and social infrastructure that makes such an action feasible . But in light of both the villages in the PUI of Gurgaon, it is found that excessive use of wastewater from the canal is almost never looked upon as a problem. For instance, in the case of Badsa were in spite of monetary investment(I5) made proportionate to the size of their fields and therefore the amount of wastewater needed, towards the maintenance of furrows, there is no strict regulation or supervision of wastewater use. Conflicts mentioned in the case of Budhera (section 4.1) occur due to the overflow of wastewater from one field to another and is not concerned with the quantity of wastewater used by the individual farmers. Thus, excessive use of wastewater(O1a and O1b) from the source is rarely problematic. These practices are in stark contrast to the gender(U1a) and caste(U2a) dynamism observed in the case of drinking water or freshwater access in the very same villages of Budhera and Badsa. Women have socio-culturally been assigned the work of water collection for drinking purposes and household activities. In Budhera, lower caste Harijan women are allowed to collect water only from a particular well among the 6 wells of the village, despite the fact that they are more in number (see section 4.1; Narain et al., 2019). While there is an overall differentiation that manifests in gender roles (women collecting water as opposed to men), it is not a linear relationship; caste hierarchy 26

further complicates this discrimination as seen in the case of the Harijan women of Budhera. In this context, it is interesting to note that in both villages, the wastewater access is not marred by any caste dominance, but it is only restricted by topographical and geographical aspects. But there are other indirect socio-economic dynamics in play. In Budhera, it is economically feasible for agricultural fields that are located adjacent to or within 1 kilometre from the Gurgaon-Jhajjar canal to access its wastewater through the Bhaibandi network. The farmers beyond a radius of 1-2km from the canal are forced to use diesel motor pumps to be able to use wastewater for irrigation which may prove very expensive for small landholding farmers and tillers. As outlined in section 4.2, the wastewater from the johads in the village of Badsa is free to access by all farmers.

The term ‘Bhaibandi’ – ‘bhai’ means brother and ‘bandi’ means bond in Hindi – is highly indicative of the male-dominated agricultural practice in peri-urban Gurgaon. Women’s participation is majorly seen in activities like sowing, weeding, fodder collection and harvesting (see Narain, 2011, 2020; Vij, 2020) – similar to gender-roles(U1a) observed in the agricultural fields irrigated with freshwater. Most of the women engaged in these activities do so as a form of spousal support (Narain, 2020). In addition, since the wastewater irrigation process involves steps like application of a permit from the Irrigation department and negotiation with neighbouring farmers which are seen as activities requiring decision-making and negotiation skills, women are not involved (Vij, 2020). A similar trend is observed in the village of Badsa where women are excluded from any activities associated with the maintenance of the wastewater johads or in the irrigation processes but are involved in the weeding, sowing and fodder collection activities (Singh, 2020; Narain, 2020). It is also not clear if the women of Badsa were consulted in the decision to change the function of the johad (Singh, 2020). Narain (2020) also speculated on the possibility of the implied changing socio-cultural relations as historically the johads were used to fulfil domestic water needs including water for livestock and served as a place of social congregation. Therefore, women who are primarily responsible for carrying out domestic duties might have had a connection with the johads which may have diminished with the changing dynamics surrounding the johads instigated by manmade systems put in place to facilitate wastewater irrigation . Apart from being denied decision-making responsibilities, the other responsibilities of women in the PUI of Gurgaon have further increased with the shift to stall feeding for livestock since grazing livestock - which has socio-culturally been the work of men – has increasingly become difficult with the depletion of commons due to canal construction related land acquisition mentioned in chapter 3. Men in Budhera claimed that they do not know how to cut fodder and that their wives(birbani) are responsible for that, according to a tai(an elderly woman) residing there (Vij, 2014). This accumulates on to women’s existing domestic household duties, significantly increasing their burden and resulting in a situation of “feminisation out of compulsion”(Pattnaik et al., 2018). A women migrant labourer is further disadvantaged as she receives the lowest wage when compared to other groups(section 4.1).

Though there is a lack of feminisation of on-field agriculture activities and a clear division of labour in the PUI of Gurgaon, as Pattnaik et al., (2018) explain a scenario of feminisation of agriculture may not necessarily indicate their empowerment and could result in “feminisation of agrarian distress” as seen in the case of wastewater agriculture in the PUI of Hyderabad. Women took up irrigation activities in wastewater agriculture of leafy vegetables as men moved towards urban areas in search of better opportunities to financially support their families apart from doing their household duties. Devi and Buechler, (2009) found that these women often refrain from accepting this as it is considered “socially unacceptable” for women to participate in irrigation 27

in India. This is a clear example of how “culture givens” (Gururani, 2002) has been used to justify gendered roles so much so that women are not ready to accept their involvement. A similar justification of women’s exclusion from irrigation and decision-making activities is observed in the chosen case study.

Although it is undeniable that new forms of cooperation make wastewater resource available and accessible to many farmers giving them an opportunity to continue practising agriculture, (Vij et al., 2018) it should be noted that unequal wages with respect to nativity and gender for agricultural labourers – indicative that migrants were considered as “cheap labour” – and the gender roles seen in freshwater agriculture seem to have percolated into wastewater irrigated agricultural field dynamics indicating insensitivity to farmers’ discomforts caused due to wading long hours in wastewater irrigated fields. Despite this, the wastewater irrigation is undoubtedly gaining popularity among farmers. The liberal accession rights of wastewater and its constant availability along with advocation from the state(see chapter 3) further add to the cause. While some peri-urban elite farmers have managed to seize oppurtunies in the urban core and migrated there, labourers and other marginal farmers left behind, hint at a desperation in having to use wastewater in the agricultural process (Singh and Narain, 2019). In addition to this, urbanisation and extension of the Gurgaon city limits is forcing PHED and HUDA authorities to cover up the wastewater runnels to serve as a closed drainage system for the city dwellers; threating the wastewater’s perineal nature(RS5) of availability to farmers.Hence farmers in Budhera and Badsa cultivating paddy and wheat are increasingly hesitant to continue this practice.

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5. Conclusionary Remarks:

In this case of the PUI of Gurgaon, it has been observed that the everyday practice – of bhaibandi and the adaptation of the johads – is one that emerged as an adaptive mechanism in the recent past from a situation of uncertainty of water resource availability for agriculture. Though the everyday practices of wastewater in the PUI of Gurgaon facilitated the access of the wastewater resource and reduced the burden on the state in terms of wastewater disposal, the embedded implications of the same at the wider as well as the community or village level were accentuated through the application of the chosen analytical and theoretical framework in Chapter 3.

From chapter 3, it is evident that placing everyday practices in the larger SES facilitates the understanding of its holistic implications in terms of understanding the ecological and social sustainability and merits the need for deeper discussions of its implications. The SESF framework was useful in ensuring that almost all of the variables – including anthropological and ecological aspects – that impacted the wastewater SES in peri-urban Gurgaon were considered and the relationship of each variable with other variables in the SES was studied. The inherent actor-flow-area variables(Faldi et al., 2019) in the SESF enabled a disaggregated yet an overall comprehensive investigation of the everyday practices of wastewater in the peri-urban villages of Budhera and Badsa. Further, the incorporation of the CE, FPE and intersectionality frameworks enriched the SESF by providing additional layers of complexity to the second-tier variables of users(U), interactions(I) and outcomes(O). The CE framework ensured that cultural mechanism and cultural perspectives were in play to enable a finer understanding of socio-cultural roles and adaptation strategies in the fragmented PUI of Gurgaon. FPE and intersectionality lenses helped to explore the impact and ontological basis of multiple perspective, identities and co-construction of identities of the stakeholders involved. An example seen in this dissertation would be the case of agricultural labourer wages. While women receive lesser pay than men, migrant women are paid even lesser than local women labourers. Thus, the added identity of a migrant further disadvantaged women. In addition to this, the intersectionality lens provided the scope to make the process of examining everyday practice an iterative one which is particularly very essential in the PUI where uncertainty is widely prevalent in many sectors.

The inferences (see section 4.3) obtained from the interactions(I) and outcomes(O) of the SES clearly indicate a reproduction of freshwater agriculture dynamics – in terms of different labour 29

wages for locals-migrants and men-women, tenancy agreements – without taking into consideration the added health discomforts for farmers engaged in wastewater agriculture. While freshwater access in Budhera had strong caste connotations, wastewater access for irrigation (in both villages) did not witness any such rule or restrictions. As the multiple layers associated with wastewater irrigation were unpacked, it was found that wastewater agriculture – though nationally and globally being promoted as a significant contributor to food security and in closing the nutrient loop (see Marshal and Randhawa, 2017) – in the PUI of Gurgaon was largely threatened by urbanisation trajectories and the reluctance to practice the same by the farmers due to discussed “notions of impurity”. Despite being aware of the pernicious effect wastewater irrigation has on soil fertility, farmers are forced to utilise it due to a prevailing situation of uncertainty of water resources in the PUI. Through these findings presented here and throughout the dissertation, it is argued that it is imperative to take into consideration a deeper, holistic perspective before making the everyday practice as the norm or as substitutes to a situation of “governance vacuum”.

4.1 Reflections on future research: In the application of FPE and intersectionality lenses in the users variable of SESF framework, the variable of age, marital status and their dynamics as a result of their intersection with gender was not dealt with at a deeper level due to a lack of data (Narain, 2020; Singh, 2020). Further investigation on this nexus could enrich the understanding of power dynamics at the household and individual level which in turn could facilitate a more nuanced understandings of further limitations or vulnerabilities experienced at this intersection. In addition to this, a comprehensive study on the historical use of johads in the PUI Gurgaon can shed light on changing socio-cultural roles surrounding its use which will be instrumental to analyse the changing role of women. Relationship between the amount of rent paid in the various tenancy agreements(see 4.1) and location of land merits further discussion to understand the economic status of the farmers whose fields are benefited by the proximity to the wastewater runnel. This opens to discussion the possibility of further marginalisation of marginal farmers or vice-versa. Further investigation could be carried out to investigate the probable role of farmers associations (there was no evidence found to suggest the existence of any; Narain, 2020; Singh, 2020) for the sustenance of everyday practices as the existence of such community organisations has helped to build solidarity of farmers and women in particular (see Devi and Buechler, 2009; Thara, 2016).

Future research could investigate if farmers are aware of any of the ‘Krishi Yojnas’ (the multivarious schemes introduced by the Government of India to financially support farmers and the practice of agriculture and if they make use of the same. Singh (2020) and Narain (2020) mentioned that there was no explicit reference to any government schemes by the farmers during their fieldwork interviews. These schemes could provide much-needed relief in terms of financial aid in the looming situation of uncertainty present in the PUI of Gurgaon for marginal farmers. Faldi et al., (2019) suggest that the resource users may be incentivised through suitable policies and schemes to “devote more time to collective co-production of services” (van Ejik & Steen, 2014).

Health implications of the use of wastewater for agriculture for farmers in the peri-urban villages of Gurgaon were only briefly mentioned here. Hence it must be studied at a deeper level along with the health impact of consumers of the crops amongst the growing peri-urban food security debate that highlights the crucial role the PUI could play in ensuring food security for the PUI as well as the expanding city. .

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Annexure 1 - Interviews

Interviews were conducted over a phone call with 3 prominent research scholars who have done extensive fieldwork in the chosen case study â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the villages of Budhera and Badsa in the PUI of Gurgaon from the years 2012-2019.

Interview with Dr. Sumit Vij, Postdoctoral Researcher, Public Administration and Policy Group, Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands Date: 13th August 2020 via phone call

1. Do women play any specific role in the agricultural process involved in wastewater irrigated fields, apart from fodder collection for livestock (Vij, 2014)?

The role of women in agriculture is limited to petty work. They mostly participate in harvesting of the crop, sowing seeds, fodder collection and weeding of the fields.

2. Is there a taboo associated with women working in wastewater fields?

No, there is no such explicit taboo associated with women working in wastewater fields. Moreover, it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a major focus of the research study, so it is hard to definitively comment.

3. Have women moved on to other forms of occupation once wastewater agriculture practice became the norm?

As stated earlier, women are not primarily involved in wastewater agriculture and their role is confined to petty tasks. Wastewater irrigation involves a fair amount of decision making and negotiation which is mostly carried out by the men.

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4. Is the practice of wastewater irrigation confined to any one particular caste? In other words, is this practice biased towards a particular caste and/or dominated by any caste in particular?

Wastewater irrigation is not dominated or biased towards any caste. Sharing of resources/ wastewater depends on the proximity of lands and mutual cooperation between owners/workers of the agriculture fields.

5. Vij et al., 2018 mentions that migrants carry out wastewater agriculture in Budhera through sharecropping or tenancy arrangements. Are these migrants all men? Are these farmers migrants from Bihar as mentioned in the village composition of Budhera in Narain (2017)? Do the women in these families contribute in any form to the agriculture practice?

It was observed that the labourers working in the field were mostly men. However, it is unclear whether women migrants may have been involved in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;behind the scenesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work. Although majority of these migrants are from Bihar, migrants from other parts of India were not uncommon.

Interview with Mr. Aditya K Singh, PhD Researcher, Department of Geography, Durham University, United Kingdom Date: 21st August 2020 via phone call

1. Do women play any specific role in the agricultural process involved in wastewater irrigated fields, apart from fodder collection for livestock?

Wastewater irrigation is mostly male dominated, and women are only assigned petty tasks like collection of fodder etc. Often women have to walk long distances to fetch fodder.

2. What is the social profile of Badsa?

Jats and Yadavs are the two main communities in Badsa and both these communities own land.

The landowners till the fields and may occasionally employ additional labrourers or migrants. The sarpanch of the village belongs to the Jat community.

3. How are the johads maintained/looked after?

There is no formal committee to look after the johads. Locals whose fields are close to the johads may take responsibility to look after them.

4. Did women have a say in the conversion of freshwater johads into wastewater johads?

Are women involved in any of the community initiatives related to the maintenance of the johads like cleaning, attending meetings? Was this process dominated by men/ women from higher castes?

Women are not involved in the maintenance of the johads. There is no information on whether they were consulted. It was observed that they did not participate in these processes.

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5. Is there a taboo associated with women working with wastewater in Badsa?

No taboo was observed. Since this was not a focus of the research study, there were no explicit questions asked regarding this to the villagers.

6. Is the practice of wastewater irrigation confined to a particular caste? In other words, is this practice biased towards any caste or dominated by a particular caste?

No, I did not come across any restrictions to wastewater access/use based on caste.

7. The authors of Vij et al., (2018) mention that migrants carry out wastewater agriculture in Budhera through sharecropping or tenancy arrangements. Is this a similar trend in Badsa as well? Are these migrants all men? Do the women in these families contribute in any form to the wastewater agriculture practice?

Migrants carrying out wastewater agriculture were observed to be men. However, there isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sufficient evidence to comment on the extent of involvement of women, other than the fact that the do not participate in irrigation of the fields.

8. Is the abolishment of wastewater usage fees common to the peri-urban interface (PUI) or unique to Badsa?

It is common to the entire PUI of Gurgaon.

9. Do mandis buy wastewater produce for less/more? Do farmers declare that it is wastewater produce before selling it?

No, farmers do not declare wastewater produce before selling it.

10. What are their ownership statuses of the johads of Badsa?

The johads are under the jurisdiction of the village panchayat. However, they can be accessed by all residents without any restrictions whatsoever.

11. Have the farmers taken advantage of any government schemes to help their agriculture practice? â&#x20AC;&#x201C; e.g Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana?

Government schemes did not fall under the purview of this research study; therefore, no explicit questions were asked regrading this. The participants of the study (farmers) did not mention that they benefited from any specific government schemes. However, when the STP engineers were questioned, they mentioned that wastewater is treated in STPs. Canals which closely resemble runnels have been constructed which enables the growth and cultivation of water intensive crops like paddy in a previously dry area. Hence, the role of government in aiding wastewater agriculture cannot be ruled out entirely.

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Interview with Dr. Vishal Narain, Professor, Public Policy and Governance at the Management Development Institute Gurgaon Date: 21st August 2020 via Skype call

1. When it comes to wastewater irrigated agricultural fields, do women play any role in the agricultural process apart from fodder collection? (I have read that women in Budhera were traditionally confined to fodder collection for livestock which is now difficult because of loss of commons due to urbanisation – did wastewater irrigation stop this practice of women?)

Women are mostly involved in sowing, fodder plucking. They do not participate in irrigation. Most of the women who work in the fields are spouses of the farmers who own/rent the land and do so as a form of spousal support.

2. Is there a taboo associated with women working in wastewater fields?

There is no specific taboo associated with women working in wastewater fields. Farmers, in general, don’t consume the produce obtained from wastewater irrigation therefore there is this notion of impurity associated with wastewater.

3. Is the practice of wastewater irrigation confined to a particular caste? In other words, is this practice biased towards one caste and/or dominated by a caste in particular?

No, neither caste nor economic status influence wastewater irrigation. There is little difference between high caste and low caste farmers in terms of access to or use of wastewater. The economic status of the person tilling the land, owner/tenant, also doesn’t affect wastewater irrigation dynamics. Major factors that influence wastewater irrigation are physical proximity to wastewater source.

4. The authors of Vij et al., 2018 mention that migrants carry out wastewater agriculture in Budhera through sharecropping or tenancy arrangements. Are these migrants all men? Are these farmers migrants from Bihar as mentioned in the village composition of Budhera in Narain (2017)? Do the women in these families contribute in any form to the agriculture practice?

As far as I observed, only men were working on the field. Most of the migrants employed are from Bihar. It is possible that women have a role to play but they weren’t present on the fields.

5. Have the farmers taken advantage of any government schemes to help their agriculture practice? – e.g Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana?

There was no specific mention of any government schemes that the farmers benefited from.

6. Did earlier function of Johads involve women participation in Badsa? What was the earlier social dynamism around the johads?

Johads were historically used for collecting drinking water, washing, bathing and livestock maintenance. Women may have participated in these activities. Since this was not the focus of the research study, there was no further investigation.

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7. In Sadhraana PU village, fresh water is added to wastewater – does this help lower the social stigma against wastewater?

Runnel contains domestic wastewater to which fresh water is added. Treated water from STP is not used here.

8. Are the different everyday practices in Budhera & Badsa reflective of the difference in size of landholdings (Budhedra has smaller landholdings whereas Badsa has larger landholdings)?

No apparent impact due to size of landholdings; wasn’t specifically investigated as a part of the research study, however, it seems plausible.

9. Has wastewater helped sustain farming in the PUI? I strongly agree that wastewater has helped sustain farming in the PUI. Urbanization and climate change have led to loss of rainfall and there has been a tremendous increase in the reliance on wastewater for irrigation purposes. However, farmers only use wastewater in their fields in the absence of fresh water, as a ‘last resort’. Long term effect of using wastewater includes reduction in soil fertility.

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Annexure 2 – The privatisation of Gurgaon

The National Capital (NCT) Delhi adopted a policy of urban decongestion and decentralisation in the 1960s to ease the tremendous stress on the capital due to increasing population density beyond its civic capability. The National Capital Region (NCR) – consisting of 15 districts from 3 different states1 – was formulated for this purpose. The establishment of the NCR was invariably an invitation for commercialisation/industrialisation. Gurgaon was a result of commercialisation where privatisation was an important catalyst. Located within 50kms of the NCT, Gurgaon has rendered itself as a “very high influenced town” by the NCT (Morya and Ram, 2019).

Although many scholars claim Gurgaon to be a posterchild for Indian neo-liberal success or a product of strategic, indigenous private capital ventures; Gururani (2013) makes a strong case for “a history of contradictory planning imperatives and ambiguous goals of sovereignty” – which she further proceeds to define as “flexible planning” – the reason for Gurgaon’s uneven development and fragmentation at various levels. The practice of “flexible planning” encapsulates manipulation through creation of policies2 to suit political and elite agency that often dangerously blurs the line between legal and illegal wandering into the zone of “sanctioned illegality” (Gururani, 2013). These “compromises” or negotiations could be made by manoeuvring relationships of caste, religion, patronage and political connections to one’s advantage. Flexible planning was thus a concoction of political, economic and social characteristics. A range of actors3 were its facilitators whose frequent meddling in matters of land acquisition and planning helped them to establish a strong agency.

Thus, this practice was instrumental in fostering ‘patches’ of land uses – from residential to commercial/entertainment to offices – strongly cementing the ‘pocketism’ phenomenon in Gurgaon.

Urban forms and functions were thrust into the once primary agrarian landscape. What started with a Maruti Suzuki4 car manufacturing unit factory, soon developed the agrarian area to one that housed vast multi-national companies (MNC), office complexes, residential colonies – on its way to realising a dream of utopia. Delhi Land Financing(DLF) was a major player in this process of rapid urbanisation having developed political allies with the then ruling party Indian

The NCR consisted of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Panipat, Sonipat, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Rewari, Mewat, Palwal from Haryana; Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Baghpat from Uttar Pradesh; Alwar from Rajasthan 1

These consist of practices like redrafting plans, facilitation of compromises and exemptions and at times utilization of brute force.

2

Including government officials, party politicians, business elites, caste/community leaders, powerful ‘personalities’ 3

A collaborative manufacturing unit set up by Japan’s Suzuki Motors with India’s Maruti Udyog Limited in the early 1980s.

4

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There was no interstate or state-level bodies set up to oversee urbanisation in NCR at the time or even much later. Adding to this uncertainty was the newly created state of Haryana in 1966 (earlier Punjab) just before the realisation of the plan of NCR. Thus, there was no apt legal body to which development activities needed to be adhered to.

5

National Congress and the Haryana Urban Development Authority(HUDA) (Goldstein, 2016).

Post DLF’s entry, multiple smaller builders, private developers, investors and multinational companies made their way to Gurgaon. Private developers provided premium networked infrastructure consisting of a private metro system, private companies, private water supplies (Cowan, 2015). But all these were confined to the property/land under their development plans – further fragmenting the services available and creating unequal access of resources. A huge influx of people – corporate professionals and low-income migrant labourers – was witnessed in the district of Gurgaon due to the emerging employment opportunities, residential suburbs and its close proximity to New Delhi. This is reflected in the drastic population growth rate of 42.85% between 1991-2001 (Gupta and Nangia, 2005 in: Gururani, 2013) and 74% growth rate between the years 2001-2011 (Government of Haryana, 2011 in: Prakash, 2017). Even though development was projected in these areas as a result of its newly gained status as ‘NCR’, the momentum was unprecedented and unregulated leading to uneven development and socio-economic fragmentation of land. The government found it very difficult to keep up with this pace of urbanisation and there was no state-led institution5 to oversee or regulate the process. As Goldstein (2016) describes, “uncoordinated efforts of builders have created a built environment that scholars describe as a city of islands and of unconnected enclaves, in which governance is as divided as its discrete gated communities and urban villages.” The practice of “flexible planning” was conveniently extended to the way natural resources were utilised. Private borewells became the norm for townships, shopping malls, MNCs and other such large establishments. “Quick solutions” to infrastructural problems were adopted – lack of formal supply of electricity propelled the MNCs/residential townships to turn to diesel generators; lack of formal supply of water led to groundwater extraction, private canal construction, and open discharge of sewerage were just some of the examples resorted to. Thus, access and distribution of water and the waterscape as a whole were heavily compromised by flexible planning and pocketism.

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Annexure 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Table showing the factors hypothesized to affect irrigation system management

Source: Adapted from Ostrom, (1992); Subramanian, Jagannathan and Meinzen-Dick, (1997); Tang, (1992); Uphoff, (1986); Ostrom, (2007) in: Meinzen-Dick, (2007)

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