Journal of Public Policy Research-Volume II, Issue II

VOLUMEÂ II ISSUE II

HYDERABAD

JOURNAL OF PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH GRADUATE JOURNAL OF THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY AND GOVERNANCE

Aspirational Citizenship of Displaced Migrants In Mumbai Brijesh Chandra Tripathi Primary Education in Telangana: A Case Study of Mahabubnagar District Pragathi Akunuri

Waste to Energy : A Model of Municipal Solid Waste (Mis) Management Krishna Teja Inapudi Role of Institutions In Providing Access To Drinking Water: A Case Study of Rajgurunagar Town Rajeev Agur

TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, HYDERABAD CAMPUS

The Journal of Public Policy Research (JPPR) is a peer reviewed journal focusing on different aspects of public policy and public affairs in India and the world. It invites scholars to apply diverse disciplinary lenses, methodologies, social science theories and concepts to pressing issues of public policies and public affairs.

It endeavours to study governance, accountability and institutional frameworks that can create better human opportunities, promote well-being, generate wealth and deepen democracy. The journal serves as a platform to publish original and high quality research articles, perspectives, commentaries, book reviews, and case studies. Initiated by the graduate students of the School of Public Policy and Governance at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad, the journal is published biannually. It welcomes contributions from all persuasions.

Editor-in-Chief S. Siva Raju, Deputy Director & Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad Campus, India.

Editors Lakshmi Lingam, Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Aseem Prakash, Professor and Chairperson, School of Policy and Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad (SPPG, TISS-Hyd) Amit Upadhyay, Assistant Professor, SPPG, TISS-Hyd Amit Sadhukhan, Assistant Professor, SPPG, TISS-Hyd Ekta Singh, Assistant Professor, SPPG, TISS-Hyd

Managing Editors Amish Sarpotdar, Graduate Student, SPPG, TISS-Hyd Divya Ruth Jose, Graduate Student, SPPG, TISS-Hyd Shruti Prasad, Graduate Student, SPPG, TISS-Hyd

Associate Managing Editors Kashmiri Deori, Graduate Student, SPPG, TISS-Hyd Sneha Kuriakose, Graduate Student, SPPG, TISS-Hyd Syed Jaasirah Syedain, Graduate Student, SPPG, TISS-Hyd

Designer Sonny Chungkham, Graduate Student, SPPG, TISS-Hyd

Content Aggregator Nagina Suresh, Graduate Student, SPPG, TISS-Hyd

Editorial Advisory Board Ajey Sangai, Research Fellow, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, New Delhi, India Himanshu, Associate Professor, Centre for Economic Studies & Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India Joerg Friedrichs, Associate Professor at Oxford Department of International Development, St Cross College, Oxford, England Badri Narayan Rath, Assistant Professor & Head, Department of Liberal Arts, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, India Mitu Sengupta, Associate Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University, Canada Vindhya Undurti, Professor & Chairperson, School of Gender Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad, India Sanjeev Routray, Sectional Instructor, Department of Sociology, University of British Columbia, Canada Padmini Swaminathan, Professor & Chairperson, School of Livelihoods and Development, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad, India Sony Pellisery, Associate Professor, National Law School of India University, Bangalore, India.

Rekha Pappu, Associate Professor & Chairperson, Azim Premji School of Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad, India

Contents Aspirational Citizenship of Displaced Migrants in Mumbai

1

Brijesh Chandra Tripathi

Primary Education in Telangana: A Case Study of Mahabubnagar District

25

Pragathi Akunuri

Waste to Energy- A Model of Municipal Solid Waste (Mis) Management

49

Krishna Teja Inapudi

Role of Institutions in Providing Access to Drinking Water : A Case Study of Rajgurunagar Town Rajeev Agur

71

Foreword

It is a matter of great pride for us to bring out the fourth issue of the Journal of Public Policy Research (JPPR). In this issue, we continue our efforts towards democratization of knowledge which was the vision we had set out with.

This edition through diverse and yet interrelated themes captures the unprecedented socio-economic transformation underway in India currently. In this new milieu, the diverse range of papers tries to capture institutional arrangements for delivering the basic amenities to its citizens― education, drinking water and management of waste. These three papers, Primary Education in Telangana: A Case Study of Mehboob Nagar District; Waste to Energy― A Model of Municipal Solid Waste (Mis) Management; Role of Institutions in Providing Access to Drinking Water: A Case Study of Rajgurunagar Town, grapple with the nuanced emerging realities with regards to privatization of basic citizens entitlements. The paper, Aspirational Citizenship of Displaced Migrants in Mumbai, captures the same transformation through market based commodification of land and consequent vulnerabilities of the locals.

In all their discrete trajectories, the papers delineate the changing relationship between citizen’s claim to basic entitlements, state and markets. In our continued effort to foster and support research, we invite papers from varied disciplines.

Editors

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ASPIRATIONAL CITIZENSHIP OF DISPLACED MIGRANTS IN MUMBAI Brijesh Chandra Tripathi1

Abstract Globalisation has promoted self-responsibility of individual for their employment and livelihood. Now State and market do not want to take any responsibility for economic fortunes of individual. Despite this shift in state intervention, state cannot absolve itself from its responsibilities towards marginalised citizens. This mandates to re-look into the idea of Rawlsian social minimum in the context of migration to the cities. The certain needs which were implicitly part of social minimum now need exclusive attention to ensure social justice.

The marginalised migrants as invisible citizens do not have adequate access to bare minimum public goods. The access to social minimum needs mobilisation of political forces to negotiate with the state. Such political mobilisation requires deep participation of marginalised to restructure and reorganize existing institutions. Deep participation requires political organization in social struggles of marginalised. However all social struggles are not able to attain political mobilisation since their struggles lack a basic level of political organization. In this paper I argue that the aspirations of displaced migrant citizens in Mumbai for social justice will remain evasive if agency at the social level of marginalised does not inform him/her to attain political organization. Since such citizens do not enjoy legal citizenship, the democratic rights are evasive for them and they try to assert on the moral basis to engage with the state for housing and livelihood needs which distributes on the legal basis. The migrant citizens in Mumbai have been displaced in order to create road infrastructure to symbolize the advanced level of development of the city on the global lines.

In this paper, I want to see the negotiation with the state for getting basic amenities like solid waste management in Mumbai from the perspective of mediated citizenship by the marginalised community. The moral assertions of displaced citizens are mediated by the community. However most of the redistribution theories of justice recognize the rights of citizens on the individual basis barring communitarian scholars. Even the claim of rights on the basis of community also suffers from the anxiety that which groups within the community should be recognized by the state for the entitlement. When political agency resides in the 1

Brijesh Chandra Tripathi is a Research Scholar at IIT, Bombay. For questions, queries and suggestions, he can be contacted at brijeshc.tripathi@gmail.com.

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community which mediates with the state, the individual basis of citizenship becomes secondary identity to negotiate with the state. The strength of political agency of community shapes its negotiation with the state. Moreover the membership of the community is also shaped by social relations in community which eventually transforms into political power to get the membership of a community. Since community can demand and claim rights like housing and livelihood from the state through mediated citizenship, getting the membership in community also becomes issue of representation.

Keywords: Marginalised migrants, Self-responsibility, Mobilisation, Community, Political

Introduction Brian Barry agrees with Rawls‟s core subject of social justice in Rawlsian „basic structure of society‟ which is constituted by major state institutions which distribute opportunities and rights. It leads to the idea that the institutions are inevitable and instrumental for achieving social justice (Barry 2005: 16-17). Barry argues that demand for social justice is propelled by failed aspirations of liberal justice. I argue in this paper that the functioning of political institutions in Rawlsian scheme of basic structure of the society is not feasible without social mobilisation shaping the functioning of political institutions for social justice. Barry clearly notices the shift in ideology of the state in the wake of globalization from state responsibility to individual responsibility for basic amenities like health, education and livelihood opportunities. In this background Barry raises the issue of self-responsibility of individual for their employment and livelihood in which State and market do not take any responsibility for economic fortunes of individual in his work „Why Social justice matters‟. In both UK and USA the economic thinking is that to maintain financial stability there must be a „natural rate of unemployment‟ to exist even if at the same time physically fit individuals should take full responsibility of their present situation of unemployment (Barry 2005:151). The above scenario discussed by Barry reflects Robert Nozick‟s libertarian regime. Barry argues that production of individual responsibility is an outcome of irresponsible societies. Barry advocates using example of public health facilities in UK and USA for poor and marginalized that institutions should shield individuals from dangerous environment instead of expecting them to adopt to the environment( Barry 2005: 157). The idea of basic income looks clear influence of John Rawls on Barry as Rawls has advocated similar concept of „social minimum‟. Barry argues that redistribution of income will reduce the burden of the state on the front of provisioning of education and health (Barry 2005:220).

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To begin with, I would like to engage with Rawls‟s ideas on social justice mediated by political institutions and its critique. In the second section of the paper I will discuss the story of the hegemonic imagination of Mumbai as a global city and resultant exclusion and displacement. In the penultimate section of this paper I will discuss engagement of displaced households with the state for getting basic amenity like solid waste management in Mumbai.

In the final section of the paper, I will argue that how without social mobilisation with an organized power; the functioning of political institutions produces marginalization for poor citizens. In this section I would like to argue how social struggles with deep participation can influence state view on social justice to overcome marginalisation. In conclusion, I will raise my observations.

Section 1 Rawls on Social Justice and critique of his ideas John Rawls argues that the primary subject of his study is social Justice with an emphasis on the basic structure of the society. The basic structure of the society includes social institutions which not only distribute basic rights but at the same time also shapes distribution of advantages as product of social cooperation (Rawls 1971:7). Rawls‟s theory of Justice is in accordance with social contract ideas of Locke, Rousseau and Kant (Rawls 1971:11). Thus the benefits of social benefits have to be decided in advance (Rawls 1971:11). Rawls proposes justice as fairness on the basis of his two principles. The first principle demands that each person should have most extensive basic liberties without infringing upon others‟ liberties. The second principle demands for rearranging social and economic inequalities in the society to ensure that such inequalities are to everyone‟s advantage especially for least advantaged and such inequalities should be attached to positions and offices which should be opened for competition for all (Rawls 1971: 60). Rawls explains: “By way of general comment, these principles primarily apply, as I have said, to the basic structure of society. They are to govern the assignments of rights and duties, and to regulate the distribution of social and economic advantages” (Rawls 1971: 61).

In Justice as fairness, well ordered society reflects a form of social union of social unions.

The successful execution of just institutions is aspiration as well as primary good in themselves. This is based on Rawl‟s argument that collective intention leads to effective sense of justice. However here it is problematic the argument that everyone wants to act from principles informed by original situation of equality (Rawls 1971: 527). But the notion of collective intention has not to be seen in fixed position in contemporary times. Given the 3|Page

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inadequate access to opportunities marginalized citizens have not been able to influence what are primary goods within the categories of income and wealth.

Rawls articulates the connection between the notion of primary goods and the conception of the person producing social unity (Rawls 2001:359). The primary goods like income and wealth are not distributed equally. This difference in distribution compels Rawls to devise an index of these primary goods (Rawls 2001:363). Rawls argues that primary goods are certain features of institutions or outcome of situations related to citizens (Rawls 2001:363).

Rawls gives example of health facilities to make primary goods workable in well ordered society: “Perhaps the social resources to be devoted to the normal health and medical needs of such citizens can be decided at the legislative stage in the light of existing social conditions and reasonable expectations of the frequency of illness and accident. If a solution can be worked out for this case, then it may be possible to extend it to the hard cases. If it cannot be worked out for this case, the idea of primary goods may have to be abandoned� (Rawls 2001:368-369).

Here Rawls admits the limitation of the idea of primary goods. Rawls says that there is a problem in charting a index for primary social goods. The primary goods like income and wealth vary in their distribution. The problem is really applicable to least advantaged with least authority and lowest income (Rawls 1971:93-94). This opens the debate about identifying the least advantaged with least authority by the state. Many social struggles are built around this recognition from the state. Rawls further argues that the use of primary goods puts onus on citizens to assume responsibility for their ends. This is based on capacity of moral power of citizen to form, revise and pursue a conception of good. However in the Rawlsian scheme of justice, citizens can be held responsible for their ends in expectations of primary goods. Moreover there should be workable criteria at the public level to draw interpersonal comparisons (Rawls 2001:369-370). This argument further opens the room for engagement to debate interpersonal comparisons for devising primary goods. Moreover this debate should not be obsessed with the idea of finality or one time benchmarking but should devise a method for discussion to arrive at primary goods conception from time to time. The openness of boundaries of primary goods can be seen in Rawls work itself when he talks about self-respect in his predominantly material based primary goods (Rawls 1971:440).

David Miller argues that circumstances of justice will command what advantages or redistribution will fall under social justice. Moreover circumstances will determine reach of public institutions and will dwell on the issue what should be left in individual realm for 4|Page

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personal pursuit (Miller 1999: 6-7). Such argument accentuate the idea that primary goods should be redefined, negotiated and restructured from time to time to ensure justice for marginalised. Thomas Pogge articulates limits of Rawlsâ€&#x;s conception of social justice and argues that it does not exhaust all possibilities of social justice since it does not represent moral assessment of institutions like families, tribes, universities, churches, trade unions.

Moreover these institutions operate in multitude of pre-modern and modern social systems.

Thus a uniform theory like Rawlsâ€&#x;s theory of justice cannot claim and indeed in practice cannot cover all these cases of social justice (Pogge 2007:39). Rawls does not want to look into rules and practices of society but is concerned with only basic structure of the society (Pogge 2007:40). Clearly Pogge wants to see how institutions work in daily practice to undo injustice. This remains the major plight of marginalised since most of the injustice is experienced by them while engaging with state institutions in their daily survival.

Michael Walzer, a communitarian scholar on distributive justice, regards distribution of membership as a core element in redistribution. Without membership people will be reduced to stateless identities. Walzer is seeking inclusion of people in state community not on the individual basis but in collective capacity. Thus multiple communities and not individuals are seeking inclusion in larger community of the State. Statelessness which brings immense vulnerability exposes membership-less person to the wrath of market without any protection of security and welfare. Although membership-less person participate in exchange of goods but do not derive any part of goods that are exchanged (Walzer 1983:31-32). The distribution of membership is social good and it does not bother to those who are already members but their actions which is guided to award membership to strangers (Walzer 1983:32). The inclusion and exclusion are determined by not only territorial factors like migration but also by socially shaped factors along with economic class (Walzer 1983:55-61). The laws and constitution include/exclude people in community as member. The theory of justice begins with membership right as distribution of social goods like security, honour, office and power are distributed on the basis of membership only (Walzer 1983:61-62). My argument in the third section hinges on this idea of inclusion that how social struggles which are not able to attain some sort of political power fail to influence state policy or distribution of primary goods.

If Walzer is concerned with inclusion/exclusion of people as members of communities in relation to the state as citizens, G.A. Cohen brings market as site for inclusion/exclusion.

Cohen says that Rawlsâ€&#x;s difference principle does not cover all social transactions mediated by legislative framework since market place leave ample room for excluding people 5|Page

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marginalised in daily life in absence of ethos which can cover the competition of economic game (Cohen 2000:128). Cohen argues justice should not only judge institutions in basic structure of society but it should also look into agent(s)‟s actions in daily life (Cohen 2000:146). Cohen‟s idea has become more relevant in backdrop of globalization which increasingly is pushing state to withdraw from the social justice front and leave the room for market.

Marion Iris Young criticizes Rawls for undermining the ideas of respect, dignity and recognition in his distributive justice centric “theory of Justice”. However she appreciates the re-articulation of John Rawls who earlier championed distributive Justice, have later started to talk about cultural and value differences by reducing the emphasis on distribution of scarce resources. Rawls write in his „Political liberalism‟ Primary goods includes what we may call “ a social division of responsibility”: society, citizens as a collective body, accepts responsibility for maintaining the equal basic liberties and fair equality of opportunity, and for providing a fair share of the primary goods for all within this framework; while citizens as individuals and associations accept responsibility for revising and adjusting their ends and aspirations in view of the all-purpose means they can expect, given their present and foreseeable situation (Rawls1993: 188).

Even before Rawls, Ambedkar argued that justice must go beyond material goods and include prestige and honour (Guru 2002: 47). Ambedkar had vision for an ideal society in which the individual was not subordinated to the society but has to do so only when it was in the interest of the individual concerned. The members of the society will be in associated life based on the principle of liberty, equality and fraternity by liberating from the caste system (Massey 2005:158). This visualization goes with the ideas of Kant wherein Kant uses categorical imperative to argue that individual should not be treated as means. Ambedkar argued that any ideal society has to undergo litmus tests of „the test of justice‟ and „the tests of utility‟. To clarify, Ambedkar equated justice with the categories of liberty, equality and fraternity (Massey 2005:159).

The test of utility should pass the criteria that individual interest or liberty should not be subordinated to collective interest. Ambedkar has a different take on agency of social Justice.

Austin writes that Ambedkar supported the agency of the State for social justice with State taking economic responsibilities for scheduled castes and minorities and argued that such provisions should be included in the constitution (Austin 1966: 98-99). However it would be interesting to explore further what Axel Honneth says as social struggles which are not 6|Page

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noticed by the state since these struggles are politically not organized, in interaction with the ideas of Ambedkar. Austin‟s observations on post-independence India are pertinent in this matter. Austin argues that there was formalism in the Indian constitution since its inception.

Individual interests of property came in contradiction with poor‟s interest. Since right to property was a fundamental right this conflict became trade-off between „law‟ and „justice‟ (Austin 1999: 69). Austin further argues that hierarchy has impacted governance in India in the most adverse way. This has brought the agency of economic welfare of poor and marginalized to himself/herself. Since agency is very critical to provide an organized shape to social struggles it becomes pertinent to describe features of agency.

Naila Kabeer, conceptualises agency as the ability to define one‟s goals and act upon them.

Agency is about more than observable action; it also encompasses the meaning, motivation and purpose which individuals bring to the activity, their sense of agency or „the power within‟. In this context, agency can be understood as an action made out of one‟s own volition albeit influenced by the culture and the position that one is situated in. While agency tends to be operationalized as „decision making‟ in the social science literature, it can take a number of forms. It can take the form of bargaining and negotiation, deception and manipulation, subversion and resistance as well as more intangible, cognitive processes of reflection and analysis. It can be exercised by individuals, as well as collectives (Kabeer 1999:438). I am interested to see how the dynamics of „the power within‟ enable individual to translate his agency into political participation to engage with the state. This remains very crucial point to engage with the fluid boundaries between social and political dimensions of agency in relation to social struggles. However Austin‟s argument informs us about serious limitations of engagement of social struggles to engage with the state. Austin states that the people are concerned about their own welfare and this orientation produces indifference and reduces Indian society to the „survival society‟ (Austin 1999: 640-641). The Constitution against itself was manifest in the conflict of right to property as fundamental right and socialeconomic justice through directive principles of state policy. It has brought „law‟ in conflict with „justice‟ which Austin says is eternal issue in a society which claims to be fair (Austin 1999: 653). This articulation of Austin tells us that agency of marginalised is developed enough to produce collective force to engage with the state.

Young uses Walzer‟s analysis to go into the question of production of distribution for justice.

Walzer primarily attends to the question of social structures and processes that produce distribution rather than on distribution per se. She says that her affinity with Michael Walzer‟s analysis enables her to shift our attention from distribution itself to conception of 7|Page

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and the creation and the naming of goods, the giving of meaning and the collective making (Walzer cited in Young 1990: 22). However she moves away from Walzer‟s analysis when she finds Walzer making social justice co-extensive with distribution sometimes in reifying ways. Using Edward Nell and Onora O‟Nell, Young argues that both socialist justice theory and capitalist liberal justice projects like Rawls‟s work within the same distributive paradigm.

She argues that the difference is merely over principles of distribution, and that neither approach attends to the issue of processes and social structures which produce mechanisms of distribution (Young 1990: 18).Young writes that the distributive theories of justice, especially Rawls‟s, obscure the context of class inequality since the Rawlsian logic is based on individualism. The institutional framework within which distribution arises, and the ideas of „class‟ and „mode of production‟ must be concretized in terms of specific social processes and relations; yet, this is no economistic Marxist assertion, for she elaborates that institutional context should be understood in a broader sense than „mode of production‟. It includes structures, practices, the rules, and norms that guide them and the language and symbols that mediate social interactions within them in institutions of state, family, work place and civil society. Young argues that these conditions will determine people‟s ability to participate in determining their actions and their ability to develop and exercise their capacities. Here it is interesting to note the use of “people” in place of “individual” who is used in distributive paradigm (Young 1990: 20-22). The Young‟s argument of engaging with processes of social justice in place of material goods to bring social justice has affinity with critique of Pogge about Rawlsian notion of social justice. This perspective allows studying social struggles and their capability to influence state centric social justice conceptualisation.

State centric conceptualization of social justice imposes universality in garb of impartiality.

Foucault argues that the dominant group uses impartiality to mask their interests by making it universal (Foucault cited in Young 1990). Impartiality is the product of Enlightenment in which particularity is privatized into the realms of family and civil society. Using Adorno, Young argues that the logic of identity constructs things together and reduces them into a unity. Impartiality is used as an instrument to adopt a point of view which is detached from the concrete situations making it a “view from nowhere”. It treats all the situations as same.

Secondly, it also eliminates heterogeneity in the form of feeling by driving out affectivity from the realm of reason. The universalizing tendency of impartiality is further problematised

by Young looking into the very constitution of impartiality. Rawls criticizes the utilitarian for clubbing moral desires of subjects into unified one. The agency for this unification lies with the State. Rawls suggests alternative position of agency which he terms as “original position” 8|Page

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in which subjects participate in deciding conception of justice in impartial manner (Rawls cited in Young 1990: 101). However Young finds this Rawlsian position problematic since impartiality does not allow interaction among subjects. The impartiality driven “veil of ignorance” reduces all subjects to adhere to same universal point of view shedding differentiated characteristics (Rawls cited in Young 1990: 102).

Section 2 Hegemonic imagination of Mumbai as a global city and resultant exclusion and displacement “The World is watching. Mumbai is waiting”. This was the concluding phrase used by the task force constituted by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra in February, 2004. The task force was assigned the task of looking into „Vision Mumbai 2013” to make Mumbai as Global city.

It emphasised two elements of a world-class city: dynamic, job-creating growth and a comfortable quality of life (CM‟s Task force report 2004: 3). The vision report was prepared

by McKinsey & Company with emphasis on road construction which implied displacement of poor. McKinsey prepared the report under the sponsorship of Bombay First, a corporate NGO led by top 30 business leaders of Mumbai. The Chief Minister‟s task force endorsed ditto the recommendations of the McKinsey report. Later, in the second half of 2004, the then PM Man Mohan Singh requested households staying close to roads to shift to periphery of the city, which were to be widened for better connectivity in the city (Anand 2006, 3427).

This connectivity is at the heart of imagination of Mumbai as a world class city which is part of the modernisation and development imagery of the Indian nation. This imagery was created by the corporate led civil society in a hegemonic manner, as my paper will try to demonstrate through an analysis of government reports and newspaper articles. This chain of events shows that the imagination of the city was disseminated to English-speaking educated middle classes through government plans like the task force on McKinsey Report, and press reports which highlighted centrality of roads in global city (Anand 2006, 3422). Such a conception raises the following question: who decides and who designs Mumbai as a global city? Moreover, it also raises the question: who are a part of the global city and who was excluded from it in 2006. The state has constructed houses through contractors. The State, visible in the form of MMRDA, was to phase out from all responsibility after 10 years from such colonies. Moreover, the State did not agree to provide any basic amenities like the Solid Waste management service to these rehabilitated households from the beginning. The displaced households who lost their voice in the hegemonic imagination of Mumbai as 9|Page

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Global city continue to contest and negotiate with the State to access their right to the city and its services.

However this dissemination of information did not capture disconnections with the city which it brought as result of its execution. MMRDA called for a bid in 2007 for building Eastern Express Way once land was cleared by displacing the poor. The construction started in January 2008 and after several delays the project got completed in May 2013 with the support of the Union Government under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. Households staying close to roads were displaced to the periphery of the city. However the displaced households make continuous efforts to connect with the city. This section makes an attempt to critique the engagement of the State with the excluded households, which has produced a new kind of politics: a strategic politics which operates outside the purview of civil society.

Moreover this politics will be seen from the lens of rights also in the next section.

Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), which has mostly focused on road projects to decongest the city, was given the responsibility of road construction and rehabilitation of displaced households. It rationalised mostly private transit on grounds through the language of connectivity [Bombay First 2004: 16; Anand 2006:3425].

This resulted in projects of North-South and East-West Connectivity. However it is interesting to see how MMRDA has fallen to the hegemonic civil society campaign of the global city led by Corporates. This civil society does not have any representation of the poor.

The report prepared tells that “McKinsey conducted this study for Bombay First with the active participation of the government institutions that run the city of Mumbai, i.e., the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and the Government of Maharashtra (GoM)� (McKinsey Report 2003:8). This shows that the poor were not taken on board as a significant stakeholder for designing the city or to have a say in their right to the city. It can be seen in the World Bank and MMRDA reports themselves that despite the fact that a World Bank Study revealed that 59 per cent of road-based person trips are carried by BEST buses, which occupy just 5 per cent of the road capacity. [Anand 2006:3425]. Almost two thirds of all road space is used by 10 per cent of population which use private automobiles, still MMRDA went for making of Eastern Express Way for Connectivity for private car users. For connecting 10 per cent of the population of the city, the rest of the population is disconnected. [Chatterjee 2004: 35].

This can be seen in the case of Mumbai in the manner in which the displaced households have been confined to salt pan lands and other peripheral areas of the city. (MMRDA 2014: R&R Colony list) 10 | P a g e

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This paper‟s argument is linked to the homogenous imagination of nation and its economy.

The twin pillars of economic growth of the country are imagined as modernisation and development. The liberalisation phase of Indian economy after 1991 gave a greater role to market forces, leading to a boost for infrastructure for the market. Road connectivity is central to this infrastructure. The Bombay First led civil society vision Mumbai 2013, which got the backing of the State with MMRDA as its executing agency, became reality. It can be seen with the concept of construction of consent of educated middle classes. It is not the Corporates which impose their agenda on the state but they construct the consent for the execution of their decision through civil society, which is normally represented by the middle classes (Chomsky 2002: XVIII). The McKinsey Report tries to justify road construction by displacement by saying “Mumbai is currently at a critical juncture: It must implement road construction now, otherwise it is in grave danger of collapsing completely [The McKinsey Report 2003:3]. The McKinsey Report begins with quote from John F. Kennedy “We neglect our cities at our peril. For, in neglecting them, we neglect the nation”. For preparing consent of the educated middle classes of Mumbai to reshape on the lines of Shanghai, this argument was used as the report further stated that at present, Mumbai is in reverse gear. It is currently lagging behind on both fronts – economic growth and quality of life (McKinsey Report 2003:12). For Mumbai vision 2013, one of the goals was transportation, but in actuality the focus has been only on private transportation, increasing the average speed of travel, tripling the freeways/expressways and increasing the number of public parking spaces by order of magnitude is essential. (McKinsey Report 2003:18). As David Harvey argues that smooth and fast traffic is an integral part of the imagery of the modern city, it has been used by the corporates to seek consent of the educated middle classes in Mumbai [Harvey1989:228].

Harvey writes that that this reflects the desire of elite class to remake the city as “the question of what kind of city we want cannot be divorced from the question of what kind of people we want to be, what kinds of social relations we seek, what relations to nature we cherish, what style of daily life we desire, what kinds of technologies we deem appropriate, what aesthetic values we hold. The right to the city is, therefore, far more than a right of individual access to the resources that the city embodies: it is a right to change ourselves by changing the city more after our heart‟s desire. It is, moreover, a collective rather than an individual right since changing the city inevitably depends upon the exercise of a collective power over the processes of urbanization”. [Harvey 2008:1] This indicates elite‟s exclusionary mindset to deny the poor access to the city in Mumbai. Harvey explains such exclusionary nature of urbanisation to turn Mumbai into a global financial centre is an attempt of Capital 11 | P a g e

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accumulation through displacement of poor.[Harvey 2008:11] Zygmunt Bauman attributes this othering of poor in the city as upgraded, refined or modern form of strategy for spatial separation, allowing selective access to spaces.[Bauman 2000:101] However the imagery is not a post-colonial phenomenon. In fact, it has colonial roots in India. Chakraborty argues that the imagery of modern city has history in 19 th century European thought, which is shared by the post-colonial elites in India (Chakraborty 2002: 66). The genesis of unequal spatial urban structure has its roots in colonial economy which build administrative towns at the cost of other areas and their resources. Thus the debate of core and periphery is not new in the context of Mumbai as global city. The colonial policy of industrialisation led to concentration of consumption of products in the cities. The civic amenities were provided to elites who could afford high prices in the cities. Thus service class or poor lived nearby in the city without overburdening the infrastructure of core area of the city. Post-independence five year plans tried to restructure urban hierarchy but regional disparities within the city. In the first three decades urbanisation increased with informalisation of economy which deprived new poor in the cities basis amenities (Kundu 2011: 4). This hierarchy based urbanisation has intensified in post-liberalisation period in India culminating into the project like Mumbai as global city. Thus civil society initiative is not an abrupt phenomenon but it has continuity with colonial political economy. Bombay First, and the bureaucrats want to continue this narrative and justify it in name of modernity in the form of imagining modern city with uninterrupted traffic. [Chakraborty 2002: 66].

However this imagination is not an exclusive prerogative of post-colonial elites but it is also shared by its non-users, i.e. the lower middle classes with dissemination of slogans like “Chakachak Mumbai� which will happen if poor are displaced and confined to the fringe of the city.

In order to understand the relationship between civil society, state and its citizens, I will try to attempt a description of these concepts. Hegel advanced the idea of the civil society which is supposed to work in tandem with the State within a constitutional framework (Mahajan1999:1191). However civil society was autonomous and worked on the basis of equality, autonomy, freedom of entry and exit and a deliberative body of decision making.

Civil society recognised rights and duties of members on an individual basis. However, in the case of Mumbai The Bombay First, NGO as representative of civil society, which pushed for Mumbai as global city project, actually ends up curtailing the liberty and freedom of the poor from the city by means of exclusion. Chatterjee writes that the poor, who did not get representation in civil society in the 20th century, in post-colonial India, started to construct a 12 | P a g e

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new entity which he calls “political society” in order to negotiate with the state.(Chatterjee2004:8) Anupama Roy also argues that in post-colonial India there is a tension in the concept of citizenship and the hegemonic project of the nation-building and membership of the nation produces exclusion (Roy 2013: 182) The nation binds people into political community and they not only share an equal claim of past but have aspiration for future (186). Here sharing the aspiration of Mumbai is not only right to the city for poor and displaced but it is also aspirational citizenship for future. The violation of rights of individual by the State for sake of nation essentially makes poor vulnerable and more disadvantaged (212) Roy further argues using communitarian scholars like Michael Sandel and Alisdair MacIntyre that „politics of rights‟ should be replaced by „politics of common good‟. She further states that it was welfare state which brought poor, migrants and racial minorities into the fold of citizenship (Roy 2013: 243-244). The liberal ideas conceptualised the enjoyment of citizen‟s rights on the individual basis as it was reflected in the thoughts of Rawls.

However Niraja Gopal Jayal argues that in post-colonial India the real contention was that whether the relationship of citizen with the state should be on the individual basis or it should be mediated by community ( Jayal 2013: 203-4). The aspiration to redress disadvantage in this case displaced poor in Mumbai compels citizen to assess his agency whether he/she can represent herself/himself before the state or he/she needs community mediation. The unmarked citizens (May not be part of civil society as per Partha Chatterjee) rely more on community agency to speak to the State (Jayal 2013: 227). This project of transforming Mumbai into a global city led to the displacement of the poor along with loss of their livelihood. They started to protest in unorganised groups then MMRDA agreed for rehabilitation of poor households.

As a result of this negotiation with displaced poor MMRDA provided alternative housing to displaced households. However this housing was provided in the fringe areas of Mumbai by constructing 45 buildings. These buildings were constructed by private contractors on behalf of MMRDA. One such build colony was Vasi Naka, in Chembur in North East part of Mumbai. The Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres, or SPARC, an NGO, was assigned the task of facilitation of rehabilitation of 45 colonies in Mumbai by MMRDA (SPARC Website, R&R projects). The state agency MMRDA did not provide basic service for example SWM to poor and left them on their own to generate and consume this service.

SWM for displaced households did not find any mention in imagination of Mumbai (CM‟s Task Force Report 2004:20). This arbitrary power of MMRDA came in the backdrop of the illegal nature of the poor who lost their livelihood because of displacement. The poor are 13 | P a g e

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disciplined by the State through the instrument of bureaucracy. Moreover before displacement, the residence and livelihood place were contagious or in close by area, but now the poor have to seek permission of MMRDA for opening shops in Vasi Naka Colony.

Section 3 Engagement of excluded households with the State to claim their rights like livelihood and access to municipal services The poor who are rehabilitated in Vasi Naka rehabilitation colony are one such example of the mobilisation of the poor. The poor in Vasi Naka enjoy limited legitimacy from the State.

Since the beginning in 2005, MMRDA maintained that it is not responsible for civic amenities like solid waste management in rehabilitation colony and the poor residents have to manage these amenities on their own through cooperative societies elected by the residents of the colony. Thus any demand by the poor is seen as running away from taking responsibility as a citizen. It can be seen with Chatterjeeâ€&#x;s argument that the state does not recognise statutory right of such poor and tries to negotiate with them on an ad-hoc basis, as a one-time settlement. This makes the claims of the people of in a political society a matter of constant political negotiation, whose results are never secure or permanent. (Chatterjee 2010:9). The state has used its disciplinary powers to discipline displaced households through the instrument of bureaucracy (Chatterjee 1997:31).

This disciplining of poor by the State in Mumbai can be seen from its dual engagement. The state in Mumbai provides SWM services to members of civil society in the capacity of citizens on a regular basis as their statutory right. However when the poor mobilised and demanded their right of service of SWM at the time of Visit of a World Bank team in February 2014 to rehabilitation colonies like Lalu Bhai compound, MMRDA got alarmed.

Since Eastern Express highway construction was interlinked with rehabilitation as part of the World Bank conditionality, the World Bank reprimanded MMRDA for poor SWM service in rehabilitation colonies. The rehabilitation colony of Lalubhai compound in Govandi West of Mumbai is one of the most mismanaged colonies as far as SWM is concerned. The Vasi naka colony is not lagging too behind in mismanagement of SWM service. After the visit of the World Bank, MMRDA started a pilot project on ad-hoc basis with the logic to attend the most mismanaged colonies in terms of SWM. Instead of recognising poor citizensâ€&#x; right to access to SWM service by Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) popularly called as BMC as it is provided to members of civil society, MMRDA decided to negotiate with the poor in Vasi Naka on one time entitlement basis in May, 2014. This one time 14 | P a g e

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settlement by the State on the eve of Maharashtra State assembly election and before the pull out deadline in 2015 provides an opportunity to problematize the argument of Chatterjee.

Under strategic politics as Chatterjee argues that, the state does not recognise statutory rights of poor through its instrument of bureaucracy but uses a political tool to negotiate on a one time basis. However this argument is problematised in this case since the offer of one time settlement did not come from political class but actually it came from the bureaucracy of MMRDA and the officials were claiming that the initiative has come from the commissioner of MMRDA and not from political parties in power. In this case displaced poor look helpless despite being shifted to new houses in legitimate manner by MMRDA. It seems they lack agency to negotiate with the State for their rights. Contrary to this situation Solomon Benjamin attributes some agency to urban poor. Solomon Benjamin argues that certain land areas in city are occupied by poor with help of lower level political party functionaries and middle level municipal corporation officials and. Although they hold de-facto tenure of land without government legitimacy, they demand the establishment of basic amenities like water and sanitation pipelines from prominent members of parliament (Benjamin 2008: 722).

The one time settlement by the MMRDA refuses to treat the poor of Vasi Naka as equal citizens and continues to negotiate with them on the basis of the rule of exception. The evidence has been already put forward as the CMâ€&#x;s task force report did not mention any such service for displaced households. And thus the State did not recognise SWM service as the right of the poor citizens and left them to manage it on their own. The context of one time settlement lies in MMRDAâ€&#x;s 10 year deadline for pulling out from these rehabilitation colonies and leaving residents to manage basic amenities like solid waste management at their own. The MMRDA was all set to complete 10 years deadline for pull-out in 2015 so it offered the last minute ad-hoc engagement to manage solid waste management although it never accepted this as its statutory responsibility. This last minute engagement on the one time basis was also motivated by nearing assembly elections in 2014 as it was believed by the residents of the colony. The one-time settlement for Solid Waste management for 4-5 months

by MMRDA with help of residents of colony and thereafter poor managing Solid Waste at their own in the colony once MMRDA pulls out after completing 10 years deadline reflects what Foucault defines as government as conduct, or, more precisely, as "the conduct of conduct" and thus as a term which ranges from "governing the self" to governing others (Lemke 2001:2). The technologies of the self with relation to MMRDA are manifest in the termination model negotiation of MMRDA, when it says that the poor should manage the Solid Waste Management (SWM) service on their own (Lemke 2001:3).

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The Vasi Naka colony does not have homogenous community. The displaced families identify with the previous place of stay and it brings the phenomenon of othering. A large number of residents have a peculiar attitude towards residents who earlier used to stay nearby railway tracks. The displaced families from nearby areas of railway tracks are blamed to have tendency to sit in the lanes, retire and dispose of garbage after eating food in the lanes between two buildings itself. The residents who shifted in this area in 2005 say that the area was clean till the people who used to stay close by railway tracks were rehabilitated in the colony in 2007. A large chunk of residents in Vasi Naka colony blame for mismanagement of solid waste to these people who earlier used to stay near railway tracks. Other residents of the colony do not easily mingle with them and are not willing to partner with them in any activity. Another issue of heterogeneity within a small colony of Vasi Naka is attitude towards migrants from North India. The residents who claim their origin in Maharashtra and Mumbai say that North Indians have big families. The one room kitchen houses constructed

by MMRDA is adequate to live for 4-5 people but some residents of Vasi Naka Colony state that in Uttar Bhartiya (North Indian) families 8-10 people stay, it increases burden on the infrastructure of the colony resulting into problems like poor solid waste management.

Such thinking basically makes any collective effort for solid waste management almost impossible. It leads to individualisation of responsibility for cleanliness in the colony. This makes it difficult to make any consolidated effort by the poor of the colony to demand from MMRDA for managing Solid Waste management. The MMRDA states that SWM is responsibility of the residents of the colony. The adequate solid waste management is daily need of everybody and denial of it by the State makes daily survival of poor difficult. But these poor are not able to demand or pressurise enough the state to get it as statutory right.

Axel Honneth argues citing his experiences in The Weight of the World that the criteria for qualifying under new social movements is to achieve at least some level of organization for political movement (Honneth 2004:117-119). Here I take demand for adequate solid management as social movement but it is fragmented due to heterogeneous demography of poor in the colony. I may be incorrect but it is apt to see this in the light of argument of Honneth that social movements are able to capture only those social crisis situations which have made a considerable presence in political public sphere thus excluding multitude of everyday life struggles which could not qualify under the category of „new social movements‟. Using Pierre Bourdieu‟s argument in The Weight of the World Honneth states that all those social struggles are excluded from the domain of social Justice if they do not have capability to attain political organization. I am not sure whether people‟s construction of 16 | P a g e

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their identity in social domain is informing or shaping political identity to engage with the State or not on the basis of the limited exposure to the field. However it remains a useful question for me to see the interaction between social and political identity of poor in Vasi naka colony and the contest of primacy as residents of the colony were blaming other fellow residents who do not share common social identity resulting into poor political organisation in relation to the state for demanding statutory right for getting solid waste management service.

The residents of area agree on one point during conversation that MMRDA gave them very less time to shift. Rakesh Kumar, who shifted in 2005 and ensures his livelihood by putting up a tiny shop for selling Vada Pav and other snacks at the entry of the colony told: “When we shifted here in 2005 garbage and dumped construction material after completion of construction of buildings was left here and there. The electricity and water connections were also not functional. There was no adequate facility for transportation as the colony was 5-6 kms away from local railway station Kurla. The shifting process was initially facilitated by a NGO SPARC who left soon after we came to the colony. Since the time of coming to this colony the MMRDA has not kept any direct link with the residents of the colony. I feel that the MMRDA has treated us with disrespect and apathy”.

From this interaction it seems that the residents see the State through the functioning of MMRDA. But people engage with the state not only through the lens of MMRDA. There is a Safai Kamgar (a worker who cleans the streets of the colony) assigned the task by another state agency Municipal corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) but the residents are not expecting the task of cleaning the building by MCGM. In addition to state agencies, there was intervention by a NGO YUVA for cleaning the area. Ms. Fatima, the president of Lakshmi Dweep Society (Vasi Naka colony is divided into 25 buildings and each building has cooperative society to manage its affairs with help of elected representatives elected by the residents of the respective building) states: “Yuva came and tried to mobilise residents for kachra safai (termed as SWM by MMRDA and MCGM) since neither MMRDA nor BMC (popular name for MCGM) was taking responsibility for it. However the participation in the meetings organised by NGO was very dismal. Once they found that people’s attitude is not positive to their initiative, NGO left the colony”.

It is not clear whether NGO was asked by the MMRDA to do intervention in the area or NGO was doing it on its own. The officer in charge of social development in MMRDA for Vasi 17 | P a g e

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Naka, did not confirm the role of MMRDA for NGO intervention. Moreover despite several attempts to contact YUVA, I did not get any concrete information about the intervention.

Harsh Sethi argues that such situation has been created because the political parties have abandoned the needs of poor and even bureaucracy has failed to fulfil its duty. The entry of NGO signals mobilisation of poor for their empowerment in non-electoral arena. The localised efforts of NGOs function as buffer to tone down unrest among poor (Sethi 2003:298-299).If NGO could not mobilise the residents as a community, the initiative of few cooperative societies also did not yield any concrete result for keeping the colony clean.

Nitin, a resident and representative of building N.9 tells: “I made visits to all the families in the building and tried to pursue them for cleaning the area without any success in 2009. I tried to raise the issue of cleanliness/ SWM in cooperative society meetings but there was no active support for any action. A boy fell into the gutter in 2012 and was fatally injured. We send the punchnama to MMRDA but MMRDA did not take any action to correct faulty and open drainage system so that such sad accidents should not occur in future”.

Interestingly the residents were finding an unusual solution to the problem of garbage or solid waste management in the colony 4-5 months before Maharashtra State Assembly elections in 2014. The local politicians of major political parties were undertaking initiatives to clean the area. Despite this initiative the residents were apprehensive that MMRDA will pull-out after 10 years deadline of rehabilitation process which began in 2005. There is a widespread feeling that MMRDA should not pull-out without repairing drainage system in the colony which is the major cause for inadequate condition of solid waste management. The pull-out of MMRDA means that the colony MMRDA will not be responsible for any upkeep, maintenance or managing SWM of the colony it will be the responsibility of cooperative societies of the respective buildings.

The one time offer of 4-5 months by MMRDA to manage solid waste management in Vasi Naka colony in May 2014, despite its consistent position that it is not statutorily responsible for it, can be seen from Chatterjee‟s strategic politics argument. The strategic politics allows the state to deal with political society on the basis of exception. Chatterjee argues that the State in the case of Mumbai‟s poor demands allegiance to notion of nation and ensures it using its disciplinary powers manifested in its forceful displacement. But the State also fails to affiliate the poor on the basis of their rights for example providing them SWM. The latest move by MMRDA was based on political feasibility. Once State assembly election approached, the state decided to use its arms MMRDA and BMC to ensure SWM services in 18 | P a g e

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Vasi Naka Colony. I may be confusing since in 4th section of the paper I stated that the offer came from bureaucracy of MMRDA. However it remains my curiosity whether the bureaucracy of MMRDA can/cannot offer such ad-hoc arrangement which is very similar to strategic politics without the permission of political masters? The proposal of MMRDA can be seen as what John Gaventa says as „provided spaces‟. The elites like senior bureaucrats, experts make decisions and try to provide services to the people without making any attempt for consultation or substantial involvement(Gaventa 2006: 60).

However Veena Das disagrees with the binary of political society and civil society of Partha Chatterjee. Chatterjee attributes the biological domain or survival struggle to members of political society. However Das argues that both political and biological life „bleed into each other‟. The interaction of both produces a capacity to claim citizenship through politics of „haq‟ or rights. Das argues that the poor assert citizenship on the moral basis and not as entitlements embedded in legal base. It allows them to claim citizenship excluded from the domain of legal or juridical spaces (Veena Das cited by Roy 2013: 35). Chatterjee‟s argument strengthens my suspicion of involvement of ruling parties in this one time settlement for SWM service albeit not admitted by the bureaucracy of MMRDA in this case of the displaced poor in Vasi Naka colony in Mumbai. Chatterjee argues that the Government on the one hand now feeling obligated to look after poor‟s need like SWM service as poor can vote but at the same time it needed to attend needs of Civil society in case of Mumbai led by Bombay First, a Corporate NGO. The state is trying to strike a balance between interests of political society and civil society. Poor can vote in the election and thus government cannot ignore them altogether. This decision taken in May, 2014 should be seen in light of State assembly election in Maharashtra in October 2014. The State is caught between what Chatterjee writes as shifting compromise between the normative values of modernity reflected in civil society sponsored Vision Mumbai 2013 and the moral assertion of popular demands of poor (Chatterjee 2004:40-41).

Section 4 Social struggle and deep participation In this section I would like to argue that how social struggles with deep participation can influence state view on social justice to overcome marginalisation. Axel Honneth argues that only one type of social movements cannot be relied upon to dictate political objectives to redefine phenomenology of experiences of social justice. Honneth sees this in linkage between critical social theory and contemporary social movements (Honneth 2004:115-116).

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Honneth argues that social movements are able to capture only those social crisis situations like single mother problems, long-term unemployment which have made a considerable presence in political public sphere thus excluding multitude of everyday life struggles which could not qualify under the category of „new social movements‟. Using Pierre Bourdieu‟s argument in The Weight of the World Honneth argues that the criteria for qualifying under new social movements is to achieve at least some level of organization for political movement (Honneth 2004:117-119). Thus all those social struggles are excluded from the domain of social Justice if they do not have capability to attain political organization. In this context of displacement, MMRDA may not be negotiating with displaced citizens due to weak political organization.

Ghanshyam Shah‟s argument which goes against the popular perception of distinction between social and political power also accentuate the linkage between social agency and political organization. But he questions the argument that social movements must have a minimum degree of organisation to bring social change. This may be in the form of informal, mix of informal or institutional or bureaucratized organisation. The shaping up of organisation is contingent upon active participation (Shah 2004:19). He argues that there is no clarity whether a social movement begins with an organized institution or it evolves overtime. Shah finds in such argument exclusion of all those movements which may not have any organisation to begin with. Shah argues that the distinction between social and political movement is problematic. He cites Andre Gunder Frank and Marta Fuentes‟s argument that social movements seek more autonomy from the state and not the state power.

Moreover the objective of social movements is only social transformation by mobilisation to achieve social justice. Shah argues with by citing Dhanagare and John (1988) that such bifurcation of political and social produces „depoliticisation of the social realm‟. Any collective mobilisation of people or struggle for justice necessarily involves capturing or influencing political authority and institutions albeit it may be not on the immediate agenda of the social struggle (Shah 2004: 23). This argument reinforces the point of Axel Honneth that a lot of social struggles are unable to negotiate their marginalisation with the State due to inability of attaining capability of organisation which can transform social struggle into political force.

The weak political organisation of marginalised citizens to engage with the state can be overcome with what Paula Donnelly Roark terms as deep participation. Roark argues that deep participation is instrumental to achieve the objectives of social movements (Roark 2015: 15). Deep participation is increasingly becoming important as it links social factors role in the 20 | P a g e

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economic and political spheres (Roark 2015: 21). Roark cites Kenneth Boulding, and argues social as „Social integrative power‟ which stands for “a set of social relations involving status, identity, community, legitimacy, loyalty, love and trust”. These factors provide legitimacy to new elements and existing institutions in the society (Roark 2015: 23-24) Roark argues that economic and political factors cannot operate without social integrative power. I want to study this dynamics of relationship. The dynamics of deep participation ensure emergence of social integrative power in social institutions. The author argues in contradiction to popular perception that social integrative power serves as a base over which political factors and economic factors capitalize upon to address issues of social injustice like poverty eradication (Roark 2015: 26). Deep participation emerges in the context of rapid social change and in return facilitates social change (Roark 2015: 27). However associated social groups are not aware about social construction. The absence of well laid out rules brings the crisis of legitimacy of social institutions (Roark 2015: 28). However substantial or deep participation is not possible without recognizing indigenous knowledge and practices.

The major elements of deep participation include social indigenous institutions which provide the platform for social action. In the process of deep participation social and cultural legitimacy get reshaped. In deep participation, prevailing critical thought and emotions produce new social knowledge (Roark 2015: 28).

Conclusion Unless the State treats displaced and marginalised citizens at par with citizens which enjoy legal and juridical legitimacy, marginalised citizens will remain “Citizens without City” (Appadurai 2001: 27). The democratic citizenship rests on the practice of citizenship at its core. There is a need for shared commitment which can be developed through dialogue to oppose the structures of domination. The contexts of struggles with deep participation in specific locations can allow poor to claim rights (Roy 2013:269-270). To conclude, this paper initially tried to see marginalisation of citizenship produced by the functioning of State‟s political institutions. It also tried to describe the story of the hegemonic imagination of Mumbai as a global city. Then it engaged with displaced citizens struggle to engage with the state for obtaining basic amenities. Finally, I looked into the possibility of deep participation for substantial engagement with the state as citizens with agency both at individual as well as at community level.

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Appadurai, Arjun (2001): “Deep Democracy: Urban Governmentality and the Horizon of Politics”, Environment Urbanization, Vol 13 No 2 October 2001.

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Bauman, Zygmunt (2000): „Liquid Modernity‟, Polity Press, Cambridge.

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Chakrabarty, Dipesh (2002): „Of Garbage, Modernity and the Citizen‟s Gaze‟ in D. Chakrabarty (ed), Habitations of Modernity: Essays in the Wake of Subaltern Studies, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

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Fraser, Nancy (1996): „Social Justice in the Age of Identity Politics: Redistribution, Recognition, and Participation‟, Lecture delivered at Stanford University, April 30– May 2, 1996.

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Rawls, John (1971): The Theory of Justice, Delhi: Universal Law Publishing Co. Rawls, John (2001): Collected Papers of John Rawls (ed) Samuel Freeman, Harvard: Harvard University Press.

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Akunuri: Primary Education in Telangana

PRIMARY EDUCATION IN TELANGANA: A CASE STUDY OF MAHABUBNAGAR DISTRICT Pragathi Akunuri1

Abstract The study sets out to answer the questions on the quality of education in Mahabubnagar district, Telangana. It looks at the performance of children from three different views, school distance from the headquarters, school and family background. The performance of the children is compared among schools which are a certain distance away from the district headquarters. The assumption here is that, as the distance from the district headquarters (centre) increases there will be lower performance in the schools (further away from the centre).This study adopts a stratified random sampling design with distance from district headquarter as an attribute. Twelve villages were selected from one of the backward districts of Telangana, Mahabubnagar District for the survey. Mandals within the district are chosen first with 20 km (A), 40 km (B) and 60 km (C) radius from the district headquarters in four different directions. One village is randomly selected from each of the chosen Mandals. As expected distance does make the difference in the performance of the Class II and Class V children. The performance tends to decrease with the increase in distance of the school from district head quarter. There are exceptional cases to prove quite opposite to the finding and this exception is due to strong political leadership and involvement of village heads and interest groups for the development of the schools. There are other factors which lead to better performance. Other determinants which affect performance of the children are infrastructure of the schools and private coaching. Infrastructure like classrooms, Pupil Teacher Ratio, Toilets especially for girls, library, learning material, playground, kitchen and SMC meeting (SMC not part of infrastructure) are main determinants which improve the performance of the children.

Keywords: Primary Education, Educational Outcomes, Private Coaching, Infrastructure

1

Pragathi Akunuri is a former Graduate student of School of Public Policy and Governance, TISS, Hyderabad.

For questions, suggestions and queries, she can be contacted at pragathi.akunuri@gmail.com.

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Akunuri: Primary Education in Telangana

Introduction Primary education is a basic right and is the most important aspect for the advancement of an individual and also for the society. Everybody knows that basic education is very important but why is primary education so important? It is important because it enhances and enriches the future of individuals. It brings awareness and leads to communication and coordination with other people in an effective manner. There are also huge effects on quality of one‟s life and creates many employment opportunities in the modern world. Sen says that education is needed not only for an individual but it also helps in contribution to national development and economic growth of a country (Drèze & Sen, 2013).

The theoretical framework of the capability approach says that freedom to achieve well-being (functioning) and effective freedom (capability). Well-being can be achieved when there is real freedom and opportunity. As Sen mentioned in various books and article, access to education is primary criteria to earn certain capabilities for a better life (Sen, 1993). But, the quality of education is equally important to earning these capabilities. A child going to school with no quality education can be treated as illiterate as similar to one who does not attend school at all. As explained in the capability approach, for instance, going to school is a functioning but receiving quality of education in school is the corresponding capability which a child would gain from the school, for the child as well as the society.

There are four stages of school education excluding pre-school education in India: Primary schools, upper Primary schools2, Secondary schools (SE) and Higher Secondary schools (HSE). Within the education system structure, there are four basic types of schools namely, government (public) schools 3, private schools aided by government, private unaided schools and unrecognized private schools (Ward, 2007).

Quality of education is defined by UNICEF is in terms of five dimensions, namely: Learners, Environment, Content, Processes and Outcomes. If each term is elaborated briefly, first and foremost dimension is the learner‟s nutrition. The learner or the child going to school should be well nourished by providing children with good nutritional food. Secondly, safe, protective and gender sensitive school environment with enough resources. Thirdly, there must be quality and relevant curriculum content and material for attainment of basic skills.

Fourthly, there must be processes where child centric teaching approaches with well trained teachers and managed classrooms. And, finally, outcomes which embrace knowledge and required skills (UNICEF, 2000).

2 3

The combination of Primary and Upper Primary schooling is termed as elementary education.

Government schools also include schools run by local bodies.

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Akunuri: Primary Education in Telangana

And also, Quality education can be defined in terms of various aspects to improve the learning outcomes of the children. Various aspects include infrastructure of the school with safe and protective environment, Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs), gender equity, effective curriculum and child centric teaching approaches, teacher‟s qualification, teacher trainings, teacher‟s attendance, health (nutrition) and family condition and background of the child and family participation (Colby & Witt, 2000). However, the definition of quality of education must be open to change according to the changing context and new educational challenges.

As an intervention program, centrally sponsored project in partnership with state government was introduced in early 1990s named, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) which focuses on UEE across the country. The broad objectives and goals of SSA include “universal access to education and retentions, bridging of gender and social category gaps in education and enhancement of learning levels of children.” The main interventions of the implementation process were to open new schools and provide facilities in new and existing schools, construct new school if necessary and construct classrooms, toilets and drinking water facilities, provisions for teachers and trainings for them, provision of textbooks, resource support and learning accomplishment support, altogether „Quality of Education‟. (GOI, SSA, 2011).

RTE, 2009, lays down the norms and standards relating inter alia to PTRs, infrastructure, school-working days and teacher-working hours. To implement the RTE, 2009, approach shifts to enrich quality of education by providing textbooks, teaching learning material, infrastructure, and teacher‟s trainings are looked holistically considering gender equity in all implementations (GOI, SSA, 2011). Education infrastructure includes non-consumable learning materials4, consumable learning materials5, school buildings, including water facilities, latrines, and school furniture (Ward, 2007) On this note, this study was conducted to assess the quality of education in the primary schools of Telangana, by selecting Mahabubnagar district, one of the most backward districts of Telangana. All 12 schools visited were primary government schools located in rural area of the selected district. This study tries to find answers to two questions, whether the distance of the school from the district headquarters show variation in child performance in primary school, and what are the other determinants that affect the performance of the primary school children? The hypothesis is that, schools located far away from district headquarters have poor infrastructure, less number of teachers and low quality of education.

4 5

Non-consumable learning material: curriculum materials for students, textbooks, visual aids, and equipment.

Consumable learning materials: Chalk, paper, pencils, exercise books

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Akunuri: Primary Education in Telangana

This paper comprises of six sections including introduction, which attempts to introduce the topic. In the 2nd section, the methodology adopted for the study is explained and also, limitations which this study would not address are described. In the 3rdsection, field findings from the study are explained. Data analysis of the findings is analyzed using regressions in the 4thsection. In the last section, I concluded the study by answering the research questions from the field findings.

Methodology This study adopts a stratified random sampling design with distance from district headquarter as an attribute. Mandals within the Mahabubnagar district are chosen with 20 km (A), 40 km (B) and 60 km (C) radius from the district headquarters in four different directions. Each village usually has one public primary school6. So, randomly, one village is selected from each of 12 Mandals. Selected twelve villages are Burugupalli, Gumdal, Mominapur, Kista Ram, Donur, Kondareddipalli, Kaukuntla, Pulimamidi, Thirumalapur, Shapur, Tudukurthy and Peddagudem.

This study is a quantitative study with a well-structured questionnaire for schools and children of Class II and Class V. Two questionnaires were used in the study. One is about the school details which have questions on school infrastructure, teachers, students and details on school management committee. The second questionnaire is for individual demographics of children and few 'reading and math skills test taken from ASER 2014 study. ASER 2014 tool has Identification of Small letters and Capital letters, reading of words, sentences, paragraph, story, Identification of single digits and double digits, Subtractions, and Divisions. On the request of the children, additions were added in the tool. During the survey, 387 (64%) children were present out of 602 children of Class II and Class V. 387 children and 12 Head Masters/Mistress of the schools were interviewed.

6

There are two private schools in Tudukurthy village in mandal.

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Table 1: Sample Demographics Caste

Class II

Class V

Total

Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys

BC

65

64

92

72

293

OC

4

0

1

0

5

SC

25

18

20

22

85

ST

0

1

2

1

4

Total

94

83

115

95

387

Statistical analysis was taken up in this study. One is analysing through graphs of the dependent and independent variables using tabulation of the variables, and second is by multiple regression analysis of the dependent and independent variables. Dependent variable in this study is performance of the children and independent variables are variables related to the distance of the school from district headquarters, infrastructure, teachers, family and childâ€&#x;s background. The statistical significance of the regression is considered.

There were few limitations of the Study which are teacherâ€&#x;s qualification, teaching methodology, assessment of teachers and School Management Councils (SMCs) plays a vital role in assessment of Quality of Education. But, this study takes only the status of the school, teacherâ€&#x;s attendance, standards and details of the children and remaining are taken into consideration. SMCs play an important role in designing the development plan and involve in the implementation of the school plans. In this study, few set of questions on SMCs are asked without approaching parents involved in the SMCs but posed questions to Head Master/Mistress of the school.

Teaching methodology is another important aspect which affects the performance of the children. Observing teaching techniques and methodology was not included in my study because we cannot assess teaching methodology by attending one class per school. It takes more time to observe the teaching of the school teacher and come to the conclusion.

The size of the family does affect the performance of the children Mare and Chen (1986).

This study, however, does not capture family size. Due to the time constraints, villages are taken more or less around 60 km of radius from the District headquarters. Although I would have liked to, I could not cover schools beyond 60 km of distance from the district headquarters and could not cover more than 12 villages.

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Field Findings The performance of the children depends on many aspects like access to the school, the infrastructure of the schools, a number of hours the teacher spends time with the children, pupil teacherâ€&#x;s ratio, nutrition, socio-economic status of the child, environment of the school and strong school management committees. Not just one factor is responsible for the quality of education but all factors together combined can give a quality of education to the child in public schools.

The first and foremost aspect of providing education to children is checking whether there is an availability of school near the village. According to the Right to Education Act, 2009, it is the government's responsibility to make access to school easy. Schools should be within 1 km radius to the village. From the field work, all villages visited have schools within ½ km radius to the village.

Classes I to V are taught in the primary school, schools should have five separate classrooms for each class. Four schools have less than four class rooms in the schools. A couple of primary schools are combined with upper primary school, so there is an adjustment in the class rooms. Only one school has furniture for children of class V to just sit but no table to write. Head masters/mistresses of few schools mentioned that benches which were given to children were put aside in the store room because those benches are meant for sitting.

Kitchens where meals are prepared for children are in poor condition in ten schools. Almost all schools except one have a small library for the children in the school and according to head master/mistress, children are actively taking books from the small libraries available in the school. Four schools do not have a playground for the children to play. Safety of the children is considered as a very important aspect, few schools are the stations for the public transport buses and six schools have no compound walls. There is an immediate need for the government to construct compound walls for the safety of the children.

Out of the twelve schools which were surveyed, nine schools have both boys and girls toilets, the remaining three have either one of the toilets but interesting observation here is that none of the toilets are functional and are used as store rooms or are left unused because of lack of water supply. There is no point in constructing toilets where toilets are non-functional. Not only do they not serve the purpose of sanitation, they are also a waste of limited resources if left unused. Though few schools have toilets, all children go to the fields for toilets owing to the poor condition of the toilets. Another major problem is the provision of drinking water in the schools. Ten out of twelve schools do not provide drinking water for children. Either the

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child goes running home in the recess time after one and half hour of classes or carries a small bottle to the class.

The Right to Education Act, 2009, mandates Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) should be 30:1 but six schools have not met the PTR. A couple of villages which are 60 km away from the district headquarters have 150 and 158 children per teacher. There is a huge demand for primary school teachers in these schools which have a ratio of 150:1 and 79:1 respectively.

Villages which are either near to district headquarters or far but well-developed7 villages have correct PTR's. It is a very difficult task for a single teacher to manage a huge number of children from different classes at the same time. This also compromises the quality of their attention to the students.

Another major commitment expected from the teachers is their attendance. Teacher‟s attendance is the basic indicator of the teacher‟s performance. All head masters/mistresses claim that all teachers have 90% attendance but no one showed me the attendance register.

All other registers and records like School Management Committee (SMC) records were produced when asked but not the teacher‟s attendance register. A school in Gumdal village had only one government-appointed teacher and he/she was on leave, in lieu of whom four volunteers were appointed to teach children in the school. One of the volunteers said the Head Master of that school is usually absent8 for two days a week because of other commitments as Mandal president. In this case, that headmaster wouldn‟t have 90% attendance. There is a need for an online biometric mechanism to monitor the attendance of the teachers.

All schools have active midday meals program with rice, vegetables, cereals and egg twice a week menu which was given by the government. All children were asked about midday meals and sitting arrangement during lunch time. There were no complaints of making children sit according to their social category. Almost all schools have complaints of broken roofs and rough floors which need to be repaired immediately.

All schools got their textbooks on time, but one school complained that the school received only 40% than required number of textbooks. Many head masters/mistresses opined that government is providing free textbooks for everybody but it should also provide free note books and stationery for socially and economically backward children. Many children who cannot afford note books come to school without books, pencils and pens to write. Teachers sometimes take couple of papers from other children and share papers to those children who 7 8

Well-developed villages are villages which have access to many facilities.

Head Master of that school is absent during the survey.

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cannot afford them and sometimes, teachers buy notebooks and stationery for these children from their own pockets.

The government provides cloth for uniforms for school children every year but not tailor made uniforms. All schools received cloth for uniform during first or second month of school re-opening. During the SMC meeting, members from SMC decide to give the cloth to the local tailor9 to stitch uniforms for an agreed minimum price10 or to send the cloth to Mandal headquarters and the decision will then be taken by Mandal education officer whom to give.

However, all the children in all the 12 schools were in their old uniforms, even though it was November (mid-year).

SMCs are initiated to make parents involved and form a committee to develop a plan which can improve schools and education of their children. To create awareness and motivate parents to participate in the SMC meetings, Cluster Resource Persons (CRPs) are appointed

by Sarva Siksha Abhiyan program. These meetings are supposed to be held once in two months when the Chair person11, Vice- Chairperson, Convener12, parents13 of 15 children and village heads14 are to be part of the meeting.

When Head Masters were asked about SMC meetings, everybody deliberately answered that meetings are held every once in a month or two or three months but when asked to produce records, only three schools could back up their claims with SMCs records. Three schools do not maintain records at all. Three schools have the history of once in six months. Remaining schools have the meeting once in three or four months.

Another issue regarding SMCs stated by all Head Masters is the poor decision making and less involvement in development plans by parents. Records show the participation of parents in the meeting but the point is are the parents really involved in designing development plans and the decisions taken for the improvement of the school given their educational qualification and busy work schedules. All parents just let Head Masters do whatever is good for the school and children and completely rely on the Head Masterâ€&#x;s decision. Neither CRPs nor Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) are involved in creating awareness and motivation for the parents in any of the visited schools.

There are very few children who are taking private tuitions after school. There are 81 children where 54 children are from class II and 27 from class V. Most of the children (77.5%) are 9

Tailor may be one of the childâ€&#x;s parent who is studying in the school or tailor from the village.

Stitching cost will be provided by the government.

11 Chair Person and Vice Chair Persons are elected from parents and by the parents.

12 Convener is always the Head Master/Miss.

13 In some villages, parents of all children participate in the meeting.

14 Village heads are not part of meeting always, it is voluntary to participate.

10

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from BC category and the remaining are from SC category. The performance of the children going and not going to private tuitions has no big difference. According to RTE 2009, government teachers are prohibited to take private tuitions for the children outside or inside the school. But, it was observed that in a couple of schools, some children go to tuitions to government appointed teachers. The private tutor may be government teacher or private teacher or may be a college student, but, if children are taught properly and receive quality education in the school then there is no need to spend extra money on private tuitions. Most of the parents whose children go to private tuitions are farmers and wage labourers, and these parents are able to afford but what happens to children who cannot afford private coaching.

The children who do not go to private tuitions, neither get good education from school nor can they afford to learn from outside.

The performance of the children, PTR, active SMCs and the good premises of school depends on the village and strong leaders from the school. The villages which are well developed because of leaders or village heads have better schools. Active participation of the village heads and interested village people other than parents seems to have active SMC meeting and active children.

As per the RTE 2009, punishing children is absolutely prohibited, but it was observed that all head master/ mistresses and teachers (government or volunteer) carry canes with them. It was astonishing to see that even service maids carry canes and try to punish children with them. I did not see all school teachers use their canes. However, in few schools, teachers used canes to punish children.

Regarding performance, the performance of the children is assessed by testing their reading and math skills. Reading assessment consist of identification of numbers both small and capital alphabets, reading and understanding the meaning of the words, sentences, four lines paragraph and ten lines of story. Math assessment has identification of single and double digit numbers, additions, subtractions and divisions. Each section in the reading and math assessment has separate scores15 to identify the best performer or least performer.

According to pedagogy designed by the Government, children from class II should be able to tell meanings of the paragraphs and able to do subtractions by the end of October 16. If children of Class II can tell the meaning of the paragraphs and can solve subtractions then 15

Identifying at least four letters from small and capital alphabets, read and meanings of at least four words, at least two sentences, one paragraph, a story, identifying at least four single and double digit numbers, do at least four additions, do at least two subtractions and do at least one division are considered as the best performance.

16 Class II have Divisions in their syllabus which has to be taught in the month of November.

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children can identify both types of letters, read words, sentences, paragraphs, identify single and double digit numbers, can solve additions easily. For easy analysis, performance is presented as levels for reading17 and math18assessments. However, if we see the data, only 20% of the children were able to identify either small letters or capital letters. Only 35% of the children can identify both small and capital letters. 6% of the children were able to read four words and 6% can tell meaning of those words. Only 1% of the children can read at least two sentences. 32% of the children can identify at least one of the four letters. No child from class II can tell meaning of the sentences and beyond.

Learning numbers is the most basic education which can be acquired in pre-school. Children were asked in preferred/convenient language to identify numbers. 15% of the children cannot identify at least four single digit number. 15% of children can identify four single digit numbers.

Class II - Reading

35%

32%

20%

Level 0

Level 1

Level 2

6%

6%

1%

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

Figure 1: Class II – Reading

Majority of the children, about 46% can identify both type of numbers. At least four additions were solved by only 19% of children. Only 4% of children can do at least two subtractions and 96% of children found very hard to solve subtractions. Class II children do not have divisions in their syllabus but one child out of 177 children solved divisions.

17

Reading: Level 0-cannot identify a letter, Level 1- identified four letters from either small or capital letters, Level 2- identified four letters from both type of letters, Level 3-read four words, Level 4-meaning for four words, Level 5- read two sentences, Level 6-meaning for two sentences, Level 7-read paragraph, Level 8meaning of a paragraph, Level 9-read story and Level 10- meaning of the story.

18 Math: Level 0- cannot identify a single number, Level 1- Identify at least four single digit numbers, Level 2Identify at least four double digit numbers, Level 3-can solve at least four additions, Level 4- can solve at least two subtractions, Level 5-can solve at least one division.

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Class II - Math 46% 15%

19%

15%

Level 0

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

4%

1%

Level 4

Level 5

Figure 2: Class II-Math

Class V is the last year for the children to be in primary school, children after class V will be promoted to upper primary school which is more intense. Children of class V should be able to read and tell the meaning of the story and should be able to do divisions as their syllabus is beyond short stories and divisions.

It is very surprising to see the children of class V not identifying small and capital alphabets.

8% of children cannot identify either small or capital alphabets and 8% of children can identify either of the four small or four capital letters. There are 30% of children who can identify both types of letters. There are 14% and 18% of children who can read at least four words and tell meanings of those words respectively. 5% children can go beyond words by reading two sentences and 8% were able to tell meaning of those two sentences. Same percentage (2%) of children can read a paragraph, tell meaning of the paragraph and can read story. 3% of children can read and tell meaning of the story. 91% of children were not able to read a simple four line paragraph.

Class V - Reading 30% 8%

8%

Level 0

Level 1

14%

18% 5%

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

8% Level 6

2%

2%

Level 7

Level 8

2%

3%

Level 9 Level 10

Figure 3: Class V-Reading

Whereas in math assessment, 3 % of the children cannot identify a single number and 2% can just identify four single digit numbers. 20% of children were able to identify both kind of numbers. 20% of children can solve at least four additions out of given five additions. In solving subtraction, 40% of children succeeded in solving at least two subtractions. Only 35 | P a g e

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Akunuri: Primary Education in Telangana

16% of children can solve at least one division. During correction of papers, I tried to see if the process of solving division is correct for those who got divisions wrong but found out that even calculation process is wrong.

Class V - Math 40%

3%

2%

Level 0

Level 1

20%

20%

Level 2

Level 3

16% Level 4

Level 5

Figure 4: Class V-Math

In the survey sample, there are 75.7% and 22% of children from BC and SC categories respectively. BC category prevails in the sample from both classes. Only 2% of children are from ST and OC categories. Class II have 73% (129) children from BC, 24.3% (43) children from SC category, 2.2% (4) children from OC and 0.5 % (1) from ST category. Class V has 78% (164) children from BC group, 20% (42) from SC group, 1% (4) from ST and 0.4% (1) from OC category.

If we see the reading performance of the class II children across social categories, the majority, 40% of children from SC group cannot identify both type of alphabets and 29% are from BC group. 20% and 19% of children can identify either small or capital letters from BC and SC groups. Majority (33%) children from BC group are able to identify both types of alphabets and 40% are from SC category. Only 2% children from SC can read at least four words and no child could go beyond reading words. But, 7% of children can read words, 9% children can tell meanings of those words and 2% of children are able to read sentences from BC category. A small percentage of children are from OC and ST categories, where children from OC could go beyond identification of letter and ST Child could not identify a single letter. Children from BC category are most prevailing in reading performance.

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ClassII - Caste-Reading 100%

50% 40%

25% 29%

Level 0

25% 33%

40%

20% 19% Level 1

7% Level 2 BC

2%

Level 3 OC

SC

9% Level 4

2% Level 5

ST

Figure 5: Class II- Reading, Social Category wise

In math assessment, there are 19%, 13% and 25% of children who cannot identify a single digit from SC, BC and OC categories respectively. Almost an equal number of children can identify single digit numbers from BC and SC category with 15 and 16 percentages respectively. The majority of the children can just identify both type of numbers from BC (47%), SC (42%) and OC (75%) categories. 23% of children from SC category were able to solve at least four additions and similarly 19% children from BC group. Only 5% of BC category children can do subtractions and no child can do subtraction from other categories.

There is only one child who can do all additions, subtractions and divisions and the child is from the BC category. Children from BC category perform well when compared to other social category children.

Class II - Caste-Math

100%

75% 47%

25% 13% 19%

15% 16%

Level 0

Level 1

42% 19%

5% Level 2 BC

Level 3 OC

Figure 6: Class II- Math, Social Category wise 37 | P a g e

23%

SC

ST

Level 4

1% Level 5

JPPR Vol II Issue II

Akunuri: Primary Education in Telangana

An equal percentage (7%) of children cannot identify any of the alphabets and the same percentage can identify either of the alphabet types from SC and BC groups. Majority of the children from BC and SC groups were able to identify both type of letters with 32% and 26% respectively. 13% of children can read words, 19% can tell meanings of those words from BC group and 19% can read, 14% can tell meanings from SC group. Small percentages of children can perform beyond telling meanings of words in each level.

Class V - Caste-Reading

100%

32% 33%

33% 7% 7%

7% 7%

Level 0

Level 1

33% 19% 26% 13%19% 14%

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4 BC

5% 5%

12% 7%

2% 2%

3%

2% 2%

Level 5

Level 6

Level 7

Level 8

Level 9 Level 10

OC

SC

3% 5%

ST

Figure 7: Class V- Reading, Social Category wise

Finally, only 2% of children can read story from each of the SC and BC categories. Only 3% and 5% can tell the meaning for the story from BC and SC groups. The output is mixed, the performance of both groups are same. However, 95% and 93% of children are unable to read the story from BC and SC categories respectively.

If we see the math performance for class V children, only 19% of children from SC and 15% of children from BC can solve all given problems. 36% of children from SC category can do subtractions and the same is 40% for children BC category. 14% of children from SC group can do additions and similarly 22% from BC category. In the identification of numbers section, 26% from SC and 18% from BC can identify both types of numbers. There is a small percentage (4%) of children who can identify only single digit numbers from SC and BC categories and 2% and 3% of children from both SC and BC groups who cannot identify a number respectively.

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Class V - Caste-Math

100% 100%

22% 14%

Level 2

Level 3

18% 3%

2%

Level 0

2%

40% 36%

26%

15% 19%

2%

Level 1

BC

OC

SC

Level 4

Level 5

ST

Figure 8: Class V- Math, Social Category wise

If we see Gender wise performance, girls are performing slightly better than boys in both the classes with 53% (94) and 54.7% (115) in class II and class V respectively. In class II, only 2% of girl children can read sentences but no boy can read sentences. 8% of boys and 4% of girls can read words and are able to tell the meaning of the words. 6% boys and 5% girls can just read words. Most of the children can identify both types of alphabets where 34% are girls and 36% are boys. 22% of girls and 17% of boys can identify either type of alphabets.

Almost equal number of children (33% boys and 32% girls) from both groups cannot identify from both type of alphabets.

There are 15% of girls and 14% of boys who cannot identify a single number. Most of the boys (49%) and girls (44%) in class II can identify both types of numbers. If we see further, 18% of boys and 20% of girls can do additions. 6% of girls and 1% of boys can solve subtractions.

ClassII - Gender-Reading 36% 34%

33% 32% 22% 17%

6% 5%

8% 4% 2%

Level 0

Level 1

Level 2 Boys

Figure 9: Class II- Reading, Gender wise 39 | P a g e

Level 3 Girls

Level 4

Level 5

JPPR Vol II Issue II

Akunuri: Primary Education in Telangana

The only child who can do division from Class II is a girl. From these results, one can say the performance of girls is better than performance of boys.

ClassII - Gender-Math

49% 44%

17%

14% 15% Level 0

18% 20%

14%

Level 1

Level 2

1% 6%

1%

Level 4

Level 5

Level 3 Boys

Girls

Figure 10: Class II- Math, Gender wise

In Class V, 9% of girls and 6% of boys cannot identify a single letter. 5% of boys and 10% of girls can just identify either type of letters. Majority of girls (37%) and boys (22%) stopped at identifying both type of letters.

Class V - Gender-Reading 37%

22%

6%9%

5%10%

Level 0

Level 1

21% 17% 12%

Level 2

Level 3

15%

Level 4

8%2%

8%7%

1%3%

3%2%

4%1%

Level 5

Level 6

Level 7

Level 8

Level 9 Level 10

Boys

3%3%

Girls

Figure 11: Class V- Reading, Gender wise

4% boys and 1% girls can read story and same percentage (3%) of girls and boys can read and tell the meaning of the story. 93% of boys and 96% of girls cannot read and tell the meaning of the story.

The percentage of children who can solve all given problems is more in the boy (20%) than girls (12%). But, 43% of girls can solve subtractions and 36% of boys can solve subtractions.

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Similarly, 19% of girls and 21% of boys can do additions. 21% of girls and 18% of boys were able to identify both types of numbers. Same number of children from both gender categories (2%) can identify a single digit numbers and 3% of children from each group cannot identify a single number.

ClassV - Gender-Math 43% 36%

18%

21%

21% 19%

20% 12%

3% 3%

2% 2%

Level 0

Level 1

Level 2 Boys

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

Girls

Figure 12: Class V- Math, Gender wise

Data Analysis Class II In this study, performance is the outcome and variables related to distance from the district headquarters, school infrastructure, PTR, SMCs, family background and child details are the predictor variables. If multi-linear regression is applied to all variable with Class2tot as outcome, assuming that distance and infrastructure may be factors affecting performance of Class II children but we can see that p value of memp (mother employee) almost have evidence to reject the null hypothesis but is not statistically significant. However, no variable has p value <0.05, so evidence to reject the null hypothesis.

Class V If class5tot performance variable is taken as outcome and other variables as predictors, by regression, private coaching, total children, PTR, playground, number of classrooms, learning materials, kitchen problems and average SMCs meeting have p-value less than 0.05 at 95% confidence levels controlling for other variables are statistically significant. The outcome on private coaching turned out as assumed and also as mentioned in Dongreâ&#x20AC;&#x;s study. The performance of the children who are going to private coaching is high as per the study by

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Dongre (Dongre, & Tewary, 2014).Since the coefficient on pvtcoaching19 is a negative number, the value of the performance is lower for children not going to private coaching than for children who are going to private coaching by 4.444 percentage points.

Another important factor affecting performance is PTR, the output is a bit tricky, and the increase in ratio means the number of children is more to less number of teachers. Schools should have teachers according to the number of children in whole primary school all five classes put together. So, the PTR should be less than or equal to 30. With the one unit increase in ratio, performance of class V also increases by .092. So, more number of children or less number of teachers increases performance is skeptical. Playground has a negative coefficient and statistically significant, the performance of children who has playground will be higher by 5.86 percentage points, when compared to with children with no playground.

The number of classrooms show a different story with negative number, with one room increase in the school, there is 3.394 decrease which somehow shows the negative correlations. The performance of the children will be high for schools with kitchen problem compared to schools without kitchen problems. Schools need learning material, the coefficient for the variable is -10.44 which means, the performance of the child makes a difference with learning material. The performance of the children will be higher by 10.44 percentage points for children who need learning material. The performance of the children shows statistical difference with kitchen problem but kitchen problem variable donâ&#x20AC;&#x;t show affect as expected. The average SMC meetings does show the positive effect on performance.

With the increase of one SMC meeting, there will be increase in performance by 1.2 percentage points.

Distance For further detailed investigation, the variables are grouped according to related factors. This research study questions the performance of the children who go to schools which have different distance from district headquarters. Firstly, if we take distances and other factors depending on the distances, the other factors can be explained saying that with the distance there is a chance of less monitoring and hence less development. For instance, if distance is more, there is a chance that teachers will be less in number as access to faraway places from district headquarters unless the village is well-developed.

19

pvtcoaching, playground, needlearningmaterial, kitchenproblem have categories as 0-Yes and 1-No

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When regression is run on the performance of the class II children and variables related to distance, where performance is taken as the dependent variable and other variables are independent variables. We can see from the output that the performance of children can make difference with distance1 and library20 which are less than 0.05 at 95% confidence level.

Schools located at 20 km radii from district headquarter show negative correlation, so, in every one km increase in distance, we predict 6.33 decrease in performance of class II children. Similarly, the presence of a library as a factor does affect the performance. The performance of children who have access library is higher when compared with children who do not have libraries by 6.75 points.

If we see the effect of performance with distance for class V children, all variables are very much statistically significant at 95% confidence level. However, two different distances show opposite output. The performance of the children in schools which are 40 km away from the district headquarters show the positive correlation, which means, with one km increase in the distance the performance of the children increases by 8.97 points. Whereas, distance3 is quite opposite to the output of distance2, with one km increase in the distance the performance of the children district headquarters show the positive correlation which means, with one km increase in the distance the performance of the children increases by 8.97 points. Whereas, distance3 is quite opposite to the output of distance2, with one km increase in the distance the performance of the children decreases by 4.8 points. Few infrastructure and PTR factors do have effects on the performance of the children. The output is not as expected for number of class rooms, PTR and girls toilet.

As per the output, with the one unit increase in classrooms the performance of the children will be decreased by 3.25. From the output, PTR is positive, so, for every unit increase in PTR, the performance will increase. So, as mentioned previously, more number of children or less number of teachers increases performance is sceptical.

As part of the infrastructure, toilets are essential in the primary schools. The performance of children in schools having girls toilet is high than schools not having girls toilet by 8.31. The output is opposite to output of girl‟s toilets situation but the difference is very low. The performance is high in schools not having boys toilets when compared to schools having boys toilets by 0.01points.The performance of children who has library is high when compared with children who don‟t have libraries by 15.32 points. The more facilities like girl‟s toilet or library, the performance is better.

20

libraryyesnopartial is a categorical variable taking values 0-Yes and 1-No

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School Secondly, the performance of the children mostly depends on three components, school infrastructure, teachers and SMC meetings. For the analysis of the school, few indicators related to these three components are taken. There are no variables which make a difference to the performance of the class II children. None of the variables are statistically significant, so, no evidence of correlation with performance.

For Class V, there are factors effecting the performance of the children. The performance of the childen has the positive correlation with number of children in the school and SMC meetings. With an increase of total number of children, the performance increases by .09.

This can‟t be possible unless there are more teachers in the school according to PTR. Playground has a negative coefficient and statistically significant, the performance of children who has playground will be high by 5.42 when compared to with children with no playground. The output shows, with the one unit increase in the classrooms the performance of the children will be decreased by 3.75.

The coefficient of the boy‟s toilet is positively related to the performance of the class V children, where the performance is high in schools not having boy‟s toilets when compared to schools having boy‟s toilets by 4.23 points. This may be because of dysfunctional toilets in the schools due to lack of water supply. However, there is an unexpected result in the boy‟s toilet data. Schools which need learning material, tend to have higher performance when compared to schools who do not need learning materials by 8.34 points. The assumption from the output on learning material is that, the performance is high and children are active so, schools need more learning materials and vice versa.

For the kitchen problem, the performance of the children will be high for schools with kitchen problem compared to schools without kitchen problems. Here also, the average SMC meetings show the positive effect on performance. With the increase of one SMC meeting, there will be increase in performance by 1.55 points.

Family Background Thirdly, let us see that whether family background affects the performance of the child‟s performance. Family background related factors include religion, social category, private coaching and gender of the child. Private coaching is included in the family background because of affordability to private coaching. The parents who can afford or who know the value of the education will send their children to private coaching and who cannot afford will not send their children to private coaching. There is no variable which is making difference to 44 | P a g e

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the performance of the class II children. None of the variables are statistically significant, so, no evidence of correlation with the performance.

There are no family background determinants which affect the performance except private tuitions which does affect the performance of the children. I assumed that the performance is affected by social category or religion but the study proves it wrong. Since the pvtcoaching is negative number, the value of the performance is lower for children not going to private coaching than for children who are going to private coaching by about 3.85 points.

Parents Occupation Occupation of the parents is taken as a proxy for income of the family. Few studies say that performance of the children depends on the education and income of the parents. But, from the sample, the occupation of parents is not statistically significant which means occupation does not affect the performance of the children from both classes.

Conclusion The study set out to answer the following two questions on the quality of education in Mahabubnagar district, Telangana: 1. Does the distance of the school from the district headquarters show variation in child performance in primary school?

2. What are the other determinants that affect the performance of the primary school children?

The study looks at the performance of children from three different views, school distance from the headquarters, school and family background. The performance of children is compared among schools which are a certain distance away from the district headquarters.

The assumption here is that, as the distance from the district headquarters (centre) increases there will be lower performance in the schools (further away from the centre). Various indicators are taken from the school component such as infrastructure, teachers, SMC meetings, Midday meal, Free Text books and School Uniforms. Finally we see if family background which includes the religion, social category, private coaching and gender of the child affect their school performance. The occupation of the parents is also included in family background.

The empirical data reveals that the performance of children in primary schools is much lower than expected. There are children from both classes who cannot identify alphabets or numbers. The Class V children were supposed to have finished the reading stories and 45 | P a g e

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solving divisions in class II, but 91% and 84% of them could not read stories and/or do divisions respectively.

The performance of the class II children is much worse. This is not a small percentage to ignore, rather, this is a serious problem which makes one to rethink the primary education system. Looking at the social categories, we find a very slight difference in the performance between the children of SC and BC categories where BC category children are seen performing better. We do not find any perceivable difference in performance gender-wise.

The main analysis using multiple regressions on the empirical evidence looks at the performance being affected by distance and other determinants. Class II did not reveal significant evidence on performance affecting by various factors like distance, infrastructure and family background but Class V did show the difference in performance with difference in distance, infrastructure and family background. If we see the result of all variables run together, the performance alters with the total number of children in the school, PTR, playground, number of classrooms, learning material, kitchen problems and SMC meetings which are from school view and so does the private coaching from family background.

The analysis is divided according to three different views which reveal determinants affecting performance. Firstly, distance and related variable are taken into consideration. The study says that as we go farther away from the district headquarters, the performance decreases if we exclude schools located in well-developed villages. Secondly, school indicators are analysed where infrastructure and SMC meeting makes difference to the performance of the children. Thirdly, in Family background related variable, only private coaching makes difference in the performance of the children. No other factor affects the performance from the family background.

As expected hypothesis, the performance did show the difference in performance according to the distance from the district headquarters. From the distance 3 (> 60 km) the performance tend to decrease when distance is increased further. This is due to less number of teachers, less facilities in schools and less monitoring by official. Exceptionally, this is not the case with villages which are far away from district headquarters but with strong political leadership and interest groups involvement.

Schools with better infrastructure have better performance than schools with less infrastructure. For example, school with classrooms, toilets (especially girlâ&#x20AC;&#x;s toilet), learning material, library, playground and better kitchen tend to perform better than other schools. In order to develop the schools and provide minimum facilities, official should visit and monitor

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these far away schools regularly. More fund should be given to schools for construction of adequate classrooms.

There should be mechanism to monitor daily attendance of the teachers. Mechanism for the delivery of textbooks and school uniform should be accelerated so that children will get them in the first month of academic year and are able to enjoy the newness of textbooks and uniforms.

Clearly, we can see that parentâ&#x20AC;&#x;s participation in the SMCs meeting looks active but the participation cannot be just about attending the meeting but also taking decisions and suggesting plans for school development. The empirical evidence also shows that parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x; participation in SMCs does improve the performance of the children. For improving the situation, the government institutions or NGOs are taking up awareness programs but the empirical evidence reveals that there are hardly enough awareness programs happening in the sample areas and these should be improvised. Creating more awareness programs would enable parents to participate in school development activities. The involvement of village heads also shows the difference in the quality of education. There should be more involvement of village heads in the school development plans.

If we see overall, infrastructure of the school and private coaching affect the school and the performance of the children from these schools. Infrastructure taken care by government where government should incentivize schools to overcome small issues like water problem, kitchen repair, etc. These issues can be solved with little money like buying a water pipe which connects the school taps to village taps or street taps.

Private coaching is in demand because of problems with the teachers and their teaching methodology. In that case, there is lack of quality education which is a serious issue to be addressed by the Government of India. To improve the performance of the children, private coaching is helpful for the children. Instead of making children go to private coaching, teachers at school can spend time teaching without charging any or extra tuition fees.

Teachers should be made to spend more time with children. This can be evaluated by conducting sudden and unexpected assessments on regularly basis.

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References Colby, J., & Witt, M. (2000). Defining quality in education. New York: A Publication of United Nations Children's Fund.

Dongre, A. A., & Tewary, V. (2014). Impact of Private Tutoring on Learning Levels: Evidence from India. Available at SSRN 2401475.

Drèze, J., & Sen, A. (2013). An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions. Princeton University Press.

Government

of

India.

(2011).

Sarva

Shiksha

Abhiyan,

Framework

For

Implementation, Based on the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. Department of School Education and Literacy, MHRD, New Delhi.

Mare, R. D., & Chen, M. D. (1986). Further evidence on sibship size and educational stratification. American Sociological Review, 403-412.

Sen, A. (1993). Capability and well-being.

UNICEF. (2000). Defining Quality in Education. A Paper presented at The International Working Group on Education. Italy. Working Paper Series. New York.

Ward, M. (2007). Rural education. 3iNetwork (2007), India Infrastructure Report.

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Inapudi: Solid Waste (Mis) Management

WASTE TO ENERGY â&#x20AC;&#x201C;A MODEL OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE (MIS) MANAGEMENT Krishna Teja Inapudi1

Abstract The purpose of this research is to challenge the discourse where a model of municipal solid waste management in which generating energy from waste is seen as the best possible solution, with a case study of the city of Hyderabad. The reason to challenge this common understanding is that, in an unregulated milieu where policies such as Swachh Bharat promote the institution of waste to energy plants, an effort to make these plants financially viable and efficient may make them increasingly resource hungry. When there is no sufficient non-recyclable dry waste available for the incinerators to work on, the recyclable waste which gets diverted into the recycling sector at various points, which in turn employs the informal sector, will be channelled to the waste to energy plants. This leads to a scarcity of raw material i.e., the dry recyclable waste on which the recycling sector functions. The waste pickers and scrap dealers who are the most significantly vulnerable beneficiaries of the recycling sector, with their fragile dependencies on the availability of waste, may lose their livelihoods. The research shows that their incomes are at a subsistence level and any further damage to their livelihoods will completely extinguish their hope of moving up the economic order. Data also reveals that Hyderabadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current waste generation capacity will not be able to sustain the proposed waste to energy plants, which puts the informal and recycling sectors at risk. The need for a regulatory framework, reliable data, and consistent monitoring is hence put forward by the study.

Keywords: Municipal Solid Waste, Waste to Energy, Recycling, Informal sector

Introduction Waste to Energy (WtE) process is perceived by the policy makers worldwide as a panacea to solve the waste management crisis as well as energy crisis. Theoretically, WtE is an ideal solution for the problems of waste management, because a major proportion of waste that would otherwise go into landfills is redirected into incinerators and burnt in a controlled environment to produce energy. There are other less-known processes of turning waste into 1

Krishna Teja Inapudi is a former Graduate student of School of Public Policy and Governance, TISS, Hyderabad. For questions, queries and suggestions, he can be contacted at krishnateja89@gmail.com.

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energy, such as Mix Alco to produce ethanol, bio drying to generate solid recovered fuel (SRF) high in biomass content, gasification and Gas plasma to produce synthetic gas, pyrolysis to produce a combustible liquid fuel, and rendering to turn animal waste into a protein-rich animal feed. But incineration is the most common form of generating energy from waste because of its cost-benefit ratio and the ability to generate energy from various types of dry waste. Technologically advanced countries like Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Japan etc., have pioneered the WtE processes and are considered highly successful in managing their waste. In fact they import waste from neighbouring countries to generate electricity. In India, rapidly rising urbanization has amounted to a precipitous increase in the quantities of waste being generated, and an enormous surge in the demand for energy. Policy makers and private entrepreneurs see the gravity of the situation as a necessity and opportunity to bring in the aid of WtE technology to resolve the crises at hand. The current policy discourse in the country, driven by „Swachh Bharat‟ policy and the idea of „smart cities‟, is distinctly in favour of building infrastructure to convert the urban waste into energy.

This research is intended to analyze the relevance, applicability, and externalities of the process of WtE in the backdrop of Indian socio-economic conditions.

Motivation to Conduct Research The contemplation of the need to analyze the WtE process as a policy choice, originated from the classroom discussion on „Equity versus Efficiency‟. Political ideologies in any country include in themselves an economic aspect. More often than not, this economic aspect in Indian context roots for economic growth at the cost of redistribution, because India has been a „developing country‟ for too long. Even in the scenario of waste management, the policy makers‟ rationale resonates with the larger picture of „growth‟. Smart cities for instance, are expected to be clean by efficiently managing their waste. However, the overzealousness to utilize technology in achieving this efficiency rules out the „optimality‟ due to factors that are not considered. In the field of waste management in India, these „factors‟ are, the involvement of a large informal sector in the day-to-day activities of collection, segregation, recycling, and disposal of waste, and their livelihoods that depend on the availability of waste. The concept of smart cities and a Swachh Bharat are undoubtedly very good goals to work towards. But in the process, they should not negatively impact the livelihoods of unorganized and informal sector. This research is conceived on the possibility that the misuse of WtE might interfere with the „Recycling‟ chain of waste management, and in the process impinge the livelihoods of a significant number of people dependent on the chain.

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Aims and Objectives of the Research As can be inferred from the previous section, the main aim of this research is to find whether an efficient WtE based model of waste management offers a better solution to manage waste than the existing system. The objectives to arrive at an empirical answer to this question are, to understand how the existing system of waste management works, to qualitatively evaluate the livelihoods provided by the existing system, and to analyze how the livelihoods may be affected negatively or positively by the increase of WtEâ&#x20AC;&#x;s share in the total available dry waste resource.

Scope of the Research Project â&#x20AC;&#x17E;Waste Managementâ&#x20AC;&#x; is an umbrella term under which many types of wastes are managed.

They include Municipal solid waste, e-waste, biomedical waste, chemical waste, radioactive waste etc. These wastes differ from each other in their nature, quantity of generation, toxicity etc., and are managed by their respective policy guidelines formulated by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. Approximately 150,000 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated per day in India, 40% of which is dry waste that has a calorific value sufficient to generate energy from. These numbers indicate that there is a huge potential to implement WtE process to treat the waste and produce energy. Due to this strong correlation between WtE and MSW, this research is confined to look only into the existing system of municipal solid waste management (MSWM). The field findings for this research are also limited to a part of the city of Hyderabad, though they can theoretically be attributed to many other cities in India with similar demographic and geographic conditions.

Limitations of the Research Work The research looks only at the possible social repercussions of increasing the ambit of WtE in MSWM. This research can also be carried out in the frameworks of environmental and economic sustainability. Though a few environmental concerns of implementing WtE are discussed in the review of literature, a comprehensive primary research might agree or disagree with the literature. Indeed a research associating all the three frameworks of social, environmental, and economic sustainability would produce a clearer picture of the efficacy of WtE. Nevertheless, a research of that magnitude would be a daunting task to be achieved in the limited timeframe. However, the social sustainability lens through which this research is carried out has its own weightage and importance in the policy discourse, making this study

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an indispensable addition to the existing literature. This research can also be considered as a base platform, on which the future contributions can be extended on.

Roadmap to the Research Document This research document is divided into five main chapters. The current chapter gave an introduction to the project by discussing the purpose of research, motivation to choose the topic, aims and objectives, scope, and limitations. This chapter has also set the context of the field of waste management and WtE briefly. Whenever necessary, the reader is advised to refer the comprehensive glossary of terminology and jargon attached as an Appendix at the end of the document. The nuances particular to the field are thematically explained in the second chapter „Review of Literature‟. The third chapter „Methodology‟ discusses in detail the choice of practices and methods implemented in collecting the primary and secondary data. The findings from the field work are discussed with reference to the findings from the review of literature in the fourth chapter „Field Findings‟. This chapter also houses the discussion of recommendations based on the findings. The fifth chapter concludes the whole research and outlines the important findings, recommendations, and briefs on the direction in which the future research needs to be aimed at.

Review of Literature To understand the role of Waste to Energy (WtE) process in the Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) framework of any geographic location, the first step is to assess the public acceptance for such a model. Many stakeholders are involved in this sector who might oppose the idea of setting up a WtE plant. Two major reasons for this opposition are pollution and loss of livelihoods of the informal sector. The issue of pollution can be dealt with by employing advanced technology, but livelihoods cannot be replaced easily. On top of that there are regulations to maintain emission standards and to tackle with the problem of pollution, but there are no laws or regulations to protect the interests of waste pickers. The aim of this study is to assess the viability of WtE process in comparison to other options such as recycling, composting, traditional and scientific landfilling in terms of their social and environmental costs. However, the decision of choosing WtE over other options might also involve choosing a different set of practices throughout the MSWM stream. For instance, the collection system needs to be segregated thoroughly if the intention is to incinerate dry waste.

It does not however mean that segregation is not essential for the recycling sector. The capital and energy intensive incinerators may fail to run if they are filled with wet waste and dirt.

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This review of literature is taken as a platform to understand the importance of waste management options, the technology, actors involved, and WtE process, as explained by various authors, to arrive at the decision of choosing WtE process to manage urban municipal solid waste.

MSWM Options Countries like Sweden, Denmark and Japan are the most advanced players in managing their waste. Sweden for example disposes only 0.7% of their waste. Whereas, it converts 50.3% of its waste to energy, recycles 33% and biologically treats 16% (Swedish Waste Management, 2014). These statistics show how efficient their system is when they only dispose a minute proportion of waste in the landfills. It also subtly shows that more than 80% percent of their waste is dry waste. So it would be ambitious to implement the same choices adopted by Sweden in a country like India where almost half of the waste is wet. However, Swedish model teaches us to emphasize more on household sorting and segregation, prevention and reuse to be more resource-efficient and environmentally safe (Sweden's Waste Plan, 2005).

Abdul-Rahman (2014) gives a list of simple ways in which the households can adopt the 3R model of waste management, â&#x20AC;&#x17E;Reduce, Reuse and Recycleâ&#x20AC;&#x;. Eriksson et al. (2005) used a systems approach to identify the most energy efficient, cost efficient and least polluting waste management option. They compared the options like recycling, incineration, anaerobic digestion, composting, with landfilling. Their findings were in synchronization with the common discourse that landfilling is the least preferred option. They also concluded that all the other options are equally efficient. Nevertheless, without considering the factors such as public acceptance, willingness to segregate at the household level, etc., the results of the study cannot be attributed to the context of every country and city. Indian Ministry of Urban Developmentâ&#x20AC;&#x;s manual on municipal solid waste management which was the reference book for the MSW Rules, 2000, in its chapter 10 prescribes the guidelines for storing waste at the source before it gets collected by the municipality vehicle (Storage of Waste at Source, 2000). The same was later reflected in the policy and despite being made illegal, most people, especially shops and businesses, do not retain waste at source overnight and they openly dump the waste a little away from the source. This shows that public acceptance and willingness play a major role in MSWM. The Handbook of Solid Waste Management by Tchobanoglous and Keith (2005), details each and every aspect of Solid Waste Management, the SWM options, the policies, the technologies, the actors etc. They also demarcated the practices to be adopted for managing household hazardous waste separately. Another 53 | P a g e

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important contribution to the literature in this theme is that of Sharholy et al. (2008), which, a prescriptive paper aims at implementing authorities and researchers in the waste management sector. The authors critically examined the existing systems of waste collection, transportation, treatment and disposal in several Indian cities and prescribed regulatory changes.

Technology It is imperative to compare the pros and cons of technologies involved when there is comparison of the MSWM options. This section outlines what different sources of literature try to address about the technology aspects of MSWM, beginning from collection to disposal.

Mode of collection of waste in India varies from city to city. Usually, the workers who collect waste travel from door to door or building to building to pick up waste. It is then transported through municipality trucks or private vehicles contracted for transporting waste. One important parameter for analysis of garbage collection is the „garbage collection frequency‟.

The collection should be frequent enough that the waste doesn‟t get decomposed. Owing to India‟s tropical climate, the waste does get decomposed very soon, so it has to be collected at least once in a day. Similarly transportation from transfer station to treatment site or landfill should also be frequent enough to prevent decomposition. At the same time, ample care should be taken to optimize the frequency so that it is not too high to cause a lot of pollution, traffic distortion, fuel consumption etc. Bejar et al. (2012) prepared an optimization algorithm for waste collection through automated vacuum collection. Though the same cannot be applied to door-to-door collection and transportation by road, there is a need for a cityspecific frequency optimization. Another aspect of technology to be focused on is the type of landfills a city chooses to develop. Traditionally, people mistook landfills for open dumps.

Even municipalities in many towns and cities used open dumps to dispose waste. These were later replaced by fenced disposal sites where the waste pickers were not allowed to enter.

Fencing was mainly to protect the sites from waste pickers who were believed to set fire to the waste, and from dogs and cattle. There were no safeguards to protect the soil, air or water from the effluents like methane and leachate. Modern Landfills: A far cry from the past (2008) tracks the history of how landfills have evolved over time. The article shows examples of modern and scientific landfills and explains how the technology used in the landfills prevents methane emissions into the atmosphere and the seepage of leachate into the soil to contaminate ground water. Few modern landfills were filled, covered and closed, and the sites were used for public purposes. There is more scope to advancements in modern landfills 54 | P a g e

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in India. Bioreactor landfills which double the speed of decomposition will reduce the time taken for the landfill site to be used for public purposes. A similar article by EPA on landfills shows with examples from Gaza Strip, how open dumps can be converted to scientific landfills (What Are the Options For Waste Disposal?, 2002). Modern and scientific landfills are a viable option compared to traditional landfills when it comes to gaining public acceptance. However, there is not enough awareness among the public about the advantages of scientific landfills over the traditional.

Japan is another leading country in terms of waste management technology. Solid Waste Management and Recycling Technology of Japan (2012), details the latest advancements in technology like distinct transfer stations, fuel-efficient high volume trucks, advanced highefficiency incineration and waste to energy plants, inert and isolated landfills etc. This article can be used a reference material for comparing technologies which India imports from China with that of Japanese indigenous technologies. There were several news articles which show the failed incinerators which India imported from China.

Waste to Energy and Actors This section discusses the waste to energy process along with the actors involved in the field of waste management. The two sub-themes waste to energy and actors are combined into this one theme because actors, the stakeholders such as policy makers, informal sector, and private players play a major role in the making of decisions related to the implementation of waste to energy. The current research involves the aspect of loss of livelihoods of the informal sector due to a sudden rise in number of waste to energy plants. A successful waste management strategy considers political, social, technological, institutional, economic, and financial aspects. SchĂźbeler, Wehrle, & Christen (1996) mentioned important elements of waste management in low income countries. They are regulatory framework, informal sector employment and income generation, social conditions of waste workers, decentralization of MSWM, and the role of private sector in providing development assistance. Even though all these elements are not universal, there is enough reason to agree upon the importance of informal sector employment and income generation. It is the responsibility of state to secure livelihoods for all and by no means should a new development program threaten these livelihoods. Balasubramanian (2015) highlights the employment and livelihood benefits of recycling for the informal sector. And if the dry recyclable waste is diverted to the resource hungry incinerators, the waste pickers might become a burden to the state. Balasubramanian also stresses on the environmental aspect of waste, and the failure of policies to persuade or 55 | P a g e

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incentivize people to reduce the amount of waste generated. He reveals the major setback of lack of time series data in Indian municipalities and a lack of proper empirical data in waste management sector to assess the costs and benefits of MSWM policies in India.

Another important divide in waste management strategy is decentralized vs integrated.

Conventionally, waste to energy plants are set up in integrated MSWM models. And more recycling takes place in decentralized models. This is because integrated models are dependent on financial capital and decentralized models are dependent on human capital. A pilot programme in Eastern Uttar Pradesh was run to prove the advantages of decentralized models over integrated models of SWM (Decentralized Solid Waste Management, Gorakhpur). However, the programme was launched with assumptions in favor of decentralized SWM and every city may not have the same geography and landscape as the city of Gorakhpur that the programme was run. The report says that decentralized model is better economically, environmentally, socially and health-wise. But there is a scope of more research to identify which factors of any particular city deem the decentralized model preferable or which factors may deem the integrated model preferable. The same research can also be attributed to the debate over waste to energy vs informal sector.

Gunsilius (2010) offers another solution to the problem of choosing between technologyoriented formal sector and traditional informal sector. He suggests the formalization of informal sector to provide them with the same benefits and identity as the formal sector would get. He demonstrates the need for this integration by empirically showing that informal sector, by their valorization of waste, generates net benefit, and the formal sector, by their management of waste, results in net cost. But indeed the informal sector waste pickers do not have the same responsibility of the formal sector though they do more good by picking and recycling waste. That is precisely why integrating them with the formal sector might be benefitting in both the ways, environmentally and socially. An example of such integration is shown by Gunsilius, Chaturvedi, & Scheinberg (2011), the Swach model of Pune, where the waste pickers have the same social status of municipal waste workers. That is because they are contracted to pick waste directly from the households and get a tipping fee for their services. In addition they are allowed to make money from the recyclables they collect. There by, they are reducing the quantity of waste, earning livelihoods, protecting the environment by recycling materials.

Privatization of waste management is often associated with the use of technology such as incinerators and WtE plants. Gidwani & Reddy (2011) point the negative effects of privatization of waste on urban poor. This privatization according to the author is resulting in 56 | P a g e

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loss of livelihoods for the informal sector and improper segregation of waste. In addition to that, rapid urbanization is alienating urban poor and they would be first in line to be affected by the tons of hazardous waste produced due to urbanization. It is again necessary to emphasize the role of state to secure the livelihoods and well-being of informal sector urban poor. A similar argument was made in the past in the context of the city of Chennai (Srinivasan, 2006). Srinivasan stressed the need for an effective policy framework that enforces equitable and ecologically sustainable MSWM practices across the country.

A contradictory argument in support of WtE is put forward by Reddy (2014), where he does not take into account the factors such as lack of dry waste, loss of livelihoods and gaps in enforcement of environmental regulations, while pitching that WtE plants are the need of the hour in India. This argument is supported by Singh et al. (2014), who empirically demonstrates that WtE potential is not adequately being tapped in India. However, Chintanâ&#x20AC;&#x;s article in the past, based on a research on how diversion of waste from informal sector to WtE plants is affecting the waste picker communities around Delhi, suggests and recommends the governments to adopt policies that do not affect the lives of waste pickers in the informal sector (Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, 2011). If in any case the government has to approve the WtE processes and plants, it should make sure that the informal waste pickers are included in the formal waste management stream.

A brief review of literature under the three themes as detailed above tends to suggest that WtE is not yet a feasible process for MSWM in India. Most authors have a predisposition that WtE negatively affects the livelihoods of informal sector and they have supported their opinions with concrete arguments. Moreover, there is a clear case against WtE in terms of environmental impact due to ineffective enforcement of regulations in India. The impact of WtE on environment or informal sector varies from city to city based on the demography and the pollution control authority of the city or state. However, environmental impact of new industries is a much talked about issue compared to the loss of livelihoods of the informal sector. In this wake, the research to be carried out will be specific to the city of Hyderabad, by collecting data on how the informal sector might be affected. Finally, the research aims to provide the best possible solution for managing municipal solid waste in the city of Hyderabad, considering all the elements for and against WtE and informal sector.

Field Findings and Analysis The objective of this chapter is to describe the patterns observed from the data collected during the field work, and to situate this data in the observations made from the review of 57 | P a g e

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literature, to arrive at an answer to the questions posed in the â&#x20AC;&#x17E;Aims and Objectives of the Researchâ&#x20AC;&#x; part of the Introduction chapter. This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part describes the data collected about the livelihoods of the informal sector dependent on the availability of recyclable waste in the city of Hyderabad. The second part explains how fragile this dependency on waste can turn out to be for the informal sector, if proper regulatory measures are not put in place on time.

Description of Data During the four weeks of field work I interviewed 41 persons in the informal sector of Waste Management and Recycling. Out of the 41, 26 are waste pickers and the 15 are scrap dealers.

The respondents were chosen randomly without any focus on having a gender balance. In the end 14 of the respondents are women and 27 are men. Out of 26 waste pickers, 10 are women and 16 are men. And in the 15 scrap dealers, 4 are women and 11 are men. No tables are used to represent the data as the number of interviewees is only 41 and the data has a qualitative nature in spite of having numerical values. The statistics for scrap dealers and waste pickers are discussed in two separate sub-sections.

Scrap dealers Interviewing scrap dealers was easier compared to interviewing waste pickers, as scrap dealers are more relaxed and leisure in their work. They purchase recyclable items in municipal solid waste such as cardboards, plastic and glass bottles, paper, metals, electronic waste, plastic ware, milk cartons etc. from several municipality workers, waste pickers and other businesses and shops. Then they segregate these items further and stack them according to the materials. For instance, they separate labels and caps from the bottles and stack all three components separately. These items are loaded into auto rickshaws and taken to warehouses where they were sold at a higher price than what they were procured at.

All the 15 scrap dealers I interviewed fall in the experience range of 3 years to 25 years, i.e., they have been in scrap dealing business from those number of years. Most of them have an experience of four to eight years. Six of them had come from several districts around Hyderabad. There are four women out of the 15 respondents, a female to male ratio less than that of waste pickers. Their family sizes ranged from three to seven. Seven of them had alternative sources of income from family members. When asked whether they prefer WtE or recycling, 10 persons opted recycling, four opted WtE and one person had no opinion about it. When asked whether they like the work they do, except three of them all the scrap dealers 58 | P a g e

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said they like their businesses. The three persons who did not say they like their work are among the lowest earning in the persons I interviewed. The incomes ranged from 2000 per month to 15000 per month in the respondents who were willing to reveal their incomes. 5 scrap dealers whose experience was more than 8 years did not reveal their incomes but they said they earn well-to-do. “Sreenu”, a scrap dealer who has a shop in Kondapur-Hafeezpet road, was in the business since 25 years, when it was started by his father. Our conversation happened in Telugu, and when I asked him, “How much of profit do you earn in a month approximately?” he laughed and replied, “I should not tell. If I tell it, the government people will come and ask for accounts, and ask me to pay taxes. As of now I am earning enough. If I have to pay taxes how will it be sufficient for us?”

The point I am drawing from this conversation is not that they are earning well enough but are evading taxes. The point is that the informal nature of their work does not allow them a stable income, for them to trust that the taxes they might pay are visibly beneficial to them.

Another respondent was “Janaki”, who has a small shop in Kondapur since six years. She told that she earns around Rs. 2000 a month. She has a family of six and her husband owns an auto rickshaw. I asked her why she earns so less despite being in business for a long time.

She said, “My shop is away from the business area. Earlier the municipality people used to come and sell me bottles, plastic and paper. Now they are not selling much. They are taking away the garbage in vans.”

From this conversation, we can infer that the improvements in the modes of collection and transportation over the years have hampered her business indirectly. Moreover, there are facilities for recycling and incineration at the Jawaharnagar dumping yard, as a part of the integrated waste management system. These facilities may benefit from the 350 to 400 tonnes of recyclable dry waste that is said to be separated at various recycling points (The Hindu, 2016).

“Anwar”, from KPHB locality, is in scrap dealing business since 12 years. He did not reveal his income but he said that he earns well enough. He has a family of six and no other income source. After briefly explaining the processes in recycling and waste to energy, I asked him which he thinks is good choice. He said, “waste to energy is better”. I further probed him why he thinks WtE is better when he is earning his livelihood out of recycling. He said, “if there is electricity it is beneficial for everybody. Then government themselves will offer us jobs.” People have a faith in the State that growth in economy and developmental activities 59 | P a g e

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will benefit their livelihoods. While this may true ideologically, in practice the output ratio of growth in terms of development is not distributed enough. For instance, the „National Master Plan for Development of Waste to Energy in India‟, developed by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, „Telangana State Action Plan of MSW‟ developed by Municipal Administration & Urban Development Department of Telangana, have nowhere in them mentioned about the role of informal sector in waste management. While the review of literature shows that researchers and academicians consider the informal sector as one of the major stakeholders in municipal solid waste management, the official documents barely recognize their existence.

Waste pickers Waste pickers, also called rag pickers, collect recyclable materials off the streets, open dumps, and municipality bins to sell them at the scrap dealing shops. Rarely do they also sell the materials directly at the warehouses if their collected quantities are large enough and if they are located near the warehouses. All the waste pickers I interviewed sell at the scrap dealers in the neighbourhood. They usually collect metal items, glass bottles, cardboards, plastic, paper and segregate them to sell them at various prices. Metal items and glass bottles usually fetch them the highest income, but the demand for these categories of recyclables often keeps changing according to the market prices of virgin raw materials.

12 of the 26 waste pickers I interviewed also work for the municipality on a contract basis. 25 out of the total 26 have at least one other source of income, either by working at the municipality or from other members of the family. Their income solely from collecting and selling waste varies between Rs. 1000 and 8000 per month. They have been doing this work from six months to eight years, but most of them fall in experience range of one to three years. It seemed as though the waste pickers, on being in the work for a long time, are starting their own scrap dealing shops, but none of the scrap dealers have confirmed this inference. Their female to male ratio in the random sample of 26 is five to eight, which is higher than the scrap dealers where it is 4 to 15. There are more women in waste picking relative to the number of men, than in scrap dealers. This observation in fact agrees with the general notion that less women progress to the higher rungs in their work, compared to men.

Only four persons responded that they like the work they do, all the other either have no other choice or they do not like waste picking per se. When asked whether they prefer WtE or recycling, three of them chose WtE, 11 chose recycling and 12 of them did not have an opinion. Their family sizes ranged from two to six where as their monthly income from waste 60 | P a g e

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picking ranged from 1000 to 8000. The fact that 25 of them have alternative sources of income might say that their livelihoods are not vulnerable to a reduced share of recycling. But on the other side of the coin, despite having other sources of income, they chose to pick waste without any safety gear such as gloves or boots in an unsafe environment. This, itself shows how much they need the little extra income they make from this job.

“Ashok” is a young waste picker that I interviewed on the second day. He is also the only one with no other sources of income. He has a family of four, his wife and two kids, and he told me that he was picking recyclables and selling them since a year. He makes anywhere between Rs. 4000 to 6000 a month. I asked him, “How is that income which is very less sufficient to live in a city like this?” He replied, “we are living with it somehow. By the time I send my kids to school I have to do something else and earn more.” With all the growth in infrastructure, construction activities, trade and malls etc., there are people solely dependent on waste picking, just because there needs to be someone to do the job. Despite the existing integrated municipal solid waste management system in the city of Hyderabad, there is waste present on streets, and open dumps. People still fly-tip plastic bottles, polythene bags, and food wraps etc. as they walk down the roads. And it is the informal sector waste pickers that keep the non-biodegradable recyclables away from clogging the drains when it rains.

Another peculiar person I interviewed is “Bodemma” in Kondapur. Peculiar because, she is a municipal worker, her husband works for the municipality as well, and her son has tiffin stall.

Her family as a whole seems to be earning well enough from the other sources. She has been a waste picker from around seven or eight years. She started working for the municipality on a contract basis three years back and still continues waste picking on part-time basis. She earns up to Rs. 2000 per month from waste picking. I asked her why she still continues to do it when they might be earning sufficiently as a family. She said, “I used to earn a higher income earlier. I am not able to earn as much these days and now there are more people doing the same job along with her.” She, along with other female municipality workers sits in the basement of one of the supermarkets where they bring all the recyclable items from their street sweeping activities. They segregate them in cartons and sell them at a scrap dealer‟s shop in the next street. I asked her why they cannot collect bottles, papers and plastic from the apartments in the neighbourhood directly instead of picking them off the streets, bins and heaps. She smiled and said nobody separates recyclable items from their waste and the municipality vehicles collect all the waste from the apartments. A suitable policy from the municipal corporation in the likes of the SWaCH of Pune can definitely leverage the immense potential, passion, and necessity of the informal sector at minimal costs and higher 61 | P a g e

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benefits. As Gunsilius (2010) points out, informal sector valorizes the waste and generates a net benefit, whereas the formal sector manages the waste and results in net cost. Another interesting observation in the city of Hyderabad is that the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has given separate bins to all the houses to segregate wet and dry waste, as a pre-election move. But the municipality vehicle which collects the waste mixes the wet and dry waste in the same trailer, defeating the purpose of household segregation.

Such lacunae in the policy and implementation will be discussed in the next section.

Need for Regulatory Measures A family of five earning less than Rs. 15000 a month with no benefits that a formal sector employment offers, in a city like Hyderabad, will have to remain at the same standard of living unless aided by an external factor. While it is difficult for such a family to dream of moving themselves from poor to middle-class, it is highly likely that they can further be pushed down into dire poverty. For instance, sudden ill-health of the highest earner in the family can be tragic to the whole family. When such unforeseeable constraints originate from growth and developmental activities, an individual in such a family will be left clueless as to why their income levels are going down. A simple illustration (Figure 1) of how the growth of WtEâ&#x20AC;&#x;s share in the total waste resources can affect the recycling sector is shown below.

The total dry waste generated at any point of time goes into three areas, incineration (WtE), recycling sector, and landfills. Currently, WtEâ&#x20AC;&#x;s share is minimal, recyclingâ&#x20AC;&#x;s share is higher, and landfills consume a larger share among all. As most of the dry recyclable waste goes into the recycling sector through formal and informal channels, the newer WtE plants acquire the share of dry non-recyclable waste that goes into landfills. As time goes by, the waste that goes into landfills gets reduced to an extent that investments in WtE gain a favorable argument from the environmental point of view. Simultaneously the advancements in technology helps to build better WtE plants that emit significantly lesser pollutants, making the idea of WtE more and more appealing. But the higher investment costs in WtE make them financially efficient and viable only when they are operated for a long term. If we consider the current scenario of Hyderabad, according to the estimates from a research in 2011, the amount of waste generated is about 5154 tonnes per day (Annepu, 2011). At the rate of increase in the amount of waste he predicted, it would have come to around 5800 tonnes per day by 2016. Of the 5800 tonnes, around 500 tonnes would be diverted at various points to the recycling sector. In the remaining 5300, nearly 50% of it would be wet waste. So that leaves 2600 tonnes of dry 62 | P a g e

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waste per day to be incinerated. As per the current industry standards, a WtE plant generates 6 MW of electricity per 1000 tonnes of waste (Press Trust of India, 2015). Ramky estimated in 2008 that they would require Rs. 700 crore to set up a plant generating 48 MW. With the advancements in technology the prices would have gone up. Estimating generously, the two plants of 11 MW each sanctioned to Hyderabad under Swachh Bharat would cost about Rs. 500 crores to set up. And for them to operate at full scale, they need more than 3500 tonnes of dry waste per day, excluding dirt and debris which is non-calorific. As calculated above, there is only 2600 tonnes thatâ&#x20AC;&#x;s being deposited at the landfills, and to fill the remaining gap, the recyclable dry waste that is being diverted at various points will be channelled into WtE.

Figure 1: Future of WtE and Recycling Without Regulation

As long as there is enough increase in the amount of dry waste being generated, the incinerators, the recyclers, and the municipal authorities that manage landfills are all happy.

When there is not sufficient amount of waste for the incinerators, the dry waste which goes into the recycling channels gets diverted to the WtE sector; and when there is no waste that can be recycled, the whole chain of waste pickers, scrap dealers, warehouses, recycling units that depend on dry waste availability gets affected badly. With their meagre incomes, the 63 | P a g e

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livelihoods of waste pickers and scrap dealers are the first ones to get affected badly. One can always argue that the waste pickers and scrap dealers can collect and sell to the WtE sector instead of recycling sector, but apart from the considerable environmental concerns of not recycling waste, the very capitalistic nature of state-supported WtE businesses will look to cut down costs as much as possible to break even as soon as possible. In cutting down the costs, the first step is always to lose the â&#x20AC;&#x17E;middlemenâ&#x20AC;&#x; and collect segregated dry-waste directly from the households. In fact the current policy that waste has to be segregated at households, and collected and transported separately is itself a debatable solution to the problem of waste management, in an entirely different argument. With a proper regulatory mechanism and constant auditing of the situation, the state can decide when to stop allowing new WtE plants. The simple illustration (Figure 2) below gives a pictorial representation of a possible future-proof solution.

Figure 2: Future of WtE and Recycling With Regulation

If the number of WtE industries are regulated such that their input capacity is not more than the waste that goes into landfills i.e., the non-recyclable dry waste, the recycling sector can be spared from extinction. The existing WtE plants will then be cost-efficient and the existing recycling sector will not be affected. For this to happen, there is a need for continuous data on 64 | P a g e

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the amount of waste being generated and the composition of dry and wet waste. At the present stage, the municipalities fail to produce any reliable data on the amounts of waste being generated. Central and state pollution control boards (CPCB and SPCB) reveal waste related data in their reports once in a few years. Institutions like NEERI and TERI, and few other private NGOs conduct studies and surveys and produce data on a few parameters related to waste. Yet, an official log from the respective municipalities will serve a better purpose in assisting the regulatory mechanism. According to EPA, recycling comes above WtE in order of preference due to the fact that recycling preserves the environment by consuming fewer resources in terms of raw material. For this reason, the state can instead focus on strengthening the recycling sector with the help of informal sector. This can be done by formalizing the informal sector and assisting decentralized waste management models, as in the case of SWaCH co-op in the city of Pune. This will not only strengthen the recycling sector and secure livelihoods of the informal sector, but it also helps in setting up of decentralized composting plants with a very little additional cost. This will also further reduce the burden on landfill sites by diverting the wet-waste into decentralized composting plants. Major cost consumers in an integrated waste management model are always collection and transportation. Allowing decentralized model will cut down the transportation costs by a great deal, along with cutting down the pollution caused by the transportation vehicles.

However, like every other solution, this can also be contested on various grounds. For instance, there may be a concern that strengthening recycling sector and promoting decentralization by formalizing informal sector might result in underutilization of existing municipal workers and contract based workers, which could ultimately result in laying-off of the formal sector employees. The municipal worker unions might agitate the way they did when the private player Ramky was given the contract to collect waste in Hyderabad. There will always be a trade-off when either economic growth or social justice becomes the priority of the State. Nevertheless, the trade-off that comes with an equity oriented policy is invariably better than the one that arises due to an efficiency oriented policy. If at all the State is rigid on adopting a growth oriented policy, as in the case of generating energy from â&#x20AC;&#x17E;wasteâ&#x20AC;&#x;, it can always consider the option of generating energy from sewage/ liquid waste.

There is anyways a criticism that improper handling of sewage water by mixing it in the water bodies is harming the environment. Focusing on utilizing waste water for energy production will satisfy the appetite for implementing technocratic solutions, albeit with minimal social and environmental costs.

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Main Findings of the Research The literature broadly suggests that recycling is a better option in comparison to incineration, waste to energy and landfilling. Recycling requires less virgin raw material to produce goods and prevents destruction of environment. A country or stateâ&#x20AC;&#x;s growth in gross domestic product ultimately comes from exploiting its natural resources and environment. But recycling genuinely contributes to preserve the natural resources while it still continues to promote growth. The review of literature also shows that the informal sector valorizes the waste producing a net benefit whereas the formal sector manages the waste resulting in a net cost. However, a few authors maintain that the WtE model is the key to manage waste in the future as it helps in meeting the growing energy needs in a sustainable way. While there is no denying this standpoint due to the technological advancements which significantly reduced the carbon footprint of WtE industries, it would be unsafe to assume that Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x;s social and economic conditions would benefit the same from WtE as the advanced European and EastAsian countries do. This is due to the fact that an informal recycling sectorâ&#x20AC;&#x;s livelihoods depend on the availability of dry waste.

The field findings show that the incomes earned by waste pickers and scrap dealers through recycling are at a subsistence level. Especially the waste pickers are forcing themselves to do the job which they would not otherwise do, because of the need for the money it makes them.

The respondents clearly expressed a concern over losing their livelihoods if enough dry waste is not available in the recycling chain. The few respondents who supported the energy generating WtE model opined that the state has to provide them alternative employment if it affects the recycling sector. On the other hand the new developments in Swachh Bharat policy proposed two WtE plants for Hyderabad with a capacity of 11 MW each. It is difficult to make the plants financially efficient with the amount of dry non-recyclable waste generated in the city of Hyderabad. This could result in the usage of recyclable waste as resource for the WtE plants, affecting the recycling sector, and the environment in the long run.

Recommendations Regulating the share in dry waste for each of these waste management options, WtE and recycling is the way to go forward for the policy makers. The policy makers should be supplied with continuous and reliable data about the waste generation patters of cities, based on which they can assess the scope of WtE. Merely going by the advantages of WtE and setting up plants will only aggravate the problem of waste management in newer directions.

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The municipal authorities should gather and release data related to generation and composition of waste at least semi-annually. The policy makers should look towards decentralized waste management to partner the municipal authorities with informal sector as an innovative public-private partnership model, rather than sticking to the established integrated municipal solid waste management model. Formalizing the informal sector will not only secure their livelihoods and reduce employment burden on the state, but it also strengthens the recycling sector, promotes decentralized waste management and preserves environment in the long run. The decentralized model will in turn reduce the waste going into landfills by diverting the wet waste into composting setups. Besides, decentralized waste management model will highly reduce the transportation costs and the pollution and traffic caused by waste transportation. The state and private players should focus on the generation of energy from liquid waste/sewage along with WtE from municipal solid waste to meet the growing needs of energy with minimal social and environmental costs.

Future Research To complement the findings of this study, future researches can be focused on how the informal sector can be integrated into the municipal solid waste management model, and how the decentralized model can be implemented in practice. Though there have been successful examples of decentralized models in several parts of the world, they may not be having similar socio-economic conditions as that of the cities and towns in India. And waste management options are intensely specific to the economy, geography and demography of the locales. Further, studies can be taken up in assessing alternative options of generating energy from solid waste, such as MixAlco, Gasplasma, pyrolysis which have not found their extensive use in India yet. Another possibility is to do a comparative study of waste management models across the developing and underdeveloped countries with similar socioeconomic milieu, to help them achieve an optimized model of managing waste. On a different dimension, researches can be focused on the social classification of the informal and formal sector municipal waste workers with a framework of equity, fairness and justice, or a comparison of formal and informal sectors can be studied.

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Conclusion Understanding the existing system of waste management has proven to be a critical factor in analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of waste to energy management model. Above all, it has shown the dependency of informal sector, waste pickers and scrap dealers, on the recycling chain. The study evaluated the livelihood benefits provided by the existing system and provides an analysis of how an unregulated growth of WtE can negatively affect the livelihoods of the informal recycling sector. The current proposal of setting up WtE plants, as a part of the national level policy Swachh Bharat is not a socially and financially viable and efficient option to manage waste. Lack of reliable data makes it difficult to monitor the scope for WtE on a continuous basis. And the high investment costs for WtE plants make it a risky option to choose when there is no regulatory framework in place.

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ROLE OF INSTITUTIONS IN PROVIDING ACCESS TO DRINKING WATER: A CASE STUDY OF RAJGURUNAGAR TOWN Rajeev Agur1

Abstract An average person needs 50 litres of water to maintain his health and hygiene in good shape and carry out all other domestic chores. But for the poor person in a country which is developing or underdeveloped, and do not have access to safe drinking water at home, buying water can be a huge burden on their fickle incomes. India stands top in the list of countries with most number of people without access to safe drinking water with 75.8 (out of total 650 million worldwide) million people. It costs a poor person 17% of his salary to buy 50 litres of water. Many a number of times, it is mistaken that poor people do not have access to formal water supply because they cannot pay the bills. But in reality, they do pay much more than those who have access to formal water supply by buying water from other sources. People who are marginalized often end up collecting water from open ponds and rivers which are highly contaminated. Also with increasing population, per capita availability of water availability is falling rapidly and it is exacerbated by the climate change effect impacting poor people who do not have access to safe drinking water supply. Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inability also makes it harder to provide water to all.

Though there is necessary infrastructure already, the institutions that manage the infrastructure are lacking due to which there is a serious lack of skilled staff like engineers, managers and other service personnel to keep the services intact. And people develop their own institutions to tackle the problem of drinking water supply. That is where informal and formal water markets emerge and a plethora of institutions in that. The objective of this study is to study the institutions operating in the water sector and the conditions in which they are operating.

Keywords: Regulation, Water, Privatization of Water, Withdrawal of State from Basic Functions

1

Rajeev Agur is a former Graduate student of School of Public Policy and Governance, TISS, Hyderabad. For questions, suggestions and queries, he can be contacted at rajeevagur@gmail.com.

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Introduction According to the World Health Organization, an average person needs 50 liters of water to maintain his health and hygiene in good shape and carry out all other domestic chores. But for the poor person in a country which is developing or underdeveloped, and do not have access to safe drinking water at home, buying water can be a huge burden on their fickle incomes.

India stands top in the list of countries with most number of people without access to safe drinking water with 75.8 (out of total 650 million worldwide) million people. It costs a poor person up to 17% of his salary to buy 50 liters of water. Lack of proper planning and implementation of water projects is one of the main reasons that all the citizens do not have access to quality drinking water. 1,40,000 children die due to diarrhoea every year in India, which is again related to lack of proper drinking water (Burgess, 2016).

Many a number of times, it is mistaken that poor people do not have access to formal water supply because they cannot pay the bills. But in reality, they do pay much more than those who have access to formal water supply by buying water from other sources. People who are marginalized often end up collecting water from open ponds and rivers, which are highly contaminated. Also with the increasing population, per capita availability of water availability is falling rapidly and is exacerbated by the climate change effect impacting poor people who do not have access to safe drinking water supply.

Water is one such good where humans cannot live without it. Hence when the formal institutions like government failed to supply drinking water, people develop their own institutions to tackle the problem of drinking water supply. That is where informal and formal water markets emerge and a plethora of institutions in that. The objective of this study is to study the institutions operating in the water sector and the conditions in which they are operating.

Objectives of the study The objective of the study is to find ď&#x192;&#x2DC; What has created the space for the market in basic entitlements like drinking water? ď&#x192;&#x2DC; What are the reasons for the market in drinking water to expand despite the strong presence of state? ď&#x192;&#x2DC; What are the public policy implications?

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Location of Research The research is conducted in Rajgurunagar, a small town in Pune district of Maharashtra. This town was selected because it is a peri-urban area in the vicinity of the industrial corridor, and the town has been converted into a municipality from the Gram Panchayat a few months back, May 2015 to be precise. The water sector has undergone substantial reforms in Maharashtra and Rajgurunagar proves to be the ideal location for my study on the institutions in the continuum of state and market for supplying drinking water.

Review of the Sector The review will aim to study the institutions that are working in the drinking water sector. In order to do that, water is first established as a public good that is required by everyone. The importance of drinking safe water which is free from any kind of contaminants and its effect on health is discussed. Various schemes that have been introduced to achieve universal coverage to safe drinking water is explained. An attempt is made to show the shift of policy focus from supply led to demand driven schemes, and how private players are brought into the sector.

Various journal articles, court cases, and policy documents have been used for the purpose.

According to Samuelson (1954), a “public good is the one which all enjoy in common in the sense that each individual’s consumption of such a good leads to no subtraction from any other individual’s consumption of that good.” This implies any good which when consumed by one individual does not have any impact on the consumption of others. Water is one such good which is required by everyone, devoid of which the person’s life can be in danger. Nature has enough water for everyone’s consumption in a rational manner. Snidal (1979) contributes to the definition by adding the non-exclusivity clause, according to which if a good is public, and is available to one person; it is automatically available to everyone else. Hudson J and Jones P (2005) agree with Samuelson’s definition of public good and further add the concept of publicness and privateness to the definition. According to them, the publicness of a good varies according to the utility and intrinsic value of the good. Water by its life supporting virtue, according to me should be classified as the most public good and no one’s interest/consumption should hamper other’s right to access water.

Safe drinking water is essential for health and it is proved by many researchers around the world.

Supreme Court of India made access to safe drinking water a fundamental right under Article 21 73 | P a g e

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of Indian Constitution. Supreme Court in its judgments - A.P. Pollution Control Board II vs.

Prof. M.V. Nayudu and Narmada Bachao Andolan vs. The Union of India extended Article 21 (Right to Life) to drinking water. Cullet (2011) referred to fact that Supreme Court declared drinking water as a fundamental right, and emphasizes that there is a lot of work remaining to be done to achieve universal access to safe drinking water. He describes how the policy changed from Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme to 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, which transfer the responsibility of provision of safe drinking water to the local governments, Swajaldhara and National Rural Drinking Water Programme replaced ARWSP. Accelerated Rural Water Supply Program was introduced in 1972-73 by the Government of India with the aim to provide safe drinking water in rural areas. The service aimed at providing 40 liters per capita per day of drinking water for humans and additional 30 liters for cattle. One hand pump or a stand post was provided for every 250 persons within the range of 1.6 km radius from the household. The focus was on providing water through hand pumps or water tankers.

Despite having goals of 100% coverage, the scheme failed to cater to the needs of everyone. To address this problem, Swajaldhara was conceived in 2002. Swajaldhara is a national level program, which makes local governments and users responsible for the service delivery of water.

Local communities are expected to participate in the program in all the levels right from planning, designing, building and maintenance. Communities are also made a part of this program by making them pay 10% of the cost in terms of cash, kind or labour. The community is also responsible for maintaining the facility. This scheme also looks to utilize the water resources in a sustainable way and provide better service quality.

The National Water Policy (NWP) further adds to the need for planning and developing water resources and their utilization to the optimum level. The NWP prioritizes the utilization of water for drinking followed by irrigation, travel, power generation and industries. The policy aims at building a standardized national information system with a network of the database. The policy marks the shift of treating water from a public good to the economic good and privatization of water delivery institutions. It provides for a Water Regulatory Authority and Water Users Associations to maintain the distribution systems. Another important point of the policy is the families which benefit from the project bears the cost of rehabilitation and resettlement of those affected by the project. It aims to remove the large disparity between stipulations for water supply in urban and rural areas. It also supports a National Water Framework Law. It would be 74 | P a g e

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interesting to study the institutional shift of water supply from state to market, with emphasis on how entitlements are safeguarded and how are these institutions prevented from exploiting people.

Understanding the Institutional Variance of Drinking Water Sources â&#x20AC;&#x153;Institutions are entities defined by a configuration of legal, policy, and organizational rules, conventions, and practices that are structurally linked and operationally embedded within a well-specified environment.â&#x20AC;? (Saleth, 2004) Institutional analysis can be divided intoinstitutional structure (governance structure) and institutional environment (governance framework) (Williamson 1975; North 1990a). While the institutional environment is described by the general physical, social, historic, economic, and political milieu of a nation or locale, the institutional structure is characterized by the intuitive impacts of the law, policy, and authoritative or managerial segments and their constituent angles.

Subsequent to the institutional development structure is installed inside of the institutional environment; the evolution of the institutional structure is perpetually adapted by changes in the institutional environment. This does not imply that there is just a one-way stream of impacts between the two, as changing the institutional structure likewise impacts the institutional environment or administration system.

Similar to the institutions in other sectors, institutions in the water sector too have institutional structure and environment. Be that as it may, nature is resolved by the general institutional environment as well as by the exogenous conditions like resource availability, the level of urbanization, forestry etc. The structure of institutions is a combination of laws, policy, and administration. (Saleth, 2004)

Water Law Law is the most important document for any institution to function, it also gives the institution a legal sanction to operate and administrate in its area. Though there is no exclusive water law in India, there are several provisions that talk about the provision of water from the Constitution, to central and state laws, to court decisions etc. Before reading into this, one has to keep in mind that most of the provisions were made during the time of water surplus and they do not necessarily address the current situation of water scarcity.

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Constitution of India, in its Seventh Schedule, lists Water as a state subject with the state having jurisdiction over the water resources in its territory. However, Central Government assumes a regulatory role in the case of inter-state water bodies and projects developed on them. Also, article 56 of the Union List lets the central government regulate the water bodies like rivers and river valleys if the matter is deemed to be of public interest. With the enactment of 73 rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts in the year 1992, which gave constitutional status to the Rural and Urban Local Bodies, the responsibility of water provision has shifted to the local bodies from the state governments. Water supply schemes are usually supply driven, which are designed, built and operated by the Government institutions with little or no participation by the local communities. The government came up with various plans like National Water Supply and Sanitation Program in 1954, Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme in 1972-73 to latest National Rural Drinking Water Programme and National Water Policy.

Rights, form another discourse for allocation of drinking water resources and it is gaining importance as the scarcity of water is on the rise and so are the conflicts. Lamentably, India doesn’t recognize water as a right directly. Article 15(2) of the Constitution explicitly states that no citizen shall “on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them” be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to “the use of wells, tanks, (or) bathing ghats.” This is incorporated as a fundamental right because constitution finds it extremely important to have access to water for a person to lead a dignified life. Access to drinking water and water resources were denied to socially disadvantaged classes which seriously hampered their dignity. Article 21 which deal with the protection of life and personal liberty, has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to include all facets of life including the right to water. The Supreme Court has intervened many times and declared drinking water as a bare necessity, a common property, and a fundamental right. The court opined that the State is the trustee of all the natural resources including water and it cannot be transferred to the private party in the case M.C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath. It declared that “our legal system – based on the English common law – includes the public trust doctrine as part of its jurisprudence. The State is the trustee of all natural resources which are by nature meant for public use and enjoyment. The public at large is the beneficiary of the seashore, running waters, air, forests and ecologically fragile lands. The State as a trustee is under a legal duty to protect the natural resources. These resources meant for public use cannot be converted into private ownership.” In the year 2000, 76 | P a g e

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Supreme Court, ruled that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Water is the basic need for survival for the survival of human beings and is part of the right to life and human rights as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India and can be served only by providing source of water where there is noneâ&#x20AC;? in the case of Narmada Bachao Andolan v. Union of India. In a similar way, Allahabad High Court ruled the right to life as a fundamental right under Article 21which includes right to enjoyment of pollution free water and air. On similar grounds, Supreme Court upheld that Article 21 includes the right to food, water, decent environment, medical care, shelter and education in its judgment in Chameli Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh case.

Water Policy National Water Policy 1987 National Water Policy was first brought into force in the year 1987. It recognizes water as a national asset and the national perspective should govern it. In a country as vast as India where there are wide differences in the availability of water across the states, even the regional intervention will have a national impact, which is the reason why a common approach and guidelines are necessary.

National Water Policy recommends establishing a standardized national information system with a network of data banks and data bases, integrating and strengthening the existing central and state level agencies and to improve data quality and processing capabilities. The data such collected and maintained should be used to make reliable projections of future demands for water.

National Water Policy aims to maximize water availability by conservation of resources, maximizing retention and minimizing losses. Resource planning in the case of water has to be done for a hydrological unit such as a drainage basin on the whole so that the best possible combination of options can be made.

National Water Policy encourages the establishment of appropriate organizations for planned development and management of a river basin as a whole. Groundwater should be evaluated periodically for its potential and quality. It tries to regulate the exploitation of ground water in order to keep it in the limit of recharging capacity and also to ensure social equity. Ground water recharge projects are encouraged to protect water table from falling down.

National Water Policy prioritizes allocation of water which is as follows. The priority can be changed depending on the area specific needs.

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1. Drinking Water 2. Irrigation 3. Hydro-Power 4. Navigation 5. Industrial and other uses It is for the first time that allocation of water has prioritized. This enables the policy planners to allocate water to various needs in an effective manner. All the multipurpose projects should carry a drinking water component and drinking water should be the first charge on any available water resource.

National Water Policy talks about water pricing which should be in such a way that the price conveys the value of water to the users and cover the annual maintenance and operation costs and if possible fixed costs. However, there is some ambiguity over here as it says pricing is for only irrigation and farmers, it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mention a word about the pricing to industrial and domestic users.

National Water Policy also covers the need for conservation of water, practices to control flood, land erosion due to water, drought management, science and technology and capacity building in the water sector.

This policy still retains state as the service provider but provides various guidelines on how to go about allocation. The most important point here is the prioritization of water use. Since the policy puts a lot of emphasis on drinking water, that proves as a big push for developing water projects all over the country.

Post-enactment of National Water Policy in 1987, various states has modeled policies along the lines of National Water Policy. Maharashtra is the first state to adopt the guidelines and make changes to the policy.

National Water Policy 2002 The National Water Policy had been amended in 2002 to suit the needs of changing economic structure. The National Water Policy of 2002 is just an amendment over 1987 one. Most of the basic regulations remain except for a few additions. The additions are as follows: 78 | P a g e

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 Non-conventional methods for utilization of water such as through inter-basin transfers, artificial recharge of ground water and desalination of brackish or sea water as well as traditional water conservation practices like rainwater harvesting, including roof-top rainwater harvesting, need to be practiced to further increase the utilizable water resources. Promotion of frontier research and development, in a focused manner, for these techniques is necessary.  The priority was tweaked a little and agro-based industries and non-agricultural industries got a higher priority than the navigation.  This addresses the flaw which fixed water pricing for irrigation alone. National Water Policy 2002 fixed water prices for various uses and provided subsidies for the poorer and disadvantaged sections of the society. However, National Water Policy recommends these subsidies should be more transparent and well-targeted.  National Water Policy 2002 for the first time allows Private Sector Participation in planning, development, and management of water resources wherever possible. National Water Policy opines that private sector will help in introducing innovation, generating financial resources and corporate management to improve service efficiency to the end users.  Water quality monitoring is also made an integral part of the National Water Policy  The principle of polluter pays is recommended for those who pollute water by releasing untreated effluents into the water sources.  Formation of water users associations is recommended by National Water Policy to facilitate the management including maintenance of irrigation system in time bound manner.

It should be understood that the National Water Policy amendment in 2002 comes with the neoliberal policies in the background. The initial National Water Policy was introduced in 1987 when the country was not even thinking of shifting its policy paradigm. But in the wake of Structural Adjustment Policy on the early 1990s, and the increasing pressure on the government to reduce its subsidy basket, the government is looking to withdraw from service provision duties and remain as a regulator. Drinking water is a very lucrative market for the private sector.

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National Water Policy 2012 further builds on the National Water Policy 2002. The new changes in the latest National Water Policy are:  National Water Policy 2012 recognizes the relation between water and sanitation and how lack of proper sanitation facilities contribute to the water pollution  National Water Policy 2012 identifies water as an economic good and the value associated with it  Planning, development, and management of water resources need to be governed by common integrated perspective considering local, regional, State and national context, having an environmentally sound basis, keeping in view the human, social and economic needs  Good governance through transparently informed decision making is crucial to the objectives of equity, social justice, and sustainability. Meaningful intensive participation, transparency, and accountability should guide decision making and regulation of water resources  The priority remains more or less the same  National Water Policy holds the state responsible forprovision of drinking water within the easy reach of the household. It does mean that the private sector should be regulated from overlooking the needs of the poor.  Ecological needs of the river should be considered before planning any project  The multi-scheme approach should be followed. Like MGNREGA may be used by farmers to harvest rainwater using farm ponds etc  Water should be priced in such a way that it promotes efficiency and reward conservation. Such charges should be periodically reviewed.  Water User Associations should be given statutory powers and retain a portion of water charges  National Water Policy 2012 recommends setting up of a regulator which takes care of issues relating to water and evolve a consensus, co-operation and reconciliation at both center and state levels.  Water Disputes Tribunal should be established at the center to resolve disputes  Community should be made a part of planning, execution, and delivery of water service projects 80 | P a g e

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 States are encouraged and incentivized to undertake reforms and progressive measures for innovations, conservation and efficient utilization of water resources.

National Water Policy 2012 builds on the lacunae of the previous two policies and also runs in line with the neo-liberal framework of the economy.

The three National Water Policies clearly show the shift of government’s stand on the provision of drinking water. The first National Water Policy retained the existing practice of full government participation in service provision in supply-driven approach. The revised National Water Policy of 2002 allowed community participation in planning and implementation of the drinking water projects thereby shifting to demand-led approach. The latest National Water Policy further recognizes water as an economic good, and allowed private participation in planning and maintaining the infrastructure of drinking water projects. And to ensure the rights of the poor and marginalized are protected, the policy recommends setting up of Water User Associations at the consumer level and a regulator at the state and central level.

Water Institutions Supply of drinking water has been a state subject in the constitution. State governments were primarily responsible for construction, operation, and maintenance of facilities and the mode they are administered changed over the period of time since independence. During the 1990s, Government of Maharashtra started with the reforms in drinking water sector, under which the policy has shifted from “supply-driven” approach to “demand-driven” approach. In this approach, Regional Rural Supply Schemes (RRSS) were launched, one of which was sanctioned to the town along with neighboring villages. The advantage of the RRSS is that they employ economies of scale, catering large population thereby bringing the cost of it down also at the same time not compromising on the quality of drinking water. Also, the scheme was promoted by the BJP led government, which had the goal of “tanker free Maharashtra”, but the scheme didn’t materialize after the government changed as they had different priorities. The RRSS also coincided with the policy shift that came in with the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution.

The amendments strengthened the local bodies and gave the responsibility of drinking water to the local bodies, further strengthening the demand driven approach and decentralization and giving the local communities power to manage their resources. Rajgurunagar Gram Panchayat 81 | P a g e

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was entrusted with the task of supplying drinking water and the filtration and pumping facilities were constructed with the support from state government.

Water Sector in Rajgurunagar The population in Rajgurunagar depend on different sources to procure water for their daily drinking needs. That sources range from Nagar Parishad tap, well, home purifier to packed bottled water. Bottled water emerges as the single largest source of drinking water with 39 households out of the sample of 68, while purifier and well form the major chunk of the remaining sample with 12 and 10 respondents each. Tap water was the least trusted source for the purpose of drinking. A mere 3 households reported that they used tap water for drinking.

However, all the households used tap water for other purposes like washing, cleaning etc. Few households used the tap water for cooking purposes also.

Source of Drinking Water Tap 4 3

Bottled water

10

Purifier 12

39

Well Others (Tube well, Chlorination etc)

Figure 1: Source of drinking water

History of Water Usage The current pattern of sources of drinking water is a fairly new development. All the respondents recollected using tap water for drinking purposes before shifting to the current source. The shift from the tap water to other sources started happening roughly 10 to 12 years ago.

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Shift from tap water to other sources 30 25 25 18

20 15 10

12 7

6

5 0

More than 10 years

7-10 years 4 - 7 years 1 - 4 years Less than a year

Using alternative source since

Figure 2: Shift from tap water to other sources

The usage of an alternative source of drinking water has begun more than 10 years ago but gained momentum in the last 4 to 7 years. In the last 4 years, more people moved away from the tap water to the alternate sources. The lesser number of people moving to alternate source in the last one year is because most of the people in the town moving away already and the inmigration of people into the town. People who came into the town from nearby villages traditionally depended on conventional sources of water like well, tube well or tap if available and in the absence of a safe source, started using bottled water or installed a purifier.

The shift from tap water to other sources can be attributed to two factors here. The first one is the construction of Chaskaman Dam in 1999, which is roughly 20 KM from the town. The dam stops water from reaching the town unless its gates are opened. The second reason is the sudden spike in the population. The population more than doubled in the span of just 20 years. The population of Rajgurunagar in 1991 was 11,288 which grew to 17, 636 in 2001 and 25,146 in 2011. (Census 1991, 2001 and 2011). The sudden growth in population puts increased stress on the existing infrastructure of water supply, thereby reducing the quality of water that is supplied to the consumers.

The reduced supply of water and increased population together deteriorated the quality of water that is supplied to the consumers. The construction of Chaskaman dam reduced the availability of water to the Nagar Parishad. As the free flowing water is trapped behind the dam, the town is 83 | P a g e

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left with the stagnant water in which there are a lot of aquatic animals, plants and worms grow.

The effluents from the town are also dumped into the same river, which is further affecting the quality of water.

Also, another important factor that needs to be considered here is the literacy rate. The literacy rate of Rajgurunagar is 91% (Census 2011), which is higher than the average of Maharashtra State (82.95%). Higher literacy rate contributes to increased awareness for the need for safe drinking water which might have propelled the people to move away from drinking tap water which is contaminated by relatively safe sources of water. Purchasing Power also determines the capacity of the household to spend, which can be inferred from Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure from NSSO rounds of 61st Round of NSSO shows that the MPCE for Pune district â&#x201A;š824.92, while the MPCE for Pune zone in 68th round rural is â&#x201A;š1823. This clearly shows that the people are able to spend more for the necessities. Higher awareness clubbed with an increase in the purchasing power fuelled the expansion of the market in the drinking water sector.

Public Sector The Nagar Panchayat sources water from the Bhima River that passes through the town. The water is pumped into a well for temporary storage and to let the coarse impurities settle down.

The water then is forced to multiple membranes of filters, pumped to overhead tank and supplied to the town through underground pipes but not before chlorinating at the final pump level. The filters and the tanks are cleaned once in a quarter and the water is sent for quality checks periodically.

However, in practice, the condition of the facilities is not so rosy. The filters are clogged with a lot of dust, and algae are growing all over the surface. There is a high chance of contamination of all sorts.

The whole town is covered with the piped water network and tap connection is available to anyone who applies for one. According to the authorities at the Nagar Parishad, the coverage of piped network is robust and covers the whole population either through tap connections into the households or through the public stand posts. Authorities claim that the problem of illegal connections is almost non-existent.

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Water is supplied for the duration of 1 ½ to 2 hours every day, with different localities getting water supply at the different time of the day. Nagar Parishad authorities claim that in that duration and with the pressure they supply, they will be able to supply 200 liters of water per connection every day, which is in accordance with the guidelines of Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) of 40 liters per head.

At 200 liters per connection, the demand for the total water supply of the town stands at 1 million liters per day, but the installed capacity for filtering and pumping is only at 0.5 million liters per day, which in turn forces people to look for alternative sources of drinking water.

Market When the void was created because of the faulty services of the state, the market promptly rose up and filled the gaps. There are two ways in which private service providers penetrated the market. The first one is the sale of bottled purified water and the second one is the RO filters.

Bottled water seems to be the favorite choice of the consumers as there is no need for them to invest a lump sum amount for buying an RO filter and also there is no tension of yearly maintenance. The bottled water distributors deliver the bubbles right at the doorstep of the consumers thereby making it the first choice of the alternate water source.

Bottled water is delivered at the doorstep, making it the most sought after source of drinking water. Also, the bottled water is neatly packed and sealed thereby eliminating chances of contamination and instillssense of security in the minds of consumers. The bottles also carry the information about the technology used to purify the water and license numbers.

The distributors fetch the packed bubbles from the nearby town Chakan, where there are multiple water filtration plants which draw underground water from the agricultural farms, filter it and pack it in various volumes. Distributors pick bubbles from the filter plant and sell them to the consumers directly at their doorstep or sell it to the retailers who again sell them to the households. In the process, the bubble of water which costs ₹6 to filter is sold to the distributor at ₹18 who in turn sells it to the consumer at ₹40. If there is a retailer involved, he gets it at ₹30 and the consumer again spends ₹40 for 20 liters of water.

A distributor reckons entering the market approximately 8 years ago when he observed people already in the market flourishing. The filtration plants also started to come up around that time

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say, 10-12 years ago, when the demand for the bottled water was rising. He manages to sell one bubble to every household he supplies on an average, every day.

Conclusion Supply of drinking water is under State List of the Constitution, which further got delegated to the local bodies, thanks to 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts. These local bodies suffer from various problems like shortages of electricity, inadequate supply of water at the source, outdated equipment, and lack of technical know-how and most importantly, paucity of funds. This resulted in unreliable service with limited hours of water supply, lower pressure and sometimes uncertainty with respect to supply timings, which forced consumers to look elsewhere to meet their water demand.

The inefficiency of the public sector combined with the public preference led to the emergence of new actors and the push for private sector participation in the sectors previously considered to be reserved to the state. The market is shared by both big players as well as the local entrepreneurs, with a considerable dominance of local players who exploit groundwater, filter, and bottle it.

Rajgurunagar is a typical case of state failure to meet the demand & quality and the market rising up to take up the demand and establish itself as an important institution. Households were more worried about the quality of water and its effects on their health and most of them cited water supplied by the Nagar Panchayat to be hard, containing sediments, worms etc as the main reason to shift towards bottled water or RO filters.

The private actors in the water sector are in the nascent stage, evolving and are here to stay. That said, it is important to protect the interest of the citizens from the market, as the market can turn exploitative. The government is required to develop guidelines to regulate the quality, availability of the bottled/treated water. At the same time, it is required to strengthen the public sector and encourage the combination of private and public partnerships to create a more decentralized environment in meeting the demand both in terms of quantity and quality of water.

References A.P. Pollution Control Board II vs. Prof. M.V. Nayudu {(2001) 2 SCC 62} 86 | P a g e

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Anstsiss, R., & Ahmed, M. (2006). A Conceptual Model to be Used for Community-based Drinking-water Improvements. Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition,24(3), 262266.

Banerjee A, & Somanathan R, “The Political Economy of Public Goods: Some Evidence from India”, Journal of Development Economics, Vol- 82, 2007, p. 288 Burgess, T. (2016). Water: At What Cost? The State of the World’s Water 2016 (pp. 2-18, Issue brief). Water Aid. Cullet, P. (2011). ‘Realisation of the Fundamental Right to Water in Rural Areas: Implications of the Evolving Policy Framework for Drinking Water.’Economic

& Political

Weekly,46(12), 56-62.

Delhi Water Supply & Sewage Undertaking and Another vs. State of Haryana and Others (1996) 2 SCC 572. In F K Hussain vs. Union of India AIR 1990 Ker. 321and Attakoya Thangal vs. Union of India (1990)1KLT 550, the Kerala High Court held the right as part of Article 21. See also Subhash Kumar vs. State of Bihar AIR 1991 SC 420; M C Mehta vs.

Kamal Nath (1997)1 SCC 388; AP Pollution Control Board vs. M V Naidu and Others (1999) 2 SCC 718; State of Karnataka vs. State of Andhra Pradesh 2000 (3) SCALE 505.

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Note for Contributors The Journal of Public Policy Research (JPPR) is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes articles, review articles, perspectives, research notes/commentaries and book reviews. It encourages original contributions in order to promote debate and discussion on social, economic, political and legal concerns from the public policy perspective. Expression of all shades and opinions is welcome.

Articles should range between 7000-8000 words, perspectives between 40006000 words, and notes/commentaries between 2000-3000 words. Manuscripts should be sent in electronic format (Microsoft Word Document) and addressed to Editor at editors.jppr@gmail.com

Each contribution should be accompanied by an abstract/summary of around 150 words and short biographical note/s on the author/s.

Notes in the text should be numbered and expanded at the end of the text in the form of Endnotes. Use of any reference in the endnotes should be in a consistent style similar to that of the text (for example: (Sen: 2015) and should be expanded separately in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Referenceâ&#x20AC;? section with all relevant information according to the Reference format.

All figures and tables should appear at the relevant places in the text and not at the end of the article. All figures and tables should be referred to by their numbers in the text (for instance, 'See Table 1', 'See Figure 3'). The titles of the tables and figures should be brief and to the point. Tables and Figures should mention the Source which should be placed at the bottom of respective tables and figures.

References should be embedded in the text in a consistent style, for instance, (Sen, 2015). The full details of this Reference should then be provided in the Reference list in alphabetical order starting with the author(s)' surname(s) in the following format.

Book titles: Deshpande, Ashwini (2011). The Grammar of Caste: Economic Discrimination in Contemporary India, Oxford University Press, New Delhi (page number(s) if required)

Chapters within books: Uruena, Rene (2013). “ Global Water Governance and the Rise of Constitutional State in Columbia” in Navroz K. Dubash and Bronwen Morgan, The Rise of the Regulatory State of the South: Infrastructure and Development in Emerging Economies, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, pp. 27-52 Articles: Moe, Terry (2005), “Power and Political Institutions” Perspectives on Politics, June 2005, Vol. 3, Number 2, pp. 215-233.

Reports: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank (2008), “The Growth Report Strategies for Sustained Growth and Inclusive Development”, Commission for growth and Development, Washington Working paper: Rodrik, Dani, Arvind Subramanian and Francesco Trebbi (2003). “Institutions Rule: The Primacy of Institutions over Geography and Integration in Economic Development”, Working Paper 9305, National Bureau of Economic Research, Washington

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