Short Abstract:

Water is a complex element. Its impact on the living processes goes far beyond this objective understanding. However, do the practice-level subjectivities get captured in the policy process? This paper targets this policy invisibility of the water-associated subjectivities where everyday water stories are shaped and reshaped around fixed societal structures

Long Abstract:

Water forms the basis for sustaining livelihoods, enables everyday life, and transcends numerous socio-cultural privileges, identities, and environments with its presence and absence. However, the water policy formulations have failed to capture the inherent subjectivities associated with water practices at the ground level. The Rajasthan water policy resembles a similar feature. And most importantly, it misses out the central actors who are integrated with water in their daily livelihoods - women. The association of women with water sustains and produces the everyday living processes in households and communities. The exercise of situated agency by women and the resulting water practices forms the base of the dynamic water governance process. Rajasthan, being a water deficient state suffering from acute water scarcity, women bear the added burden of procuring water amidst great difficulty. Thus, women in Rajasthan are not only skilled managers of water but also are responsible for instilling behaviours of water conservation.

However, the water policies and programmes present a different reality. Not only women have been rendered invisible in the water policy and governance designs but water itself has been identified as a gender-neutral resource. Even when they are explicitly and occasionally included in the water policy documents, they end up becoming tokenistic in practice. The Rajasthan state water policy document recognizes women only as users of water. This paper targets this policy- practice gap through an ethnographic study of the five villages in the Sanganer Tehsil of Rajasthan and locates the phenomenon within larger debates around gender, social exclusion, water governance and development. Further, it traces the differing perceptions of the policy aspect where water is understood as a quantity to be collected and supplied throughout the state. In our field study, we observed that majority of the government officials and technical personnel of the state water board, understood water to be primarily a resource that needs to be technically regulated, stored, purified and managed throughout the state. The socio-ecological and cultural aspects were secondary to them, if not insignificant. We also documented an overtly gender-neutral and technical orientation among the government officials which partly explained their apathy towards the intended gender mainstreaming of the water policies of Rajasthan. While the practice realities revolve around women managing water with their intrinsic practices of management and conservation in the society.

With the increasing focus on community-based solutions under the International Programme for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), Rajasthan’s water policy aims to transition into a participatory model of water governance with a particular focus on gender mainstreaming. However, the transitions in policy are yet to be translated at the every-day practice level. At the community level also, it was observed that women were indifferent towards their own significance as care givers at the household level in general, and as water users and managers in particular. Looking at the situated agency and the consequent formal and informal power dynamics with regard to the water practices seems to be the key to highlight the disconnect between the intended policies and their actual practice. This disconnect further exacerbates the tokenism of women in both the formal and informal domains. We argue that mapping the social embeddedness of water within the formal and informal practices addresses the gap between the water policy and its practice.

Water policies and programmes are a significant tool of water governance as they define principles and processes which can be implemented through decision making requirements by law. They also evolve and influence water practices on ground as they have a direct bearing upon them. The parity between the water policy and water practices is essential for the promotion of capabilities and well-being of communities in general and women in particular.

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 aims to ensure the availability and management of clean water and sanitation to every individual, thereby, advocating the indispensable position of water resources. The establishment of a global target in the form of SDG 6 actually links this natural resource with the larger developmental agenda. Thus, it is extremely essential to take steps to target the widening gap between policy and practice which will ultimately make the development process more effective, inclusive and sustainable.