The Right to Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor in Delhi the Right to Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor in Delhi
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The Right to Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor in Delhi The Right to Water The Right to Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor in Delhi Koen De Feyter Maheshwar Singh Dominique Kiekens Noémi Desguin Arushi Goel Devanshi Saxena LHR Series No. 4 Localizing Human Rights Working Paper Series No. 4 General Editors: Koen De Feyter and Rachel Mary Hammonds Antwerp: University of Antwerp (2017) The Right to Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor in Delhi Koen De Feyter Maheshwar Singh Dominique Kiekens Noémi Desguin Arushi Goel Devanshi Saxena Localizing Human Rights Working Paper Series No. 4 General Editors: Koen De Feyter and Rachel Hammonds University of Antwerp (2017) 1 Localizing Human Rights Working Paper Series The Localizing Human Rights Working Paper Series consists of studies on the local relevance of human rights, particularly but not exclusively in non-Western contexts. They form part of a long-term interdisciplinary project, combining insights from law, political and social sciences. The localizing human rights research programme is coordinated by the Law and Development Research Group at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). General Editors of the Series are Professor Koen De Feyter, Chair of International Law at the University of Antwerp, and Dr. Rachel Mary Hammonds, University of Antwerp. The full reports are available online on the website of the Law and Development Research Group. In the Localizing Human Rights Working Paper Series: No. 1: Vandenbogaerde, Arne (2015). The Human Rights Council from Below. A Case Study of the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants. No. 2: Destrooper, Tine (2015). An Analysis of the Human Rights-Based Approach to Development. UNICEF’s Role in the Villages Assainis Program in the Bas-Congo. No. 3: Chen, Jingrong, Desmet, Ellen and De Feyter, Koen (2016). The Right to Education of Rural-Urban Migrant Households in Chongqing, China. No.4: De Feyter, Koen, Singh, Maheshwar, Kiekens, Dominique, Desguin, Noémi, Goel, Arushi and Saxena, Devanshi (2017). The right to water and sanitation for the urban poor in Delhi. No.5: Sundi, Pascal and Hammonds, Rachel (forthcoming), The human right to safe drinking water and sanitation in the rural Bas-Fleuve, in the DRC: Exploring the local conceptions of human rights. ISBN 9789057285547 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors are grateful to the Advisory Council of the Law and Development Research Group, to Rachel Mary Hammonds, Ellen Desmet and other members of the Human Rights Integration Project for their suggestions at various stages of this research. We also thank the students from National Law University, Delhi, namely, Aadya Chawla, Karishma Padia, Ravi Arora, Ritika Bhasin, Shrey Patnaik, Tia Majumdar, Vanya Chabra, Anwesha Chowdhary, Danish Malik, Nidhi Koul, Akansha Seth, Isha Rathi, Sanya Sud and Vivek Singh who conducted the field research under the supervision of Maheshwar Singh. Our special thanks to Dipendra Kapur for working with us on the questionnaire as well the field research. Last but not the least, we are grateful to the representatives of various NGOs, Government Officials and the countless slum dwellers who gave us their valuable time for this research. 3 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements 3 Executive Summary 9 List of Abbreviations 19 Glossary 23 1. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK AND CHALLENGES 25 1.1. Research Context and Problem 25 1.2. The Theoretical Framework- Localizing Human Rights 26 1.3. Transformation Perspective 28 1.4. Research Aims and Questions 29 Research Aims 29 Research Objectives 29 Research Questions 29 Research Hypotheses 30 1.5. The Research Team 30 1.6. Selection of Slums 31 1.7. The Sample and The Respondents 31 1.8. Other Stakeholders 33 1.9. Direct Observation and Document Analysis 33 1.10. The Unit of Opinion 33 1.11. Semi-Structured Interviews 34 1.12. The Interview Process 35 1.13. Informed Consent, Taping and Confidentiality 36 2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF WATER AND SANITATION RIGHTS 39 2.1. Right to Water and Sanitation in International Law 39 2.1.1. Content of the Right to Water and Sanitation 41 2.1.2. Right to Adequate Housing 43 2.1.3. Convergence Between Right to Water and Sanitation & Right to Adequate Housing 47 2.2. Indian Legal System and Water and Sanitation Rights 48 5 2.2.1. Dualist State 48 2.2.2. Constitution, Courts and Law 49 2.2.3. Central Legislation 58 2.3. Municipal Legislations in Delhi 71 2.3.1. NCT, Delhi is the Capital of India 71 2.3.2. Complex Institutional Structure 72 2.3.3. Typology of Informal Settlements in Delhi 75 2.3.4. Slum Governance Since 1990 77 2.3.5. Economically Weak Sections (EWS) & Low-Income Groups (LIG) 79 2.3.6. Water Supply and Sanitary Situation 82 2.4. National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Water and Sanitation Rights 85 2.5. CSR Activities 86 3. WATER AND SANITATION SITUATION IN NEW DELHI AND FINDINGS OF THE CASE STUDY 91 3.1. Profile of Urban Poor Settlements Selected for Research 91 3.2 Savda Ghevra 92 3.2.1 Present System of Water Distribution 93 3.2.2 Management of Sanitation Facilities 94 3.2.3 Mapping of Actors 95 3.2.4 Findings of the Social Survey 100 3.3 Rangpuri Pahadi 115 3.3.1 Present System of Water Distribution 117 3.3.2 Management of Sanitation facilities 119 3.3.3 Mapping of Actors 120 3.3.4 Findings of the Social Survey 122 3.4 Bhanwar Singh Camp 131 3.4.1 Present System of Water Distribution 131 3.4.2 Management of Sanitation Facilities 133 3.4.3 Mapping of Actors 135 3.4.4 Findings of the Social Survey 136 3.5 Begumpur JJ Cluster 153 3.5.1 Present System of Water Distribution 154 3.5.2 Management of Sanitation Facilities 155 3.5.3 Mapping of Actors 155 3.5.4 Findings of the Social Survey 156 3.6 General Findings 167 3.6.1 Land Insecurity and its Impact on The Right to Water and Sanitation 167 3.6.2 Findings on the Effectiveness of The 666-litre Free Water Scheme 167 6 4. LOCALIZING HUMAN RIGHTS 169 4.1. PRIMA FACIE HUMAN RIGHTS ASSESSMENT 169 4.1.1. International Conventions 169 4.1.2. Basic principles on Development Based Evictions and Forced Displacement 172 4.2. Human Rights Awareness 174 4.3. Human Rights Claims 177 4.4. Duty Bearer Response 179 4.4. Role of Third Parties 182 4.5. United Nations Involvement 184 4.6. Action Research 186 4.7. Conclusion 192 BIBLIOGRAPHY 195 ANNEXURE 1 STRUCTURE OF NVIVO NODES 217 PHASE I 217 PHASE II 218 ANNEXURE 2 QUESTIONNAIRES 221 PHASE I 221 PHASE II 225 For NGOs/Civil Society Groups/Activists, Movements 228 7 8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This study is the fourth in the localizing human rights working paper series and it focusses on the right to water and sanitation for the urban poor in New Delhi, India. The theoretical framework is the localizing human rights approach (De Feyter, 2007). The approach refers to the perspective of the right holders as the primary authors of human rights claims. It requires the study of the process of rights realization at the ground level along with the actors and factors that influence this process. It then seeks to use the lessons to update the global approach of human rights protection by accounting for the local experiences. While the approach takes the local as the starting point, it acknowledges the importance of international human rights framework and seeks to increase its relevance by making it more accessible to the right holders. Research Context and Problem The capital territory of Delhi has seen a rise in the population of the urban poor as the city continues to attract economic migrants from all parts of India. The informal network of real estate agents, politicians and the leniency for violations of the Delhi Master Plan has allowed urban poor settlements to thrive in the city (WaterAid India, 2005). While three of our research sites- Rangpuri Pahadi, Bhanwar Singh Camp and Begumpur are unauthorized colonies, called Jhuggi Jhopri clusters, one of them called Savda Ghevra is a resettlement colony created by the government to rehabilitate slum dwellers displaced to accommodate the Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010. The living conditions in all four of these settlements is deplorable as access to basic amenities like water and sanitation is not available. The right to water and sanitation draws its legal legitimacy from the right to life jurisprudence developed by the Indian Supreme Court and has been consistently upheld. Despite this, water and safe sanitation amenities are a scarce resource in these settlements. With this background a socio legal study was conducted in two phases, in January and July of 2014 respectively, in each of these settlements. Theoretical Framework and Methodology The localizing human rights approach as developed by Koen De Feyter at the University of Antwerp is the main theoretical framework for this study. The approach has been operationalized by Gaby Oré Aguilar (Oré Aguilar, 2011) who suggests a methodology for studying human rights use by excluded and marginalized communities. She distinguishes five tracks in the process of realization of human rights-Track one explores articulation of human rights claims by local communities; Track two is concerned with the translation of these claims by human rights actors and institutions into the international human rights language and deploy actions at various levels; Track three studies the institutional response to these claims; Track four studies the impact of such institutional response on local communities as well as on the global human rights framework; Finally, Track five, studies the mutually enriching relationship of local needs and international norms of human rights protection.