Dams and Water-Related Narratives in Gujarat, India
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World Development Vol. 29, No. 12, pp. 2025±2041, 2001 Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev 0305-750X/01/$ - see front matter PII: S0305-750X01)00087-0 The Manufacture of Popular Perceptions of Scarcity: Dams and Water-Related Narratives in Gujarat, India LYLA MEHTA * Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK Summary. Ð This paper critically examines some narratives of water scarcity in Kutch, western India. It argues that images of dwindling rainfall and increasing drought largely serve to legitimize the controversial Sardar Sarovar dam and manufacture dominant perceptions concerning scarcity. This manufacture has naturalized scarcity in the region and largely bene®ts powerful actors such as politicians, industrialists and large farmers. But the needs of the poor in water-limited areas are neglected. By exploring the various connotations of scarcity, the paper argues that scarcity is both a biophysical phenomenon as well as a powerful discursive construct. By distinguishing between the ``real'' and ``manufactured'' aspects of water scarcity, the paper attempts to enhance understand- ings of environmental change at the local level. Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Key words Ð Asia, India, water scarcity, dams, narratives of scarcity 1. INTRODUCTION the panacea for water scarcity. The proponents of large dams tend to downplay the social and Water scarcity is one of the most pressing environmental costs of large dams against the problems confronting the well-being of bene®ts of hydropower and irrigation 9Biswas humankind in the 21st century 9Ohlsson, 1995; & El-Habr, 1993; British Dam Society, 1999). Postel, 1994; The World Bank, 1993). Scarcity These views are increasingly contested by a of water and drought are complex phenomena worldwide constituency comprising academics, that can be analyzed dierently from social, scientists and members of voluntary agencies political, meteorological, hydrological and who have highlighted the problems of invol- agricultural perspectives. But technical and popular understandings of water scarcity have tended to be simplistic 9Falkenmark & Chap- * Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the man, 1989). There has been the tendency to annual conference of the Development Studies Associ- direct attention to the lack of supply of water ation, 1999 and at a seminar at the Department of Water due to natural forces rather than look at and Environmental Studies, University of Linkoping. I human-induced land and water use practices am grateful to the participants for their comments. Peter and at socio-political considerations. Real Davis provided encouragement and useful comments. causes of scarcity can be obscured leading to This paper draws from my doctoral thesis 9Mehta, inappropriate solutions. This paper explicitly 1998). Research was conducted in Kutch in 1995±96 for addresses the complexities surrounding water which funding was provided by the Overseas Develop- scarcity by taking the case of Kutch, a semi- ment Institute, London. I am grateful to Annette arid to arid region in western India. According Sinclair for helping in the data analysis and presenta- to Government of Gujarat documents, Kutch is tion, Dr Singh of the Institute of Desert Ecology for designated to bene®t from the controversial providing rainfall data in Kutch, P. Kaul for suggesting Sardar Sarovar Project 9SSP), a controversial Iread Herman and Chomsky 91994) and Rohan dam under construction in western India D'Souza and Sinnet Weber for their suggestions. Most 9Government of Gujarat, 1991; Raj, 1991). of all, Ithank my interview partners and the people of There are several polarized views regarding Kutch, in particular, those of the village, Merka, where I how the water needs for present and future conducted my detailed ®eldwork. Iwill always be generations of a country and region can be met grateful to them for their co-operation, understanding, 9cf. Mehta, 1997). Until a few decades ago, the warmth and inspiration. Final revision accepted: 23 July 1 large dam was universally considered to be 2001. 2025 2026 WORLD DEVELOPMENT untary resettlement and environmental damage social organization and questions concerning due to large dams 9e.g., Goldsmith & Hildyard, power 9cf. Bruns & Meizen-Dick, 2000; Mosse, 1992; McCully, 1996). The World Commission 1997; Potanski & Adams, 1998). By building on on Dams has recently completed its mandate to precedents set in work on environmental investigate the myriad aspects of dams narratives by authors such as Leach and concerning economic growth, equity, environ- Mearns 91996) and Roe 91991), the paper mental conservation and participation. It focuses on narratives connected with dwindling concluded that while dams have made a rainfall and increasing droughts which are considerable contribution to human develop- widespread in the district and the state. The ment, in too many cases unacceptable costs critical examination of these narratives leads to have been borne in social and environmental the conclusion that while water scarcity is a terms. The Commission also argues that often ``real'' enough problem with biophysical water and energy needs can be met through manifestations, it can also be ``manufactured'' alternative solutions that would fare better than in such a way to serve the interests of powerful dams on equity grounds 9WCD, 2000). actors such as politicians, bureaucrats and These views are not shared, however, by a irrigation farmers. Popular perceptions of large number of agencies and governments, scarcity, as represented in the mass media and especially in the South. Judging from the severe by politicians and advocates of the water reservations expressed by the Indian govern- question, have naturalized scarcity in Kutch. ment, the International Commission on Large They have also succeeded in manufacturing the Dams and the International Commission on dominant perception of water in the region, Irrigation and Drainage to the Commission's namely that there is no alternative to the Sardar Report 9Bhogale, 2001; Government of India, Sarovar Project 9SSP). Due to this ``manufac- 2001), it is clear that there are still very polarized ture'' which largely bene®ts powerful actors views on dams and the role that they play in such as politicians and large irrigators, mitigating water scarcity. Is this because large controversial schemes such as the SSP are dams are urgently required to solve the prob- legitimized. The paper also distinguishes lems in water-needy areas or is it because of between the physical phenomena of scarcity questions concerning a wider political econ- and their social explanations and manifesta- omy? Is there a need to investigate the rela- tions. The distinction between the ``real'' and tionship between discourses of water scarcity ``manufactured'' aspects of water scarcity, I and the vested interests in large-scale develop- argue, is a useful way to understand environ- ment projects? The paper demonstrates that mental change both at the level of discourse as that the pro and anti-dam dichotomy is largely well as at the biophysical realm. counterproductive for regions such as Kutch, Sections 2 and 3 present an overview of which are often aected by severe conditions of Kutch and its relationship with the SSP. aridity. Instead the paper suggests that concer- Section 4 examines the water-related narratives ted eorts toward creating sustainable land and concerning dwindling rainfall and climatic water use practices might be the more desirable change. The paper then goes on to argue that alternative to waiting for a little water from a these popular perceptions feed into the controversial and distant dam. The paper draws perception of the SSP as a panacea and the only on a year's ®eldwork in Kutch and Gujarat in solution for Kutch. In the conclusion, the paper 1995±96. The research employed a combination argues it is not merely enough to discredit of methods such as participant observation at popular narratives of environmental change by the village level, semi-structured interviews with creating new counternarratives. Instead, the a host of rural and urban actors, the analysis of analysis of environmental change must capture rainfall data, discourse analysis and historical both discursive as well as material realities. The and archival research. Several months were paper attempts to achieve this by examining spent in a village Icall Merka, in eastern Kutch both the ``manufactured'' and ``real'' aspects of where diverse water and land-use practices were scarcity and the nature of their relationship. studied 9see Mehta, 1997). The paper follows a growing number of authors who argue for the need to see water 2. KUTCH AND ITS WATER RESOURCES resources as having symbolic as well as material characteristics. Such an approach calls for the Kutch district is located in a crescent-shaped need to link water resources management with peninsula in the Gujarat State of Western MANUFACTURE OF POPULAR PERCEPTIONS OF SCARCITY 2027 India. It is the largest district in Gujarat and by the district level government. Many existing has an area of 45,612 sq. km constituting 23% schemes work under their potential capacity of the state. Kutch is like an island bound by due to a high rate of siltation 9between 15% and the sea in the South and West and by the Ranns 70%). 5 As the de-silting process is very costly, 9salt marshlands) in the East and North. Kutch it is cheaper, but less ecient to construct new was a princely state ruled by the Maharao of dams downstream. The reservoirs of Kutch Kutch and was integrated into the state of also have a lower over¯ow rate than in other Gujarat only in 1960. parts of Gujarat 9Gujarat Institute of Area Kutch has a population of 1.2 million. It is Planning, 1989, p. 15). Due to the variable far more sparsely populated than the rest of rainfall, there is often not enough water for India and has witnessed a very marginal release in the canal networks, and therefore, the increase in the population in the ®rst few irrigation schemes of Kutch utilize only 28% of decades of the last century.