Drinking Water in Rural Karnataka

This book addresses the central question in water studies: should drinking water be seen as right or a commodity? If drinking water is a right, what are the roles of the state and local communities? Starting from a theoretical perspective of liberal notion of rights and communitarian concept of participation, and the attempts at linking the two, this book deals with the issue of drinking water as right in rural Karnataka, India. The book presents the empirical findings of primary studies of villages in Bidar District of North Karnataka and Chamaraja Nagar district of Southern Karnataka. The study highlights the problems involved in realizing the right to drinking water at Gram Panchayat (village) level. The study findings address the questions of historical shifts in accessing the drinking water supply and present the problems of access, equity, participation and availability of drinking water for communities at the village level. The study contends that given the ecological, geographical and political-historical circumstances drinking water should be seen as right and only the state can enable the local communities to realise this basic right.