Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India: Felicitation Volume in Honour of Professor M. H. Qureshi (Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements) 9811630992, 9789811630996

Citation preview

Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements

Mahabir S. Jaglan Rajeshwari   Editors

Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India Felicitation Volume in Honour of Professor M. H. Qureshi

Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements Series Editor Bharat Dahiya, School of Global Studies, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand Editorial Board Andrew Kirby, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA Erhard Friedberg, Sciences Po-Paris, France Rana P. B. Singh, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India Kongjian Yu, Peking University, Beijing, China Mohamed El Sioufi, Monash University, Australia Tim Campbell, Woodrow Wilson Center, USA Yoshitsugu Hayashi, Chubu University, Kasugai, Japan Xuemei Bai, Australian National University, Australia Dagmar Haase, Humboldt University, Germany

Indexed by SCOPUS This Series focuses on the entire spectrum of human settlements – from rural to urban, in different regions of the world, with questions such as: What factors cause and guide the process of change in human settlements from rural to urban in character, from hamlets and villages to towns, cities and megacities? Is this process different across time and space, how and why? Is there a future for rural life? Is it possible or not to have industrial development in rural settlements, and how? Why does ‘urban shrinkage’ occur? Are the rural areas urbanizing or is that urban areas are undergoing ‘ruralisation’ (in form of underserviced slums)? What are the challenges faced by ‘mega urban regions’, and how they can be/are being addressed? What drives economic dynamism in human settlements? Is the urban-based economic growth paradigm the only answer to the quest for sustainable development, or is there an urgent need to balance between economic growth on one hand and ecosystem restoration and conservation on the other – for the future sustainability of human habitats? How and what new technology is helping to achieve sustainable development in human settlements? What sort of changes in the current planning, management and governance of human settlements are needed to face the changing environment including the climate and increasing disaster risks? What is the uniqueness of the new ‘socio-cultural spaces’ that emerge in human settlements, and how they change over time? As rural settlements become urban, are the new ‘urban spaces’ resulting in the loss of rural life and ‘socio-cultural spaces’? What is leading the preservation of rural ‘socio-cultural spaces’ within the urbanizing world, and how? What is the emerging nature of the rural-urban interface, and what factors influence it? What are the emerging perspectives that help understand the human-environment-culture complex through the study of human settlements and the related ecosystems, and how do they transform our understanding of cultural landscapes and ‘waterscapes’ in the 21st Century? What else is and/or likely to be new vis-à-vis human settlements – now and in the future? The Series, therefore, welcomes contributions with fresh cognitive perspectives to understand the new and emerging realities of the 21st Century human settlements. Such perspectives will include a multidisciplinary analysis, constituting of the demographic, spatio-economic, environmental, technological, and planning, management and governance lenses. If you are interested in submitting a proposal for this series, please contact the Series Editor, or the Publishing Editor: Bharat Dahiya ([email protected]) or Loyola D’Silva ([email protected])

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13196

Mahabir S. Jaglan · Rajeshwari Editors

Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India Felicitation Volume in Honour of Professor M. H. Qureshi

Editors Mahabir S. Jaglan Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra, India

Rajeshwari Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra, India

ISSN 2198-2546 ISSN 2198-2554 (electronic) Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements ISBN 978-981-16-3099-6 ISBN 978-981-16-3100-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3100-9 © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Series Editor’s Foreword

Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India: Felicitation Volume in Honour of Professor M. H. Qureshi, co-edited by Mahabir S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari, is a welcome addition to the Springer series, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements. It is published as a felicitation volume in honour of Prof. Mohammad Hashim Qureshi, one of the leading academicians of the discipline of Geography in India. He served at the Centre for the Study of Regional Development (CSRD), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, from March 1975 to March 2008. Thus, he belongs to the generation of teachers who contributed to laying the foundation of CSRD–– a leading education centre in the field of regional development studies in India. In particular, Prof. Qureshi made major academic contributions in the field of agriculture and economic geography and trained young scholars to conduct socio-spatial analysis in academic institutions in India and beyond. This book comes out at an historical juncture when India and the rest of the world are dealing with the onslaught of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has caused prolonged lockdowns and had huge impact on academic (and other) activities since March 2020. In this larger context, it must have required firm commitment and resolute determination on the part of co-editors as well as the contributing authors who carried out the academic discourse leading to the preparation of this book. For finalizing this felicitation volume in these testing times, the co-editors and contributing authors are worthy of our appreciation. The edited volume constitutes of four parts. First part opens with an introductory chapter in which the co-editors present and discuss the emergent issues related to environmental and socio-economic dimensions of human habitats in India. Penned by Prof. Qureshi, one of the highlights of the book is Chapter 2, ‘Journey in the Realm of Geography’, in which he––in his own words––avails the ‘… opportunity to reflect on [his] journey in the realm of the discipline of Geography, which has been academically fulfilling …’. As one of Prof. Qureshi’s many students at CSRD, I have thoroughly relished reading his inspiring memoirs and reflections (Chapter 2). I first met Prof. Qureshi in late July 1991 when he gave the opening lecture of the 4-credit course on ‘Economic Geography with special reference to India’ in the Monsoon semester. At that time, v

vi

Series Editor’s Foreword

I had joined the M.A. in Geography (1991–1993) programme at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Reading his wonderfully written ‘Journey in the Realm of Geography’, I realized that Prof. Qureshi used to share some key examples from his memoirs and field experiences in order to strategically emphasize certain significant points in his course lectures. The highlight of the aforementioned economic geography course that he taught was a seminar presentation that each student was required to give based on her/his term paper. Although in the friendly ambit of the class, giving the seminar presentation was the first test in public speaking that the first semester M.A. students used to face. Looking back, I feel that giving the very first seminar presentation on an academic subject in his course prepared me for giving such presentations in the future. I often refer to the example of my first seminar presentation in Prof. Qureshi’s course when I conduct lectures and workshops on the subject of ‘how to present academic research at the international level’. In the 1992 Winter semester, I immensely benefitted from a special 2-credit course on ‘Ethiopia: Meso-Regional Study’ that Prof. Qureshi taught. His rich and analytical descriptions of Ethiopia would often trigger my geographical imaginations and metaphysically transport me to this faraway land that adorns the ‘Horn of Africa’; and in the next moment, I would return from these enchanting ‘Ethiopian mental trips’ back to the CSRD Cartography Lab where Prof. Qureshi used to teach this course. I am grateful to him for my learnings on the various dimensions of economic geography and the indepth knowledge about Ethiopia, which provided a strong foundation for my earnest pursuit to explore, understand and work on the developing regions around the world. I am quite sure that the readers––including many CSRDians and other JNUites–– will enjoy reading Prof. Qureshi’s much-awaited memoirs and reflections. Second part of the book, ‘Environment, Resource Base and Livelihoods’, explores the multifaceted interaction and relationship between rural livelihoods and natural resources in India. The four chapters featuring in second part examine the livelihood adaptation to climate variability in Jaunsar-Bawar tribal habitat of Central Himalayas; the scarcity of common property resources and spatiality of women’s livelihoods in rural areas; the inequalities in access to groundwater for irrigation in the agriculturally developed region of Haryana state; and the growing scarcity/unavailability of water and deterioration/depletion of water resources. For millennia, rural communities have drawn most of the resources required to build and sustain their habitats from the immediate environment and ecosystem. In the twenty-first century, human habitats in India have undergone rapid transformation in terms of their socio-cultural changes, human–environment interface, the pattern of economic development, and ecological degradation. Since the tribal communities have had overwhelming dependence on forest resources in regard to food, fodder, fuelwood, timber and the like, they have maintained a close and harmonious relationship with nature. The haphazard and market driven land use change, however, has resulted in the deterioration of environment in rural areas across the country. In recent decades, the fast-expanding urban spaces combined with growing industrialisation, have transformed the rural landscapes beyond recognition. The urban spaces in the country also face numerous local environmental challenges, such as overcrowding, poor solid waste management, unsafe sewage disposal and growing ambient air pollution. Unplanned and

Series Editor’s Foreword

vii

haphazard urban expansion and sprawl continue to challenge the process of urban environmental planning and governance. ‘Economic Development and Regional Disparities’, third part of the volume, focuses on the analysis of market driven spatial transformation in India during the twenty-first century. In this part, five chapters analyse the socio-cultural spaces and dynamics of transformation in rural areas; changes in the industrial and commercial geography of India during the post-reform (i.e. post-1991) period; tourism, urbanization and spatial reorganization in Goa state; continuity and changing characteristics of traditional commodity specific markets in Varanasi city; and the dynamics and spatiality of socio-economic development in Ahirwal region of Haryana state during the post-liberalization period. The economic forces unleashed by the implementation of economic liberalization policies since early 1990s have had far-reaching effects on the developmental processes concerning human habitats. The location and spatial concentration pattern of industries has also changed significantly during the last two decades. The distribution of industries is determined by free market forces rather than the earlier policies designed for balanced development. On the one hand, it has rapidly altered both rural and urban landscapes; on the other hand, human habitats in remote undeveloped areas have deteriorated both in terms of environment and economy. Many cities and rural settlements in India have had traditional commodity specific markets (Hindi: mandis) linked to socio-cultural specificities of landscapes; however, the market led forces have changed these spaces beyond recognition. Fourth part of the book deals with the ‘Socio-spatial Inequities’ induced by the forces of economic transformation during the past few decades. The four chapters included in this part consider the socio-spatial dimensions of disease transition and health preparedness in Haryana state; urban spaces and gendered resistance towards inclusive and fear free cities; the nature of access to higher education and the emerging patterns of social and spatial inequalities in educational opportunities; and the everyday practices of urban poor to access water with evidence from slums in Delhi. There is a plurality of transformative characteristics in terms of social and economic groups, gender and space. Inequality of access to natural resources, such as land and water, is a big factor in socio-spatial differentiation in rural habitats. Moreover, there are unequal opportunities and access to basic human necessities, such as healthcare, education, potable water and sanitation. Human habitats characterized by socio-spatial segregation and exclusion often hinder the formation of a civil society and its sustainability in the long term. Instead, it is important to work towards the ideal of an inclusive and equitable society with mutual respect for everyone. In sum, the felicitation volume includes a wide range of case studies in human habitats from different parts of India. Based on the primary and secondary data, these essays bring fresh insights in the selected themes of study. Collectively, they provide rich reflections on the twenty-first century human habitats in India in regard to the three thematic areas: environment, resource base and livelihoods; economic development and regional disparities; and socio-spatial inequities. The book will be

viii

Series Editor’s Foreword

of interest to researchers and students of human geography, especially that of human settlements, from India and around the world. Bharat Dahiya Extraordinary Professor School of Public Leadership Stellenbosch University Western Cape, South Africa Director School of Global Studies Research Center for Sustainable Development and Innovation Thammasat University Bangkok, Thailand

Preface

The theme of the book has been chosen to address the contemporary environmental and socio-economic issues relating to human habitats in India. The issues concerning environment, economy and society have been close to the heart of Prof. M. H. Qureshi who has served the discipline of geography with distinct dedication and commitment for a period more than 40 years in India and abroad. He has probed many such issues relating to human–environment relationship, economic processes, pattern and sociospatial inequalities in India directly or through the guidance of research works of his students leading to award of Ph.D., M.Phil. and M.A. degrees. This book takes a stock of human habitats in the twenty-first-century India in terms of their environment, developmental processes and socio-spatial attributes that have undergone transformation during the last few decades. In the first part Environment, Resource Base and Livelihood, the authors evaluate the changing environmental conditions on account of climate change and land degradation and their consequent impacts on the livelihood and resource base of marginalized communities and women. The issues pertaining to availability of water as a natural resource, its depletion/degradation and access are also discussed and analysed in this section. The economic re-structuring initiated in India in the 1990s has transformed both rural and urban landscapes significantly as unleashing of market forces has had telling effects on the developmental processes and patterns. The spatial concentration of global finance capital invited through foreign direct investments and newly generated economic spaces leading to uneven regional development are the issues being looked into with great concern by authors in the part Economic Development and Regional Disparities. It may be noted that one of the negative outcomes of the model of development pursued during the post-liberalization period is growing inequalities in social, economic and spatial spheres. The plurality of transformative processes operating in the society has produced multiple layers of differentiations in the form of class, caste, gender, ethnicity, etc. In the part of the book, Socio-spatial Inequalities, the authors do empirically examine the accessibility of health, education and drinking water facilities across socio-spatial spectrum and theoretically map the gendered resistances and construction of inclusive, fear-free and sustainable city spaces. ix

x

Preface

The book shall cater to the needs of social scientists interested in exploring human habitats of India in terms of their environment-development-social space linkages. The book reviews a wide variety of human habitational attributes pertaining to environment, regional development and socio-spatial inequalities. It includes a wide range of case studies in human geography from different parts of India. There are as many as eight case studies pertaining to six states or regions. The macro and micro level studies are nested and linked to the wider theoretical framework. The essays are rich in empirical research and provide fresh insights into the selected themes of study. Seven chapters are based on primary data and field survey research and five use secondary data for analysis. Incidentally, the draft of this volume was written, compiled and edited during a period when world witnessed unfolding the worst pandemic of human history. The authors of the chapters and editors also had a frightful time and an experience of emotional uncertainty and ambivalence as COVID-19 pandemic outbreak took place across the length and breadth of continents and countries. The pandemic certainly delayed the progress and proceedings of the book but it has been heartening and satisfying that each one of the contributors stood by the commitment to make this project a success. This book is an outcome of collective efforts of the students of Prof. M. H. Qureshi who served with distinction the Centre for the study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, as a professor of Geography for 32 years. The initiative for penning this book in honour of Prof. Qureshi was initially taken by Dr. Dinesh Pratap but it is sad that he is not present among us to see it taking the final shape. There are numerous scholars who have encouraged this pursuit, and we particularly acknowledge and appreciate the morale support of Mumtaz Khan Sahab, Prof. Hanuman Singh Yadav, late Prof. Ravindra Nath Vyas, Prof. Sachidanand Sinha, Professor Sucharita Sen and Prof. Omvir Singh during the course of editing and preparation of drafts. The contributors to this book are mostly the students and well-wishers of Prof. Qureshi who nurtured and cherished very close academic and evocative relationships with him. They came forward enthusiastically to contribute in the felicitation volume. Their contributions here fittingly reflect the pedagogical and social concerns of Prof. Qureshi in the field of human geography. We are grateful to all of them for their quality contributions and diligently preparing the drafts of chapters. We pay our special gratitude to Dr Bharat Dahiya, Extraordinary Professor, School of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University, South Africa and Director, Research Center for Integrated Sustainable Development, College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Thammasat University, Bangkok, and the series editor of Advances in 21st Century Settlements for encouraging us to take up the task of editing this volume to facilitate Professor Qureshi and accepting to publish it under this prestigious series. We also gratefully acknowledge the contribution of all 26 reviewers of the chapters for

Preface

xi

sparing their valuable time for critically reviewing the chapters and offering concrete suggestions to the authors leading to improving their quality. Kurukshetra, India

Mahabir S. Jaglan Rajeshwari

List of Reviewers

Mohammad Hashim Qureshi, Former Professor of Geography, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Balbir Singh Butola, Former Professor of Geography, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Sachidanand Sinha, Professor of Geography, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Shrawan Kumar Acharya, Professor of Geography, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Milap Chand Sharma, Professor of Geography, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Sanghmitra S. Acharya, Professor, Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Omvir Singh, Professor, Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University, Kuruksheta, Haryana, India Satya Prakash Kaushik, Professor, Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University, Kuruksheta, Haryana, India Ravi Bhushan Kumar, Professor, Department of Tourism and Hotel Management, Kurukshetra University, Kuruksheta, Haryana, India Niladari Ranjan Dash, Professor, Department of Geography, University of Baroda, Vadodara, India Debendra Kumar Nayak, Professor, Department of Geography, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India Kuljit Singh Sohal, Former Professor, Department of Geography, Punjabi University, Patiala, India Rajender Parihar, Professor, Department of Geography, Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur, India Hanuman Singh Yadav, Former Professor, Department of Regional Planning and Economic Growth, Barkatullah University, Bhopal, India Ram Babu Bhagat, Professor, Department of Migration and Urban Studies, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India

xiii

xiv

List of Reviewers

Ravindra Nath Vyas, Former Professor, Department of Geography, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, India Krishan Mohan, Professor, Department of Geography, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India Sachinder Singh, Professor, Department of Geography, MD University, Rohtak, Haryana, India Dhian Kaur, Professor, Department of Geography, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India Harjit Singh, Former Professor of Geography, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Sarfaraj Alam, Professor, Department of Geography, Banaras, Hindu University, Varanasi, India Vijay Baraik, Associate Professor, Discipline of Geography, School of Sciences, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi Mahendra Singh Nathawat, Professor, Discipline of Geography, School of Sciences, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi Pritirekha Daspattanayak, Professor, Department of Applied Geography, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, India Sanjukta Sattar, Professor, Department of Geography, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India Abdul Shaban, Professor, School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India

Contents

Overview Introduction: Environmental and Socio-economic Dimensions of Human Habitats in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mahabir S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari Journey in the Realm of Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mohammad Hashim Qureshi

3 27

Environment, Resource Base and Livelihood Livelihood Adaptation to Climate Variability in Jaunsar-Bawar Tribal Habitat of Central Himalayas, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dinesh Pratap and Aradhana Pratap

57

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s Livelihood in Rural India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sucharita Sen

77

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation in An Agriculturally Developed Region of India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Jitender Kumar and Mahabir S. Jaglan Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis: Some Reflections from India . . . . . . 143 Sachinder Singh Economic Development and Regional Disparities Socio-cultural Spaces and Dynamics of Transformation in Rural India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Sachidanand Sinha, Ruchika Singh, and Sonali Bhatia Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes in the Post-reform Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Abdul Shaban and Sanjukta Sattar xv

xvi

Contents

Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections on Tourism Development in Goa, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Babu S. Sutheeshna Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity Specific Markets in Varanasi City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Sarfaraz Alam, Satya Prakash, and Harsh Jaiswal Dynamics and Spatiality of Socio-economic Development during Post Liberalization Period: A Study of Ahirwal Region (Haryana), India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 Ankita Yadav and Mahabir S. Jaglan Socio-spatial Inequalities Socio-spatial Dimensions of Disease Transition and Health Preparedness in Haryana, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 Rajeshwari and Gulshan Mehra Gender, Urban Spaces and Gendered Resistances: Towards Inclusive and Fear Free Cities in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Anindita Datta Nature of Access to Higher Education in India: Emerging Pattern of Social and Spatial Inequalities in Educational Opportunities . . . . . . . . 345 Nidhi Sadana Sabharwal Everyday Practices of Urban Poor to Access Water: Evidence from Delhi Slums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 Anindita Sarkar

Editors and Contributors

About the Editors Mahabir S. Jaglan is a professor at the Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (Haryana), India. He has been a faculty member in this university for the last 28 years and has also served the institution in the capacity of Chairperson of the Department, Coordinator Corporate Resource Centre, Librarian, and Coordinator Distance Education PG Courses in Geography. Having obtained the degrees of M.A. Geography, M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, he also carried out postdoctoral research as a fellow of University Grants Commission at Centre for the Study of Regional Development, JNU for two years before joining Kurukshetra University. His primary research interest is in the field of agricultural and environmental geographies and has published over 50 research papers and chapters in international and national journals and books. He is also a co-author of Class XII textbook of the National Council of Education Research and Training, New Delhi. He has presented over 80 research papers at the national and international conferences in India and abroad. Currently, he is working and guiding research on the themes of groundwater accessibility and markets, irrigation and agricultural development, horticultural development, agricultural marketing and organic farming. He has supervised 12 Ph.D. theses and 28 M.Phil. dissertations.

xvii

xviii

Editors and Contributors

Rajeshwari is currently a professor at the Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India. She holds a doctoral and M.Phil. degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Before joining her current post, she also worked as a research associate at CSRD, School of Social Sciences, JNU, New Delhi, a junior economist at National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi, and at Higher Education Department, Government of Haryana. Her research interest is in the field of health, disease, nutrition, women violence and gender issues. She has undertaken two projects on Epidemiology, Health and Nutrition Transition in Haryana. She has contributed several research papers in edited books and in reputed national and international journals, like Economic and Political Weekly, Malaysian Journal of Tropical Geography, Population Geography, Transactions of Indian Institute of Geographers and Annals of National Association of Geographers, India. She has also presented over thirty research papers at the national and international conferences, including IGU, Beijing, Academy of Sciences, Moscow, and the University of Manchester, UK. She has been the chairperson of the Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University. Recently, she conducted a Department of Science and Technology, Government of India,sponsored summer training programme on capacity building in geospatial technology.

Contributors Sarfaraz Alam is a professor at the Department of Geography, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) at Varanasi, India. He is also an adjunct faculty in the Centre for Bhojpuri Study, BHU. He received his Ph.D. in Political Geography from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His research interests include social geography, geography of education and South Asia.

Editors and Contributors

xix

Sonali Bhatia is a doctoral research candidate of Social Geography at the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She is the recipient of the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) of the University Grants Commission (UGC) scholarship since January 2018. She has done M.Phil. and Master’s degrees from JNU and Bachelor’s degree from Miranda House, University of Delhi. She has presented her research at national and international conferences and has also published a few papers. Her main research interests relate to water governance, the role of technology, caste, class, gender and space. Anindita Datta is a professor at Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. She is a feminist geographer with interest and expertise in indigenous feminisms, everyday geographies, geographies of care, spaces of resistance, gendered and epistemic violence, decolonizing research and qualitative research methods. She is a current chair, IGU Commission on Gender and Geography, has published consistently in internationally known peer-reviewed journals, serves as a member of international editorial boards for Social & Cultural Geography, Geojournal Book Library, Spaces and Places of Justice (Bristol University Press) and Gender, Place & Culture (2011– 2017). She has participated actively in international collaborations including the Linnaeus Palme and the Erasmus Mundus programmes at the Department of Gender Studies, Lund University Sweden. She was invited to deliver talks and keynotes at the Royal Geographical Society and Institute of British Geographers, UK, NTNU Norway, the University of Bordeaux, France, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, NIAS, and University of Copenhagen, Denmark, University of Groningen, Netherlands, among others. As soldier’s daughter, she sees no contradiction in her role as mother of three and hands-on feminist geographer.

xx

Editors and Contributors

Harsh Jaiswal is a Bachelor of Geography from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He is enrolled in the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, for postgraduation programme in geography. He is interested in the fields of economic geography, regional development and town planning. He has also completed diploma in French language and loves exploring urbanscape.

Jitender Kumar is working as an assistant professor at the Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra, India. He has received his doctoral and Master’s degree from the same department. He has a keen interest in the study of groundwater resources and irrigation systems. His Ph.D. thesis is on the theme of groundwater development and its utilization for irrigation in agriculturally developed state of Haryana in India. Pursuing research interest in the same field, he has contributed several research papers in national journals and presented his work in conferences and seminars.

Gulshan Mehra works as an assistant professor in Geography at the Department of Higher Education, Haryana, and currently working at Government Girls College, Jundla, district Karnal, Haryana. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana. He has teaching experience of seven years. His research interest relates to social issues, watershed management, realtime mapping and applications of geospatial technology. He has recently concluded a project on geospatial technology and stubble burning in Haryana.

Editors and Contributors

xxi

Satya Prakash is a postgraduate in Geography with specialization in advanced cartography and remote sensing from the Department of Geography, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Presently, he is UGC-Senior Research Fellow for doctoral degree (geography) at the Centre for Bhojpuri Study, BHU. His research interests include social geography, cartography and GIS. He is passionate about fieldwork and field-based mapping.

Aradhana Pratap completed her Ph.D. degree from the School of Life Sciences Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. With a view to work towards the betterment of economically weaker communities of hill areas of Dehradun district, she worked with the NGO, Centre for Technology and Development, and carried out projects funded by Science and Society Division of DST, New Delhi. She also worked as an associate professor at the Department of Biotechnology, Sardar Bhagwan Singh (PG) Institute of Biomedical Sciences and Research, Balawala, Dehradun. She has many national and international publications to her credit and has guided students for the doctoral degree. Her research interests also included crop biodiversity in the hills of Uttarakhand. Currently, she is associated with Doon Science Forum, Dehradun, an organization committed to promote scientific temper, integrating science with society and creating awareness about the value of natural resources of Uttarakhand. Dinesh Pratap served as an associate professor and the Head at the Department of Geography, DAV (PG) College, Dehradun, India. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, under the supervision of renowned professor of geography, MH Qureshi. He had an affinity with the ecology and human habitats of the Himalayas especially the Uttarakhand Himalaya. He did a research project entitled ‘Climate Variability/Change and Community’s Adaptation and Coping Strategies: A Study of Chakrata (JaunsarBawar) Tribal Area of Uttarakhand’ funded by ICSSR,

xxii

Editors and Contributors

New Delhi. During his service, he got prestigious awards such as Commonwealth fellowship and UGC PostDoctoral award. Apart from guiding Ph.D. students, he had many national and international publications to his credit. Mohammad Hashim Qureshi is former a professor of Geography at the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has taught geography for more than 40 years after obtaining his M.A. degree from the University of Allahabad in 1961. He started his teaching career from St. John’s College Agra and subsequently moved to the University of Jodhpur in 1963. In 1975, he joined Jawaharlal Nehru University and developed the curriculum design and evaluation methods for M.A. and M.Phil./Ph.D. courses. He then went to join the University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as an associate professor from 1981 to 1983. He also served the Department of Geography, University of Bremen, Germany, in 1996. His academic interest has been in economic geography, agricultural geography, environment, and resource geography. He has supervised 20 Ph.D. theses and 47 M.Phil. dissertations. He has published research papers in international Journals such as Environmental Management and Environmental Conservation. He has also published his research works quite widely in national journals. He has published six books on various aspects of geography. He has been the chief advisor of the School Textbook Development Committee of National Council of Educational Research and Training, New Delhi, for 9th to 12th standard geography books under the National Curriculum Framework, 2005. After his superannuation from Jawaharlal Nehru University, he has also worked as a consultant to the University Grants Commission (2009–2010), Chair Professor A. M. Khwaja Chair, Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi (2010–2015), and Member, Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi (2011–2014). He has also an honour to be the president, National Association of Geographers, India (2010–2011) and the president, Institute of Indian Geographers (2015–2016).

Editors and Contributors

xxiii

Nidhi Sadana Sabharwal is currently an associate professor and the in-charge at the Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi. She has previously served as the director at the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi. She has studied intergroup inequalities in human development, focussing on the role of caste and gender. She has also studied excluded groups in other countries, such as the Burakumin in Japan. She has recently completed multi-state studies on student diversity and social inclusion in higher education institutions in India. She has published widely on issues pertaining to her research area. Her current research focusses on college readiness, student diversity, inclusive excellence, social inclusion and equity in higher education. Her recent publications include co-authored India Higher Education Report 2016; Equity in Higher Education; Caste, Discrimination, and Exclusion in Modern India (co-authored); coedited Bridging the Social Gap: Perspectives on Dalit Empowerment; authored Looking at Dalit Women, in ed Indian Women Revisited; and Dalit Women in India: At the Cross-Roads of Gender, Caste and Class in ed Global Justice: Rhetoric, Theory and Practice. Anindita Sarkar is an assistant professor at the Department of Geography in Miranda House, University of Delhi. She is an active researcher on agricultural sustainability, natural resource management, water management, groundwater markets, rural and urban livelihoods and water-energy-food nexus. She has completed several projects funded by government and international organizations and has numerous publications in refereed journals and books. Her most recent publications have featured water insecurity and access in informal settlements in India and Kenya where she critically assessed the government- and private sectorled models of water provision and offers policy options on affordable and safe water access. She specialized in Agriculture and Regional Development in her Masters and holds Ph.D. and M.Phil. degrees focussing on groundwater markets and agricultural development.

xxiv

Editors and Contributors

Sanjukta Sattar is a professor in the Department of Geography at University of Mumbai. She is currently working on industrial and craft geographies of India. She has published several papers on tourism and social issues in the Indian cities. Her areas of interests include urban socio-spatial segregation, social exclusion, urban infrastructure and role and impact of tourism.

Sucharita Sen is a professor of Geography at the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and has been a faculty member there for the last 24 years. She is an economic geographer and has published in areas of agriculture, natural resources and rural livelihoods in both international and national platforms. Her recent work is on labour, gender, water and societal aspects of climate change, both in the context of peri-urban spaces around large metropolitan cities and rural India. She was Nehru-Fulbright Fellow in 2009–2010 and was associated with Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA, during this period. She headed the South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Study in Hyderabad from October 2016 to September 2018, a research institution that specializes in water issues with a gender focus. Abdul Shaban is a professor at the Centre for Public Policy, Habitat and Human Development, School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. He is an urban geographer and economist with research interests on issues related to cities, entrepreneurship, creative industries and religious minorities. He has been member of various committees, commissions and policy think tanks on these areas. He has edited three books, authored one and contributed several chapters in edited books and papers in leading journals. He has also been a visiting professor/fellow at several leading universities outside India, which include LSE, Muenster University, Erasmus University and

Editors and Contributors

xxv

Paris Diderot University. He was also a deputy director of TISS Tuljapur Campus. Ruchika Singh completed her M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She joined DDU Gorakhpur University as an assistant professor of geography in July 2018. She is the project director of major project funded by ICSSR—IMPRESS on National Food Security Act, 2013. She has specialization in the fields of social geography, regional economics and development, social exclusion and discrimination, and agrarian institutions and political economy. She has been associated with the NCERT, New Delhi, as a research consultant with the project National Achievement Survey. She has published several research papers and participated in several national and international conferences, symposia and workshops. Sachinder Singh is a professor at the Department of Geography, M.D. University, Rohtak (Haryana). He did his doctorate work on testing the social cleavage theory in the case of India under (Late) Prof. R. D. Dikshit. He has also co-authored the seminal article on testing friends and neighbours influence in Indian elections. He has various publications to his credit in national/international journals and edited books in the field of geography of elections, globalization and culture, globalization and the state, neoliberalism, geography in India, etc. His interest areas include history of geographical ideas, changing nature of state, development of geography in India and Haryana, neoliberal expansion and its consequences, and electoral dynamics in India.

xxvi

Editors and Contributors

Sachidanand Sinha is a professor of social geography and Regional Development studies at the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, JNU, New Delhi. He has been a teacher for over 37 years and a professor of geography for 18 years. He works in the area of sociospatial characteristics of access to education and health care with special reference to the marginalized and vulnerable sections of population. He has also served on several committees and working groups of various ministries both for the central and state governments. He has several publications in reputed journals and books and has guided over 35 doctoral and 80 M.Phil. research theses and dissertations. He is on the editorial boards of a number of international and national journals. Babu S. Sutheeshna is a professor and presently working as a nodal officer of the National Institute of Watersports, an organization under the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India situated in Panaji, Goa. He specializes in tourism development and undertakes research on a wide range of topics. He has authored two books and published over 15 research articles with leading international publishers. As a chief investigator, he has authored six comprehensive research reports on different themes for the Ministry of Tourism. He has also prepared destination development and management plans for the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Administration. Currently, he is the editor of International Journal of Tourism & Travel. Ankita Yadav is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography, Government College for Girls, Unhani, District Mahendergarh, Haryana. She did M.Sc. in Geography from the Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, and was awarded gold medal. She received her Ph.D. degree from the same university on the topic ‘Dynamics and Pattern of Social and Economic Development in Ahirwal Region of Haryana’. Her research interest is in the field of regional development and agricultural geography. She has published many articles in the leading national journals.

Abbreviations

AGAR AISHE ANM CGWB CHCs CI CMNND CPCB CPLR CPRs CSRD DALY DE DEDA DJB EC ETL EWS FDI GDI GER GHI GRACE GST HCFs HDI HE HEIs HGAR HSCs IFRA

All Groundwater Availability Regimes All-India Survey of Higher Education Auxiliary Nurse Midwife Central Ground Water Board Community Health Centres Composite Index Communicable, Maternal, Neonatal and Nutritional Diseases Central Pollution Control Board Common Property Land Resources Common Property Resources Centre for the Study of Regional Development Disability Adjusted Life Years Director Establishments Domestic and Extra-Domestic Activities Delhi Jal Board Economic Census Epidemiological Transition Levels Economically Weaker Sections Foreign Direct Investments Gender Development Index Gross Enrolment Ratio Global Hunger Index Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Goods and Service Tax Health Care Facilities Human Development Index Higher Education Higher Education Institutions High Groundwater Availability Regime Health Sub-Centres Indian Forest Rights Act xxvii

xxviii

IMR INR IPCC JJ clusters JNU LGAR MDGs MGAR MO MPCE MPHW NCD NCERT NDE NFHS NGT NMR NPE NSSO OAE OBCs PHCs RTE SCs SDGs SEDGs SEZs SFC STs TEK U5MR UPS

Abbreviations

Infant Mortality Rate Indian Rupee Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Jhuggi Jhopri (Slums) Clusters Jawaharlal Nehru University Low Groundwater Availability Regime Millennium Development Goals Moderate Groundwater Availability Regime Medical Officer Monthly Per Capita Expenditure Multipurpose Health Worker Non-Communicable Diseases National Council of Education Research and Training Non-Directory Establishments National Family Health Survey National Green Tribunal Neonatal Mortality Rate National Policy on Education National Sample Survey Organization Open Account Establishments or Enterprises Other Backward Castes Primary Health Centres Right to Education Scheduled Castes Social Development Goals Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups Special Economic Zones Student Faculty Committee Scheduled Tribes Traditional Ecological Knowledge Under-Five Mortality Rate Usual Principal Status

List of Figures

Livelihood Adaptation to Climate Variability in Jaunsar-Bawar Tribal Habitat of Central Himalayas, India Fig. 1 Fig. 2

Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6 Fig. 7 Fig. 8 Fig. 9

Jaunsar-Bawar region: location of sample villages. Source Administrative Atlas Uttarakhand, Census of India, 2011 . . . . . . . Chakrata: monthly average maximum temperature. Source Forest Working Plans, Department of Forest, Governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chakrata: monthly average minimum temperature. Source Same as Fig. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chibro: monthly average maximum temperature. Source Same as Fig. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chibro: monthly average minimum temperature. Source Same as Fig. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chakrata: annual rainfall. Source Same as Fig. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chakrata: monthly average rainfall. Source Same as Fig. 2 . . . . . . Chibro: annual rainfall. Source Same as Fig. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chibro: monthly average rainfall. Source Same as Fig. 2 . . . . . . . .

62

65 65 66 66 67 67 67 68

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s Livelihood in Rural India Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4

Availability of common property resources in rural India across agro-climatic zones. Source NSSO 54th round . . . . . . . . . . . Share of women engaged in CPLR-dependent work (1999– 00). Source NSSO 55th round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Share of women engaged in CPLR-dependent work (2009– 10). Source NSSO 66th round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Difference in the share of women engaged in CPLR-dependent work (2009–10 to 1999–00). Source NSSO 55th and 66th rounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

88 90 91

93

xxix

xxx

Fig. 5 Fig. 6 Fig. 7

Fig. 8 Fig. 9 Fig. 10

List of Figures

Share of women engaged in CPWR-dependent work (1999– 00). Source NSSO 55th round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Share of women engaged in CPWR-dependent work (2009– 10). Source NSSO 66th round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Difference in the share of women engaged in CPWR-dependent work (2009–10 to 1999–00). Source NSSO 55th and 66th rounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Households having drinking water away from the premises. Source Census of India, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spatialities of participation of women in CPLR activities. Source NSSO 55th and 66th round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spatialities of participation of women in CPWR activities. Source NSSO 55th and 66th round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

94 95

96 97 98 99

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation in An Agriculturally Developed Region of India Fig. 1

Location of study area and ground water availability regimes (Prepared by authors based on Table 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

116

Socio-cultural Spaces and Dynamics of Transformation in Rural India Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3

Kushmha village—panchayat wards and location of hand pumps. Source Based on Field Survey (2018) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kushmha village—availability of hand pumps. Source Based on Field Survey (2018) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kushmha village—mode of payment for installation of hand pumps. Source Based on Field Survey (2018) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

174 176 177

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes in the Post-reform Period Fig. 1

Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5

Distribution of economic establishments and workers by district, 1990 and 2013–14. Source Based on data from Economic Census 1990 and 2013–14) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Distribution of OAEs and related workers by districts, 1990 and 2013–14. Note and Source As for Fig. 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Distribution of NDEs and related workers by district, 1990 and 2013–14. Note and Source As for Fig. 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spatial concentration of DEs and related workers (by district), 1990 and 2013–14. Note and Source As for Fig. 1 . . . Distribution of agricultural and allied establishments and related workers by district, 1990 and 2013–14. Note and Source As for Fig. 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

205 210 210 211

211

List of Figures

Fig. 6

Concentration of manufacturing establishments and related workers by district, 1990 and 2013–14. Note and Source As for Fig. 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

xxxi

212

Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections on Tourism Development in Goa, India Fig. 1

Tourist arrivals in taluks of Goa—2017–2018. Source Drawn by author based on Table 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

233

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity Specific Markets in Varanasi City Fig. 1 Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Distribution of traditional markets (mandis) in Varanasi city, 2020. Source Drawn by authors using google map . . . . . . . . . . . . . The spatial linkages of Naya Pan Dariba (New Betel Market) of Varanasi city, 2020. Source Drawn by authors based on field survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Linkages of traditional mandis within Varanasi city, 2020. Source Drawn by authors based on field survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

250

258 265

Dynamics and Spatiality of Socio-economic Development during Post Liberalization Period: A Study of Ahirwal Region (Haryana), India Fig. 1

Location of study area. Source Drawn by authors from Administrative Atlas of Haryana, Census of India, 2011 . . . .

275

Socio-spatial Dimensions of Disease Transition and Health Preparedness in Haryana, India Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Epidemiologic and demographic transition overlap. Source Drawn by authors adapted from Omran (1971) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trend of major mortality causes in Haryana: 1966 to 2015. Source Drawn by authors based on Table 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pattern of causes of death in Haryana: 2015. Source Drawn by authors based on Table 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trend of major disease occurrence in Haryana. Source Based on Table 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Age specific types of diseases in Haryana: 2014. Source Drawn by authors based on NSSO, 71st round unit level data . . . . Utilisation levels of health services during illness in Haryana: 2014. Source Drawn by authors based on NSSO, 71st round unit level data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reasons for non-utilisation of public health services in Haryana: 2014. Source Drawn by authors based on NSSO, 71st round unit level data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

298 303 304 308 310

319

321

xxxii

List of Figures

Nature of Access to Higher Education in India: Emerging Pattern of Social and Spatial Inequalities in Educational Opportunities Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Gross enrolment ratio in higher education across social groups: India. Source Prepared from the GER estimates from the MHRD—AISHE data sets: MHRD (2010, 2018, 2019) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Student diversity in higher education: India. Source Prepared by the author from enrolment by social groups from MHRD data sets: MHRD (2010, 2018, 2019) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Student composition in higher educational institutions across states by social groups. Source CPRHE Research Report, 2016, NUEPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gross enrolment ratio by monthly per capita expenditure classes. Source Prepared by the author from data obtained from NSSO (1995,2007,2014) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

357

357

358

361

Everyday Practices of Urban Poor to Access Water: Evidence from Delhi Slums Fig. 1

Location map of study area (Delhi slums). Source Drawn by author from Google map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

375

List of Tables

Journey in the Realm of Geography Table 1

Seasons in Ethiopia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

40

Livelihood Adaptation to Climate Variability in Jaunsar-Bawar Tribal Habitat of Central Himalayas, India Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Table 6 Table 7 Table 8

Social characteristics of sample villages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Socio-economic profile of sample households . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Perception of respondents about change in climatic parameters (1995–2015) (% response) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Measures adopted to offset adverse impacts of climatic variations on crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Change in perception about significance of crops over 1995–2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reasons for change in preference of crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Farmers’ perception about factors in decrease of horticultural production and improvement of crop yields . . . . Farmers’ perception about alternative employment as an adaptation strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

63 64 68 70 70 71 72 73

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s Livelihood in Rural India Table 1

Table 2

CPR and non-CPR-dependent unpaid work enlisted by NSSO employment-unemployment survey carried out by women engaged in DEDA as per their UPS . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison of shares of workers and non-workers as per the usual principal status in rural India (in % of population) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

82

84

xxxiii

xxxiv

Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Table 6 Table 7

Table 8

List of Tables

Change in share of women engaged in DEDA to those engaged in CPR-dependent work (in %) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Differences in characteristics of CPR and non-CPR related work done by women (2009–10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Results of logistic regression: participation of women engaged in CPR related work (2009–10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changes in spatiality of depth of CPR related activities . . . . . . . . Changes in extent and depth of participation within women of different social groups engaged in CPR-dependent activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Change in shares MPCE quartiles among women participating in CPR related activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

85 86 100 103

105 106

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation in An Agriculturally Developed Region of India Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Table 6

Table 7 Table 8 Table 9 Table 10 Table 11 Table 12 Table 13 Table 14

Groundwater availability regimes in Haryana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sample design for field survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Volume of groundwater extracted from different horse power sample tube wells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Physical access to groundwater across class size of farmers and groundwater availability regimes (cm/ha/year) . . . . . . . . . . . . Irrigation cost across class size of farmers and groundwater availability regimes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Economic accessibility of groundwater across class size of farmers and groundwater availability regimes (ha-cm/INR 1000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AGAR—stepwise regression analysis (physical accessibility) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LGAR—stepwise regression analysis (physical accessibility) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MGAR—stepwise regression analysis (physical accessibility) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HGAR—stepwise regression analysis (physical accessibility) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AGAR—stepwise regression analysis (economic accessibility) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LGAR—stepwise regression analysis (economic accessibility) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MGAR—stepwise regression analysis (economic accessibility) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HGAR—stepwise regression analysis (economic accessibility) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

117 118 119 123 125

126 130 131 133 134 135 137 138 139

List of Tables

xxxv

Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis: Some Reflections from India Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Categorisation of assessment units (blocks/Mandals/Firkas/Talukas) in India on the basis of level of groundwater development in 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Locations having unfit groundwater quality for human consumption on six chemical parameters in India, 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . State-wise groundwater recharge and extraction in India, 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

147

153 156

Socio-cultural Spaces and Dynamics of Transformation in Rural India Table 1

Ward-wise distribution of communities, numerical strength, ritual and economic rank in Kushmha village . . . . . . . .

175

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes in the Post-reform Period Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Table 6 Table 7 Table 8 Table 9 Table 10

Growth of total economic establishments by sector at all-India level, 1990, 2013–14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Growth of total workers in enterprises by sector at all-India level, 1990, 2013–14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Change in average number of workers employed in economic establishments in pre and post reform period . . . . . . Growth of types of economic establishments, 1990 and 2013–14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Growth and distribution of workers in OAEs, NDEs and DEs in India, 1990 and 2013–14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . State-wise growth of OAE, NDE, and DE establishments (in’000), 1990 and 2013–14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . State-wise growth of workers (in ‘000’) in OAE, NDE, and DE establishments 1990 and 2013–14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Major industrial regions of India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Determinants of change (1990–2013–14) in number of (ln) economic establishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Determinants of change (1990–2013–14) in number of (ln) workers in economic establishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

196 197 198 199 200 201 203 207 214 214

Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections on Tourism Development in Goa, India Table 1 Table 2

Goa: Taluka-wise distribution of tourists and bed capacity in 2017–2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Decadal change in total and urban population in Goa over 1991–2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

232 234

xxxvi

Table 3

List of Tables

Decadal change in Taluk-level urban population in Goa (2001–2011) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

235

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity Specific Markets in Varanasi City Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Table 6 Table 7 Table 8

Nomenclatures of market centres, meanings and examples from Varanasi City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Traditionally specialised markets (Mandis) in Varanasi City . . . . Classification of Mandis based on commodities and products in Varanasi City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Classification of Mandis on the basis of their location in Varanasi City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Classification of Mandis on the basis of their numbers in Varanasi City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Classification of Mandis by range/region of commodities procurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Classification of Mandis by area/range served . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The changing characteristics of Bans Fatak Flower Mandi . . . . .

246 248 248 249 251 263 264 266

Dynamics and Spatiality of Socio-economic Development during Post Liberalization Period: A Study of Ahirwal Region (Haryana), India Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Table 6 Table 7 Table 8 Table 9 Table 10 Table 11 Table 12 Table 13 Table 14 Table 15 Table 16

The list of indicators of socio-economic development . . . . . . . . . Index of demographic development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of educational development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of availability of household amenities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of social development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of agricultural development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of industrial development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of workforce development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of economic development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of educational infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of health infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of road transport, communication and banking infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of infrastructural development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Composite index (C.I.) of socio-economic development: 1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Composite index (C.I.) of socio-economic development: 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Composite Index (C.I.) of socio-economic development: 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

278 279 280 280 281 281 282 283 283 284 285 285 286 287 287 288

List of Tables

xxxvii

Socio-spatial Dimensions of Disease Transition and Health Preparedness in Haryana, India Table 1 Table 2 Table 3

Table 4 Table 5 Table 6 Table 7 Table 8 Table 9 Table 10 Table 11 Table 12

Distribution of deaths by major diseases in Haryana: 1966 to 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Causes of death by major diseases in Haryana: 2015 . . . . . . . . . . Distribution of patients by major diseases in Haryana: 1966 to 2015 (% indoor and outdoor patients treated in government institutes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Age specific disease occurrence and hospitalization (‘000 persons) in Haryana: 2014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Disease occurrence vis-a-vis socio-economic characteristic of population in Haryana: 2014 (number per ‘000 persons) . . . . . Type of Diseases vis-à-vis Social Groups in Haryana: 2014 (% reported during last 15 days) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Type of diseases vis-à-vis educational status in Haryana: 2014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Type of diseases vis-à-vis occupational characteristics in Haryana: 2014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Population covered by health care facilities in Haryana: 2013–14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Health manpower in Haryana: 2013–14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Utilisation of health services in Haryana: 2014 (all illnesses) . . . Reasons for not availing public health services in India and Haryana: 2014 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

302 305

307 309 311 312 313 315 317 318 320 321

Nature of Access to Higher Education in India: Emerging Pattern of Social and Spatial Inequalities in Educational Opportunities Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4

Higher education expansion: number of institutions and enrolments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Number of private and government colleges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Educational development indicators of case study institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Proportionate distribution of students enrolled in HEIs by gender and locational background, 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

354 355 359 362

Everyday Practices of Urban Poor to Access Water: Evidence from Delhi Slums Table 1 Table 2 Table 3

Access to improved urban water supply in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Drinking water sources in slum and non-slum households in Delhi, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Location of taps in the slum and non-slum households in Delhi, 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

376 377 377

xxxviii

Table 4 Table 5 Table 6 Table 7 Table 8 Table 9 Table 10 Table 11

List of Tables

Distribution of households by sources of drinking water and ownership types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Distribution of households by sources of drinking water and economic class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Availability of water supply per day in the sample slums . . . . . . . Levels of satisfaction of households with regard to water supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time spent to reach the source of drinking water . . . . . . . . . . . . . Total daily time spent by households to fetch water . . . . . . . . . . . Distribution of households (%) by coping strategies in response to water insecurity and economic class . . . . . . . . . . . Distribution of households by willingness to pay for water and economic class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

379 379 381 381 383 383 386 388

Overview

Introduction: Environmental and Socio-economic Dimensions of Human Habitats in India Mahabir S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari

Abstract The human habitats are nested in natural environment and the resources needed to build and sustain them come from the ecosystems they are set in. Development and management of the natural resources play an important role in their availability and accessibility to poor and disadvantaged sections of the society. The human dwellings and their environment in India have undergone fast transformation during last few decades in terms of their ecological settings, human–environment interaction, processes, and pattern of socio-economic development. The fast-expanding urban spaces and industrialisation since initiation of economic re-structuring in 1990s have transformed both rural and urban landscape beyond recognition. The agglomeration certainly provides increased economic impetus but poses significant social and environmental challenges too. The places of habitation in India are already struggling with poverty, slum, informality, pollution, and resource degradation. The present chapter discusses the issues pertaining to (1) changing livelihood-environment relationship; (2) economic growth and patterns of spatial disparities during post-reform period; and (3) emerging socio-spatial inequalities. Lastly, the chapter provides a brief account of the chapters organised under the sections namely Overview; Environment, Resource Base and Livelihood; Economic Dynamism and Development; and Socio-spatial Inequalities. Keywords Human habitats · India · Livelihood-environment nexus · Post-reforms growth · Economic development · Socio-spatial inequity · Social wellbeing

1 Introduction Human habitat is a place of living and organizing economic, social, and cultural activities essential for survival and existence of human society. This also encompasses the spaces of human works and socio-cultural functions. The human habitats have been primarily nested in the natural ecosystems that have been modified or altered to M. S. Jaglan (B) · Rajeshwari Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra 136119, India e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari (eds.), Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3100-9_1

3

4

M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari

meet the requirements of inhabitant communities. Traditionally the resources needed to build and sustain the habitats in India came from the ecosystems and made them self-sustaining social and economic systems. Nevertheless, they have been transformed significantly over the time, particularly during twenty-first century in terms of their ecological settings, human–environment interaction, processes, and pattern of economic and social development and socio-cultural attributes. The fast expanding urban spaces and industrialisation since initiation of economic re-structuring in 1990s have transformed the rural landscape beyond recognition. “India is at the threshold of a major shift in the way human habitation is perceived. By the end of 2030, 250 million new urbanites are expected to join in Indian cities. The agglomeration certainly provides increased economic impetus but poses significant social and environmental challenges too. Places of habitation in India are already struggling with poverty, slum, informality, pollution, and resource degradation. Both urban and rural settlements with their environment, economic and socio-cultural conditions have changed so fast that most of habitational characteristics have transformed beyond recognition” (MHRD 2021). Traditionally the tribal habitats maintained very close relation with the nature and they had overwhelming dependence on forests resources such as timber, food, fodder and fuel woods. Even in non-forest areas common property land resources provided livelihood which are crucial for sustenance of marginalized rural communities and women. Development and management of the natural resources play an important role in their availability and accessibility to poor and disadvantaged sections of the society. The urban spaces in the country in particular are facing numerous microenvironmental crises such as overcrowding, space choking, sewage disposal and air pollution. Unplanned and haphazard urban expansion and sprawls are adding to the urban environmental crises. The situation has only been marginally better in rural settlements. But the unplanned and land market driven sprawl has led to deterioration of environment in rural dwellings too. The free market forces unleashed by economic restructuring initiated in early 1990s have compelled the State to abandon the policies of balanced regional development. The distribution and concentration pattern of industries has also changed significantly during twenty-first century. The location of industry is determined by market driven forces rather than the concern for the development of backward areas. It has rapidly transformed the landscape of the sites experiencing accumulation of finance capital whereas the distant backward areas have deteriorated both environmentally and economically. The human habitats in India are marked by perceptible inequalities in social and economic spheres and the gaps have accentuated during last few decades. This is occurring in tandem with fast economic transformation and generation of wealth. There is plurality of transformative characteristics in terms of social and economic classes, gender and space. Inequality in access to natural resources such as land and water is a big factor in socio-economic differentiation in rural habitats. This constructs a pedestal of unequal opportunities in accessing the basic human necessities such as healthcare, education, potable water and sanitation. Human habitats experiencing socio-spatial segregation and exclusion based on caste, community and gender would be detrimental to formation of a civil society and its sustainability in longer terms.

Introduction: Environmental and Socio-economic Dimensions …

5

2 Changing Livelihood-Environment Nexus Natural resources are endowments to human habitats and contribute significantly in deriving livelihood from agriculture, livestock rearing, fisheries, etc. The economic significance of these resources can be gauged from the fact that they contribute in enhancing income of people, reducing poverty, creating jobs and employment opportunity and providing ecosystem services (OECD 2011). A large population of the world, particularly in developing countries, depend on forests for their livelihoods in varying proportion. “Forests provide more than 86 million green jobs and support the livelihoods of many more people. An estimated 880 million people worldwide spend part of their time collecting fuel wood or producing charcoal, many of them women. Human populations tend to be low in areas of low-income countries with high forest cover and high forest biodiversity, but poverty rates in these areas tend to be high. Some 252 million people living in forests and savannahs have incomes of less than USD 1.25 per day” (FAO 2020, p. xvii).

2.1 Natural Resource Based Livelihood We are living in the Anthropocene Epoch where humans have transformed the environment faster than never before. At the same time the people in the developing world who remain largely dependent on natural resources for their livelihood, their dependence on them is further likely to magnify in coming times. By 2025 the population in developing world is likely to be 3.2 billion (Barbier 2010). Intensification of exploitation of natural resources for advancement of agriculture, livestock, and fishery is likely to bring rapid land-use changes, disappearance of species and hampering critical ecological services. Overall, such adverse impacts on environment and human habitats may result in impoverishment of people and their migration to less favored and fragile ecosystems, setting in motion the resource depletion-poverty cycle. The asset-less poor people in rural areas mostly harness the resources of surrounding environment and its ecological services for survival. The landless poor people have higher dependence on common property resources and hence remain most vulnerable to natural disasters. The poverty-environment trap is quite complex and poor people are forced to overexploit natural resources to survive and degradation of environment and quality of natural resources further impoverishes the people dependent on them (WCED 1987). Environmental degradation has emerged as a major causal factor in enhancing and perpetuating rural poverty in India. The increasing dependence of tribal societies on degraded forests and biodiversity has eroded their resilience to disasters. Since the model of economic growth during post liberalization period has remained urban oriented, the high growth rate economy has not been inclusive for rural poor who rather have been further economically marginalized. The urban poor also bears the brunt of environmental degradation in form of

6

M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari

industrial and transportation pollution, deterioration of sanitation conditions, poor quality of air and water etc., adversely affecting their capability to seek employment, livelihood sources, educational attainments, health conditions etc. “It is increasingly evident that poor environmental quality has adversely affected human health. Environmental factors are estimated as being responsible in some cases for nearly 20% of the burden of disease in India, and a number of environment-health factors are closely linked with dimensions of poverty (e.g. malnutrition, lack of access to clean energy and water)” (GOI 2006).

2.2 Climate Change and Livelihoods The anthropogenic activities have two-way relationship with climate change - industrialization induced concentration of greenhouse gases, resulting in radiative forcing and global warming; and consequent changes in temperature and rainfall patterns effecting degradations in environment and human habitats. Climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion have posed serious challenge to human habitats across the world. India has been projected as hotspot of climate change impacts evidenced by glacier recedes, north India warming 0.5 °C by 2030 and 2–4 °C temperature rise by the turn of twenty-first century. The impacts of climate change may be seen in terms of fewer rainy days in Monsoon season but more extreme precipitation events. It is also likely to affect high input and high output agriculture in the country (NIC 2009). In the wake of on-going climate change trends, overexploitation of ecosystem services may lead to habitat degradation and land-use change which further contribute in releasing carbon from the biosphere to atmosphere and further inducing radiative forcing (Bhat et al. 2017). The countries of South Asia are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts owing to high density of population and wide prevalence of poverty. The climate change induced new forms of vulnerabilities are most prevalent among natural resource-dependent marginalized sections of society in India (Patra 2016). Climatic variability has jeopardized the livelihoods of a large proportion of population in India, as its economy is highly dependent on its natural resources such as land, water, and forests (Sharma and Chauhan 2011). The impact of climate change is more pronounced in ecologically fragile areas such as deserts, mountains and grasslands. The Himalayan ranges have in their lap world’s most fragile lands and ecosystems marked by rapid altitudinal change, rugged relief, spatial variability in temperature and rainfall, natural vegetation and water regimes. These ecosystems have shown more vulnerability to ill-effects of climatic variations as a small shift in temperature can jeopardize the fragile balance of natural environments (Kotru et al 2014). The climate change has also posed a serious threat to food security in India. Despite an impressive economic growth and piling food stocks, India has the largest number of hungry and deprived people in the world, 360 million undernourished and 300 million poor people (Narain et al. 2009). Climate change could emerge as a major

Introduction: Environmental and Socio-economic Dimensions …

7

causative factor in magnifying the vulnerability of poor people to hunger as India has dropped down in the hunger index ranking during last few years (GHI 2020).

2.3 Common Property Resources and Rural Livelihoods In Indian context common property resources (CPRs) may be defined as nonexclusive resources where people in general have rights and responsibility to use and maintain them. These resources may include community or village pastures, forests, common water bodies, ponds or watersheds, wastelands, common dumping and threshing grounds etc. The CPRs have provided livelihood to millions of people in rural India. In the wake of uneven distribution and ownership of resources the rural poor, marginalized social groups and women have to depend on the community lands, and other common property resources (CPRs) to earn their livelihood (Jodha 1986; Chopra and Dasgupta 2002; Gowda and Savadatti 2004). A study of an economically backward area reveals that common pool resources are productive source of income not just for poor but also for the better off sections too (Narain et al. 2008). Improvement in the stock and quality of these resources may also contribute in poverty alleviation. Unfortunately, the CPRs in the country experience degradation and depletion on account of encroachments, mismanagement, and climate change. Consequently, the growing scarcity of these resources on one hand and increasing population pressure on the other have alienated the poor from the easily accessible natural resources in rural areas. This has amplified the drudgery of the poor particularly women who have been exclusively dependent on CPRs for drawing the resources such as water, fodder, and fuels. India promises to improve the lot of natural resource based communities. In 2000, 189 nations including India made a promise to free people from extreme poverty, hunger, multiple deprivation and environmental sustainability, popularly known as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and in 2010 they recommitted and rededicated themselves to accelerate progress towards these goals (UNDP 2015). The more significant aspect in case of India is a remarkable convergence of its own goals of sustainable development with that of MDGs in a given time period. India’s performance on the MDG environment targets (MDG 7 environmental development and reversing the loss of environmental resources) has been of mixed nature. India has increased its aggregate forest cover to 21.23% of total land area in 2015 (WHO 2018). It may also be noted that India’s forests have changed from multi-product and multi-layer to timber oriented, limiting the collection of non-timber forest products by forest-dependent communities. It has also taken major strides in biodiversity conservation, marked by relatively low levels of pollution but it is quickly becoming one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. The country upholds the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” in climate change (UNESCAPSSWA 2015). MDG 7 agenda in India remains unfinished and needs to carried through to 2030 with greater momentum and strategize priorities to address the new emerging challenges such as deteriorating environment, unsustainable consumption

8

M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari

and production patterns that are rapidly depleting natural resources, the need to effectively mitigate and adapt to climate change and develop liveable urban areas (UN 2015).

3 Post-Reforms Economic Growth and Regional Disparities India adopted the policy of centralized planning after independence emphasizing industrialization in its model of mixed economy. The Five-Year Plans rolled out during post-independence period aimed at achieving the objectives of technological development, growth and employment generation, and poverty alleviation. The Central Government envisaged achieving these goals through various regulations such as industrial licensing, import substitution through tariffs and emphasis on public sector enterprises. It used Industries (Development and Regulation) Act of 1951 to regulate output capacity and control prices of key industries. After initial success as Indian economy stagnated the reforms were initiated in 1985 with dismantling of industrial license policy. However, the full range of economic restructuring unfolded in 1991 (Krishana and Mitra 1998; Chari 2011).

3.1 Impacts of Economic Restructuring These reforms have changed the whole gamut of economic and industrial policies. There are no more pretentions of policy commitment for backward area development. Although, some incentives of dispersal of industries during pre-reform period, in the form of transport subsidy to industries located in backward areas, have continued in some states but many other such schemes have been abandoned. The salient features of the post-reform economic policies are exit of the government from industrial sector and disinvestments of public sector units; devolution of power to states for managing industrial policy and development; creation of competition among states to attract foreign direct investments or national private investments; and laying more emphasis on service and knowledge industry than agriculture and industry. The neoliberal policies have also induced changes in labour laws making them more flexible and introducing the provisions of deregulations of wages and pensions. In fact, the new economic policies lay emphasis mainly on economic viability of industries rather than creation of employment. The foreign direct investments (FDI) up to 100% has been allowed automatically for most manufacturing activities in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) for increasing competitiveness of Indian products in the international market and expansion of Indian economy (MOCI 2003). The Indian economy has recorded significant improvement in growth performance during post liberalization period, particularly in first decade of current century, with average growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) going up. The structural transformation of the economy in India has largely been service-oriented unlike many

Introduction: Environmental and Socio-economic Dimensions …

9

developed countries where it is industry-oriented. The changing sectoral distribution of GDP, however, has not matched the change in the distribution pattern of the labour force, as the agriculture and other low productivity sectors continue to be the dominant sources of employment. This raises the question about the efficacy of growth in employment generation and poverty reduction. The growth would be poverty reducing only if it enables the poor to actively participate in and significantly benefit from economic activity (Kakwani and Pernia 2000; Kakwani and Son 2006). The consequences of economic reforms became vividly clear since the beginning of twenty-first century as Indian economy experienced negative growth in formal sector, informalisation and sharpening regional inequalities (Shaban 2006). This would have very wide impacts on the livelihood and living conditions of the people. After initial gains Indian economy has passed through a difficult time since 2014 reflected by falling GDP growth rate and increase in unemployment. The economy has been adversely affected on account of certain measures taken by the Government such as demonetisation in 2016, implementation of Goods and Service Tax (GST) in 2017 and COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 (Dhasmana 2018; Mundle 2020). Consequently, the GDP growth rate during first two quarters of the financial year 2020–21 turned negative and it may take another year or longer to return the economy back to the pre-COVID-19 stage. Though the Central and State Governments offer tax and subsidy incentives to the industries for their diffusion in backward areas and encourage cluster development for economic efficiency (GOI 1997), in the absence of institutional measures and infrastructural development, the concern of balanced regional development has only become the part of history. The impacts of World Trade Organisation guided policies are also visible in agricultural sector as three agriculture-trade laws passed by the Central Government in 2020 are perceived to be pro-Corporate and damaging the interest of peasant farming that had given the only positive GDP growth in India during first quarter of 2020–21 (Sharma 2020).

3.2 Imbalanced Regional Development The social scientists supporting economic reforms claim that private investment and particularly foreign direct investments in India would usher development and lead to bridging the gaps between developed and underdeveloped areas. This would reduce both inter-regional and intra-regional disparities in the income and living standard of people (Mallick 2014). However, the post-reform experience reveals that results are not on the expected lines as investment of the private finance capital has mostly been made at the favoured locations, concentrating in the vicinity of existing industrial clusters. Most new industries and business establishments have come up at new locations in the existing industrial regions (Chakravorty 2003; Kalra and Thakur 2015). Consequently, the developed industrial states have gained economically more than the backward states. There is no evidence of convergence of economic growth among states (Bhattacharya and Sakthivel 2004). The economic divergences among states and faster economic growth rate in the already developed states have magnified

10

M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari

inter-regional gaps and disparities in the levels of socio-economic development in India (Sanga and Shaban 2017). There are also strong evidences of rising rural–urban disparities. The states having relatively low rural development and human capital did not experience reduction in poverty in response to economic growth. The sectoral and geographic composition of growth is also important, as is the need to redress existing inequalities between rural and urban areas. The central part of India, particularly rural areas of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Northeastern states continue to be economically deprived.

3.3 Urban-Industrial Expansion and Agricultural Land-Use Apart from neoliberal economic policies, the land-use and land development policies of the governments aimed at promotion of industries, service and infrastructure have also negatively affected the agricultural sector that provides livelihood to the majority of people. There have been encroachments on agricultural lands during last two decades owing to expanding unban-industrial spaces and infrastructural development. A large chunk of land required for the industrial projects namely National Investment & Manufacturing Zones, SEZs, industrial clusters, integrated townships, Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor, etc. comes from agricultural land. This has put pressure on already shrinking per capita availability of land in India that has declined almost three times since independence (from 0.48 ha in 1951 to 0.12 ha in 2012–13). During this period the level of urbanisation has increased from 17 to 31% and it has been projected that 55% population shall be living in urban areas in 2051. Between the trienniums ending 1991–92 and 2012–13 there was a loss of 3.16 million ha agricultural land in the country, 0.15 million ha every year (Sharma 2015). The urban centres have emerged as the points of concentration of financial capital poised to play a critical role in structural transformation of Indian economy during post-reform period. The ever expanding peri-urban spaces have become the sites of conflicting land uses, defaced natural ambience, and degraded environment. The haphazard encroachment in agricultural landscapes creates impermanence syndrome among farmers and lack of investment in new agricultural technology and infrastructure. The acquisition of cultivated land for SEZs has created agrarian unrest in many parts of the country (Sazzad 2016). The occupation of land for development of townships, industrial projects and infrastructure has adversely impacted the rural people earnings from agriculture and other natural resource based economic activities leading to displacement of many communities without adequate compensation and rehabilitation.

Introduction: Environmental and Socio-economic Dimensions …

11

4 Socio-spatial Inequalities Social development constitutes an integral component of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of United Nations. Recognising the need for strengthening the social dimension of sustainable development the United Nations Commission for Social Development in February 2015 “urged to enhance policy coherence: (1) within social sectors (i.e. poverty eradication strategies, policies to promote employment, decent work and social inclusion, policies to enhance access to quality education, basic healthcare, safe drinking water, sanitation, group specific policies—youth, older persons, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, etc.); and (2) through integrating social policy/perspectives into broader and more complex policy-making processes, and vice versa, incorporating economic and environmental perspectives into social policy-making” (CSocD 2015). The processes linked to social change in India have been explored quite extensively by social scientists. There are various studies indicating as how far the stranglehold of hierarchical caste structure and gender stereotypes have weakened the process that paved way for a more inclusive society (Mukherjee 1999; Teltumbde 2016; Jodhka 2018; Sinha 2020). But despite a leap forward, the political commitments and resolves of social development have weakened during last three decades. There are a number of empirical studies reporting India still struggling to achieve the gender, caste and class-based equities in all aspects of social wellbeing. It is sad that the public presence of caste, class and gender-based dominance, in many ways, is far more pronounced than it was five or six decades back when the traditional social order was much stronger (Jodhka 2018). India continues to perform poorly on the issue of gender equity and it ranks very low in terms of gender development index (GDI). With the index value 0.828 it ranks 132 among 148 nations (UNDP 2019). The Global Gender Gap Index 2020 which measures the extent of gender-based gaps in economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment (World Economic Forum 2020) also depicts that India dropped four places between 2018 and 2020 and is placed at 112th rank in the world. Among all indices, India’s performance has been worst in the health and survival parameters, which is computed in terms of life expectancy for women and sex ratio at birth, ranking 150th out of 153 countries. India performs second-worst among South Asian and BRICS nations in the sex ratio category. The performance of country in the labour force participation rate and political empowerment of women is also disquieting and distant from any achievement.

4.1 Performance on Poverty and Hunger Reduction India faces multiple challenges to emancipate deprivations in the form of poverty, hunger, illiteracy, ill health and disease. It is a society stratified by caste, income and gender-based inequalities, and marred by patriarchal and cultural controls of spaces

12

M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari

as well as violence and resistance in different areas of wellbeing. The endeavour to reduce poverty and illiteracy has been successful to a significant extent, however the progress on many other fronts has been inconsistent and not up to the mark. According to official national estimates, India has achieved the target for reducing poverty by half between 1990 and 2011–12, as poverty head count ratio during this period has declined from 47.8 to 21.9% (McKinsey Global Institute 2014). However, post 2015 the performance of SDG 1 regarding further reduction of poverty has remained very poor. Going by the latest poverty score card released by Niti Aayog every 5th Indian is still below poverty line and the country needs to take a huge stride to alleviate poverty (Niti Aayog 2019). In 2018–19 overall progress of poverty alleviation was dismal; no state of India could be termed as achiever; poverty ratio increased in 22 states; and front runner states have also slipped down. Significant slide in this regard was observed in the states of Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Goa. It is also important to differentiate between chronic and sporadic poverty. While the chronic poverty is a result of generations of deprivation, the sporadic poverty is a consequence of a sudden crisis or short-term shock like current Covid-19 pandemic. Most studies on poverty have generally focused on the state of being poor, rather than the ‘dynamics of poverty’ i.e. movement into and out of poverty, and the processes and factors involved in it. The study of poverty dynamics brings new understanding of poverty and wellbeing as crossing a minimum income or consumption threshold does not imply that the lack of education or health will not force the households back into poverty. Multi-dimensional poverty is also measured in terms of hunger and India falls short of achieving the target set for reducing hunger. The global hunger index (GHI) 2020 report has placed India at 94th position among 107 countries indicating an alarming situation (GHI 2020). GHI is computed on four indicators: undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting and child mortality. Unfortunately India is home of one quarter of the world’s undernourished population, over a third of the world’s underweight children, and nearly a third of the world’s food-insecure people. Malnourishment and food insecurity are interlinked as undernourishment causes foetal growth restriction, stunting, wasting and deficiencies of vitamin A and zinc. It is also the underlying cause of death for about 45% of all deaths among children under-5 age group. In 1990, when the MDGs were formulated, 53.5% of all Indian children were malnourished and since then, the recovery progress has been slow. The proportion of underweight children below three years has declined marginally between 1998–99 and 2005– 06 i.e. 48.5–46%. In 2015, malnourishment declined to 40% (IIPS 2016) but it is still far from the target of reducing malnourishment to 26% (MDG target of 2015). The major cause of concern is that children born between 2014 and 2019 are more malnourished than the previous generation. The recently released report of National Family Health Survey (called NFHS-5) reveals that several states in India have either witnessed stagnancy or deterioration in child nutrition parameters measured in terms of under-5 age group child mortality, child wasting, child stunting and underweight children (IIPS 2020). Another issue of concern here is that the phase I results of NHFS -5 are based on the data collected during pre-Covid-19 pandemic period. The

Introduction: Environmental and Socio-economic Dimensions …

13

second phase of NFHS-5 will belong to post-Covid-19 period and might show even poorer results due to pandemic effects.

4.2 Performance of Health Parameters It may be noted that NFHS-5 reveals decline in infant and child mortality in most of the Indian states, though several states have witnessed increase in the cases of child malnutrition. Further India displayed improvement in child malnutrition between 2005–06 (NHFS-3) and 2015–16 (NHFS-4), though it has now taken a U-turn for the worse, i.e. between the period 2015–16 (NHFS-4) and 2019–20 (NFHS-5) (IIPS 2020). During this period massive increase in child malnutrition and rising levels of anaemia in women, particularly among expecting mothers, clearly imply that the children born during 2015–2019 are more vulnerable to health deficiencies. The heartening phenomenon is that the country has witnessed decline in Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Under-5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) during last five years, though marked by significant spatial variations. Broadly, the states of Sikkim, Assam, Goa and Jammu & Kashmir have experienced a steep decline in all parameters of infant and child mortality. But contrary to this Meghalaya, Manipur and Andaman & Nicobar Islands have reported increase in all the three categories of mortality—NMR, IMR and U5MR. Among all the surveyed provinces, Bihar happens to be the state with highest prevalence of infant and child mortality, while Kerala has lowest figures of mortality. The child survival issue needs sharper focus as beside Bihar the big states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have also shown very poor performance in improvement of infant and child mortality. Furthermore, child survival risk remains very high among disadvantaged sections of the society who have little access to reproductive and child health services. There is a need of better management of neonatal and childhood illnesses for improving child survival, particularly among vulnerable communities. India’s target of reducing maternal mortality rate below 70 per 100,000 live births at the national level also remains a challenge, barring few states—Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu (Niti Aayog 2019).

4.3 Performance on Educational Development The performance in the field of education is more or less a mixed bag. In 2009, India enacted the Right to Education Act providing children the right to free and compulsory education. India has achieved gender parity in primary school enrolment to some extent but it is behind the targets in terms of enrolment and completion (UNESCAP-SSWA 2015). For India as a whole, 19% of the children in 6–17 age group are still out of school (Planning Commission 2011). The socio-spatial exclusion prevails in school education at wide level. This is particularly true in the case of girls,

14

M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari

children from rural areas and those belonging to minority communities. Studies based on unit level data of NSSO reveal that the proportion of girls is higher than that of boys in 6–10 and 11–13 age group out-of-school children. Furthermore, about twothird out-of-school children belong to minority and deprived sections of the society namely Muslim, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes though their proportion in child population is about 40%. The bias against gender and rural area is visible in all social categories as a higher proportion of girls and rural area children are out of school than boys and those belonging to urban areas (UNICEF 2014). The NSSO 2007–08 data on out-of-school children further reveals that children from households in the lower quintiles of per capita expenditure are more deprived of primary education than higher quintiles. About 70% out-of-school children in rural areas and 90% children of same category in urban areas belong to the lowest two expenditure quintiles (NSSO 2010). Further, the quality of education remains a major concern. Annual education report suggests that India faces serious challenges like high dropout rates, acute shortage of trained teachers, inadequate infrastructural facilities in schools, low attendance rates of both teachers and students, and poor learning outcomes of children (ASER 2014). India has developed a gigantic higher education system. During the period 1951– 2018, the number of university level institutions in the country increased from 27 to 898; colleges from 578 to 39,050 and students from 0.2 to 36.6 million, and the gross enrolment ratio increased from 1.5 to 25.8%. It has expanded very fast during last three decades emerging as the second largest such system in the world. The expansion of higher education has been fastest since the beginning of present century. The numbers of students have increased from 8.8 million to 36.6 million and the gross enrolment ratio has swelled to qualify it for the stage of massification (MHRD 2019). Different policies on educational development have supported the idea of egalitarian higher education where the fast expanding educational (infrastructure) system provides opportunities of access to the students belonging to socially and economically deprived sections of the society (Varghese 2015; Sabharwal 2020a). Beside this equity in higher education also implies that disadvantaged social groups are supported by meaningful forms of institutional actions that facilitate their progression in completing their course of study and achieving the goal of academic success (Sabharwal 2020a). The higher education system in the country, however, is marred by regional disparities in distribution of institutions and enrolment. During first two decades of current century the states with greater concentration of higher educational institutions made faster progress in enrolment of students leading to widening regional inequalities in access to higher education (Varghese et al. 2018).

5 Structure of the Book The present book comprises 15 chapters organized in four sections. Section I provides an overview of the book and includes the memoirs of Professor MH Qureshi.

Introduction: Environmental and Socio-economic Dimensions …

15

Section II includes four chapters relating to environment, resource base and livelihood of human habitats in India. There are five chapters in Sect. III focussing on the theme of economic development and regional disparities. Four chapters in Sect. IV relate to the theme of socio-spatial inequalities. Section I: Overview The current chapter under this section introduces the theme of the book and reflects on the issues pertaining to the environmental and socio-economic dimensions of human habitats in India. The introductory part has three sub-sections: Changing LivelihoodEnvironment Nexus; Post-reform Economic Growth and Regional Disparities; and Socio-spatial Inequalities. It is followed by the chapter, “Journey in the Realm of Geography” where Professor MH Qureshi (2021) records his memoirs and traverses through the path of his academic journey from primary to higher education levels; and pursuance of research, teachings, research guidance and publications in the field of geography. He also reflects on his association with educational institutions in India and abroad including Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Jodhpur, Addis Ababa University and University of Bremen. The chronicles on the students’ field surveys in India, Ethiopia and Germany reflect his apt observations and conceptualizations on the issues pertaining to environment, development and socio-spatial dynamics. Section II: Environment, Resource Base and Livelihood Chapter “Livelihood Adaptation to Climate Variability in Jaunsar-Bawar Tribal Habitat of Central Himalayas, India” by Pratap and Pratap (2021) examines the nature of climatic variations and livelihood adaptation of tribal community in Central Himalayas in Uttarakhand state of India. The study area, Jaunsar-Bawar region, lies in the ecologically fragile zone and inhabited largely by a socially backward and economically marginalized tribal community. The chapter has three main sections namely trends of climatic variations, perception of climatic change and adaptation strategy of local community. The literature review suggests that the impact of climate change is quite pronounced in the fragile Himalayan environment. The study uses both secondary as well as primary data and latter is obtained from twenty sample villages and 308 sample households located between 600 and 2500 m altitude. It brings out that though there is no clear trend of temperature rise but there are evidences of periodic fluctuations. There are certainly downward trends in annual and seasonal rainfall in higher reaches of the region. The inhabitants of the region have also observed decline in monsoon rains, reduction in incidences of winter snow and overall increasing fluctuations in precipitation. The community has perceived adverse impact of climatic fluctuations on crop production and yields of horticultural crops. The chapter discusses various adaptive measures adopted by the community to mitigate the adverse effects of climatic variability on its livelihood. It suggests that in the wake of adverse impacts of climate change the community needs institutional supports by the government to strengthen its livelihood base. Sen (2021) in her chapter “Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s Livelihoods in Rural India” attempts to fill the gap of a country-level analysis on scarcity of common property resources (CPR) and its

16

M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari

impact on women’s unpaid CPR-dependent work in India. Using proximate methods the study identifies the regions of environmental scarcity and analyses the pattern of women’s CPR-dependent work across these regions for two periods of time. The study uses two sets of unit level (household) data published by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO). The chapter has five sections where first two sections present introduction and data base/methodology respectively. Section 3 contextualizes the women’s unpaid domestic work in the larger work arena. Section 4 discusses the characteristics of unpaid domestic and extra domestic duties of women for the households. Section 5 establishes a non-linear relationship between scarcity of CPRs and spread and depth of women’s activities dependent on CPR. The participation rate is high at both ends of the spectrum, i.e. abundance and scarcity of CPRs; they are lower at moderate levels, thus forming a U-shaped curve. Section 6 is built on the theme of exclusion or forced withdrawal of women from CPRs across regions. It brings out the evidences of exclusion and forced withdrawal of women of marginalized socio-economic groups as scarcity of CPR increases. It argues for the policies and institutions to promote preserving and enhancing village commons with a nuanced understanding of the intersectionality of caste and gender in rural India, particularly in the more environmentally scarce areas. Kumar and Jaglan (2021) examine inequality in access to groundwater in the chapter “Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation in An Agriculturally Developed Region of India”. The study is based on primary data and pertains to the state of Haryana which is a part of agriculturally developed region in northwest India and comprises five sections. Irrigation system in the region is heavily dependent on groundwater resource which has fast depleted during last two decades. Section 1 introduces the concepts of groundwater accessibility and Sect. 2 outlines the data base and methodology. Section 3 of the chapter brings out striking inequalities in access to water between groundwater rich north-eastern region and water-scarce southwestern region of the state. The physical accessibility of groundwater significantly varies across class size of farmers. There exists a huge gap in the economic accessibility of groundwater between north-eastern and south-western parts of the state. The magnitude of inequality is extreme in groundwater scarcity region. Section 4 reveals that access to groundwater is inversely proportional to the cost of groundwater extraction. Additionally in water-scarcity areas, farm size and fragmentation of land holdings are also the determinants of groundwater accessibility. In the chapter “Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis: Some Reflections from India” taking stock of the situation emerging in different parts of world and India in particular, Singh (2021) discusses two different but inter-twined water related issues i.e. growing scarcity/unavailability of water and deterioration/depletion of water resources. The study enumerates and discusses various factors such as population growth, faulty agricultural practices, water pollution, climate change, overexploitation of groundwater resources, etc. that contribute to the processes creating water scarcity and making it unusable. It highlights the degree of unequal geographical distribution of groundwater, its exploitation and water quality in India. The study also suggests various corrective measures to deal with the water crises i.e. combining traditional mechanisms and modern technology in water management; introduction

Introduction: Environmental and Socio-economic Dimensions …

17

of suitable agricultural practices; formulation and implementation of the State water usage and conservation policies giving due consideration to scientific findings; and individuals/communities becoming aware and taking responsibility of saving and conserving water resources. Section III: Economic Development and Regional Disparities The chapter “Socio-cultural Spaces and Dynamics of Transformation in Rural India” by Sinha et al. (2021) explores the processes of socio-cultural transformations in rural India by examining the institutionalization of democratic principles and the forces of modernization which become subservient to the predominant socio-cultural values of the traditional institutions. It attempts to understand the implications of these processes on the traditional institutions and the emergent cultures of modernization. The study employs the analytical trilogy of dominant, residual and emergent socio-cultural processes as proposed by Raymond Williams and also Myrdal’s theory of modernization to understand socio-cultural transformation. The chapter is divided into 4 sections where Section 1 introduces the theme and provides theoretical base to the study. Sections 2 and 3 present two case studies respectively. The Case 1 relates to co-production of rural power structure and access to water where democratic panchayat institution forms an unethical alliance with the traditional power structure in village Kushmha of Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh and allows itself to be taken over in content. The study reveals that the dominant castes/groups, depending upon the context, invoke the traditional power of caste dominance. The Case 2 provides a macro-level analysis of interaction between the Khap Panchayats (traditional governance institutions) of Jat community and modernity. The dominant caste in this case exerts its power through Khaps in expectation of gaining legitimacy of the State on the one hand and support of the common people on the other. Thus, the effectiveness of the institutions of democratic polity remains segmental, sporadic and disparate in space. Shaban and Sattar (2021) in their chapter “Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes in the Post-reform Period” examine the locational changes in commercial and industrial activities in India during post-economic reform period. For this purpose, the study used data of Economic Census of India, 1990 and 2013–14. The chapter comprises seven sections where Section 1 introduces themes and methodology and Section 2 describes industrial policies in India in the context of industrial dispersion. Section 3 reviews the literature on locational aspects of industries and impacts of urbanisation, economic development, human labour and cultural diversity on the location of the industries. The issues related to growth and regional distributions of industries are elaborated in sections 4 and 5 respectively. Section 6 analyses the factors in industrial and commercial growth in India and Section 7 presents conclusion. The authors conclude that there has been decline in employment intensity of enterprises in India indicating jobless growth during the post reform period. The existing industrial regions of South, Western and North-Western India have grown in their size while a large part of Central, Eastern and North-Eastern

18

M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari

India remains devoid of meaningful industrial activities and employment opportunities. The large enterprises have got concentrated in already economically developed states further widening the existing inter-regional gaps in development levels. In his chapter “Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections on Tourism Development in Goa, India” Sutheeshana (2021) attempts to map and contextualize the dynamics of place consumption, ecosystems it permeates and the changes it heralds in terms of urbanisation and spatial reorganization. It examines the issues of coastal tourism development in Goa, one of the most touristically developed states of India. After introductory section, the author presents a brief treatise on the industrial nature of tourism, issues in tourism urbanisation and its trajectories in Section 2. In the following sections the author discusses the issues pertaining to the processes of urbanisation and distinguishes between the framework of tourism urbanisation and urban tourism as these are outcomes of distinct processes. The study discusses the complementarities of tourism and urbanization in Goa and the manifestation of some of its contradictions. Exploring the tourism-urbanisation connect in the state enables mapping certain specific patterns and insights on the catalytic role of tourism. The issues of overcrowding and environmental hazards have cropped up in many Goan cities and surrounding areas with fast progression of coastal tourism during last couple of decades. In the end the study also briefly addresses the challenges of over-tourism that aggravate the discontents and fuel anti-tourism movements in Goa. Alam et al. (2021) in their chapter “Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity Specific Markets in Varanasi City,” map and evaluate the spatio-economic significance of the traditional markets (mandis) in Varanasi city which has been an important trading center and economic hub of the region since medieval times. A vital element of the economic landscape of the city has been the existence of several specialised traditional market centres or mandis which have thrived despite the corporatization of the market systems and government policy of spatial re-organization of the city. Apart from being the trade centers these markets also mirror the social and cultural specificity and heritage of the city. The chapter is divided into 8 sections, the first and last being introduction and conclusion respectively. Section 2 enumerates the objectives and scope of the study and Section 3 explains the basis of classification of mandis. Section 4 narrates the historicity of the traditional markets and Section 5 details the functional and locational relevance of different traditional markets. Section 6 explores the linkages of these markets with the local, regional, and national economy. Section 7 evaluates the change and continuity of these markets in the city. Maintaining the resilience and adaptability to the changing times, these markets have changed significantly while retaining semblance of their traditional practices. The chapter “Dynamics and Spatiality of Socio-economic Development during Post Liberalization Period: A Study of Ahirwal Region (Haryana), India” by Yadav and Jaglan (2021) has broader objective of assessing the dynamics and pattern of socio-economic development in Ahirwal Region of the state during the postreform period. This chapter evaluates the trends and patterns of socio-economic development in a region that was once a backward area but witnessed economic

Introduction: Environmental and Socio-economic Dimensions …

19

transformation after early 1990s. It has seven sections and first section deals with introduction and method-material of the study. The following sections analyse the parameters and indices of social, economic and infrastructural development and overall levels of socio-economic development respectively. It concludes that during post liberalisation period the processes of economic development in the region have got strongly concentrated in Gurugram district that has emerged as a hub of economic activities in the national capital region. It has created socio-spatial and economic differentiations in a socio-culturally homogeneous Ahirwal region. This model of development has created the spatial complex of finance capital accumulation and concentration of prosperous middle class in Gurugram city and socio-economically backward area in its surrounding rural area. Section IV: Socio-spatial Inequities Rajeshwari and Mehra (2021) in the chapter “Socio-spatial Dimensions of Disease Transition and Health Preparedness in Haryana, India” examine the progress and process of health and disease transition and level of health preparedness in the state of Haryana. It brings out the existing diseases pattern and shift in the diseases and mortality causes. The chapter is divided into seven sections and first three sections relate to introduction, conceptual framework and data base of the study respectively. Section 4 analyses the mortality transition based on cause of death statistics. Using medical record data the study analyses shift in the mortality causes during 50 years. Section 5 depicts the trend of disease occurrence and existing levels of diseases pattern with reference to social, educational and economic characteristics of population. The study reveals that disease transition in the state does not follow the economic development model; rather it carries the dual burden of diseases- both communicable and non-communicable. Societal stratification, education and occupation characteristics of the households continue to impact the prevalence level of diseases and health outcomes. Section 6 brings out that there are critical spatial gaps at the level of health care infrastructure and manpower. The low utilisation level of public health care facilities is mainly on account of their poor quality. Chapter “Gender, Urban Spaces and Gendered Resistances: Towards Inclusive and Fear Free Cities in India” by Datta (2021) has manifold objectives. It seeks to build the idea of gender equal, fear free inclusive urban space to provide a theoretical framework for mapping gender resistance in urban spaces and examines the significance of contemporary urban movements and gender resistance to reclaim space and inclusivity at different scales. The study is theoretical in its approach and eschews data driven positivist perspective in favour of feminist readings of urban spaces, and gendered resistance. There are six sections in the chapter. Section 1 introduces the concept of gender, urban spaces and gendered resistance through review of literature. Section 2 provides the theoretical constructs of gendered resistance and fear free city. It examines three different strands of gendered resistance to reclaim space, each of which aims at different scale within which space of cities can be viewed. The issue of the notion of fear to control access to the city spaces is discussed in Section 3 of the chapter. Section 4 examines the ideas as what a fear

20

M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari

free and inclusive city could be like. Finally, Section 5 outlines some of the gendered resistances in urban spaces in India particularly in the context of Delhi. Sabharwal (2021) in the chapter “Nature of Access to Higher Education in India: Emerging Pattern of Social and Spatial Inequalities in Educational Opportunities” evaluates the emerging forms of social and spatial inequalities in access to higher education opportunities in India. Based on secondary data sets and field-based studies, it studies the policy gamut, expansion, improvement, and access of higher education to the disadvantaged social groups in India since independence. There are six sections in the chapter with first two devoted to introduction and methodology. Section 3 discusses the policy efforts and strategies of the government aimed at promoting equity in higher education in India. Section 4 provides insights into quantitative expansion of higher education sector and the nature of its development in India. The study brings out that higher education has moved from elite to massification stage with its expansion and improvement in enrolment rates of deprived sections of the society. Section 5 of the chapter evaluates the emerging new inequalities in access to higher education opportunities in India during recent period, manifested in the form of regional and social disparities in selection and access to high-value subjects and high-status institutions. If not taken care of the inequalities in success through higher education may take the form of inter-group gaps in academic performance and unequal learning outcomes. The chapter “Everyday Practices of Urban Poor to Access Water: Evidences from Delhi Slums” by Sarkar (2021) employs ethnographic approach to explore the everyday practices of the urban poor to access water in the slums of South-west Delhi. It attempts to seek answer the questions pertaining to accessibility of water through municipality supplies and experiences, and perceptions of people of different social spaces. The chapter comprises 10 sections where first three introduce the research problem, describe study area and elaborate methodology respectively. Then it sets out to portray the pattern of safe water coverage in urban India and access to water in different districts of Delhi. The study brings out that access to water in Delhi is not only dependent on the individuals’ location in a geographic space but also contingent on the multiple social and economic identities of the people accessing water. Delhi has ‘spaces of inequity created by water’ and socio-spatial inequity in water access is linked to the economic status and social hierarchies. The water distribution mechanisms and channels have to negotiate with economic class, caste and gender to reach to the poor. The study suggests that access of water to the slum dwellers, apart from availability, should also be viewed from the perspective of service delivery mechanism of urban governance and socio-political-economic framework of the society at large.

Introduction: Environmental and Socio-economic Dimensions …

21

6 Epilogue This book reflects on three distinct aspects of human habitats in twenty-first century India: nexus between environment, resource base and livelihood; economic development and regional disparities; and emerging socio-spatial inequalities during postreform era. These issues not merely define the theme of present book; they have also been the preferred areas of study of Professor M.H. Qureshi and most of his disciples who have contributed in the book. The chapters in the second section of the book bring out that rural households largely depend on natural resources for their livelihood. Climate change/variability poses a challenge to the marginalised communities which need institutional supports to strengthen their livelihood base. The common property resources have been a big support to the landless people and women in rural areas. The evidences of exclusion and forced withdrawal of women of marginalized socio-economic groups due to scarcity of these resources has emerged a big concern. Deterioration and depletion of freely available water resources and their unequal access to the people are other emerging issues that have been drawn attention to in this section. Section 3 of the book highlights the developmental processes in rural areas that bypass the deprived sections of the society as dominant social groups make use of traditional institutions to forge alliance with forces of modernisation. The economic reforms initiated in early 1990s have induced jobless economic growth and further widened the inter-regional gaps in levels of development as new enterprises have mostly concentrated in economically developed states and existing industrial regions. The concentration of foreign direct investment and enterprises at favoured locations such as national capital region has broken the homogeneity of socio-cultural regions. The tourism induced urbanisation and spatial organisation in Goa and coastal tourist destinations have certainly ushered economic growth but at the cost of environmental hazards and overcrowding. The traditional commodity specific markets (mandis) in Indian cities have born the onslaught of economic restructuring making them to adapt to corporatization of economy and re-organisation of urban landscape in the name of urban development. The chapters in Section 4 of the book concern with the socio-spatial inequalities with regards to availability and accessibility of health services, educational infrastructure, water and gender issues. Even economically developed states bear the burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases and experience critical gaps in healthcare facilities. Despite fast expansion of higher education infrastructure and massification, there emerge new forms of regional and social inequalities in higher education. The access to the basic amenities like water in cities is determined by geographical location and multiple social and economic identities. The unequal access of urban spaces to women in India is a cause of concern and calls for building the idea of gender equal, fear free inclusive urban space.

22

M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari

References Alam S, Prakash S, Jaiswal H (2021) Continuity and changing characteristics of traditional commodity specific markets in Varanasi city. In: Jaglan MS, Rajeshwari (eds) Reflections on 21st century human habitats in india: felicitation volume in honour of Professor M H Qureshi. Springer, Singapore, pp 243–269 ASER (2014) Annual status of education report (rural). Pratham–ASER Centre, New Delhi Barbier EB (2010) Poverty, development and environment. Environ Dev Econ 15:635–660. https:// doi.org/10.1017/51355770X1000032X Bhat MA, Romshoo SA, Beig G (2017) Aerosol black carbon at an urban site—Srinagar, Northwestern Himalaya, India: seasonality, sources, meteorology and radiative forcing. Atmos Environ 165:336–348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2017.07.004,2017 Bhattacharya BB, Sakthivel S (2004) Regional growth and disparity in India: comparison of preand post-reform decades. Econ Pol Wkly 39(10):1071–1077 Chakravorty S (2003) Industrial location in post reform India: pattern of inter-regional divergence and intra-regional convergence. J Dev Stud 40(2):120–152 Chari AV (2011) identifying the aggregate productivity effects of entry and size restrictions: an analysis of license reform in India. Am Econ J Econ Pol 3(2):66–96 Chopra K, Dasgupta P (2002) Common pool resources in India: evidence, significance and new management initiatives: policy implications of CPR knowledge in India. In: Report on a workshop. Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, India CSocD—Commission for Social Development (2015) Social development and agenda 2030. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, New York. https://www.un.org/ esa/socdev/egms/docs/2015/egmreportoctober.pdf Datta A (2021) Gender, urban spaces and gendered resistances: towards inclusive and fear free cities in India. In: Jaglan MS, Rajeshwari (eds) Reflections on 21st century human habitats in India: felicitation volume in honour of Professor MH Qureshi. Springer, Singapore, pp 327–343 Dhasmana I (2018) Economy disrupted by lingering impact of demonetisation, GST roll-out. Business Standard, March 30 business-standard.com FAO—Food and Agriculture Organization (2020) The state of world’s forests: forests, biodiversity and people. United Nations, New York. http://www.fao.org/3/ca8642en/CA8642EN.pdf GHI (2020) Global hunger index by severity. http://www.globalhungerindex.org/ranking.html. Accessed on 2 Feb 2021 GOI—Government of India (1997) Report of the expert committee on small enterprises 1996. New Delhi GOI—Government of India (2006) National environment policy 2006. Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi Gowda MN, Savadatti PM (2004) CPRs and rural poor: study in north Karnataka. Econ Pol Wkly 39(33):3752–3757 IIPS—Indian Institute of Population Sciences (2016) National family health survey-4 2015–16. Mumbai IIPS—Indian Institute of population Sciences (2020) NFHS-5 fact sheet. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, Mumbai. http://rchiips.org/nfhs/factsheet_NFHS-5.shtml. Accessed on 9th Feb 2021 Jodha NS (1986) Common property resources and rural poor in dry regions of India. Econ Pol Wkly 31(27):1169–1181 Jodhka S (2018) Caste in contemporary India. Routledge, New Delhi Kakwani N, Pernia E (2000) What is pro-poor growth? Asian Dev Rev 18(1):1–16 Kakwani N, Son HH (2006) Pro-poor growth: the Asian experience. UNU-WIDER, http://www. wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/rp2006-56.pdf. Accessed on 5 Feb 2021 Kalra R, Thakur S (2015) Development patterns in India: spatial convergence or divergence? Geo J 80:15–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-014-9527-0

Introduction: Environmental and Socio-economic Dimensions …

23

Kotru R, Choudhary D, Fleiner R, Khadka M, Pradhan, N, Dhakal, M (2014) Adapting to climate change for sustainable agribusiness in high mountain watersheds: a case study from Nepal. In: Working paper 2014/1. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, Nepal, p 1 Krishana P, Mitra D (1998) Trade liberalization, market discipline and productivity growth: new evidences from India. J Mark Econ 56(2):447–462 Kumar J, Jaglan MS (2021) Inequalities in access to groundwater for irrigation in an agriculturally developed region of India. In: Jaglan MS, Rajeshwari (eds) Reflections on 21st century human habitats in India: felicitation volume in honour of Professor MH Qureshi. Springer, Singapore, pp 113–142 Mallick J (2014) Regional convergence of economic growth during post-reform period in India. Singapore Econ Rev 54(2):1–18 McKinsey Global Institute (2014) From poverty to empowerment: India’s imperative for jobs, growth, and effective basic services. Mckinsey & Company https://www.mckinsey.com/~/ media/mckinsey/featured%20insights/asia%20pacific/indias%20path%20from%20poverty% 20to%20empowerment/from_poverty_to_empowerment_indias_imperative_for_jobs_growth_ and_effective_basic_services_executive_summary.ashx. Accessed on Feb 2021 MHRD—Ministry of Human Resource Development (2019) All India survey of higher education (AISHE): 2018–2019. Government of India, New Delhi MHRD—Ministry of Human Resource Development (2021) Sustainable habitat—imprint India. Government of India, New Delhi. https://imprint-india.org/domains/sustainable-habitat. Accessed 2 Jan 2021 MOCI—Ministry of Commerce and Industry (2003) Foreign direct investment in India: policy and procedures. Government of India, New Delhi. http://dipp.nic.in/manual/manual_0403.pdf. Accessed 9 Sept 2020 Mukherjee R (1999) Caste in itself, caste and class, or caste in class. Econ Pol Wkly 34(27):1759– 1761 Mundle S (2020) The coronavirus recession and implications. Ind J Labour Econ 63(1):S61–S65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41027-020-00257-y Niti Aayog (2019) SDG India index and dashboard 2019–20. https://niti.gov.in/sdg-india-indexdashboard-2019-20. Accessed on 2 Feb 2021 Narain S, Ghosh P, Saxena NC, Parikh J, Soni P (2009) Climate change: perspectives from India. UNDP, India Narain U, Gupta S, van’t Veld K (2008) Poverty and resource dependence in rural India. Ecol Econ 66:161–176 NIC—National Intelligence Council (2009) India: impact of climate change to 2030, a commissioned research report. Joint Global Change Research Institute and Battelle Memorial Institute, Pacific Northwest Division NSSO (2010) Education in India: 2007–08—participation and expenditure. National Sample Survey Organization, 64th Round, Report No. 532, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India, New Delhi OECD—Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2011) The economic significance of natural resources: key points for reforms in Eastern Europe. Caucasus and Central Asia, Paris Patra J (2016) Review of current and planned adaptation action in India. CARIAA working paper No. 10. International Development Research Centre, Ottawa and UK Aid, London. www.irdc.ca/ cariaa Planning Commission of India (2011) Working group report on elementary education and literacy. Government of India, New Delhi. https://niti.gov.in/planningcommission.gov.in/docs/aboutus/ committee/wrkgrp12/hrd/wg_elementary1708.pdf Pratap D, Pratap A (2021) Livelihood adaptation to climate variability in Jaunsar-Bawar tribal habitat of central Himalayas, India. In: Jaglan MS, Rajeshwari (eds) Reflections on 21st Century human habitats in India: felicitation volume in honour of Professor MH Qureshi. Springer, Singapore, pp 57–76

24

M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari

Qureshi MH (2021) Journey in the realm of geography. In: Jaglan MS, Rajeshwari (eds) Reflections on 21st century human habitats in India: felicitation volume in honour of Professor MH Qureshi. Springer, Singapore, pp 27–53 Rajeshwari, Mehra G (2021) Socio-spatial dimensions of disease transition and health preparedness in Haryana, India. In: Jaglan MS, Rajeshwari (eds) Reflections on 21st century human habitats in India: felicitation volume in honour of Professor MH Qureshi, Springer, Singapore, pp 295–325 Sabharwal NS (2020a) Inequalities in access to academic spaces: experiences of students from the socially excluded groups in higher education in India. Geography You 20(4–5):76–81 Sabharwal NS (2020b) Managing student diversity in Indian higher education institutions: achieving academic integration and social inclusion. In: Varghese NV, Malik G (eds) Governance and management of higher education in India: India higher education report 2019. Sage, New Delhi Sabharwal NS (2021) Nature of access to higher education in India: emerging pattern of social and spatial inequalities in educational opportunities. In: Jaglan MS, Rajeshwari (eds) Reflections on 21st century human habitats in india: felicitation volume in honour of Professor MH Qureshi. Springer, Singapore, pp 345–369 Sanga P, Shaban A (2017) Regional divergence and inequalities in India. Econ Pol Wkly 52(1):102– 110 Sarkar A (2021) Everyday practices of urban poor to access water: evidences from Delhi slums. In: Jaglan MS, Rajeshwari (eds) Reflections on 21st century human habitats in India: felicitation volume in honour of Professor MH Qureshi. Springer, Singapore, pp 371–392 Sazzad P (2016) A study of special economic zone implicated land acquisition and utilization. Int J Dev Conflict 6(2):136–153 Sen S (2021) Scarcity of common property resources and spatiality of women’s livelihoods in rural India. In: Jaglan MS, Rajeshwari (eds) Reflections on 21st century human habitats in India: felicitation volume in honour of Professor MH Qureshi. Springer, Singapore, pp 77–112 Shaban A (2006) Regional structure, growth and convergence of income in Maharashtra. Econ Pol Wkly 41(18):1803–1815 Shaban A and Sattar S (2021) Industrial and commercial geography of India: a study of changes in the post-reform period. In: Jaglan MS, Rajeshwari (eds) Reflections on 21st century human habitats in India: felicitation volume in honour of Professor MH Qureshi. Springer, Singapore, pp 189-217 Sharma D (2020) Farm bills: liberation or death knell? Deccan Herald, September 27 deccanherald.com Sharma SK, Chauhan R (2011) Climate change research initiative: Indian network for climate change assessment. Curr Sci 101(3):308–311 Sharma VP (2015) Dynamics of land use competition in India: perceptions and realities. In: Working paper No. 2015-06-02. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad Singh S (2021) Crisis of water and water in crisis: some reflections from India. In: Jaglan MS, Rajeshwari (eds) Reflections on 21st century human habitats in India: Felicitation volume in honour of Professor MH Qureshi, Springer, Singapore, pp 143–166 Sinha S (2020) Caste and class in India: perspectives from the past and recent. Geogr You 20(142– 143):4–9 Sinha S, Singh S, Bhatia S (2021) Socio-cultural spaces and dynamics of transformation in rural India. In: Jaglan MS, Rajeshwari (eds) Reflections on 21st century human habitats in India: felicitation volume in honour of Professor MH Qureshi, Springer, Singapore, pp 169–188 Sutheeshna BS (2021) Tourism, urbanization and spatial reorganization: some reflections on tourism development in Goa, India. In: Jaglan MS, Rajeshwari (eds) Reflections on 21st century human habitats in India: felicitation volume in honour of Professor MH Qureshi. Springer, Singapore, pp 219–242 Teltumbde A (2016) Dichotomisation of caste and class. Econ Pol Wkly 51(47):34–38 UN—United Nations (2015) Transforming our world: 2030 agenda for sustainable development, New York. www.sustainabledevelopment.un.org UNDP (2015) Millennium development goals. https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sdg overview/mdg_goals.html. Accessed on Feb 2021

Introduction: Environmental and Socio-economic Dimensions …

25

UNDP (2019) Human development report 2019. United Nations Development Programme, New York UNESCAP-SSWA (2015) India and the MDGs: towards a sustainable future for all. United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, UN-India. http://in.one.un.org. UNICEF (2014) Global initiative on out-of-school children: a situational study of India. UNESCO, New York Varghese NV (2015) Challenges of massification of higher education in India. In: CPRHE Research Paper 1. Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education, National University of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi Varghese NV, Panigrahi J, Rohatgi A (2018) Concentration of higher education institutions in India: A regional analysis. In: CPRHE Research Paper 11. Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi WCED—World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford WHO—World Health Organization (2018) MDGs fact sheet. https://www.who.int/news-room/factsheets/detail/millennium-development-goals-(mdgs). Accessed on 31 Jan 2021 World Economic Forum (2020) Global gender gap report 2020. Geneva. http://www3.weforum. org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2020.pdf. Accessed on 4 Feb 2020 Yadav A, Jaglan MS (2021) Dynamics and spatiality of socio-economic development during post liberalization period: a study of Ahirwal Region (Haryana), India. In: Jaglan MS, Rajeshwari (eds) Reflections on 21st century human habitats in India: felicitation volume in honour of Professor MH Qureshi, Springer, Singapore, pp 271–291

Journey in the Realm of Geography Mohammad Hashim Qureshi

Abstract This write up gives me an opportunity to reflect on my journey in the realm of the discipline of Geography, which has been academically fulfilling for a man born in a dusty-muddy village of district Sultanpur of United Province (present Uttar Pradesh) 5 years before India got independence. Schooling was a challenge, as a small boy I had to traverse a distance of 7 km daily to reach school through ravines of Gomati and undulating landscape. After completing the senior secondary school at Sultanpur town, I moved to Allahabad University in 1957 and completed graduation and subsequently post-graduation in geography in 1961. Immediately after that, I got an opportunity to serve as a teacher and researcher in the field of geography in a number of prestigious educational institutions namely St. John’s College, Agra; University of Jodhpur, Rajasthan; Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia; and University of Bremen, Germany. The turning point of my academic career was introduction to new teaching and learning methods at JNU in which I was involved beside a teacher as an innovator and interactor. The curriculum involving semester system, continuous evaluation, field-based studies were academically enriching for both the students and teacher. I was fortunate to work with Professor Schwartzberg during the fieldwork around Delhi for demarcation of folk regions in India. The fieldworks carried out by me, including those by post-graduate students under my supervision, gave me an opportunity to understand the rural society and observe the beauty and richness of regional cultures of India. The fieldwork in the mountainous terrains in Jammu and Kashmir revealed many secrets of nature. Similarly, the field surveys unraveled to me the wonders of nature in the form of crater and topography of Chilalo mountain and the culture and agricultural landscape of Ethiopia; and rolling fields of rye and oats and Haufendorf rural settlements of Germany. Keywords JNU evaluation system · Jodhpur landscape · Folk regions · Ethiopia geography · Haufendorf settlements · Fieldwork · Jammu and Kashmir M. H. Qureshi (B) Former Professor, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari (eds.), Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3100-9_2

27

28

M. H. Qureshi

1 Prelude It’s bit difficult but quite fascinating for me to reflect on my journey in the realm of geography. My initial brush with the geographical knowledge was a practical experience gained in the background of a rural landscape. This journey started about 72 years back in the rural landscape of district Sultanpur of Uttar Pradesh, India. I left the village madarsa and got admitted in a government primary school in 1947, at the age of 5 years. Our village was located on the ravine land along the River Gomati and we had to traverse a distance of about 6 km on foot to reach our school. We got introduced to the diversity of land while crisscrossing the fields on the way to our school. I have faint remembrances about India becoming independent on 15th August 1947 followed by a streak of slogan shouting, prabhatpheri (morning street prayers) and singing of national anthem. I vividly remember the faces of my class teacher Mr. Mohammad Usman, who taught us all the subjects sitting under the Mahua (Madhuca longifolia) tree. Our medium of instruction at that time was Urdu that continued to be for almost a year. However, one day in 1948, we were told that henceforth the medium of instruction would be Hindi written in Devanagari script. When I was in 5th class, I was shifted to another primary school at Babhan Gavan (a Brahman caste dominated village) located at a distance of about 7 km from my village. I joined the middle school in the same village which was located in a building made of clumps of mud covered with baked tiles. The thick mud walls with high roof saved us from the scorching heat during summers and severe cold during winters. The three-language formula had been introduced by that time and I opted for Hindi, English and Sanskrit, in spite of the fact that Sanskrit was not a spoken language in any part of the country except in a few villages in South India. Daily commutation to our school on foot made me to cross the torturous ravines of Gomati River and negotiate with cliffs. The rivulets used to be flooded during the rainy season forcing us to detour and cover longer distance to reach the school. Crossing the flooded ravines and rivulets during rainy season, walking in severe winters along the full-grown Wheat and Arhar or Tur (pigeon pea) fields in the scorching summer heat till the school was closed for summer vacation, injected geography in me through the skin, reaching the brains through the soles of my shoes. I never knew that my everyday encounter with this harsh riverine landscape and weather was igniting some sorts of geographic thoughts deep inside me. Even after the lapse of 66 years, I traverse through the nostalgic memory that I am walking the same kutcha (non-metaled) path, gazing the same landscape. However, I am also aware of the fact that tremendous changes have taken place between 1953, when I left that place behind and 2020, when I am trying to look back and recollect the whole scenario. It is exhilarating to revisit, remember and becoming nostalgic about the experiences of my childhood at the age of 79.

Journey in the Realm of Geography

29

2 Sultanpur Town: Geo-historical Reflections After completing 8th grade in 1953, I got admission in the Government High School in Sultanpur, the town located on the right bank of Gomati River. The British established this town as an army camp/cantonment. Those days some old people still called it Kampoo (camp). As in many military towns, there were Urdu or paltan (platoon) bazaars where army personnel used to do their purchases. Sultanpur, even now has a mohalla (locality) known as paltan bazaar. When I shifted to Sultanpur, it was a town without electricity, water supply and any other worthwhile infrastructure. The metaled roads, rows of shops, tea stalls in wooden shanties and Collector’s Office, Civil Courts and a Municipal Committee Office gave it the semblance of a town. Old Sultanpur, originally known as Kushbhavanpur has a long history. It has been the Centre of Hindu and Buddhist cultures. Some Buddhist sites still exist near the town such as village Bhadaiyan located on Sultanpur-Lambhua road, and village Mahmoodpur located at a distance of 8 km in the northwest direction of the town. Mythology narrates that the town was established by Kush, one of the twin sons (Luv and Kush) of Lord Rama. (Wikipedia 2020). The legend says Sita ji, after being abandoned by Lord Rama, was escorted to the ashram (shrine) of Valmiki by Lakshmana where she lived and brought up her twin sons Lav and Kush. It is believed by the people of Sultanpur that this hermitage of Valmiki was located on the left bank of Gomati River. There is a spot on the bank of the river still known as Sita Kund (tank). A fair is organized on Vasant Panchami (the Festival of Spring) every year. Before the 12th Century AD, this area was ruled by Bhars but Allauddin Khilji occupied it after defeating the Bhars. The ruins of old Sultanpur town existed on the left bank of the river Gomati, where the village of Pancho-Peeran (place of five saints) still exists surrounded from three sides by the meandering loop of the river. The present site of the town on the right bank of the river was selected by British as an army camp as old Sultanpur town was abandoned after being completely ruined during 1857 War of Independence.

3 Learning Geography at Higher Education Level After successful completion of 10th grade in first division, I got admission in the next class in Madhusudan Vidyalaya Inter College, Sultanpur. It was an age of curiosity for me and with various friends, we often ventured beyond the limits of the town to explore the nature and the ruins of old town. In the hindsight, now I realize that my growing interest in nature nurtured interest in geography at that early stage of my life. I opted for geography as an optional subject in my XI class in 1955–56. Having obtained First division in the Intermediate examination in 1957, I got admission in BA course at Allahabad University and opted for English Literature, Economics, and Geography as subjects of study at the graduate level. The three-year degree course was not introduced by that time hence I completed my BA degree in two years i.e. in

30

M. H. Qureshi

1959 and saved one year in graduation. The geography became my obvious choice for post-graduation as I scored higher marks at the graduation level than English Literature and Economics. Thus, the fate with geography was sealed for the rest of my life. Allahabad University is one of the oldest universities of India. It was established on 23 September 1887, becoming the 4th oldest university of the country after Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras which were established in 1857. In the initial stages it was an affiliating university with a large catchment area. Its territorial jurisdiction in 1904 extended to United Provinces, Central Provinces including Berar, Mewar, Ajmer, most of the princely states of Rajputana and Central Indian Agencies. It became a residential university in 1927. It coincided with the establishment of Agra University, as an affiliating university in 1927. Geography was introduced at Allahabad University in late nineteen thirties as Commercial Geography in the Faculty of Commerce where Professor RN Dubey, initially taught it. Post-graduation in Geography was started in 1946 with Professor Dubey as the first Head of the Department. I had an opportunity to see him taking his classes sitting on an easy chair though he had already retired when we joined MA course. The Doyen of Geography, Prof. S. P. Chatterjee of Calcutta University, conducted the viva voce for the batch of 1960–61. The result of MA Final was declared on May 7, 1961 and I obtained first division and stood first in order of merit, which was my cherished dream.

4 Post-independence Period of Transition India was a newly liberated country after suffering the pangs of partition, social disruption, and unprecedented violence. After independence there was shortage of essential commodities including food grains, edible oils, clothes, kerosene etc. that forced the distribution of all commodities to be brought under rationing. This period witnessed the measures being taken to boost the agricultural production through land reforms in the form of removal of intermediaries by abolition of Zamindari system, tenancy reforms, ceiling on land holdings, distribution of surplus land to the landless and consolidation of land holdings. Bhoodan movement was launched by Vinoba Bhave after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The provinces/states were re-organized according to the recommendations of the State Reorganization Commission on linguistic basis. The recommendations of the commission came into operation on 1st November 1956. The reorganization of states changed the administrative geography and carved out a new regional/administrative geography of India. In 1957, old rupee based on anna system of currency was demonetized and new rupee was decimalized and divided into 100 paise. Another important decision taken by the Government was to change the British system of weights and measurements to metric system. The Standard Weights Act came into effect in 1958, metric weight system became mandatory in October 1960, and the metric measurements became mandatory in April 1962. This information may not be relevant today but then it was very important change for the researchers like me who had to convert the units of big

Journey in the Realm of Geography

31

volume of data. Since I opted to work on a topic related to agricultural geography, I had to deal with land area, which had records in units such as kattha, bigha, marla, kanal, acre etc. The land area in acres had to be converted into hectares. It was a herculean task for a research scholar at that time to handle a large body of data in the absence of computers or even calculators.

5 Commencement of Teaching Career at St. John’s College Agra Soon after completing post-graduation I was lucky to be selected as lecturer of geography at St. John’s College, Agra and I joined on August 6, 1961. It was one of the prestigious and the oldest colleges of north India at that time, which was established in 1850 and was managed by Church Mission Society, London. The historical significance of this college can be gauged from the fact that the three port town universities in India, i.e. Calcutta, Bombay and Madras (1857) were established seven year later and Allahabad University (1887) was established 37 year later to this college. Rev. Dr Arthur Whitcliffe Davies was the principal of St. John’s College, Agra, from 1913 to 1927. He became the first Vice Chancellor of Agra University when it was established in 1927. Rev. Davies later visited the St. John’s College in 1962 to see its building, which was completed after his retirement. He became nostalgic during the dinner hosted in his honor and remarked “I have now seen St. John’s College flying on its both wings and I am satisfied and ready to die.” It was my luck to attend this gathering at dinner and meet the towering educationist. Prof. PT Chandi was the Principal of the college at that time who later became the Vice Chancellor of Gorakhpur University. I comfortably settled down after gaining teaching experience of two–three weeks and mustering enough confidence to be able to cope with the initial stress. St. John’s College had very healthy traditions where senior colleagues gave junior teachers encouragement and affection. The college had MA course in geography and it was a wonderful experience and challenge for me to teach the post-graduate students some of whom were elder to me in age. The head of the department Dr. A R Tiwari who had completed his Ph.D. degree under the supervision of Prof. AE Smailes of Queen Mary College, University of London, guided me in the pursuit.

6 The University Teaching and Landscape of Jodhpur Barely after serving the St John’s College for two years, I got an opportunity to join the University of Jodhpur (established in 1962 and presently Jai Narain Vyas University) in August 1963 as assistant professor. I had the mental map of Jodhpur city as a dry, desolate city devoid of vegetation cover. However, upon reaching this place,

32

M. H. Qureshi

the whole impression changed and it instilled in me an academic urge of learning the geography of the arid region. It was imperative to understand the environs of the city surrounded by Aravalli outcrops with injections of Malani Rhyolites (an igneous outcrop) of volcanic origin. These rocks are prominently exposed on the way to Mehrangarh Fort. Actually, this huge fort itself has been built on a 120 m high hillock on the base of Malani Rhyolites, which are spread over about 5 km2 . On the first impression, these seem to be burnt out rocks. One can also notice the remnants of a canal along the hill on which the fort stands. This is a type of garland canal, which received water from the hill slopes during rains and carried it to the tanks located in the city. Another interesting landscape feature of the city is Kailana Lake which used to store water that was supplied to Jodhpur city. The area has signs of wind erosion in the form of rounded hillocks and caves created by wind force such as Bheem Bhadak cave. This area became a tourist spot due to the lake as well as many interesting geomorphic features in its vicinity. The Kailana Lake as well as the other local small water bodies around the city attracted migratory birds during winters. The other interesting spot in Jodhpur is Mandor garden located in a valley where rainwater impounded in a small reservoir, which created oasis like greenery and a canopy of tall trees in a narrow valley. This spot is believed to be the site of a town before Rao Jodha established the city of Jodhpur and Mehrangarh fort was constructed in 1459. Water supply has been a serious problem in arid areas. Historically, Jodhpur city had very elaborate system of water harvesting and a chain of collection tanks, wells, baories (step wells) and Jhalaras (rectangular step wells) were constructed. Initially, the source of water supply in the city was from a number of tanks constructed in different parts of the city namely Gulab Sagar, Fateh Sagar, Rani Sagar, Padam Sagar, and Bal Samand. Gulab Sagar is located in the heart of the city while Rani Sagar and Padam Sagar are located in the valley on the rear side of the Mehrangarh fort. To augment the water supply of the city Maharaja Umaid Singh initiated the construction of reservoir on River Jawai in Pali district, near Sumerpur town, in 1946 and the work finally completed in 1957. The water from the reservoir was carried to the city through a canal that was connected to Kailana Lake.

6.1 My Doctoral Thesis Positioned in a university system, three of us, PK Durani, PC Kumbhat and I registered for the Ph.D. degree in the Department of Geography, University of Jodhpur as in-service scholars under the supervision of Professor VC Misra, then Head of the Department of Geography. Dr. Misra joined University of Sagar as professor of geography in 1967 after the sudden demise of Prof SM Ali. I submitted my Ph.D. thesis under the trying conditions in 1969 and the degree was awarded to me in the convocation in 1970. My area of research was Luni Basin in western Rajasthan. It is an ephemeral river of western Rajasthan having the flow of water limited to a short period of rainy season.

Journey in the Realm of Geography

33

It receives all its tributaries originating from the western slopes of Aravalli hills. This river has little significance for agriculture in the region and its utility is mostly limited to recharge of groundwater aquifers during Monsoon season. The river originates in two branches, one tributary flows through Saraswati valley and the other through Sagarmati valley located near Pushkar in Ajmer district. These tributaries join at Govindgarh and from there it is known as Luni or Lavanawati River. The entire Pali district and Jodhpur and Bilara tehsils of Jodhpur district located in Luni Basin had quite diversified cropping pattern whereas most other districts in the basin had bajra (pearl millet) as monoculture. Another Kharif (summer) crop of significance was guar (cluster bean) which was initially cultivated as fodder crop. However, later it was cultivated as a commercial crop as it was source of guar-gum. The water scarcity was the main constraint for growing Rabi (winter) crops. In this tract of subsistence agriculture there were few commercial crops grown in some agriculturally developed villages such as Mathania and Borunda in Jodhpur district. These villages are located in limestone region which had rich ground water aquifers. Western Rajasthan has been famous for many livestock breeds. Rathi and Tharparkar cows, Sanchori and Nagori bullocks, Marwari breed of sheep known as Indian Marino, Marwari goats and camels are some of the prized breeds of livestock. Animal husbandry has been an effective livelihood strategy in the region, particularly for the poor and economically marginalized households.

6.2 Connecting with Rural Society Through NSS My interest in social service during the studentship at Allahabad University brought me the responsibility of looking after the Social Service League at St John’s College Agra. The responsibility of National Service Scheme (NSS) at University of Jodhpur was another way of connecting with the land and people of rural Marwar. We adopted Keru village of Jodhpur district for the activities of NSS program. Initially, an adult literacy Centre was established at the village with the help of some local student volunteers. Later, the activities such as organizing medical camps for testing eyes of the residents and plantation of trees were also added to the list of tasks. We surveyed the village along with the MA geography students of CSRD, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 1995 too. By that time, this village had already evolved into a small town with all the basic amenities such as a market, a Higher Secondary School and a Teachers Training College. I still maintain personal contact with the people in this village and visited its Teachers Training College, last time on 28th October 2017.

34

M. H. Qureshi

7 Academic Discourse at JNU I started looking for better alternative and congenial atmosphere for academic discourse after completing my Ph.D. degree. There came an opportunity to apply at the Centre for the Study of Regional Development (CSRD), JNU for which the interview was held in 1972 and I received the offer to join in December 1974 and finally joined as Assistant Professor on 1st March 1975. I finally superannuated from the centre on 10th March 2008. It was just a coincidence that (Late) Mr. Asok Mitra, the Registrar General of India for 1961 Census also joined CSRD as Professor in Population Stream on the same day after his retirement from bureaucracy. Late Professor G.S. Bhalla, the eminent economist, also joined CSRD same year (May 1975). JNU placed immense challenges before me but at the same time provided lot many opportunities. It was my first experience to work in a semester system, which created very busy schedule due to the hectic tasks of teaching and continuous evaluation. Both these tasks were inbuilt in the system and were rigorous for the teachers as well as students. JNU was entirely different from the semi-feudalistic academic-administrative setup of educational institutions in the rest of the country. It provided liberal, democratic and informal atmosphere, freedom to pursue one’s academic interests and nurturing very congenial relationship between teachers and students. It was an example of participatory democratic functioning. The CSRD like other Centres of JNU functioned by taking decisions democratically at two levels. Firstly, the whole faculty of the Centre used to meet in the afternoon of Wednesdays to discuss the academic-administrative matters and took decisions collectively. The proceedings of all these meetings were recorded and approved in the next meetings. The Centre’s Committee authorized the faculty to take decisions in its weekly meetings which were reported to the annual meeting of Centre’s Committee for its approval. The major academic decisions of this committee were taken to the Academic Council for its approval. Secondly, the Student Faculty Committee (SFC) deliberated upon the problems and issues concerning the students in the Centre. The SFCs consisted of five teachers and five students who were elected by their respective constituencies. Having equal number of members from both sides, most of the decisions by SFCs were taken with consensus. The students were free to bring any problem bothering them to the SFC for decisions except the evaluation cases.

7.1 Developing New and Forward-Looking Interdisciplinary Courses I joined JNU in its formative stage when the course contents were being developed in tune with a new teaching and learning philosophy. The academic system in this institution provided a lot of autonomy to teachers to develop the course contents, the title of the course, its credit weightage, method of teaching and evaluation. They

Journey in the Realm of Geography

35

had full autonomy to delete or add the course content with the new developments as well as to meet the aspirations of the students. I was assigned the responsibility of handling the courses of Economic Geography in MA first semester and Environmental Basis of Agriculture and Agricultural Geography with special reference to India in the fourth semester. The course on Economic Geography was designed with a view to accommodate the principles of distribution of economic activities, their concentration, diversification, location and principles of regionalization. The course on Environmental Basis of Agriculture dealt with physical attributes of the terrain, land use classification, soil conditions, soil moisture, land capability classification, agro-climates, water availability, watershed management, agricultural typology and world agricultural regions. The other course Agricultural Geography with special reference to India dealt with the fundamentals of this sub-discipline. India being primarily an agricultural country has a host of geographical factors affecting crop and animal production. They vary from a variety of biophysical factors of land to technological and institutional factors. The curriculum of this course was quite wide, inclusive and interdisciplinary. The MPhil course entitled, “Dry-land Agriculture” was developed in collaboration with Professor Kusum Chopra, an Economist colleague at CSRD. It was a specialized course focusing on understanding the problems of dry lands and drought prone areas of India. It was an interdisciplinary course representing the fusion of the perspectives of geography and economics. Not only course contents, the approach of teaching and learning was different in JNU from most of the traditional universities in India. In many traditional departments of geography, there was a practice of having a separate paper on practical such as representation of economic and social data in maps and diagrams. However, CSRD evolved a new approach of study by integrating the theory and practical in order to comprehend the subject and its sub-fields holistically. As stated earlier unique aspect of JNU was its continuous and transparent internal evaluation system. The students had a right to represent if there was any discrepancy in their grades and they had to be satisfied by the concerned teacher. It was a challenge for the teachers like me to adapt to a new teaching and open evaluation system that was entirely different from the traditional pedagogy in which they were trained.

7.2 Research Guidance Responsibilities of teaching and research go side by side, as they cannot be separated. Creation of knowledge is essential for its further dissemination to coming generations. I had a broad canvas of research interests, which varied over time ranging from my specialization in agricultural geography to environment problems, people’s movement for environmental conservation, forest management, livestock economy and rural development. Hence, it is quite natural that research topics of my students had been quite diversified and specialized according to their own research interests. The topics of research theses/dissertations also partly reflect the academic autonomy granted to the students by the supervisors in the JNU system. During my stint in

36

M. H. Qureshi

JNU, I supervised 47 students to get their MPhil. degrees and 19 research scholars to get their Ph.D. degrees.

7.3 Understanding the Folk Regions It was in the Monsoon semester of 1979, Professor Joseph E. Schwartzberg of Minnesota University, USA, joined the CSRD, JNU as Visiting Fulbright Professor. He had come to work on a project entitled, ‘Historical Atlas of South Asia’. He had deep interest in Cultural and Historical Geography of South Asia in general and India in particular. In June 1980, he decided to venture out to delineate ‘Folk Regions’ around Delhi covering parts of Haryana, Rajasthan and adjacent Uttar Pradesh. The folk regions to him represented the cultural areas embedded in the minds of the people living in a particular area (Schwartzberg 1985). Every person has multiple regional identities and allegiance. A person in Punjab also belongs to its folk regions i.e. Malva, Majha or Doaba. A person from Rajasthan may belong to Marwar, Mewar, Hadoti, Rajwati or Shekhawati etc. One may belong to Uttar Pradesh but may also be identified as belonging to Awadh, Braj, Baiswara, Rohelkhand or Bundelkhand. These micro level regional identities have been termed as folk regions. The fieldwork for identifying folk regions was planned between 4th June and 26th June 1980. The survey team comprised both teachers and students. The team started journey in the morning of 4th June in search of these folk regions as perceived by the local people. Dr Sachidanand Sinha and I interviewed the male respondents and Ms. Pushpa Pathak and Ms. Leela Suares interviewed the female respondents. The survey team covered 272 sample respondents, 139 males and 133 females. The folk regions initially covered were located along the Delhi-Jaipur road via Gurgaon, Sohna, Nuh, and Alwar and from there to Shahpura via Thana Ghazi. The first folk region which the team visited was Gujrot (Gurjar caste inhabited region) located along Aravallis near Sohna in the state of Haryana. The paper by Schwartzberg has already been published (Mukerji and Ahmad 1985), hence, I need not go into details but it would be pertinent to highlight some specific features of the cultural pride and prejudices prevailing in some folk regions. The folk identities, sometimes, have very strong linguistic affiliation. The transition between Hindi (Khadi Boli) of Uttar Pradesh and Haryanvi (dialect of Haryana) can be seen in the use of verbs which changes from hai to sai, and ab (now) is replaced by ib with the same meaning but change in pronunciation is quite evident. When we reached Thana Ghazi after visiting Mewat, Ahirwal and Jat caste dominated area of Jatot, we came to the folk region of Chhind/Chhaikada, where the verb again changes to Chhai, which continues up to Gujarat with some exceptions in Rajasthan. In Gujarat we are greeted with ‘Kem Chhai, Saaru Chhai, Maje ma Chhai. While conversing with elders, we were told that Meena community, who are now designated as ‘Scheduled Tribe’, ruled the Chhind region. Ahirwal is another region where the Ahir (once a pastoral community) kings with the title of Rao, ruled the region. Rao Tula Ram (1825–1863) is the well-known personality of Haryana who participated in the first war of Indian independence in

Journey in the Realm of Geography

37

1857. Close to Ahirwal, we came across the Rath area around Mandawar town, very close to the town of Neemrana. The people of this folk region take pride in serving as officers in the Indian Army. We learnt about the famous saying of the region, “Kath naway per Rath naway na” (the dry wood may bend but it is impossible to bend a person from Rath area). We entered Haryana from Rajasthan in search the folk region of Bagar. However, to our surprise people in general did not identify themselves with Bagar as this term connotes socio-cultural backwardness. We started asking people about location of Bagar right from the time we crossed the border of Rajasthan and moved towards Bhiwani. No one accepted the fact that his or her village lies in Bagar region. Some of them opined that Bagar is located in the desert part of Rajasthan. Finally, we landed in Golagarh, the village of Late Shri Bansi Lal, ex-Chief Minister of Haryana. We got all the support from the Sarpanch (village headman) who happened to be the uncle of Sh. Bansi Lal but still none there accepted that they belonged to Bagar. Geographically, Bagar in Haryana is a semi-arid dry sandy plain lacking irrigation facilities and marked by agricultural backwardness. Its low level of economic development was a negative aspect and that is why people did not feel comfortable in identifying themselves with the region. It was very hot weather when we embarked upon this field study. Temperature was soaring above 40 °C and Loo (hot winds) swept across north India. I had developed fever and could not accompany the team to Braj area in Uttar Pradesh. I feel sorry that when I am writing my reminiscences about the survey conducted about 40 years ago, Prof. Schwartzberg is no more with us. We always cherish our association with him.

8 Academic Assignment at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia I got an opportunity to serve in the Department of Geography, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia as Associate Professor on a foreign assignment for tenure of two years, 1981–83. Addis Ababa University was established in 1950 and was located in the old palace of the Ethiopian emperor. It became imperative for me to familiarize myself with the geography, history, society and culture of the country. Soon I realized that Ethiopia was a country with a very long history and vibrant culture. Ethiopia had been a monarchy and its emperor was known as Negusi Nagust (King of Kings). The last Emperor was Haile Selassie (means Protector of the Trinity). His real name was Taferi Makonnen and was the king of Harar province before becoming emperor of the country. On September 12, 1974, the Emperor of Ethiopia was dethroned and socialist regime was established after the revolution by the Ethiopian army. So, when I reached Addis Ababa, the political system in Ethiopia had already been transformed from monarchy to socialist regime.

38

M. H. Qureshi

I immediately noted two features in Ethiopian economic system; there was no increment in the salaries and no increase in the prices. The currency of the country is birr which means silver in Ethiopian language. It was strong currency as two birrs were equal to one US dollar at that time. Consumer goods were easily available except edible oil, rice and sugar which were in short supply. There was serious shortage of houses and housing sector was nationalized. Land lords were allowed to keep two houses, one for residence and the other for carrying out their business. Surplus houses were nationalized and taken over by the Ministry of Housing. I must mention about my enriching interaction with a very senior Geographer of Ethiopia, Dr. Mesfin Wolde Mariam, who has contributed extensively in developing the discipline of geography in his country. He was very senior to me in age but the bond between us was created by the fact he had studied in India at the Government College Ludhiana, when Dr OP Bharadwaj was the Head of Geography Department there. He used to tell his experiences at Ludhiana when we used to sit for a cup of coffee in the canteen. He told that coming from a highland, he could not acclimatize to the heat of Punjab. Therefore, summers were difficult time for him in Ludhiana and he used to fill his hostel room with water and laid in it to beat the heat. He was a much-respected professor of Ethiopia, who was also appointed Governor of a region in Western Ethiopia. I got an opportunity to learn from him and other sources a lot about geography and history of Ethiopia and the following section presents an abstract of the same.

8.1 Salient Features of Ethiopian Geography The space relations in Ethiopia have been dynamic and fluid. Eritrea, once part of Ethiopia is a free country now and lies in the north of Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia lie in the east, Sudan and South Sudan border it in the west and Kenya is the immediate neighbor in the south. Extending between 3° and 37° North Latitude and 33° and 48° East Longitude, Ethiopia covers an area of 1, 127, 127 km2 . It is a highland country with narrow lowland margins. Many evidences are there to indicate that the country had experienced extensive volcanic activity in the past. Mount Chilalo is an extinct volcanic mountain with an altitude of 4036 m above the mean sea level. It has a crater with a diameter of about 6 km. It lies in south eastern part of the country in Arsi region located at a distance of 131 km from Addis Ababa. Most outstanding geomorphic feature of Ethiopia is its rift valley, a branch of east African Rift System. Ethiopian rift valley extends from Kenyan border (Turkana depression) towards northeast to Afars and after merging with Red Sea touches Jordan, Syria and Lebanon across the Dead Sea. This 80 km wide rift valley in the country is studded with 25 lakes of different sizes. Abaya is the largest lake spreading over 1162 km2 and located at an altitude of 1285 m. The smallest lake, Awassa covers an area of 129 km2 . Interestingly, out of 25 lakes, 11 are fresh water lakes and remaining lakes have brackish water. But the largest freshwater lake of Ethiopia, Lake Tana which is located outside the rift valley in northwestern highlands at an

Journey in the Realm of Geography

39

altitude of 1788 m and covers an area of 3673 km2 . It contains the islands of Dag and Daka within its midst which jut out of its surface. The Dambia plain on its northern shore and the Fogera plain on its eastern shore suggest that the lake once covered larger area and these plains have been formed due to the deposition of the eroded materials from the surrounding highlands.

8.1.1

The River Systems

Awash is an economically important river which rises from Mount Warqe, located on the western side of Addis Ababa near Addis Alem and enters the bottom of the rift valley after circumventing mount Zuqualla, an extinct volcanic hill near Debre Zeit at a distance of about 50 km from Addis Ababa. It enters the Koka reservoir near Wonji sugar farm. Its water is intensively utilized for cultivating crops such as sugarcane, cotton, fruits and vegetables. Its whole course lies in the rift valley and is a perennial river fed by lakes Shala, Langano and Abiyata. Lake Langano is intensively visited tourist place. Awash River discharges its water in Lake Abbe, almost near the border with Djibouti after covering a distance of 1200 km. Wabi Shebelle originates in Ethiopian highlands at an altitude of 4230 m and flows towards south east for about 1000 km and enters Somalia and flows towards Mogadishu (capital of Somalia). Near Mogadishu, it takes a south westerly turn and flows along the coast and reaches the ocean only during rainy season otherwise it is lost in marshy terrain. Lake Tana is the water tower of Ethiopia and is the source of Blue Nile River (locally known as River Abbay). This river descends forming a huge water fall known as Tisisat near the town of Bahir Dar (a word from Ge’ez language which means sea shore). It flows towards south and enters a gorge and flows for about 400 km first toward south east then towards west and then in a north westerly direction and enters the boundary of Sudan to join the White Nile at Khartoum. The Blue Nile traverses a distance of 1450 km till it makes a confluence with White Nile. It is the most important tributary of Nile river drainage system.

8.1.2

The Weather Systems

The central part of Ethiopia is a plateau surrounded by arid lowlands from all the directions, with wider stretch toward south and south east in Sidama and Ogaden. Denakil depression in northeast is typical salty desert. Ethiopia has four seasons in a year as presented in Table 1. August is the rainiest month in the country when Addis Ababa receives 295 mm rain while December is driest month when the rainfall is a merely 6 mm. The weather on the highlands is highly variable but it is a country of moderate weather; the days may be partly sunny and partly rainy or cool. The climate of Addis Ababa is pleasant and it rains almost every day. Sometimes weather is unpredictable. The sky used to become cloudy by the noon and rainy by the afternoon and weather turned very cold after the rains. The weather shows

40

M. H. Qureshi

Table 1 Seasons in Ethiopia

Ethiopia term

English equivalent term

Months

KIREMT

Summer

June–August

TIBE

Autumn

September–November

BEGA

Winter

December–February

BELG

Spring

March–May

Source Learned through field surveys in Ethiopia

equatorial character, as Addis Ababa is located at 9 º N Latitude and at an altitude of 2355 m (close to Shimla, 2276 m). It is because of the weather Ethiopians prefer to live on the highlands and avoid lowlands.

8.1.3

Ethiopian Calendar

Ethiopian calendar is very interesting. It has 13 months in a year, 12 months of 30 days each and one month of 5 days, known as pagume. Ethiopian Calendar is about 6 years behind the present-day system as it is 2014 in Ethiopia when we have 2020 in India. Ethiopian Tourism Department advertises Ethiopia as ‘the country of 13 months of sunshine’. Ethiopian New Year begins on 11th September which coincides with first day of the month’Meskerem’. New Year is welcomed with maskal flowers (cross shaped flowers) and burning of wood. The festivity resembles the Holi festival celebrations in India except playing with the colors. Ethiopians had a different way of calibration of time in the watches which I learnt through an interesting incident that happened with me. One of my students wanted to discuss some problem with me and I fixed 10 O’clock to discuss his problem next day. I waited for him until forenoon but he did not turn up. When I was preparing to leave, he appeared. I complained that he was too late. Innocently, he showed me his watch and said,” Sir, Aahun asir Sa’at’ (Sir, now it is 10 O’clock) He, then, explained to me that the watch was calibrated with 7 AM in my watch as 1, 12 noon as 6 while 1 pm as 7 and thus 4 pm in his watch was 10 O’clock. Then I realized my mistake and learned my lesson of understanding the time Ethiopian way.

8.2 Historical Events and Culture 8.2.1

The War of Adwa

Ethiopia has been a free country except from 1936 to 1941 when it was occupied by Italy. This European country had a long-lasting animosity against Ethiopia as it was defeated by Ethiopian forces in the War of Adwa, a place in Tigray province, in a single day war on Sunday, March 1, 1896. It was a fierce battle in which about 6000

Journey in the Realm of Geography

41

Italians soldiers were killed, 1500 were wounded and 3000 were taken prisoners. The Ethiopian forces were led by Emperor Menelik II. A European power with designs to colonize the territories in Africa was defeated in this war. This one-day war thwarted the Italian ambition of colonizing the Horn of Africa.

8.2.2

Emperor Theodoros and Conflict with British/Indian Army

Emperor Theodoros, who ruled Ethiopia from 1855 to 1868 planned to transform the country with modern system of governance with a well-equipped and trained army. He started reforms by curtailing the powers of regional kings. This annoyed the influential regional rulers. Theodoros approached the British government for assistance in his endeavor by providing financial support, weapon and training the army. The British did not agree to his request. In retaliation, he got British missionaries with women and children and two diplomats arrested and put them in jail. It was also alleged that he got them tortured to press the British government. Queen Victoria decided to intervene militarily by sending an army expedition to rescue the British citizens in August 1867. The command of the “rescue operation” was given to Lt. General Robert Napier, an Engineer of Indian army stationed at Bombay. The base camp was planned at Bay of Zula of Red Sea in Modern Eritrea. Ethiopian highlands have very rough terrain and Megdala, the capital of Theodoros, was located on a volcanic crag surrounded by ravines. Napier got transported not only 13,000 Indian and British soldiers, but also 26,000 camp attendants and 40,000 animals (mules etc.) to carry arms and other logistic materials. There were 44 trained elephants to carry heavy guns in rough terrain of Ethiopia. A 32 km long railway line was also laid to facilitate movement of men and materials. The operation was launched on 4th December 1867 and was completed on 13th May 1868. Theodoros freed all the hostages two days before the defeat of his army. He committed suicide and the city was ravaged, looted and destroyed by Napier’s forces. The Indian army returned after Ethiopia was handed over to one of the allies of Napier, Dajezmatch Kassa who took over Emperorship of Ethiopia as Yohannas IV in1872.

8.2.3

Shifting Capital Cities of Ethiopia

History tells us that Ethiopian capital has shifted to different places. The motives behind these shifts have been many but one of the major considerations was defense of the capital. Sometimes capitals were moved to the central location of the country on the equidistance principle to take better control of the territory (Horvath 1969). The capital cities of Ethiopia have kept on changing over time. It was said that the capital of Ethiopia was, where the emperor was. It was also a fact that Ethiopian emperor was a titular head and the power was exercised by the kings of the provinces. Historically, Yeha is known to be the capital of Ethiopia in the 6th Century BC and Axum got the status of capital in 300 BC. By 50 AD Axum spread its influence up to the coast of Red Sea and developed the port of Adulis. In modern times the

42

M. H. Qureshi

town of Gondar (12°35 60 N and 37º28 0 E) was founded by Fasildes in 1635 and was declared as a capital in 1636. A complex of royal area was built and was known as Fasil Ghebbi. Perhaps this was the first modern capital town of Ethiopia. Unfortunately, even Gondar could not remain a permanent capital and there were shifts of the capital towns from north Ethiopia towards south over a period. The other known capital towns have been Debre Tabor, Megdala, and Dessie and then it was shifted to Entoto, a hill town near Addis Ababa. The city of Addis Ababa (9°01 30 N and 38°44 49 E) was founded in 1886 by Emperor Menelik II and its site was selected by his wife Empress Taytu Betul. Addis Ababa, means “New Flower” in Amharic language (the official language of Ethiopia). The capital town of Addis Ababa is located in the foothills of Entoto in the province Shewa. Addis Ababa is connected with the port of Djibouti by a railway line as well as with a road. It is connected with all the provincial capitals with roads. Addis Ababa has an international airport.

8.2.4

The National Food

Injera is the national food of Ethiopia, which is prepared from the flour of teff (a small cereal grown in Ethiopian highlands). Botanically, teff is known as Eragrostistef , a grassy cereal plant with low yields. White and black varieties of teff are cultivated in the country. The most important crop of Ethiopia has been coffee that has assumed the distinctions of being national drink. Ethiopians claim that coffee was first discovered in the hills of the western province of Keffa from where it spread to Yemen but the people of Yemen believe that they were the original producers of the best coffee known as Mocha coffee. Coffee is being produced in small farms in Harar, Ghimbi and Yirgacheffe (in Sidamo province). Coffee is an integral part of Ethiopian culture. Drinking coffee in the family in the evening is an event which is the part of the cultural ritual. Coffee is known as ‘buna’ and Coffee house is known as ‘Buna Bet’.

8.2.5

Languages

There are three languages spoken in Ethiopia. Amharic is the official language of the country written from left to right but has many Arabic words for example ‘Bet’ means house in Arabic language, thus we have Buna Bet (Coffee House) and Shai Bet (Tea House), Suhfat Bet (Library). There is linguistic diversity in the country. Tigrinya/Tigrigna is the language in Tigray province. The language in the Oromo region of South Ethiopia is Oromaigna. It was interesting to learn the fundamentals of Amharic language. There are a number of Italian words mixed with Amharic. For example, machine is pronounced as makina and market as mercato. Makina is a broad term that included cars as well as calculators.

Journey in the Realm of Geography

43

8.3 Academic Assignment in Addis Ababa University I taught Agricultural Geography of Ethiopia (PG level), Economic Geography, (UG level geography and economics classes), Geography for Historians (UG level history class) and Regional Planning (UG level geography class). It became imperative for me to familiarize with the land, people and the economy of the country in order to handle the courses effectively. The course on Agricultural Geography had to be based on fieldwork, as there was not enough literature available on the subject in the library dealing with Ethiopian agriculture. In order to understand the land distribution and its ownership, I had to familiarize with the tenure system of the country.

8.3.1

Understanding Ethiopian Land Tenure System

Ethiopia had multiplicity of tenure system before the socialist regime. The land tenure system in the north Ethiopia, the original Amhara land, was different from South Ethiopia which was acquired through conquest over time. Rist ownership system was prevalent in northern Ethiopia in which all the descendants (males and females) of an individual ancestor were entitled for a share in the land. It was a hereditary system where no one was allowed to sell the land outside the family. The land under Gult system referred to large land areas granted by the Emperor to the officials and members of the royalty. The owners of this land were, generally, urban dwellers and absentee landlords who mostly developed large commercial farms. The tenants operating the land had very unfavorable conditions of contracts leading to their exploitation. They were liable to be evicted at the will of the landlords. There was simmering discontent among the peasantry and as the land reforms were not implemented. There was a coup led by Mengestu Neway and his friends in December 1960. It failed but clearly indicated the discontent among tenants prevailing against the system at that time. With the idea to provide land to the tillers, the Government took over ownership after the revolution in 1974 invoking “Public Ownership of Rural Land Proclamation, 1975.” It was a learning experience for me as the socialist regime had introduced the concept of Producer’s Cooperatives and State Farms. The Producer’s Cooperatives were introduced in three stages. Melba meant pooling of land by members of the cooperatives keeping 2000 m2 land for private cultivation. In second stage, it was Welba, in which the members were required to transfer their resources keeping only 1000 m2 as private land for self-cultivation. In the third stage known as Weland, the private ownership was completely abolished.

44

8.3.2

M. H. Qureshi

Field Survey Based Course on Agricultural Geography of Ethiopia

We worked out a program for conducting field work with the approval of the department to study the system of cultivation, cropping pattern and management practices of agricultural system in the field. The strategy was that the team of two teachers and 8 postgraduate students would travel by vehicle provided by the university and note down their observations at the points where agricultural operations were going on. It was also decided that after travelling the distance of 50/100 km or so the teams would stop at some convenient place, a tea stall or a coffee house and exchange the notes and discuss the observations made on the way. It is worthwhile to mention that these students were already teaching geography at different levels and had been deputed by the Education Department to the Department of Geography to obtain their postgraduate degrees. Our first stop was Debre Zeit, located at a distance of about 50 km from Addis Ababa. After discussion on a cup of tea about our observations, we proceeded to see Mount Zuqalla, a volcanic hill located at a distance of about 30 km from Debre Zeit. The height of Mount Zuqualla is 2989 m. It has a crater lake with a diameter of about one kilometer. It has a church and a training Centre for nuns. It is a sacred place for the people who come for pilgrimage. The crater is well vegetated with a number of wild animals particularly Gureza monkeys.

8.3.3

Sugarcane Farms

There were two sugarcane forms, one at Wonji near the town of Nazareth and the other at Metahara. Both these farms were earlier owned by the Emperor himself with integrated system of processing of sugar and its bye-products. These were taken over by the Government after the revolution. We visited the Metahara sugarcane farm that covered an area of about 1200 ha and grew seven varieties of sugarcanes. The irrigation was provided partly through gravitation and partly by pumping water from a lake created from the water from the Awash River. It was an integrated sugar farm with a sugar processing factory located within the farm itself. This factory produced sugar and used the bagasse as fuel to generate power and molasses was used for producing liquor.

8.3.4

Forestry and Wild Life Resource Institute, Wendo Genet

This institute was started in 1978 in a beautiful green valley in collaboration with Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). The demand for wood for construction and domestic fuel had led to large scale deforestation in Ethiopia. Due to severe deforestation the emperor Menelik II introduced and propagated the plantation of eucalyptus tree brought from Australia. The institute after its inception started restoring the natural forests with emphasis on conservation and propagation of local vegetation as far as possible. Eucalyptus, in Ethiopian language is known as

Journey in the Realm of Geography

45

‘BaharZaf ’ (tree brought from beyond the ocean). The Dean of the Institute, a scientist from Sweden, narrated an interesting anecdote. He said that Ethiopian students identify only two species of trees (1) Bahar Zaf i.e. eucalyptus and (2) non-BaharZaf i.e. non eucalyptus. Though Ethiopia had been a land of rich biodiversity and diverse vegetation, the local varieties of trees disappeared because of large scale deforestation and afforestation with eucalyptus. Ethiopia is known to have 140 species of wild life but the shrunken habitat had limited their numbers as well as the diversity.

8.4 Cherishing the Memories of Ethiopia Having completed my contract of two years with the University of Addis Ababa, I returned to JNU in July 1983. It was an exciting and enriching two-year period for me when I got an opportunity to know about the country, land and people of Ethiopia. Even after returning from Ethiopia, I was in touch through some Indian teachers and some of my old students in that country. I can say from my experience that Indian teachers received great respect from their students in Ethiopia. One of my students, Mr. Teklehaimanot Haile Selassie, who completed his MA dissertation under my supervision, was already working as a senior officer in the Ministry of Education when he joined the postgraduate program. He became the Education Minister of Ethiopia and visited India as a member of an Ethiopian delegation. He could locate me in Delhi and came to JNU. It was a nostalgic meeting with him when we talked about and recalled the old days when I was on the faculty of the University of Addis Ababa.

9 A Brief Sojourn to Bremen University, Germany I had the opportunity to visit the Department of Geography, School of Social Sciences, University of Bremen, Germany as a Visiting Professor for a semester in April 1996. This was an assignment for delivering a series of lectures on ‘Agriculture and Rural Development in India.’ Professor (Dr.) Gerhard Bahrenberg who came to India with a team of his students for fieldwork after my return headed the Department of Geography at that time. Besides the academic engagement at the Bremen University, I had keen interest to learn about geography of Germany. We did extensive fieldwork and were able to visit Baltic coast, North Sea and Dolar Bay area very close to Netherlands border. This part of Germany lies on the coast of North Sea where the sea level is higher than the land. We were able to observe a number of functioning windmills. We also visited Berlin and saw the remaining part of the Berlin Wall and the museum at Check Point Charlie. The capital was still at Bonn but renovation work of the Reichstag (German Parliament) was going on as it was damaged during the World War II. It was interesting to travel on bi-cycle from one village to the other and it was here that I could understand the Houfendorf (Houfendorfer) rural

46

M. H. Qureshi

settlements located along the roads. The farmhouses were located closer to the roads to facilitate the transportation of inputs and outputs, however, fields attached to them were elongated and stretched. I also visited the Institute of Regional Geography, Leipzig (Institut fur Landerkunde) in the company of Professor Gerhard Bahrenberg. It had a rich library with a huge amount of material on Indian Geography. It was interesting to see some hand paintings of German travelers who visited different places in India and portrayed them using their pens, pencils and brushes. Being an agricultural geographer, I made it a point to visit the place Rostock where Johann Heinrich von Thunen developed the famous ‘model of agricultural location’ in 1826 by assuming the existence of ‘The Isolated State’. Now this place is a flouring town with all the modern facilities. However, it was a short stay but within that I was able to see a lot in Germany with the support of Professor Gerhard Bahrenberg. I gratefully acknowledge his help and hospitality.

10 Learning and Teaching Through Field Surveys Field surveys (physical and socio-economic) have been the unique features of MA Geography program at CSRD (JNU), which provide opportunity to both the students and teachers for the grass-root level learning and interaction with the people and environment. Under the course of socio-economic survey, the teachers and students have studied various villages and urban localities while the physical survey has been carried out in the mountainous areas of India.

10.1 Socio-economic Surveys The responsibility of coordinating the course entitled ‘Field Survey Methods (SocioEconomic)’ naturally came to me due to my specialization in Agricultural Geography and Rural Development. For the village survey, the course had to be completed by living with and being the part of the village community for three to four weeks during the winters when the Rabi crops were still in the fields. This provided great opportunity to get the feel of the real rural India. There were a number of villages surveyed for this course in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Delhi. I have memories of some of these villages. The village Khandewala in the district Gurgaon (at present Gurugram) was selected for socio-economic survey to be conducted by the MA students of 1974–76 batch and the fieldwork was conducted in December 1975. We stayed in a building in outskirts of the village settlement owned by a villager, Mr. Satya Deo Dalal to study the cropping pattern, productivity, source of irrigation and agricultural inputs. The students visited the households to study the family structure, age-sex composition, educational level, etc. This village, at that time, was a wheat growing area

Journey in the Realm of Geography

47

along with peas, gram and mustard during Rabi (winter) season while bajra (pearl millet), sorghum, arhar (pigeon pea) were cultivated in Kharif (summer) season. The students developed strong rapport with the village people who cooperated and helped us in understanding the social dynamism in this Jat dominated village. This village was revisited by us in 1985 to understand the changes that had taken place during the decade. The striking change that was observed in 1985 was the introduction of rice, sugarcane and vegetables crops in the village, but wheat remained a dominant crop in Rabi season. Another notable change was the emergence of tube-well as a major source of irrigation. In December 1976 the Emergency period, we visited village Sholda located on Meerut-Garh Mukteswar road in Meerut district, Uttar Pradesh. The villagers were very skeptical about the presence of outsiders as they were wary of the enforcement of Family Planning program i.e., vasectomy. It took us four to five days in the village in convincing the people about the purpose of our study and establishing the rapport with them. The majority of the population in the village was Panjabi Jats (that is how they introduced themselves). There were a few households of Scheduled Caste as well. The village Pradhan (Headman) told us that there were three specific features of the village (1) no litigation in the courts (2) no theft or burglary in the village (3) the entry gates of the houses remained ever unlocked. This reflected, in their words, the prevalence of social cohesion and goodwill among different communities in the village. The major crops of the village were sugarcane and wheat. Barnala Kalan village of Nawa Shaher district in Punjab was surveyed by our students in December 1978. This field work was jointly supervised by me, Professor Kusum Chopra, an economist and Professor K. S Sivasami. Barnala Kalan was a developed and prosperous village of Punjab. However, wheat and rice were the main crops; the village had diversified agriculture with vegetables included in the cropping pattern. This was the year when there was good production of potatoes but the prices crashed and most of the potato growers suffered losses. Some of the farmers did not harvest the crop in order to save the labor cost of picking the potatoes and ploughed the fields with standing crop. We could not conduct the socio-economic survey in December 1992 due to the tension in the society in the wake of Babari Mosque demolition in Ayodhya. Hence, it was organized in January 1993 in Kalwas, predominantly a Bishnoi community inhabited village in Hisar district of Haryana. Dr. M. S Jaglan assisted me to survey this village located in a dry tract, where the farmers were dependent on rain-fed cultivation of bajra (pearl millet), and gram as there was no irrigation facility prior to 1970s. Its agriculture was transformed due to the availability of irrigation water after construction of Devsar Feeder Canal. We could observe a change in cropping pattern as it grew cotton, wheat and oilseeds in irrigated tracts and the hardy crops such as bajra and gram were relegated to the dry and sandy tracts. There was Warabandi (rotational) system of canal water distribution where water was available in canal only for 15 days in a month. Warabandi ensures that each farming household received water on a fixed day and fixed time according to the size of land holdings in the command area of canal outlet. Many prosperous households had left the mother settlements and shifted to their farm-residences (dhanis) to take better care of their

48

M. H. Qureshi

crops. The mother settlement presented a neglected and desolate look though most of the facilities such as school, Ayurvedic dispensary, bank and veterinary hospital were located there. We, for the first time, learnt about the water theft by farmers from the canal using a plastic trunk, which was necessitated, as farmers did not get enough water supplies from the canal for irrigating their water intensive crops. Though the tenets of Bishnoi Sect forbid cutting of green trees, the farmers belonging to this community found a way out of clearing fields to facilitate the use of farm machinery. Many farmers employed the labor from the Scheduled Caste to cut trees, as they (laborers) did not subscribe to the tenets of Bishnoi Sect. This type of social pragmatism can be observed in many societies.

10.2 Physical Surveys Beside socio-economic surveys, I also got opportunity of guiding the students of MA in physical surveys in Himalayan region during summers.

10.2.1

Lidder Valley Survey

Students belonging to 1976 batch were guided by four teachers in their survey namely Dr. Aijazuddin Ahmad, Dr. S. K. Pal, Dr. Kusum Chopra and me. The group was interested in understanding the physical environment of Kashmir Himalayas and human responses to it. Therefore, we planned physical survey of Lidder valley in Kashmir Himalayas by traversing West Lidder River valley from Pahalgam to Lidderwat. The base camp was fixed at Lidderwat from where trekking was done along Kolahoi Khol and Tarsar Khol. This area, beyond Aru, had no permanent human habitation but was visited by transhumant groups of Gujars and Bakerwals. We studied geomorphic features and natural vegetation along the valley slopes. Another area of interest to us was the movement of the communities practicing transhumance and their habitations in the area. They moved to higher altitude pastures in summers and returned back to settle in foothill plains in Jammu and Kathua during winters. These communities have adapted to the environment for their livelihood. The Gujars who mostly rear cows and buffaloes made Baheks (temporary night shelters) for their stay during nights but Bakerwals carried their tents. Bahek is made by making a cut in the slope along the river valley to have easy access to water. It is one room accommodation, divided into two compartments with the help of twigs and branches. The front portion is used as bedroom to accommodate the family members and the back portion for keeping animals. The animals are taken out to graze on the natural pastures during the daytime. Once the carrying capacity of the pasture declines, the Gujars moved up with their animals to another pasture at higher altitude. Bakerwals who rear goats and sheep carried their tents on horseback and used them as night shelters. The sheep and goats used the grass at higher slopes where the buffaloes and cattle cannot negotiate the slopes due to their higher body weight.

Journey in the Realm of Geography

49

After leaving Pahalgam, we trekked about 9 km to reach Aru and stayed there for two days. Aaru had a Fodder Research Centre. There we saw the functioning of an indigenous watermill (locally known as ‘gharard’) located along a perennial stream. It was used for grinding grains and we witnessed the grinding of maize in it. Our next destination was Lidderwat located at a distance of about 11 km from Aru where we stayed for 5 days surveying the area. While trekking to Kolahoi glacier students examined various glacial features such as snout, cirque, Tarn Lake, side and terminal moraines, arête (French word for ridge or edge). This mesmerizing experience connected our textbook knowledge of geomorphology with reality. We were thrilled to notice the last tree line of birch trees along the West Lidder valley. We also saw the snout of Lidder River coming out of Kolahoi glacier. Beyond the tree line, there were Rhododendrons beyond which the grass was dominant vegetation. On the third day, the group visited the Tarser and Marsar Lakes, a deadly difficult area. Despite the peak of summer, the lakes remained partly frozen with melting in the lower reaches. The tender grasses near lakes had started emerging after the period of thaw. The fourth day was devoted to study the Gujar families staying around Lidderwat. We met the team of doctors who visited these areas of transhumant communities to help them by examining the ailing persons and providing medicines. We returned to Pahalgam and after a day’s rest and moved to Sonamarg located in the Sind Nala valley up to the Tahajiwas glacier. The same evening we moved to Baltal and then proceeded to climb to Zoji La, the pass that connects Srinagar in Kashmir valley with Leh in Ladakh. The pass overlooks Dras valley, a tehsil in Kargil district. It was a difficult trek where we observed landslides with huge rolling boulders falling in the valley. We trekked to Amarnath cave next day very early in the morning along the Sind Nala, negotiating slope along a very narrow path. The trek went well and we were able to cross Amar Ganga valley and reach Amarnath cave located at an altitude of 3888 m. The cave is located in an area with the rock formation of limestone. The water dripping in the cave freezes on the ground taking the shape of a pillar revered as Shivaling. We could see a fully developed Shivaling in the cave where pujaries (worshipers) had already reached to perform worship. After staying there for almost 2 hours we started climbing up the slope called Sant Pahari before climbing down to the Panchtarni valley. The group stayed in the PWD Guest House during the night. Next morning, we left for Sheshnag, a glacial lake surrounded by peaks resembling the hood of a cobra. It was a difficult climbing to the snow clad Mahagunas pass, located at an altitude of 4300 m. connecting the Panchtarni and Sheshnag valleys. However, we were able to reach Sheshnag at about 11 AM and pitched our tents to settle for the day. Next day we had to climb down the Pissu Top (3377 m) to reach Chandanwari located on the bank of East Lidder River. The next stop was Laripora about three km before reaching Pahalgam from where we had initially started. Thus, we traversed both West and East Lidder valleys, which merge at Pahalgam.

50

10.2.2

M. H. Qureshi

Gurez Valley Survey

Gurez lies in the valley of River Kishan Ganga, which has been the part of earlier Dardistan. Inhabitants of this valley call themselves Dards/Shinas and their language is Shina, which is different from Kashmiri. The Gurez valley is 8 km in length located at a distance of 123 km from Srinagar and 86 km from Bandipore located at an elevation of about 2400 m above mean sea level. Field survey in this valley was carried out in the month of June 1977 and I was accompanied by Dr. Sudesh Nangia to supervise it. Initially we stayed at Bandipore, arranged the provisions and got clearance from the Sector Commander of Army after quite a pursuance. We were permitted to proceed to Tragbal where we stayed in a small operational barrack provided by defense personnel. Next morning, we proceeded to cross Razdan pass located at an altitude of 3,558 m, which connects the Kashmir valley with Kishanganga valley. On 29th of June, 1977 when rest of north India was in the grip of hot weather it was snowing at the top of Razdan pass. We reached Kanzalwan after crossing Razdan pass where were directed to reach Dawar, the only town in the Gurez valley. We were accommodated in a PWD Guest House and the fieldwork started the next day. The landscape the Kishanganga valley is quite imposing as it is surrounded by high mountains on both sides. The slopes were well vegetated and for the first time we saw the trees of kadam (Neolamarckia cadamba). The slopes had natural growth of kala zeera (black cumin, Elwendiapersica) and muren, a medicinal plant (Artimesia absinthium). It is very bitter in taste and is used to cure jaundice, which is called Afsanteen-e-Rumi in the Unani medicine system. The settlements were located in the valley and lower slopes of the hills. We visited five settlements i.e. Dawar, Bawan, Wampora, Khandyal, Markoot, and Fakirpora for interaction with people. Agriculture and animal husbandry were the main occupations of people. Agriculture was of subsistence level and main crops cultivated in the valley were potato and shina, a local cereal. The houses generally, had three floors and were made of logs and mud. The ground floor was used for keeping the animals, the first floor for living purpose of the family members and second floor for storage of fuel, food and fodder. Gurez area receives 2–2.5 m snowfall during winters and snowmelt keeps the river flowing. This region is locked from all the sides with Kishanganga River flowing through the middle of the valley. The river originates from Kishansar lake near Sonamarg in Kashmir. It takes a northward course and enters the Tulail Valley. It covers a course of about 245 km before joining Jhelum River near Muzaffarabad town in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. It receives water from a number of glaciers embedded on the side hills. The water of the river is very cold and is known to have a rich harvest of Trout fish, some of which may weigh up to 11 kg and clearly visible in the clear blue water of the river. The most imposing physical feature of the area is Habba Khatoon peak, named after a revered and respected poetess of Kashmir. It is a pyramid shaped conical mountain surrounded by Tulail valley on one side and valley leading towards Gilgit on the other side. The people faced a very tough life as this valley was completely cut off from Srinagar and their district headquarters Bandipore. There was only one school and a hospital in this area in 1977.

Journey in the Realm of Geography

10.2.3

51

Survey of Lolab Valley and Adjoining Regions

We continued our expedition of understanding the land and people of Kashmir. After returning to Bandipore we proceeded to Kupwara and then moved to Chandigam along the Lolab Nala. This whole area is known as Lolab valley (Wadi-e-Lolab) which is surrounded by lush green trees of pines and deodar. The hills around this valley have a number of springs which are the source of water for drinking as well as irrigation. We could also spot the tall trees of walnut, apple orchards, cherry and other fruits. This is the reason that this valley is known as fruit bowl of Kashmir. Poet Allama Mohammad Iqbal has described its beauty in his famous poem Wadi-eLolab. We visited a number of villages such as Sogam, Lalpora, Kulgam Khumriyal, Khorahama, Varnow and Kalaroos. We were told that coal mining was prevalent in this area in the past and copper was mined from the hills near Kalaroos. Khorahama had a small museum displaying artifacts of the area. We proceeded to Panzgam and stayed in a forest guest house and surveyed some areas around on the way to Tangdhar. The next stop was Sopore but we surveyed areas around Handwara and Zacheldar. We visited the hills near Zacheldar where coal mining was started but later abandoned as its quality was poor. We reached Sopore and next day visited the Pohru River, a tributary of Jhelum. Sopore was full of apple orchards and rich agricultural land. One locality in the town was known as New London as it had been occupied by rich people with western style bungalows. We returned to Srinagar and sought an appointment with Mr. Sheikh Mohammad Abdulla, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir (lovingly called Sher-e-Kashmir i.e. Lion of Kashmir). He was gracious enough to spare for us few minutes time but when we reported the situation in the surveyed areas he cancelled all his appointments for one hour and listened to us patiently in the lawns of his residence. He also directed Mr. Sonam Norbu, Minister for Public Works and Health Department, to listen to us who had a long discussion with us the next day. Unfortunately, we could not revisit that area of Kashmir to see the changes that came after our visit in 1977.

11 Development of School Curricula and Textbooks My engagement with geography as an academic discipline has not been limited to higher education alone. It was in 1987 that a small committee was appointed under the chair of Professor Moonis Raza with Professor R. P. Misra and me as its members to examine the problems of Hindi translation of school geography textbooks originally written in English. There were complaints from teachers and students that the language of translation was too difficult to comprehend. The committee decided that as a test case a book may be written first in Hindi and later with same material, it should be written in English by the same author without involving translation. I was the youngest among the committee members, so quite naturally the responsibility of writing the textbook in Hindi was assigned to me. The book entitled,’ Bhoogol ke Siddhant II’ (Principles of Geography-II) was written in Hindi which was reviewed

52

M. H. Qureshi

by a team of teachers from schools, colleges and universities. The first edition of the book was finally published in October, 1989. Following this pattern the next book that was prepared by me was ‘India: Resources and Regional Development’ both in Hindi and English languages. This book was published by National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) in 1990. My second stint of developing school textbooks began in 2005. It was the time when National Curriculum Framework was developed under the stewardship of NCERT Director, Professor Krishna Kumar. I was invited to join the team as an advisor for developing geography textbooks for classes IX to XII. NCERT selected a team of school, college and university teachers for developing these textbooks. Each book was the result of a collective endeavor of this team with final responsibility resting on me. All together this team including the NCERT coordinators produced 8 (6 theory and 2 practical) textbooks. Geography is the part of Social Studies in class IX and X, hence separate books were developed with the title, ‘Social Science: Contemporary India-I (for class IX) and’ Social Science: Contemporary India-II (for class X). The textbooks developed for class XI and XII were ‘Fundamentals of Physical Geography’; ‘India: Physical Environment’; ‘Practical Work in Geography-Part-I’; ‘Fundamentals of Human Geography’; ‘India-People and Economy’; and ‘Practical Work in Geography-Part-II’. Besides the contribution in development of school textbooks, I published 12 books, 55 research papers in national journals and 5 research papers in international journals.

12 Academic Honors The members of National Association of Geographers, India, gave me an honor by unanimously electing me President of the Association for the year 2010–2011 in the annual meeting held at Allahabad University, Allahabad. I was also nominated as a Member of Indian Council of Social Sciences Research (ICSSR), New Delhi for three-year term from 3.11.2011 to 2.11. 2014. The members of the Indian Institute of Geographers, Pune honored me by electing the President of IIG for the year 2015–2016. The National Association of Geographers, India awarded me BHUGOL VACHASPATI in its annual conference held at the University of Jammu in December 2015. I value the gestures of my students and friends who have come together to honor me by publishing the present Felicitation Volume. I will hold it as the most valuable treasure till I am there in this world and known as a student of geography.

Journey in the Realm of Geography

53

References Horvath RJ (1969) The wandering capitals of Ethiopia. J Afr History 10(2):205–219 Mukerji AB, Ahmad A (eds) (1985) India: culture, society and economy: geographical essays in honour of Professor Asok Mitra. Inter-India Publication, New Delhi Schwartzberg JE (1985) Folk regions in north-western India. In: Mukerji AB, Ahmad A (eds) India: culture, society and economy (geographical essays in honour of Professor Asok Mitra. Inter-India Publication, New Delhi Wikipedia (2020) www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultanpur_UttarPradesh

Environment, Resource Base and Livelihood

Livelihood Adaptation to Climate Variability in Jaunsar-Bawar Tribal Habitat of Central Himalayas, India Dinesh Pratap and Aradhana Pratap

Abstract The impacts of climate change are quite pronounced in many areas of the fragile Himalayan environment. Though the recorded climatic data provide definite scientific evidence of climatic variations over time, the perception of local community is equally significant as people are directly affected by climate change and have to adapt to and cope with it. In this context, the present study assesses the trend of climatic variations, its impacts, and adaptation strategies by the community in Jaunsar-Bawar tribal region of the Central Himalayas in Uttarakhand state of India. This region lies in the ecologically fragile zone and inhabited by largely a socially backward and economically marginalized community. The study uses both secondary and primary data. The primary data is obtained from twenty one sample villages and 308 sample households located at the altitudes between 600 and 2500 m. The climatic data in the region reveal evidences of periodical fluctuations. However, there is a downward trend in annual and seasonal rainfall in the higher reaches of the region since late 1980s. The community has also perceived waning of monsoon rains, reduction in incidences of snowfall during winter and growing erratic nature of precipitation. The impacts of climate change have been widely felt on crop production and yields of horticultural plantation. The community has taken various adaptive measures to offset its adverse effects. However, given its greater vulnerability to climate change, the community requires certain institutional supports from the government to strengthen its livelihood base. Keywords Himalayas · Communities · Climate change · Livelihood adaptation · Tribal region

D. Pratap DAV PG College, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248001, India A. Pratap (B) Doon Science Forum, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248001, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari (eds.), Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3100-9_3

57

58

D. Pratap and A. Pratap

1 Introduction The evolution of human civilization through the stages of hunting/gathering, evolution/revolution of agriculture and industrial development has witnessed the changing relationship between humans and natural systems. Climate is the most variable element of physical environment and it impacts almost all spheres of human life. The seasonal and regional variations in climate have shaped the living and livelihood patterns of human societies since time immemorial. The symbiotic relationship between climate, as one of the key components of natural systems, and human society began to change with growing industrialization in the world in the nineteenth century and assumed serious dimensions in the twentieth century. The adversity of relationship between anthropogenic activities and climatic conditions impacting each other has emerged as one of the most serious challenges being faced by the human society in twenty-first century. While inter-annual variations and short term fluctuations (shorter than 30 years) in climatic conditions do not qualify to be termed as climate change but these anomalies nevertheless have a bearing on the society, economy, and environment in different areas. The accumulation of greenhouse gases has reached the dangerous levels threatening climate change and global warming beyond the limits of human tolerance. AR5, the 5th Assessment Report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2014) concludes that the warming of the climate system is unequivocal and since 1950s many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and oceans have become warmer, the storage of snow and ice on the earth has diminished, and sea level has risen. The analysis of data for more than 150 years reveals that the earth’s temperature has increased by 0.74 °C in last hundred years and 12 out of last 13 years are among the warmest years since 1850. This underlines the fact that the adverse effects of human actions on climate system are on increase and at the same time climate change has widespread impacts on human and natural systems. From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production, to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale (UNEP 2013). It has been opined that South Asia is particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts because of high density of population and prevalence of poverty. Climate change has induced new forms of vulnerabilities among many resource-dependent marginalized sections of Indian society (Patra 2016). The impacts are likely to be more serious on agriculture and poor village communities whose resilience is low and assets are insufficient (Sterrett 2011). Most of the ecosystems in India are vulnerable to climate change. There are evidences of global warming in the country in the twentieth century and this is only going to get further accelerated in the twenty-first century (Srinivasan 2012). Climate change is likely to adversely affect India’s natural resources which will jeopardize the livelihoods of large number of its people because Indian economy is highly dependent on its natural resources such as land, water, and forests (Sharma and Chauhan 2011).

Livelihood Adaptation to Climate Variability in Jaunsar-Bawar …

59

1.1 Climate Change Impacts in Central Himalayas Impact of climate change is more pronounced in ecologically fragile mountain areas of the Himalayas where rapid altitudinal change results in high degree of variations in relief, temperature, rainfall, natural vegetation, water regimes and other associated phenomena. It is a major and growing challenge in mountain areas where ‘even small shifts in temperature can jeopardize the fragile balance of natural environments, which are defined by extreme climatic conditions, steep topography, and a wide variety of ecological zones and associated microhabitats with distinct biodiversity’ (Kotru et al 2014). The impacts of climate change on the mountain system are evident in the rapid melting of glaciers, loss of snow cover, changes in vegetation cover, biodiversity loss, erratic weather patterns and increasing frequency and magnitude of natural disasters (Shrestha 2011). The Himalayas are the largest high-land mass in the world which cast a significant influence on the South Asian and global climates. The ecologically fragile environment of these mountain systems are themselves subject to climate change impact and warming in these mountains is predicted to be well above the global average (Pandey and Venkatraman 2012). A well-documented study by Singh (2012) has indicated higher rate of warming in the Himalayas than global average, and faster receding of glaciers. The study has expressed serious concern about the Himalayan region as it has more snow and ice than any other region in the world outside the polar caps. According to the report of Government of Uttarakhand (2012) ‘Action Plan on Climate Change’, the net increase in temperature in the Himalayan region by 2030 with respect to 1970s would range between 1.7 and 2.2 °C. The seasonal air temperatures are also likely to rise but for the winter season. The climate data available from few locations of the Uttarakhand Himalayas (Dehradun, Pantnagar, Almora, Nainital, and Muketshwar) indicate changes in the climatic parameters. Empirical evidences from a lesser Himalayan hill station, Almora (1640 m) show rise in average temperature by 0.46 °C during last 53 years (1955–2007) (UCOST 2012). The rainfall records of Almora and Nainital show a decreasing trend. Similarly, meteorological data of Dehradun (670 m) also indicates rising trend in temperature and decreasing trend in rainfall during the period 1981 to 2008 (Devlal 2010). Another study, analyzing the temperature data for the period 1967–2007, has shown an increasing tendency in annual, seasonal, and monthly temperatures at Dehradun (Singh et al 2013). The Uttarakhand Himalaya is also experiencing changes in other climate related parameters such as retreat of glaciers and upward shifting of tree line (Pratap 2013). While the recorded data are taken to be definite scientific evidences of climatic change, the perception of local communities also provide some useful understanding about the phenomena as they are the ones directly affected by these changes and have to adapt and cope with them. The local communities have perceived variations in temperature, rainfall, snowfall, and incidence of crop diseases during last couple of decades. Depending on their traditional wisdom and available resources, they are resorting to different adaptation mechanisms at different locations. Shift in timing of rainfall, reduction in rainfall spells, increase in intensity of rainfall, decrease

60

D. Pratap and A. Pratap

in snowfall and increase in average temperature, etc. have been reported from 20 villages of Tehri Garhwal district in a study sponsored by Oxfam (MVDA 2011). A case study of two middle Himalayan districts of Uttarakhand (Tehri Garhwal and Almora) reports that community perceives a definite change in climatic parameters by way of decrease in rainfall, delay in monsoon, reduction in winter rainfall and snowfall, increase in temperature and increase in crop disease and pests (Macchi et al 2011). Based on various studies and consultations Uttarakhand Centre on Climate Change has prepared Uttarakhand State Action Plan for Climate Change, 2012. It reports overall erratic rainfall pattern; increasing temperatures; increased frequency of intense rainfall events; less or absence of winter rains; decreased water availability; warmer and shorter winter, etc. (Government of Uttarakhand 2012). The farming communities have responded to these changes in various ways such as adjusting the sowing period of crops, changes in crops varieties, cultivating less land, the revival of traditional irrigation systems with water sharing rules and regulations, etc. (Macchi et al 2011). A study conducted by Lokgariwar (2009) in the Bhagirathi and Pinder river valleys highlights the levels of their vulnerability to climate change and the coping mechanisms developed by local community. In one valley, rural community is exploring alternative crops (e.g. tomato cultivation in place of apple orchards) to support their livelihood, the residents of another valley, facing decline in crop production due to increased aridity in winters, are either becoming increasingly dependent on external support through remittances or seeking alternative employment or even migrating to other locations. Another study of six villages (BBA 2011) highlights the community coping strategies. It is a mix of actions involving change in cropping pattern, switching to cash crops, revival of traditional farming methods, change in crop rotation and shift in sowing timings, income diversification and increasing dependence on government employment schemes. The documentation of local communities’ perception about climate change is considered important for framing the government policies as such perceptions reflect local concerns, highlight the actual impacts of climate change on people’s lives and influence the adaptive measures that communities take to cope with the adverse effects (Halder et al 2012). Still, the indigenous knowledge of the mountainous communities has been mostly ignored while framing the policies and strategies of adaptation to climate change. In fact, integration of people’s perception and indigenous know how with scientific knowledge is a key factor in creating community resilience to cope with climate change (Negi et al 2017).

1.2 Objectives and Scope of Study There are various studies highlighting the nature and pattern of climatic variations, their consequent impacts on agriculture and adaptation strategies of the farming communities in Uttarakhand, the Himalayan state of India. However, given the variations in physical and socio-economic conditions in the state, there is no uniform pattern of climate change and the strategies adopted by the communities to cope

Livelihood Adaptation to Climate Variability in Jaunsar-Bawar …

61

with these climatic variations. The present study aims at assessing the nature of climatic variations, the perception of the community about its impacts and adaptation strategies in the tribal region of Uttarakhand in Central Himalayas. The study area, Jaunsar-Bawar tribal region, comprises Chakrata and Kalsi ‘development blocks’ of Dehradun district, Uttarakhand state of India (Fig. 1). Extending between 30° 26´ and 31° 2´ North Latitude and 77° 38´ and 78° 4´ East Longitude, it covers a tract of about 1000 km2 . It is a mountainous tract with altitudinal range of 450–3000 m and subtropical to cool-temperate climate. While forests cover 44% of the area of this region, 28.42% area is recorded as cultivable waste land, 8.28% as grazing land, 6.84% as area under orchards and miscellaneous tree crops. Cropping in this area is restricted to less than 10% of total geographical area. According to Census of India, 2011 figures it is inhabited by a population of 1, 25,486. About 56% population in the region is tribal (Scheduled Tribes) followed by the Scheduled Castes which constitute 34% of total population. Thus, this is largely inhabited by marginalized communities who are mainly dependent on agriculture and allied activities (75%) for the livelihood. Though the sex ratio in the study area is on higher side, 923, it lags in parameters of socio-economic development with low literacy rate (55%), poor healthcare facilities, and 70% population below poverty line. Overall, this is a fragile region both in terms of ecological and socio-economic parameters (Government of Uttarakhand 2013).

1.3 Data Base and Methodology The analysis of climatic variations, their impacts and adaptation strategies by the community in the study area, is based on secondary as well as primary data. The secondary data relating to climatic parameters, rainfall and temperature, relate to two weather stations Chakrata and Chibro situated in the region obtained from the Working Plan for Chakrata Forest Division, Yamuna Circle (WPC 2007). But there are limitations of climatic data as these are not available for the continuous time series. The climatic data have been presented graphically and interpreted to understand the trend and variations in rainfall and temperature parameters. The primary data has been obtained through the field survey conducted during 2015 in twenty one randomly selected sample villages located in different altitudinal zones of the region between 600 and 2500 m. The household survey was conducted with a help of structured questionnaire to record the opinion of randomly selected 308 sample households representing different socio-economic strata of the community. The sample villages may be expected to be a fair representation of the universe as these belong to different altitudinal environment as well as are of different population size, literacy rates and social composition. The respondents were asked questions on their perception about change in climatic conditions, its impacts, and adaptation strategy with respect to the years 1995 and 2015. The responses of the sample households have been tabulated and interpreted to assess their perception about climatic variations and adaptation by the local community.

62

D. Pratap and A. Pratap

Fig. 1 Jaunsar-Bawar region: location of sample villages. Source Administrative Atlas Uttarakhand, Census of India, 2011

Livelihood Adaptation to Climate Variability in Jaunsar-Bawar …

63

1.4 Socio-economic Profile of Sample Villages The region is inhabited mostly by economically marginalized and socially backward communities. A very large proportion of population in the sample villages (about 87%) belongs to the marginalized section of the society like Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Their proportion increases with increase in the altitudes of the villages. Furthermore, the literacy rate of the people is quite low (about 55%) and it declines with altitude (Table 1). The education level of the respondents is low as about three-fifth of them are illiterate or educated up to primary level. Only about 15% of them have attained higher education. Most of the households in the region are landowners but a very large proportion of them (three-fifth) are marginal farmers (less than 0.8 ha). Only about 4% farmers own the farms larger than 2 ha. Being largely an agrarian society, about 62% households earn their livelihood from agriculture and animal husbandry (Table 2).

2 Trends of Climatic Variations The elements of climate are variable. Hence, certain degree of variability is inherent in climatic conditions of the study area. But during recent period there have been studies which indicate that climatic variations in the region are connected to the trends of global warming. Peoples’ Science Institute (PSI 2010) has analyzed 100 years weather data for four stations in Uttarakhand to reveal the increasing trend in maximum temperatures while minimum temperatures have either remained constant or decreased slightly. There has been a decrease in precipitation, drastic decrease in Table 1 Social characteristics of sample villages Altitudinal category of sample villages

Total population

Literacy rate (%)

Scheduled tribes population (%)

Scheduled castes population (%)

Number. of sample villages

Number. of sample households

Low altitude Villages (below 1200 m)

2208

62.50

31.48

48.48

4

64

Middle altitude villages (1200–1800 m)

6603

52.41

33.29

54.54

13

180

High altitude villages (above 1800 m)

2283

54.04

33.95

58.43

4

64

11,094

54.64

33.06

54.04

21

308

All sample villages

Source Census of India, 2011 and Field Survey 2015

64

D. Pratap and A. Pratap

Table 2 Socio-economic profile of sample households Educational qualification

Respondents (%)

Land ownership (size)

Households (%)

Primary source of income

Households (%)

Illiterate

131 (42.53)

Landless

9 (2.92)

Agriculture

77 (24.99)

Primary

51 (16.55)

2.0 ha

13 (4.22)

Others

52 (17.05)

Total

308 100.0

Total

308 100.0

Total

308 100.0

Source Field survey 2015

snowfall and increase in extreme weather events which have been directly attributed to the processes of climate change occurring in the state. It has been underlined that climate change has emerged as a critical issue in the disaster-prone state of Uttarakhand. Uncertainty of rainfall and snowfall is on the anvil as winter rains have almost disappeared and inner Himalayan peaks support much less snow than earlier (Chopra 2014). The state has also witnessed shift in temperature and precipitation regimes. The duration and amount of rainfall in the state have changed significantly as most of the precipitation is received as rain rather than snow (Rautela and Karki 2015). The temperature data obtained for two stations in the study area namely Chakrata and Chibro indicate a mixed trend of maximum and minimum temperatures. Figures 2 and 3 depict the average monthly maximum and minimum temperatures of Chakrata for the periods 1987–1995 and 1996–2005. It is revealed that at this station while the average maximum temperature has been almost constant, the average minimum temperature, except for May and August, has been lower during the second period. On the other hand, at Chibro, a weather station located at the lower elevation, the average monthly maximum temperature has been higher in the period 1996–2006 as compared to 1977–85 but not much different from 1967 to 1974 (Fig. 4). The average monthly minimum temperature record also reveals a similar trend as it is slightly higher during the period 1996–2006 as compared to 1977–85 but not much different from that of the period 1967 to 1974 (Fig. 5). It may be concluded from the plotted temperature data in the region that there is no clear trend of increase or decrease of temperatures although it is clearly marked by periodical fluctuations. There is a better resolution of rainfall data available for Chakrata weather station. It is available for a continuous period of 34 years, i.e. 1972–2005. Interestingly, annual rainfall at this station shows a decreasing trend since late 1980s. It peaked at 3040 mm in 1987 but more or less consistently declined after that keeping below 1200 mm

Livelihood Adaptation to Climate Variability in Jaunsar-Bawar …

65

Fig. 2 Chakrata: monthly average maximum temperature. Source Forest Working Plans, Department of Forest, Governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand

Fig. 3 Chakrata: monthly average minimum temperature. Source Same as Fig. 2

after 1991 (Fig. 6). The average monthly rainfall at Chakrata initially increased up to mid-1980s, particularly during Monsoon season (Fig. 7). But it declined substantially during next two decades. For Chibro station rainfall data is not available for continuous period as it pertains to three discrete time periods viz. 1967–1974, 1977–1986 and 1996–2006. The plotting of the data of average annual and monthly rainfalls does not show a discernible trend. However, it depicts periodic fluctuations in the rainfall parameters (Figs. 8 and 9). It’s evident that there is clear downward trend in

66

D. Pratap and A. Pratap

Fig. 4 Chibro: monthly average maximum temperature. Source Same as Fig. 2

Fig. 5 Chibro: monthly average minimum temperature. Source Same as Fig. 2

rainfall at higher altitudes in the region since late 1980s. At the lower latitudes both annual and monthly rainfalls show fluctuating trend.

Livelihood Adaptation to Climate Variability in Jaunsar-Bawar …

Fig. 6 Chakrata: annual rainfall. Source Same as Fig. 2

Fig. 7 Chakrata: monthly average rainfall. Source Same as Fig. 2

Fig. 8 Chibro: annual rainfall. Source Same as Fig. 2

67

68

D. Pratap and A. Pratap

Fig. 9 Chibro: monthly average rainfall. Source Same as Fig. 2

3 Perception of Climate Change Being the inhabitant of a rain-fed area, the agrarian community in the Jaunsar-Bawar region relates to the environment closely and observes the climatic variations keenly. During discussion and canvassing of questionnaire the respondents were asked questions related to their perception about changes in rainfall, temperature, snowfall, drought, etc. over the period 1995–2015. The respondents overwhelmingly felt that annual rainfall in the region has decreased during the reference period and so is the case for monsoon and winter rainfall (Table 3). The discussion with the community members also revealed that they perceived an onward shift in monsoon season rains from June, July, and August to July, August, and September. They also reported monsoon rains being more erratic, sporadic, uncertain and intensive. The inhabitants of middle and upper reaches observed that there is reduction in winter snowfall. The variations in these precipitation parameters have reported to have influenced the production and yields of both agricultural and horticultural crops in the region. Similar responses were recorded with respect to the variations in temperatures. The respondents were asked their perception about change in summer and winter temperatures. They were given four options to record their perception: increase, decrease, no change and not sure. The response of the overwhelming majority was Table 3 Perception of respondents about change in climatic parameters (1995–2015) (% response) Response

Annual rainfall

Monsoon rainfall

Winter rainfall

Temperature

Snowfall

Increase

1.97

0.60

0.65

98.37

0.32

Decrease

92.85

96.42

96.10

0.32

99.36

No change

4.85

2.92

2.92

0.97

0.32

No response

0.33

0.06

0.33

0.32

0.00

All response

100.0

Source Field Survey 2015

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

Livelihood Adaptation to Climate Variability in Jaunsar-Bawar …

69

categorical that there has been increasing trend in both summer and winter temperatures (Table 3). They also almost unanimously stated that snowfall has waned during last two decades. The onset of its occurrence has got delayed as compared to earlier period. The increasing occurrence of droughts has also been perceived by many respondents. Overall, the perception of the community with regards to rainfall trend seems to be in consonance with the climatic record based analysis in the preceding section. Hence, their concern about declining rainfall trend seems genuine. But their perception about increasing temperature is not corroborated by temperature record based analysis.

4 Adaptation Strategies by Local Community The climatic fluctuations affect the edaphic conditions and agronomic practices which finally may have their reflections on the farmers’ choice of crop cultivation. The variations in the climatic conditions have influenced the cropping pattern in the tribal region of Uttarakhand. It has affected the livelihood of a large majority of the people directly and almost everyone indirectly. The community also perceives that the change in amount and timings of rainfall, temperature, snowfall, etc. has negatively affected the agricultural and horticultural production. The negative impacts of climate change on crop productivity have been perceived by four out of five respondents (Pratap 2016). The community has accordingly started adopting various measures to overcome these negativities.

4.1 Adaptive Measures in Agriculture The community residing in Jaunsar-Bawar region largely depends on agriculture and animal husbandry for livelihood. The reduction in productivity and failure of crops due to fluctuations and uncertainty of climatic conditions has compelled the agricultural community to adopt the measures that could help in saving their livelihood and increase income of the household. The main measures adopted by local community are cultivation of new crops (46%); use of chemical fertilizers/pesticides (36%); and cultivation of improved varieties of crops (14%) (Table 4). However, it must be noted that these measures adopted to cope with adverse effects of climatic variations on crop production may not be adequate. There is a need of other institutional and technological measures to cope up with the climate change induced hazards. The impoverishment of the community may lead the people to look for other livelihood options.

70

D. Pratap and A. Pratap

Table 4 Measures adopted to offset adverse impacts of climatic variations on crops

S. No.

Measures

Response (%)

1

Cultivation of new crops

144 (46.40)

2

Improved varieties of crops

44 (14.37)

3

Use of chemical fertilizers/pesticides 109 (35.62)

4

Change in timings of crops

4 (1.30)

5

Other measures

7 (2.28)

Source Field Survey 2015

4.1.1

Change in Preference of Crops

The irrigational facilities in Jaunsar-Bawar tribal region are limited and it is primarily dependent on rainfall for crop production. Consequently the reduction in monsoon rainfall and its growing erratic behavior as noted earlier have affected the production of traditional crops. In order to adapt to the changing climatic conditions as well as to meet the growing demand of cash income, the community prefers a shift in the cropping pattern from traditional cereals crops to vegetable cash crops (Table 5). The vegetable crops did not hold much significance in the cropping pattern two decades ago. Now people evidently prefer potato, arbi (colocasia roots) and tomato over the traditional crops like barley and course cereals (jhangora, maize and madua). However, the fine cereals like wheat and rice have maintained their dominance in the cropping pattern despite their declining preference in the community’s perception. Table 5 Change in perception about significance of crops over 1995–2015 Types of crop

Mix of major crops grown in 1995 (per cent respondents)

Mix of major crops grown in 2015 (per cent respondents)

Wheat

74.67

46.13

Barley

23.78

0.00

Mandua (a coarse cereals)

50.00

0.00

Maize

57.14

2.92

Paddy

58.12

22.73

Jhangora ( a coarse cereal)

20.78

0.00

Potato

8.77

46.10

Arbi (colocasia roots)

0.00

39.61

Chilly

0.00

8.44

Tomato

0.00

19.19

Source Field Survey 2015

Livelihood Adaptation to Climate Variability in Jaunsar-Bawar … Table 6 Reasons for change in preference of crops

71

Reason for change

Multiple yes responses of farmers (%)

Priority to cash crops

98.03

Reduction in crop yields

90.90

Reduction in rainfall amount

71.56

Uncertainty of rainfall

56.20

Increase in temperature

50.65

Increase in incidences of crop pests

16.33

Other reasons

15.68

Source Field Survey 2015)

4.1.2

Reasons for Shift in Cropping Pattern

One must not assume that climate change is the only factor that has led to change in the cropping pattern in the region during last two decades. There are multiple reasons for farmers’ choice of crops and shift in the cropping pattern (Table 6). The prominent among them on the scale of preference of the community are priority of cash crops; reduction in crop yields; reduction in rainfall amount; uncertainty in its occurrence; and increase in temperature. It’s evident that most of the reasons of shift in cropping pattern enumerated above relate to climatic variations. Though not exclusively, even the factor, reduction in crop yields may be attributed to climate variability. However, it would be a folly if one does not count the role of various commercial, technological and institutional factors in transforming the cropping pattern in the region.

4.1.3

Climate Change and Adaptive Measures in Horticulture

The climatic conditions in the study area range from sub-tropical to temperate which are conducive for growing a variety of horticultural crops. As discussed earlier farmers show a strong preference for horticultural crops as an adaptive strategy to meet the challenge of climatic variations. However, small landholding size and lack of capital are main hindrances for the community in taking up horticulture as a main economic activity and carrying out its production at commercial scale. Nonetheless, the favorable agro-climatic conditions in this Himalayan tribal region prompt the farmers to grow fruit crops at small scale. The majority of households in the region have planted some sorts of horticultural crops and some of them have small apple orchards too. About three-fourth farmers practicing horticulture own apple orchards. A small proportion of farmers grow apple in combination with pear and walnut trees. Some farmers at foothill plains also grow mango trees (Pratap 2016). The climatic variations are perceived to have negatively affected the horticultural crops as well. A large proportion of horticultural crop growers have reported decrease in the fruit yields during last decade. This has been largely attributed to change in climatic

72

D. Pratap and A. Pratap

Table 7 Farmers’ perception about factors in decrease of horticultural production and improvement of crop yields

Choice

Respondents (%)

Reasons for decreased production Decrease in rainfall

18.29

Insufficient snowfall

48.78

Increase in temperature

31.92

Others

1.01

Measures to improve yield Fresh plantation

29.27

Grafting

18.29

Use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides

52.44

Others

0.00

Source Field Survey 2015

phenomena such as decrease in snowfall (49%), increase in temperature (32%) and decrease in rainfall (18%) (Table 7). Aware of the current and ensuing negative effects of climatic variations the farming community has taken various measures to maintain and improve the productivity level of horticultural crops. The most popular measure taken by the farmers to increase horticultural yield is increasing application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides (52%). Fresh plantation of fruit trees is second most popular measure to boost the horticultural yield in the region (29%). About 18% fruit growers have grafted the trees to increase their fruit yields (Table 7). These measures taken by farmers have resulted in improving the horticultural productivity reasonably.

4.1.4

Alternative Employment as Adaptation Measure

Agriculture along with animal husbandry has been the traditional source of livelihood in the tribal region of Uttarakhand Himalayas. Given the low carrying capacity of land and increasing dependence of the people on the limited land and forest resources the strategies need to be formulated to decrease their reliance on subsistence farming and forestry which will also increase their resilience to climate change impacts (Jethi et al 2016). As discussed earlier change in climatic parameters is perceived to have adversely affected these traditional livelihood sources of local community. So the community has two broader alternatives to deal with climatic variations; either adapt to the changed conditions by pursuing same means of livelihood or adopt new vocation for earning its livelihood. The community has largely responded to this change within the parameters of first option by adopting various measures. However, these measures are not enough to offset the adverse effects of climate change on the poor section of the society. It has been observed that a sizeable proportion of respondents are looking for alternative employment options and migrating to other areas to support their families, though this phenomenon may not be purely attributed to

Livelihood Adaptation to Climate Variability in Jaunsar-Bawar … Table 8 Farmers’ perception about alternative employment as an adaptation strategy

Response

73

Respondents (%)

Sufficiency of primary sector for livelihood requirements Yes

54.74

No

45.26

Choice

Respondents (%)

Choice of alternative employment Wage labour

72.10

Agriculture

11.63

Private job

9.30

others Choice

6.97 Respondents (%)

Seeking supplementary employment out of region Yes

43.00

No

57.00

Source Field Survey 2015

climatic variations. The survey indicates that about 55% respondents believe that they can meet their livelihood requirements from their primary source of income e.g. agriculture and animal husbandry. But still a large proportion of farmers in the region look for an alternative source of livelihood. It is evident from Table 8 that about 72% of them supplement their income through wage labor. About 12% of them wish to earn more by expanding their agricultural pursuits. One in 6 respondents looks for private and other jobs to earn living. Not only this, the people are eager to migrate out of the region in search of seasonal employment to support their families. Four out of 10 respondents have expressed their desire to move out and earn their income in surrounding area. The out migration (seasonal/permanent) has helped the people earning livelihood but it still remains a temporary means of living.

5 Concluding Remarks The present study assesses the nature of climatic variations, perception of the community about its impacts and adaptation strategies in Jaunsar-Bawar region of Central Himalayas in the Uttarakhand state of India. The analysis of climatic data of the region indicates that there have been fluctuations in maximum and minimum temperatures over the period 1967–2005. However, there is no clear trend of increase or decrease of temperatures. But annual, monsoon and winter rainfalls show a clear downward trend at higher altitudes since late 1980s. At the lower latitudes the trend is not very clear as both annual and monthly rainfalls are marked by fluctuations. The climatic variations in the region have also been corroborated by other studies

74

D. Pratap and A. Pratap

on climate change on Central Himalayas and the perception of local community to a large extent. The respondents have overwhelmingly reported overall decrease in rainfall, changes in its timings and erratic nature of its occurrence. The majority of respondents have also perceived reduction in snowfall and increased frequency of droughts. The impacts of climate change have been widely felt on crop production and yields of horticultural plantation. The community has accordingly started resorting to various measures to overcome the negative impacts on its livelihood. There are various adaptive measures taken by the community. The adverse impacts on crop yields have forced the farmers to opt for short duration cash crops, change in traditional seeds, resorting to the use of chemical fertilizers and changing the crop calendar as per weather conditions. Furthermore, horticulture has also been touted as an alternative source of livelihood for the people. But it is an unlikely scenario given the fact that the yield of horticultural crops itself is negatively affected by climatic variations and the community lacks resources for investment in this capital intensive pursuit. These adaptive measures may not be sufficient to mitigate the adverse effects of climatic variations on the livelihood of the community particularly that of landless laborers. A sizeable section of the community has started looking for alternative employment and migrating to surrounding areas to support their families. Given the emerging scenario of climate change and its impacts on the livelihood of the people, the community needs to be supported by the government in terms of constructing the rain-water harvesting structures and irrigation means, providing better credit and loan facilities, and storage and marketing facilities for vegetable and fruit crops. Acknowledgements This paper is an outcome of the research project, ‘Adaptation and Coping Strategies of Community to Climate Change in Chakrata (Jaunsar-Bawar) Tribal Area of Uttarakhand’, funded by Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi. Authors thankfully acknowledge the financial support received from ICSSR, New Delhi.

References BBA—Beej Bachao Andolan (2011) Documentation of climate change perception and adaptation practices in Uttarakhand: North India. Save Seed Campaign in collaboration with Pesticide Action Network, Asian and Pacific, Penag, Malaysia Chopra R (2014) Uttarakhand: development and ecological sustainability. Oxfam India, New Delhi Devlal R (2010) Potential threats to Uttarakhand due to climate change related natural disasters. In: Verma PD (ed) Reflections of climate change leaders from himalaya: natural resource management and biodiversity. Lead India, New Delhi, pp 111–113 Government of Uttarakhand (2012) State action plan on climate change: transforming crisis into opportunity. Revised Version, Dehradun, pp 22–23 Government of Uttarakhand (2013) Statistical magazine, Dehradun District. Office of Economic and Statistical Officer, Dehradun Halder P, Sharma R Alam A (2012) Local perceptions of and responses to climate change experiences from the natural resource-dependent communities in India. Reg Environ Change 12(4):665–673

Livelihood Adaptation to Climate Variability in Jaunsar-Bawar …

75

IPCC (2014) Climate change: synthesis report—headline statement from summary for policymakers, impact, adaptation and vulnerability. Fifth assessment report of intergovernmental report on climate change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York Jethi R, Joshi K, Chandra N (2016) Toward climate change and community-based adaptationmitigation strategies in hill agriculture. In: Bhisht JK, Meena VS, Mishra PK, Pattanayak A (eds) Conservation agriculture: an approach to combat climate change in Indian Himalaya. Springer, Singapore, pp 185–207 Kotru R, Choudhary D, Fleiner R, Khadka M, Pradhan N, Dhakal M (2014) Adapting to climate change for sustainable agribusiness in high mountain watersheds: a case study from Nepal. Working paper 2014/1, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, Nepal Lokgariwar C (2009) Changing with the seasons: how Himalayan communities cope with climate change. Peoples’ Science Institute, Dehradun Macchi M, Gurang AM, Hoermann B, Choudhry D (2011) Climate variability and change in the Himalayas: community perception and responses. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, Nepal MVDA—Mountain Valley Development Association (2011) Community and climate change (in Hindi), Doni, Tehri Garhwal Negi VS, Maikhuri RK, Pharswan DS (2017) Climate change impact in western Himalaya: people’s perception and adaptive strategies. J Mt Sci 14(2):403–416 Pandey P, Venkatraman G (2012) Climate change effect on glacier behaviour: a case study from Himalayas. www.earthzine.org/2012/02/22. Accessed on 20.08.2012 Patra J (2016) Review of current and planned adaptation action in India. CARIAA working paper No, 10, International Development Research Centre, Ottawa and UK Aid, London, p 37. www. irdc.ca/cariaa Pratap D (2013) Impact of climate change and coping strategies by mountain communities of Uttarakhand Himalaya, India. In: Sundaresan J, Gupta P, Santosh KM, Boojh R (eds) Climate change and himalayan informatics. Scientific Publishers (India), pp 49–60 Pratap D (2016) Adaptation and coping strategies of community to climate change in Chakrata (Jaunsar-Bawar) tribal area of Uttarakhand. Project Report, ICSSR, New Delhi PSI—Peoples’ Science Institute (2010) Documenting climate change in Uttarakhand, PSI, Dehradun Rautela P, Karki B (2015) Impact of climate change on life and livelihood of indigenous people of higher Himalaya in Uttarakhand. India. Am J Environ Prot 3(4):112–124 Sharma SK, Chauhan R (2011) Climate change research initiative: Indian network for climate change assessment. Curr Sci 101(3):308–311 Shrestha B (2011) Earth observation: taking the pulse of the Himalayas, ICIMOD- sustainable mountain development, No. 60, Autumn 2011 Singh SP (2012) Climate change in relation to the Himalayas. https://www.climate-leaders.org/wpcontent/uploads/climatechange-spsingh.pdf. Accessed on 01.07.2012 Singh O, Aria P, Chaudhary BS (2013) Temperature trends at Dehradun in Doon valley of Uttarakhand, India. In: Sundaresan J Gupta P, Santosh KM, Boojh R (eds) Climate change and himalayan informatics. Scientific Publishers (India), pp 613–22 Srinivasan J (2012) Impact of climate change in India. In: Dubash NK (ed) Handbook of climate change and India: development, politics and Governance. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, Oxford, p 38 Sterrett C (2011) Review of climate change adaptation practices in South Asia. Oxfam Research Reports, Oxfam, GB UCOST—Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (2012) Uttarakhand- state of environment report 2012, Government of Uttarakhand, Dehradun, p 244

76

D. Pratap and A. Pratap

UNEP—United Nations Environment Programme (2013) Annual report 2012, United Nations, www.unep.org/annualreport WPC—Working Plan Circle (2007) The working plan for Chakrata forest division: 1972–73 to 2016–17, Department of Forest, Government of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s Livelihood in Rural India Sucharita Sen

Abstract This study attempts to fill the gap of a country-level analysis on scarcity of common property resources (CPR) and its impact on women’s unpaid CPRdependent work in India. It conceptualizes regions of environmental scarcity and analyses the pattern of women’s CPR-dependent work across these regions for two periods of time. The study is based on secondary data. It uses two sets of unit (household) level data published by the National Sample Survey Organization. The findings establish a non-linear relationship between scarcity of CPRs and spread and depth of women’s activities dependent on CPR. While the spread of participation is high at both ends of the spectrums, i.e. abundance and scarcity of CPRs, they are lower at moderate levels, thus forming a U-shaped curve. However, this pattern changes above a certain level of scarcity, beyond which the spread of engagement in the CPR-dependent activities fall. The study brings out the evidences of exclusion or forced withdrawal of the marginalized socio-economic groups, particularly Scheduled Castes, as scarcity of CPR increases. Unless policies and institutions work towards preserving and enhancing village commons with a nuanced understanding of the intersectionality of caste and gender in rural India, particularly in the more environmentally scarce areas, severe livelihood pressures possibly leading to withdrawal of women from paid work and also social tension and conflicts could be expected as a result of their alienation from the resource essential for survival. Keywords Common property resources · CPR-dependent activities · Women’s unpaid work · Gender and environment · Environmental scarcity · Social exclusion · Gender-caste in access to CPR

S. Sen (B) Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari (eds.), Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3100-9_4

77

78

S. Sen

1 Introduction Scholars have connected violence against nature and women both ideologically and materially. Some propose that ‘third world’ women in rural areas draw sustenance from nature for themselves, their families, and their societies. So destruction of nature becomes destructions of these women’s sources of ‘staying alive’ (Shiva 1988). Though there have been critiques to philosophical foundations that connect nature and women ideologically, what is more widely accepted is that, to start with, the poor rural households depend more on common property resources (CPR) than the non-poor households in developing countries1 (Jodha 1986; Johri and Krishnakumar 1991; Cavendish 2000; Gowda and Savadatti 2004). Higher dependence of the poor compared to the non-poor on CPRs has been established, particularly in Indian context, irrespective of whether the poor was demarcated by the yardstick of access to land or income. Dependence on CPRs has been evaluated in a number of ways; the ratio of CPR income to the income from other sources, average number of CPR activity per household, average number of CPR products collected per household, percentage of households engaged in CPR related activities, time allocation for CPR related activities, etc. (Jodha 1986; Narain et al. 2008). However, the share of income from CPR products to the household’s total income has probably been the most frequently used indicator of dependence (Narain et al. 2008; Cavendish 2000; Ghosh and Beck 2000; Naidu 2011). Jodha’s (1986) study of 12 semi-arid districts in seven states in India reveals that village commons (VC) accounted for up to 26% of the total income of poor rural households, but only 14% of the total income of the non-poor. The poor were found to be especially dependent on VCs for fuel and fodder; over 90% of their firewood came from the commons, and 69–89% (varying by region) of their grazing needs, compared to the relative self-sufficiency (from private land) of the larger landed households. Studies that argue against this pattern are few (Adhikari 2005). A few scholars also contend that even in absolute terms the poorer households derive higher income from CPR compared to better-off ones (Chopra and Dasgupta 2002), though there is disagreement about this point (Pasha 1992; Gowda and Savadatti 2004). Since CPRs are one of the few resources where access to the poor is not denied, it is instrumental in reducing income inequalities between poor and non-poor households (Agarwal 1992). The term ‘access’, particularly in context of common property resources, has several complexities, and has been considered to be broader than ‘property’. While the former has been taken to mean ‘ability to derive benefits’, property is associated with ‘rights to derive benefits’ (Ribot and Peluso 2003). The ‘ability’ may not solely depend on legal or even social legitimacy, which may be the case for property, but may relate to ‘effective control’ over the resource in question (Mearns 1999). In the context of CPRs in India, this may mean illegal encroachments, or having to pay bribes to the forest departments for areas that have been demarcated as reserved or even protected forests to collect firewood or fuel. Thus, access has been seen synonymous with power or negotiations with power relations that is embedded in the

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

79

cultural and politico-economic processes that could change over time and geographic scales. Given the high dependence of poor on CPR and the relationship between access and power, it could be argued that depletion of CPRs tends to marginalize the poor far more than the households that are better off. But poverty and dependence on CPRs is only a part of the story. Women are often the worst affected due to the existing gender division of labor in rural India. And this impact is not class neutral; women from the poor (often tribal households whose livelihoods critically depend on gathering and fetching from forests, village commons, rivers and wells) are the worst affected. This is not only due to the gender division of labor with respect to interaction with the CPRs vis-à-vis collection of essentials like fuel, fodder and water, but also because of their dependence on CPRs as a result of alienation from private resources, importantly private land. Additionally their access to cash economy and the market is mediated by the male members of the households. Free access to resources like CPRs not only increases livelihood security of women, but due to the exclusive interaction with at least parts of the village commons, this access leads to empowerment of women by according them de facto property rights of the commons by ensuring their mobility outside of the home-space (Agarwal 2003). It has been maintained that while inequalities that stem from household-level heterogeneity emanating from economic status, ethnicity, or caste have got adequate importance, the effect on intra-household inequalities by gender has not received sufficient attention (Agarwal 2003). The scarcity of CPR products manifests in the lower availability and differential access due to two major processes; first, the degradation of common property resources both due to deterioration of quality and quantity, and second, due to the increased statization and privatization of these resources (Agarwal 1997b; Pasha 1992). While statization of forests have been a feature from the colonial times that has continued after independence, privatization of commons has become evident after the fifties, and has become particularly regular and contested after the nineties in the neo-liberal policy regime (Randeria 2003). This has been often implemented through changes in land policies like transfer of commons to the private sector with the stated objective of making ‘wastelands’ more productive (Banerjee 2006; Narain 2009; Sen and Mallik 2012). There are evidences to believe that the common control over these resources like the forests and pastures are often better maintained in terms of protection and regeneration particularly where common interests of the members of the community for the resources have initiated mutually beneficial collective actions (Meinzen-Dick et al. 1997; Mwangi 2007). Scarcity of CPRs has differential impacts on different households of the community. A reduced access, due to an increased control of public agencies and powerful private interests in the recent years that promote capital-intensive resource extraction from CPRs, is seen to result in poverty in natural resource dependent areas (Peluso et al. 1994). Some attention has been given specifically to selective exclusions and class conflicts over CPR due to its reduction and increased scarcity on the one hand and privatization and encroachment on these already scarce resources (Ghosh and Beck 2000). Pramanik et al. (2004) point out that there is an uneven access to CPRs

80

S. Sen

across caste groups that marginalizes the untouchable Scheduled Castes (SCs). Moreover, reduction either in terms of its quality, quantity or both leading to access to some groups and alienation of others from the common resources is predicted to bring about conflicts over such resources in the future (Beck 1994). Degradation of CPRs can lead to an increase in the time taken to carry out CPR-dependent works (Mishra and Mishra 2012). The long hours of work that women spend in carrying out CPR related activities has been widely documented. For example, a study done on Gujarat finds that the average time women spend to collect water ranges between 2.5 and 3.5 h per day (James et al. 2002). Deforestation is seen to have a dual effect of increasing the time women spend to collect firewood and leading to a decline in its household consumption (Kumar and Hotchkiss 1988; Agarwal 1997a). Though gender division of labor is often more blurred in the hills compared the plains, it has been observed that even in these spatio-social contexts, the forest related work connected to cash economy is carried out by men, and those for subsistence primarily by women (Mishra and Mishra 2012). It has been noted that the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, and the Indian Forest Act of 1927, while failing to protect forests, had alienated a large number of forest dwellers, converting them to the status of encroachers (Ramnath 2008). The Indian Government, in many of its relatively recent policies, has emphasized the need for protecting the village commons and access to forest land. The Indian Forest Rights Act (IFRA) 2006 have sought to correct the ‘historical injustice’ to the forest dwellers including the Scheduled Tribes (STs) and recognized that they are ‘integral to the survival and sustainability of the forest ecosystem’, though there are apprehensions about the implementation of the law due to a number of reasons (Bhullar 2008). Like the IFRA, the 2008 guidelines for the watershed programs, which has been seen as a flagship project of the Indian Government for rural development in semi-arid India, articulates the need for improving equity and gender sensitivity by ‘ensuring access to usufruct rights from the common property resources for the resource poor’ (GOI 2008). The earlier experience reveals that in majority of the watershed projects, the treatment of private land received precedence over CPR management, and in rare cases that achieved the latter, the poor had to bear the cost of alienation from CPRs at least in the short term due to access restrictions to CPRs, (Kerr 2002; Sen 2008). The recent policy changes imply that there is a need to understand the regional patterns of access to and exclusions from CPRs of the members of the communities that depend on them. The effect that CPR scarcity and its reduced access may have on changing demand of labor, with specific reference to female labor, has rarely been included in the body of literature on CPR and gender. Due to its potential impact on paid-work participation, this aspect is significant and needs attention. Secondly, most of the studies provide us with a micro-level perspective, and while these studies are necessary due to the localized relations between CPRs and women, all-India studies bringing out specific spatial contexts are few (Agarwal 1997a). Such studies, in spite of their other shortcomings, are necessary from the point of view of policy-making. The present study is an attempt to bridge these gaps and looks at women’s dependence on CPRs

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

81

through the lens of their engagement in collecting CPR related products for the entire country across regions of environmental scarcity.

2 Scope and Data Base of the Study 2.1 Objectives and Research Questions There are several questions that are linked to the issue of access to common property resources, such as whose access, access to what, access in what ways, and when or under what circumstances (Ribot and Peluso 2003). This paper looks at the access of the rural women to de facto common property land and water resources, to collect water, fodder, fuel and other non-timber forest products, under circumstances of varying degrees of environmental scarcity and the change in the participation of women in CPR-related activities over time under these scarcity conditions. There has been an attempt to intersect the emergent situations with social and economic identities of rural women, in particular, on SC and ST women and those from households having low per capita consumption expenditure. Relationships of environmental scarcity and women’s work are characterized with spatialities of a web of factors like the overall politico-economic environment, gender relations and distribution of CPR. For example, the hierarchies existing in the relations of production in the domain of private agricultural land are likely to define, to some extent, access to common property resources. These dependencies are likely to be stronger both in the north-west India, on the one hand, where the effective participation of women in paid work and the market is extremely limited and in the north-east India, on the other, where the availability of community forest is high and the access to private property to women may be less restricted. Thus the regional variations of dependence of women on CPRs are likely to be shaped by factors other than availability and scarcity of CPRs. The overarching questions that the study attempts to answer are: • What is the impact of CPR scarcity on women’s work in terms of the CRP dependent activities? • Does CPR scarcity lead to exclusion of any form? If yes, is there some specificity with respect to the social and economic identities of women that get excluded from use of CPR in face of its increased scarcity? • What are the spatialities of women’s use of CPR and exclusion from CPR over time? How do these spatialities converge with the spatial patterns of CPR scarcity?

82

S. Sen

2.2 Study Framework, Data Base and Limitations This study is based on NSSO2 data from three rounds/years, the 54th round (1998– 99) on common property resources, and the 55th and 66th rounds pertaining to 1999–00 and 2009–10 respectively, both providing information on employmentunemployment at the household level.3 The regional CPR framework used in this study is drawn from the status of CPR extent and reduction of CPRs by states from the 54th round of NSSO, 1998–99.4 The reduction of CPR relates to the information collected at the village level with respect to shrinkage of common land under the Panchayat (village council) and forest land available for the village use in the past five years.5 The study attempts to relate this framework to the changes in participation of CPR-dependent work between the Employment-Unemployment rounds in 1999–00 and 2009–10 across regions with different degrees of environmental scarcity. The paper has used data from the above-mentioned Employment-Unemployment rounds on rural women’s unpaid work done by them based on the follow-up questions asked to the women primarily engaged in domestic and extra-domestic activities (DEDA) as per the usual principal status (UPS)6 and hence classified as ‘nonworkers’. The list of the information derived on these unpaid activities is provided in Table 1. The nature of data that is available with respect to the above-mentioned unpaid work make a binary variable that provides information on whether or not the woman Table 1 CPR and non-CPR-dependent unpaid work enlisted by NSSO employment-unemployment survey carried out by women engaged in DEDA as per their UPSa

A. Common property land related dependent work# 1. Free collection of fish, small game, wild fruits, vegetables, etc. for household consumptiona 2. Free collection of fire-wood, cow-dung, cattle feed etc. for household consumption A. Common property water related dependent work# 1. Bringing water from outside the household premises C. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Other than CPR-dependent work# Maintenance of kitchen gardens, orchards etc. Work in household poultry, dairy, etc. Husking of paddy for household consumption Grinding of food grains for household consumption Preparation of gur (raw sugar) for household consumption Preservation of meat and fish for household consumption Making baskets and mats for household use Preparation of cow-dung cake for use as fuel in the household 9. Sewing, tailoring, weaving etc. for household use 10. Tutoring of own children or others’ children free of charge Note a UPS Usual principal status # categorization done by the author. A1 primarily relates to NTFP collection, while A2 coincides almost wholly with fodder and fuel collection

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

83

is engaged in such work. There are several limitations of the data that has been used for this research piece. Firstly, the above-mentioned questions have been asked to only women who solely carry out domestic activities and other unpaid work for the household and are enumerated as ‘non-workers’ as per their UPS, whereas in reality women who are considered as ‘workers’ and girl children attending educational institutions also carry out one or more of these works. Thus, participation of women in these works is likely to be underestimated if it is calculated as a share of total rural female population, as it excludes women workers and students who use CPRs. The way this study attempts to overcome this problem partially is to calculate the participation in CPR and non-CPR-dependent work as a percentage of women engaged primarily in DEDA. Secondly, the information about time taken to carry out the above mentioned works is not available in NSSO. However, literature is replete with relationship between CPR degradation and increase in time taken for women to collect fuel fodder and water. The impact of scarcity on extent of women’s participation in CPR-related work is less talked about. Thirdly, since collection of fish, which is a water-related activity, cannot be separated from other products for household consumption that are land-related, this entire subhead (A1) has been taken as a land-related activity. Fourthly and most importantly, it has been assumed that the ‘reduction’ rates of CPR that has been estimated by NSSO in 1998–99 over 5 years across states remain relatively constant over the 10-year period under study (1999–00 to 2009–10).

3 Contextualizing Women’s Unpaid Domestic Work in the Larger Work Arena There has been a sharp fall in female labor force participation in India, particularly between 2004–05 and 2009–10. The latest figure of female labor force participation is lowest ever since 1993–94. There has also been a fall in the male labor force participation, but by only about 4 percentage points at all India level between 2004– 05 and 2009–10, whereas the comparable figure for the female counterparts is 11 percentage points. This fall is far higher in the rural areas compared to the urban areas. Consequently, there has been a defeminization of labor force in rural areas of India, specifically in agricultural work, between 2004–05 and 2009–10, which is a reversal of the process that was observed between 1999–00 and 2004–05 (Jatav and Sen 2013). There have been four broad explanations to this trend of defeminization of rural labor force—education related withdrawal; prosperity induced withdrawal; withdrawal due to fall in opportunities; social and cultural processes interacting with increased income and/or declining opportunities (Abraham 2009; Srivastava and Srivastava 2010; Himanshu 2011; Neff et al. 2012). The first two relate to positive changes within the economy, the third is a sign of distressed economy that has selectively impacted women far more than men and the fourth is a sign of a mixed effect,

84

S. Sen

Table 2 Comparison of shares of workers and non-workers as per the usual principal status in rural India (in % of population) Usual principal status categories modified

All age groups Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Workers

59.0

28.5

53.7

20.2

90.2

43.8

85.3

31.1

1.0

0.3

1.1

0.5

1.7

0.6

1.7

0.8

Attending educational institutions

22.1

17.2

29.7

23.8

6.0

3.0

10.9

6.4

Engaged in DEDA

0.4

34.6

0.5

40.1

0.3

51.0

0.5

60.3

17.5

19.4

15.1

15.4

1.9

1.6

1.7

1.3

Non-worker, of which unemployed, seeking work

Others

1999–00

15–59 age group 2009–10

1999–00

2009–10

Source Calculated 55th and 66th rounds of employment-unemployment survey, NSSO

often playing out adversely for women. Some have argued that neo-liberal policies might have actually led to an increase in women’s unpaid labor time rather that her engagement in monetized work in the last decade in India (Mazumdar and Neetha 2011). An analysis of women engaged in various kinds of unpaid work provides a new insight into the process, which is not revealed while analyzing the pattern of women workers. Table 2 brings out the difference between shares of workers between males and females, which has widened in 2009–10 over 1999–00. It can be observed that this difference is more than made up by the share of women carrying out DEDA. It may be worth mentioning here that in this group of so called ‘non-workers’ the women do not only carry out domestic duties, but also many essential household activities that contribute significantly to the income of the household. Further, the women who are in the work force are also engaged in DEDA, though the time spent in such activities may be somewhat less compared to that of the non-workers. Table 3 further reveals that the share of ‘non-working’ women engaged in DEDA work participating in CPR-related activities have gone up over the ten year period under consideration with the sole exception of bringing water from outside the household premises. Given that the nature of CPR-dependent work is tedious and typically associated with low returns to individuals,7 matching the labor surplus position of the poor, it appears that the possibility of prosperity induced withdrawal of women from the labor force is unlikely, as suggested by a few scholars. In contrast, this pattern seems to be consistent with poor women withdrawing from the labor market partially or fully due to lack of opportunities and or/distress driven conditions. This point, however, requires in-depth analysis, which is outside the scope of this study.

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

85

Table 3 Change in share of women engaged in DEDA to those engaged in CPR-dependent work (in %) S. No.

Categories of CPR-dependent work

1999–00 2009–10

1

Free collection of fish, small game, wild fruits, vegetables, etc. 13.9 for household consumption

20.3

2

Free collection of fire-wood, cow-dung, cattle feed etc. for household consumption

32.5

39.3

3

Bringing water from outside the household premises

41.1

35.6

4

CPLR dependent work (at least doing one work specified in rows 1 and 2)

34.6

41.9

5

CPR-dependent work (at least doing one work specified in rows 1, 2 and 3)

48.6

55.6

Source As Table 2

4 Characteristics of Unpaid Domestic and Extra Domestic Duties for the Households: CPR Versus Non-CPR Related Works A large share of women’s work is invisible due to their continued presence in unpaid work both within the production realm and the household domain of care giving responsibilities. Yet, it is this work that contributes enormously towards holding families and communities together (Chen et al. 2005). Cultural sanctions, reproductive workload and care burden that women face often restrict their entry into the domain of paid work and re-entrench engagement into the unpaid work domain. Thus, women’s participation in paid work is often influenced by the time given in the household and related works that are often not negotiable. This is particularly true in rural India, where alternatives to unpaid work by women are far less accessible and acceptable compared to urban India. The CPR-related activities like collection of water, fuel and fodder are critical for sustenance of the household for which gender division of labor is sharply defined. It is, thus, conceivable that scarcity and lack of access to CPRs could impact women’s participation in paid work, along with conditions of labor market, income of households, increased access to education and the like. It may be argued that all unpaid work should not be treated similarly, as a few of them may not arise out of necessity, and be considered as non-negotiable as the CPR-dependent work. Secondly, while there is adequate evidence to say that the poorer households depend more on CPR compared to the non-poor counterparts, the characteristics of the non-CPR related unpaid work has not been adequately examined in this respect. Three parameters have been used to characterize and compare the CPR and nonCPR related work. Among most of the groups, be it age, consumption expenditure or social identity, the share of women engaged in non-CPR activities to those engaged in DEDA is higher than women engaged in CPR activities with only two exceptions.

86

S. Sen

There is some difference in terms of the age-group participation between these two sets of work in that the rates of participation in lowest age group, is the highest in CPR related activities, while that is not the case for non-CPR activities (Table 4). But main distinction in the two sets of works is in terms of their relationship with poverty and social marginalization. The lowest monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) quartile has far greater involvement in CPR-dependent activities compared to the highest quartile, whereas such differences are not visible for nonCPR-dependent activities. Similarly, a far greater percentage of SCs are engaged in the former set of activities compared to the Other Backward Castes (OBC) and ‘others’, where as their involvement in the non-CPR related activities is similar to that of the other social groups. The observation with respect to MPCE is consistent with the numerous micro-level studies that report the close relationship between CPR and the poor. The CPR connection with social groups has been less frequently documented in the existing literature. Table 4 Differences in characteristics of CPR and non-CPR related work done by women (2009– 10) Age/MPCE/social groups

Sample size among women engaged in DEDA

CPR-dependent work

Non-CPR-dependent work

Per cent of respective age groups/MPCE quartiles/social groups

Age groups Below 15 15–59

609

68.8

63.4

49,749

56.5

71.7

4882

44.9

56.2

1 (lowest)

13,884

69.5

71.4

2

13,883

62.4

73.1

3

13,879

53.0

69.7

4 (highest)

13,883

37.7

66.6

7167

81.2

80.9

Above 59 MPCE quartiles

Social groups ST SC

9669

62.9

69.8

OBC

21,172

50.9

66.6

Others

17,201

46.8

70.3

Source Same as Table 2 MPCE Monthly per capita expenditure

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

87

5 CPR Scarcity and Emerging Spatialities and Trends of CPR-Dependent Work Due to the importance and non-negotiable nature of CPR-dependent work of women, critical linkages between scarcity of CPRs and extent of participation of women in such work are expected to exist. However, since the nature-gender divide is not universal and shaped by cultural settings, linearity in the above relationships are not likely to exist (Agarwal 1992). Further, depending on the scarcity and quality of community resources, women tend to mediate with nature and culture. Thirdly, the degree of dependence on private resources and their productivity is likely to externally shape the way women negotiate with the available common resources and vice versa (Heltberg 2001). The impact of increased scarcity of common resources or its degradation on increased time for collection of water fuel and fodder is well established. What is more ambiguous, however, is its potential effect on the spread and depth of engagement of women doing such work. Spread has been defined here as share of women engaged in the CPR related work, while depth relates to the average number of CPR related work that each individual is engaged in. Given that CPR critically shapes livelihood status particularly of the land-poor households, response to scarcity in terms of change of spread and depth would define important dimensions of percolation of benefits of CPRs. At a very general level, scarcity in its extreme form is likely to constrain either spread or depth of CPR use, or both. The implication of the spread increasing with decreasing depth would indicate a more equitable distribution of resource with individual households sacrificing on some CPR related products they had access to earlier. The reverse, i.e., a declining spread with increasing depth, would point towards exclusions for some rural households, on one hand and appropriation for others, on the other.

5.1 Regions Categorized by CPR Status The present study attempts to analyse the change of CPR-dependent work in the context of spatialities of CPRs emerging out of its reduction over time and levels of availability of CPRs. This regional classification is based on the information provided in the 54th round of NSSO on Common Property Resources, and it has been assumed in this study that the same trend is maintained across the regions over time. Figure 1 provides a spatial pattern of CPR availability per household and percentage reduction of CPR. The availability is given in terms of areal extent, and has little to do with the quality of resources available in the area (see end-note iv for the definition of availability). One of the crude indicators of the quality of resources available is the average annual precipitation of the region that would impact the vegetative growth in the CPR. The western, central and part of north-eastern India have high availability in terms of extent of CPR. The rates of reduction of CPR are not as

88

S. Sen

Fig. 1 Availability of common property resources in rural India across agro-climatic zones. Source NSSO 54th round

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

89

high in these areas compared to many other regions in India. Among these regions, scarcity of CPR based products is likely to be higher in the first region compared to the other two due to low average annual precipitation in the western part of India. Most of southern India and the Indo-Gangetic plain have low availability and much of this region is characterized by high rates of reduction that implies high scarcity of CPR products. Based on the above analysis, four regions at two ends of the scarcity spectrum have been identified, which are as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Critical States (high reduction, low availability, sub-humid to semi-arid climate) Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab Critical States (high reduction, low availability, humid climate): Assam, West Bengal Favorable states (low reduction, high availability, humid to sub-humid climate) Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh Favorable states (low reduction, high availability, arid to semi-arid climate) Gujarat and Rajasthan The residual states lie in between these two spectrums in terms of CPR status, either with moderate status of both availability and reduction or with high reduction and high availability or low reduction and low availability.

The NSSO data on CPRs only provides its extent, which is only one of the criteria of availability to CPR resources. The categorization made above is based on the additional criterion of precipitation as a proxy indicator; though very generalized, it is indicative of both quality and quantity per unit area of the CPR products.

5.2 Spatiality of Spread of CPR Use It can be expected that up to a certain threshold of quality and quantum of CPR, scarcity may induce an increased engagement of women in such work till a point. The increased participation in this manner yields fruits both in terms of saving time and value of the collected items when compared with its alternatives like purchased fuel and fodder or getting one or other of these commodities as kind wages. However, beyond this threshold, when the expected gains are low, one can visualize a withdrawal from the CPR related work and a corresponding dependence on purchases and private resources, particularly for fodder and fuel (Agarwal 1997a). The distribution of CPR-dependent work of women expressed itself in a north– south spatial divide in 2009–10, a pattern, though observable, was not so clearly visible a decade ago (Figs. 2 and 3). There is a significant relationship between share of CPLR dependent work and CPR availability in both periods, though there is no correlation between the change of work share and CPR reduction rates.8 In 1999–00, there were two regions that were characterized with low dependence on CPR, the peninsular India and the north-west India. Both these regions are characterized with low availability of CPR in general. Additionally, the former region is associated with

90

S. Sen

Fig. 2 Share of women engaged in CPLR-dependent work (1999–00). Source NSSO 55th round

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

91

Fig. 3 Share of women engaged in CPLR-dependent work (2009–10). Source NSSO 66th round

92

S. Sen

a relatively high work force participation of women. This may not impact the CPR participation, except with respect to their subsidiary work status of women.9 In other words, if women have either paid work or agricultural family labor participation, the alternate sources of fuel and fodder are likely to be more accessible to them either from by-products of the crops or from purchased sources. The latter region is the core Green Revolution region characterized by high yields and cropping intensity again and having higher possibilities of alternative sources. The regions of high dependence in this period were restricted to parts of eastern and north-eastern India, though some of these areas did not have high extent of CPR per household due to high demands for agricultural lands. The degree of participation has clearly increased in most parts of the country, save in five states (Fig. 4). These states are diverse, but can be put under two broad categories; four states, i.e. Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Jammu and Kashmir are associated with, in different degrees, monetized rural economy compared to the residual states in the country. The environment vulnerability of these four states is high as per existing literature (Agarwal 1997a). Manipur, the fifth state, is an exceptional case, which has a low environmental vulnerability and a low rural poverty ratio.10 There are a few points worth noting from the spatial pattern of 2009–10. First, there is a clear north–south divide, which coincides with the social (gendered) space of India (Raju 2011). In more specific terms, the degree of dependence of women on CPR is almost an anti-image of the spatial pattern of child sex ratio of India. It is outside the scope to this study to assign and explain the direction of causality between these two variables. But what is clear is that increased livelihood status of women through CPR-induced linkages, albeit through increased work burdens, probably effectively provides respite to women through a work that is relatively unmediated by adult males, since the sharp gender division of labor provides a relatively exclusive control of a resource in those very areas where they are excluded from access of private land resources both in terms of ownership and decisionmaking (Agarwal 1997b). The only exception is Punjab, where gender relations are known to be poor, and the access to CPRs is on the decline. The options to depend on purchased or household produced byproducts may be more with respect to fuel and fodder supply in this state due to high cropping intensity based on cereal and sugarcane production. However, the opportunity for women to retain, if not reclaim the social space through increased control over CPRs that seems to be present in other gender-vulnerable states, is clearly not visible in Punjab. Share of women engaged in collection of water from outside the premises of the households with respect to women engaged in DEDA has come down over the last decade and both the level of dependence and spatial patterns of reduction appears to have a strong relationship with the level of development and economic growth in general, and provision of safe drinking water and its growth in particular (Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8). The states/regions where the share of women collecting water from outside the household premises has increased are Rajasthan, Orissa and northeastern states excepting Assam. Out of these, Rajasthan is the only state where such increases may have been scarcity induced. Overall, the spatial pattern of share of women collecting

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

93

Fig. 4 Difference in the share of women engaged in CPLR-dependent work (2009–10 to 1999–00). Source NSSO 55th and 66th rounds

94

S. Sen

Fig. 5 Share of women engaged in CPWR-dependent work (1999–00). Source NSSO 55th round

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

95

Fig. 6 Share of women engaged in CPWR-dependent work (2009–10). Source NSSO 66th round

96

S. Sen

Fig. 7 Difference in the share of women engaged in CPWR-dependent work (2009–10 to 1999–00). Source NSSO 55th and 66th rounds

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

97

Fig. 8 Households having drinking water away from the premises. Source Census of India, 2011

98

S. Sen

Fig. 9 Spatialities of participation of women in CPLR activities. Source NSSO 55th and 66th round

drinking water from outside the premises in 2009–10 matches almost exactly with the share of households not having drinking water within the premises (Fig. 8). Arguably, there would be factors other than CPR availability and its reduction that would explain both the regional pattern and trend of participation of women in CPRdependent work. But controlling for these, it is logical to assume that greater share of women would depend on the CPR when these resources are abundant. However, the trend of CPR related work participation that would correspond to CPR scarcity is not easy to predict, though our general hypothesis regarding this issue has been presented in the beginning of this section. The trends that are clear from Figs. 9 and 10 are that firstly, the share of women engaged in tasks related to CPLR has increased, and secondly, the share of women collecting water from outside the household premises (a proxy variable for dependence on common property water resources) has significantly reduced in three out of the five regions during the ten year period under consideration. The second trend can be explained by increased availability of tap water within household (Fig. 8). The first trend has played out as a result of multiple and complex factors, though such trend can logically be attributed to the important factor of decline in the CPLRs, both in terms of extent and quality. There is an interesting comparison in terms of both pattern and trend of CPLR and common property water resource (CPWR) dependent work. It may be reiterated here that the nomenclatures ‘critical’ and ‘favorable’ relates to the extent and degree of decline of the CPR area, while the terms humid and dry stand proxy for the quality of CPR related products available within the physical extent of the CPR.11 Figures 9 and 10 also reveal that the percentage of women engaged in CPR related activities to women in DEDA is far lower in the critical dry region, where scarcity is expected to be the highest, compared to the other regions.

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

99

Fig. 10 Spatialities of participation of women in CPWR activities. Source NSSO 55th and 66th round

It is additionally indicated that there are striking similarities in the spatiality of participation of women in the CPLR and CPWR related activities. Leaving aside the critical dry region, the pattern for both the activities can be expressed as a U-shaped curve, wherein at the two ends of scarcity and abundance, the share of women engaged in CPR related activities is high, whereas the residual states represent the trough of the U. When the critical arid region is taken into consideration, the shares of the above-mentioned variables dips lower than the residual states. This pattern conforms to the hypothesis that abundance supports a greater base of women depending on CPRs. At moderate levels of CPR availability and reduction, this base is reduced, which increases again on the other end of the spectrum with increased scarcity and greater reduction, but only up to a threshold (critical humid region). With the scarcity of CRP related products increasing beyond the threshold, there is a marked reduction in dependence on CPRs.12 The argument presented in preceding section points towards a relationship between environmental scarcity and participation of CPR work. However, there are a number of other reasons, namely economic condition of the household, social context in which the women is positioned, as well as the demographic characteristics of the women, that would impact the latter variable. A binary logistic regression has been used to explain the factors that influence participation of women engaged in DEDA in CPR related activities. The primary purpose of this analysis is to see whether the relationships indicated between Figs. 8 and 9 hold good, controlling for socioeconomic and demographic conditions. Table 5 confirms that even after controlling for economic factors like land owned, primary source of household income and MPCE, social factors like marital status, social group and education level, and demographic factors like household size and age of the woman, the regional patterns

100

S. Sen

Table 5 Results of logistic regression: participation of women engaged in CPR related work (2009– 10) Covariates in the equation (Dependent variable: 1 if engaged if at least one CPR activity, 0 if not engaged in none)

Nature of variable

CPR scarcity regions

Categorical

Frequency

B

Sig

Exp(B)

0.000

Residual states

26,576

Critical humid

6843

0.574

0.000

1.776

Critical arid

3560

−0.979

0.000

0.376

Favourable humid

13,751

0.547

0.000

1.728

Favourable arid

4431

0.475

0.000

1.608

Land owned (ha)

Continuous

−0.024

0.000

0.977

MPCE (INR’00)

Continuous

−0.072

0.000

0.930

Primary source of household Categorical income

0.000

Self-employment in non-agriculture

14,324

Agricultural labour

4609

0.257

0.000

1.293

Other labour

8888

0.378

0.000 0.000

1.459

Cultivation

17,235

0.134

0.000

1.143

10,105

−0.049

0.094

0.952

Others Marital status

Categorical

Never married

0.000 5156

Married

46,645

0.037

0.305

1.038

Widowed

3230

−0.224

0.000

0.799

Divorced/separated

130

−0.277

0.158

0.758

Social group

Categorical

0.000

ST

7159

SC

9656

−0.863

0.000

0.422

OBC

21,156

−1.125

0.000 0.000

0.325

General

17,190

−1.216

0.000

0.296

Education

Categorical

0.000

Illiterate

22,169

Literate but below primary

5664

−0.382

0.000

0.682

Primary

8054

−0.434

0.000

0.648

Middle

8969

−0.668

0.000

0.513 (continued)

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

101

Table 5 (continued) Covariates in the equation (Dependent variable: 1 if engaged if at least one CPR activity, 0 if not engaged in none)

Nature of variable

Frequency

B

Sig

Exp(B)

10,305

−1.047

0.000

0.351

Age

Continuous

−0.015

0.000

0.985

Household size

Continuous

−0.088

0.000

0.916

3.454

0.000

31.626

Secondary and above

Constant

Source Same as Table 2 Note Reference categories are given in italics. B estimates the probability of a woman participating in CPR activity for a category of the categorical in relation to the reference category or change in continuous variable. Exp(B) is the odds ratio of the row independent with the dependent variable. It is the predicted change in the odds or likelihood ratio for a unit increase in the continuous independent variable/a category with respect to the reference category in case of categorical variables

portrayed above holds true. It can be observed that probability of a woman participating in CPR related activities is significantly different for all regions with respect to the residual states. As visible in Fig. 9, women in the favorable regions, on the one hand and critical humid region, on the other, have roughly 60–70% higher chances of engaging in CPR related activities compared to the residual states. This again pointing towards a non-linear U shaped curve between these three regions (critical humid, residual states and favorable states). The women in the critical arid region, however, have 64 lower probabilities in engaging in a CPR related activity compared to the residual states. The results also confirm that as established earlier, the marginalized social and economic groups are more likely to participate in these activities. In particular, a woman from a household owning less land and having a lower MPCE is more likely to participate in these activities. Likewise a woman from a tribal household (followed by a SC household as a poor second) having lower educational attainments has a higher probability of entering the CPR related activities. Among demographic characteristics, a younger woman from a smaller household size has greater chances of performing these activities. These findings reveal the importance of CPR related activities to the women belonging to the marginalized sections for the country as a whole.

5.3 Spatiality and Trends of Depth of CPR Use It has been relatively widely established that one of the responses that scarcity elicits from women is enhancing the tendency to interact with CPRs in more than one way (Agarwal 1997b; Mishra and Mishra 2012). Though there is little work that analyses

102

S. Sen

the exact nature of increase in multiplicity of work as a result of scarcity, there are evidences to suggest that households suffer a decline in income as a result of scarcity due to two major reasons. Firstly, scarcity of environmental goods leads to a decline in quality and quantum of products collected from the CPRs that constitute a significant part of the household income for particularly the poor households (Agarwal 2002). Secondly, women tend to withdraw from paid work since they are forced to spend more time in CPR related essential activities as a result of degradation (Mishra and Mishra 2012). Hence it is logical to argue that women would try to maximize benefits from degraded CPRs to cope with reductions of income and increased hours by increasing multiplicity of CPR-dependent work. Table 6 provides an account of the multiplicity of common property land and water related works by CPR scarcity regions.13 The depth is significantly higher in humid regions compared to dry regions within the critical and favorable areas for share of women performing all three activities.14 This indicates that abundance of environmental resources per unit area, a characteristic that humid regions are likely to possess, increases the possibility of women undertaking larger numbers of CPR activities. On the other hand, the critical regions have higher depth of activities compared to favorable regions again with respect to share of women performing all three activities, when compared with their respective humid and dry counterparts, though this difference has narrowed in the second period. This observation by and large supports the hypothesis that women faced with higher levels scarcity leading to lower levels of income and time, cope by increasing the number of CPR-dependent activities. However, the critical dry region is the only region where the shares of women in categories performing two and three CPR works have significantly declined over the decade. The reduction of depth in the critical dry region indicates that below a certain threshold of CPR availability, the options of adopting such coping mechanisms are curtailed. An implication emerging out of the above analysis is that under scarcity conditions, the tendency to adopt multiple CPR related activity is likely to exclude certain households from CPR products in the future. The relevant questions to follow up are if such exclusions indeed exist, are they visible within the ten-year period examined in the analysis? If so, what is the nature and degree of such exclusions?

6 Exclusions or Forced Withdrawal: Emerging Exclusivity in CPR Use Across Regions The literature on CPR is replete with evidences of strong dependence of the poor on such resources for sustaining their livelihoods (Jodha 1986; Beck and Nesmith 2001; Gowda and Savadatti 2004; Adhikari 2005). Section 5 throws up the finding that not only the participation in CPR related activities is higher among the poorer households, the marginal social groups like the STs and SCs are also more dependent on these activities compared to the non-SC/ST groups. Given the concentration of

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

103

Table 6 Changes in spatiality of depth of CPR related activities Regions

Critical humid

Critical arid

Favorable humid

Favorable arid

Residual states

Depth categories

Percentage of women in different work categories to total CPR activities to women engaged in CPR-related activities

Z (test statistic)

Significance of test of equality of proportion

1999–00

2009–10

Change

Performing 1 work category

42.41

32.98

−9.43

10.25

Significant

Performing 2 work categories

30.90

38.87

7.97

8.87

Significant

Performing 3 work categories

26.68

28.14

1.46

1.74

Performing 1 work category

53.62

58.24

4.62

5.54

Significant

Performing 2 work categories

33.95

31.10

−2.86

3.62

Significant

Performing 3 work categories

12.43

10.66

−1.76

3.25

Significant

Performing 1 work category

43.19

36.81

−6.38

4.97

Significant

Performing 2 work categories

33.78

38.28

4.50

3.59

Significant

Performing 3 work categories

23.03

24.92

1.88

1.69

Performing 1 work category

49.26

45.12

−4.14

3.44

Performing 2 work categories

43.06

45.18

2.12

1.77

Performing 3 work categories

7.68

9.70

2.02

2.99

Significant

Performing 1 work category

54.12

51.61

−2.51

4.39

Significant

Performing 2 work categories

31.16

29.04

−2.12

4.03

Significant

Significant

(continued)

104

S. Sen

Table 6 (continued) Regions

All states

Depth categories

Percentage of women in different work categories to total CPR activities to women engaged in CPR-related activities

Z (test statistic)

Significance of test of equality of proportion

1999–00

2009–10

Change

Performing 3 work categories

14.72

19.35

4.63

10.76

Significant

Performing 1 work category

50.77

47.81

−2.96

7.84

Significant

Performing 2 work categories

33.24

33.40

0.16

0.44

Performing 3 work categories

15.99

18.79

2.81

9.83

Significant

Source Same as Table 2

STs in and around forested pockets and their historical dependence on such resources, it is to be expected that their degree of involvement would be higher in such activities. Very few studies point out, though, the close association of SCs with CPR as a social group, though it is well known that incidence of poverty and landlessness is high among them. The usual assumption with respect to CPRs is that they do not suffer from skewed distribution of benefits as much as private resources and studies that note inequalities in CPR benefits are sparse (Quiggin 1993). The entrenched class and caste hierarchies in many parts of rural India, barring to some extent, the more homogenous hilly states where availability of forest is less of a constraint, legitimizes the analysis of whether and how access to CPR based resources change within members of the communities, particularly under conditions of increasing scarcity. Beyond a certain level, even for de facto open access resources, its degradation would presumably force households to withdraw from activities related to it due to increased time and low yield. At the same time, this increasingly scarce resource could, in reality, be controlled by the section of the community having higher bargaining power in a highly stratified and hierarchical rural society. Such politico-ecological compulsions could potentially lead to conflicts, overt or suppressed, within the rural society, around questions of access to CPRs (Beck 1994). There are historical evidences in the more developed parts of the world like the erstwhile Prussia and Britain, of alienation of poor by landlords from customary commons like forests or customary rights in response to increasing industrial needs like timber in the nineteenth century (Beck 1994). The scholars of historical materialism point out that conflict over traditional rights of common resources or customary rights can and should be interpreted within the larger framework of social conflict between the rich and the poor (Thompson 1986). It has been argued that in the contemporary developing world characterized by deep-rooted inequalities to private

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

105

resources, there is every reason to expect similar exclusions from access to the common natural resources and conflicts resulting thereof. The datasets used by this study is not amenable to either looking at alienation or conflicts from common use natural resources. This section, however, compares the change between the 1999–00 and 2009–10 scenarios in terms of engagement of CPR related activities as defined earlier by social groups and MPCE quartiles. Given that the activities in consideration are labor intensive and tedious and are likely to become more so with increased scarcity, under normal circumstances, the better-off social and economic groups are expected to withdraw from such activities. Evidences going against this hypothesis could be taken to indicate deliberate exclusions or at the very least, forced withdrawals of the marginalized groups from these very important resources that sustain their livelihoods. Table 7 shows percentage point changes of extent and depth of CPR related activities in 2009–10 over 1999–00.15 The change in extent has increased in almost all cases except for SCs and STs in the region of maximum scarcity, i.e. the critical arid region, which have declined significantly. In the same region, however, the change of OBCs is insignificant, and the ‘others’, which is the social group highest in the hierarchy, has gained significantly. Thus, even in the region of high scarcity, where the more marginal groups have had to withdraw from CPR related activities, the most socially favored group, i.e. the ‘others’ have managed to gain in participation. In case of change in depth, three observations are noticeable. Firstly, there is an all-round significant increase in critical humid region and a parallel decline Table 7 Changes in extent and depth of participation within women of different social groups engaged in CPR-dependent activities Regions

Change in extent Per cent change in women engaged in CPR activities to women engaged in DEDA (2009–10 over 1999–00)

Change in depth Per cent change of women doing at least 2 CPR work categories to women engaged in CPR activities (2009–10 over 1999–00)

ST

ST

SC

OBC

Others

SC

OBC

Others

Critical humid

21.45*

11.82*

16.80*

12.19*

10.49*

4.37*

17.03*

Critical arid

−20.10*

−3.69*

0.36

2.14*

−29.19*

−5.52*

−4.17*

−1.43

Favorable humid

18.40*

10.55*

−0.30

6.42*

2.64

5.14

−3.18

12.58*

Favorable arid

13.76*

7.91*

11.99*

10.49*

−5.16

−2.52

2.19

6.38*

Residual states

11.62*

4.62*

5.77*

−1.46

−2.14

1.56

All India

13.56*

3.75*

7.87*

0.34

−1.56

0.43

−0.13 2.62*

Source Same as Table 2 Note *significant change (up to 5 levels)

9.42*

−0.37 4.85*

106

S. Sen

in the critical arid region. This implies as scarcity increases, women may initially respond by increasing the depth of their activities till the threshold of availability of CPR increases up to a point, but as scarcity increases further, the depth of activities decline even for the women who continue to do CPR related activities. Secondly, the STs, SCs and OBCs lose out in the region of maximum scarcity, i.e. in the Critical Arid region, while the change in ‘others’ is insignificant. Thirdly, the ‘others’ have gained overall in terms of depth of activities over time at the all-India level and in three of the 5 regions significantly, whereas the more marginalized social groups have not gained significantly at the country level, because their gain is restricted to only one of the five regions. These findings conform to the apprehensions articulated in earlier studies (Beck 1994). Thus, there is a relative withdrawal of the marginalized social groups from CPR related activities in the region that face maximum scarcity overtime. Furthermore, the gains registered particularly with respect to depth are more widespread among better off social groups compared to the marginalized ones. Table 8 compares the dependence in CPR related activities across 4 quartiles of MPCE classes over the ten-year period under consideration. There are indications of the higher MPCE classes gaining in terms of increased participation of CPR related activities, but other than this general pattern, there are two important differences between changes in the economic and social groups’ interactions with CPR related activities. Firstly, the degree of relative gain for the higher and relative losses for lower MPCE groups is somewhat smaller compared to the corresponding gains and losses for the higher and marginalized social groups respectively. Secondly, the regional patterns for the class and social groups are dissimilar. While for the social groups, the gains and losses are the clearest for arid regions, these are somewhat more marked in the humid regions for the MPCE groups. Notwithstanding these differences, what comes out of the above analysis is that contrary to the expected patterns, the marginalized sections both in terms of social and economic groups have, in relative terms, lost out on the use of CPRs, while the Table 8 Change in shares MPCE quartiles among women participating in CPR related activities State categories

Years

MPCE quartiles (%) 1 Lowest

2

3

4 Highest

1999–00

32.4

29.1

23.0

15.5

2009–10

29.8

26.3

24.6

19.3

Critical states semi-arid

1999–00

38.3

28.5

21.6

11.7

2009–10

37.2

30.2

21.3

11.3

Favorable states humid

1999–00

31.6

27.9

23.7

16.8

2009–10

28.8

26.8

25.1

19.3

1999–00

31.9

26.1

23.0

18.9

2009–10

29.3

27.6

23.6

19.4

Critical states humid

Favorable states semi-arid/arid Source Same as Table 2

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

107

better off sections have gained. Though this has not changed the fact that poor and marginalized social groups are still more dependent on the CPR based activities that the non-poor and the other social groups. It is possible to visualize a scenario in the near future where class and even caste conflicts over community natural resources could potentially become a reality (Ghosh and Beck 2000).

7 Concluding Remarks The present study uses a relatively underutilized data base to understand the degree of engagement of ‘non-working’ women in CPR-dependent activities across the regions of CPR scarcity. It validates the fact that activities carried out by women can be clearly segregated in terms of their characteristic features in terms of CPR-dependent and non-CPR-dependent activities. The overarching question that is addressed by the study is to enquire into the impact of CPR scarcity on women’s CPR related work, seen through a convergence of spatiality of the two elements. It furthered delved into the issues of exclusions resulting from scarcity of the resource. The findings reveal that while the spread of participation is high at both ends of the spectrums, i.e. abundance and scarcity of CPRs, they are lower at moderate levels, thus forming a U-shaped curve. However, this pattern changes above a certain level of scarcity, beyond which the spread of engagement in the CPR-dependent activities fall. Scarcity also increases the depth (average number of activities performed by an individual woman) of CPR activities with the rider that the humid regions have higher depth compared to the arid regions, probably due to availability of more abundant vegetation and water resources per unit area. However, the pattern of depth resembles that of the extent in the sense that both fall over the time in the region of maximum scarcity. It may be concluded that over the decade (1999–00 to 2009–10), both the spread and depth of CPR-dependent activities of women have increased, with the exception of the most scarce area, i.e. the critical arid region. The above finding implies that as scarcity of CPRs increases, the burden on women increases but not necessarily the productivity (of collected resources) deepens. Since the CPR related work pertains to basic livelihood needs as drinking water, cooking and livestock tending, which tend to have class specific implications, with the richer households likely to have alternatives to CPRs. This deepening burden is likely to be more on the poorer families, a fact validated by the data at hand. This in turn could translate into possible (forced) withdrawal from the workforce of women from poorer households (Singh and Pattanaik 2020; Sen and Mondal 2019). Much of the work that we have classified as CPR-dependent work have been categorized as ‘expenditure-saving’ work as opposed to ‘domestic work’ by Deshpande and Kabeer (2019), though these activities are not recognized as work in official statistics. There is a relative withdrawal of the marginalized social groups from CPR related activities in the region that face maximum scarcity overtime. The present study also brings out evidence of this while attempting to link scarcity with exclusion, where it is observed that it is true with respect to marginalized social groups particularly scheduled caste

108

S. Sen

households. Bringing the findings of one of the recent works and this study together, it appears that there is a circular relationship between drudgery based on work like collection of fuel and paid work. On the one hand, the household’s decision to invest in clean fuel like LPG appears to be shaped by women’s access to paid work (Choudhuri and Desai 2020) and on the other, additional work of collecting fuel and fodder could lead to women’s withdrawal from workforce. In the future, unless policies and institutions work towards preserving and enhancing village commons with a nuanced understanding of the poverty and caste context in rural India, particularly in the more environmentally scarce areas, severe livelihood pressures possibly leading to social tension and conflicts could be expected as a result of alienation from the resource essential for survival. End Notes 1.

2.

3.

4.

Rural poor and non-poor have been distinguished by primarily two ways in the CPR literature. The landless and small farmers have been taken to be the poor section of the rural population in many studies focusing on India (Jodha 1986; IEG 2002; Pasha 1992), while income as a criteria for demarcating poor have been used in others (Cavendish 2000; Narain et al. 2008). The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) in India is a unique setup to carry out surveys on socio-economic, demographic, agricultural and industrial subjects for collecting data from households and from enterprises located in villages and in the towns. It is a focal agency of the Government of India for collection of statistical data vital for developmental planning. The unit level data of the 55th round (1999–00) Employment-Unemployment survey used in this study has a rural sample size of 509,779 persons, out of which 248,698 were women. The total sample size of women engaged in DEDA was 76,422. The corresponding figures for the 66th round, i.e. 2009–10, were 281,327, 137,078 and 55,388. Information was collected by the NSSO on area of CPR land include both de jure and de facto land of four different types: 1. 2. 3. 4.

5.

grazing/pasture land. village forest and woodlot and van panchayat forest. village site and threshing floors. other barren or waste land not owned by any individual,

as well as the total CPR land as the sum of all the four component. The data has been collected from 4939 villages in the country representing various agro-climatic zones (NSS 1998–99: A222). Keeping the variety of conceptual approaches and their implications in mind, two distinctly different approaches were adopted for collection of data on CPR availability in the present enquiry. First, called de jure approach, was used for collection of data on the size of CPRs. In this approach, only those resources were treated as CPRs which were within the boundary of the village and were formally (i.e. by legal sanction or official assignment) held by the

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

6.

7. 8.

9.

10.

11.

109

village panchayat or a community of the village. The second approach, called de facto approach, was adopted for collecting information on use of CPRs. In this approach, the coverage of CPRs was extended to include resources like revenue land not assigned to panchayat or a community of the village, forest land, or even private land in use of the community by convention. The common use of private property may be confined to particular seasons as in the cases where cultivated land are used for grazing between crops, fields submerged during monsoon are used for fishing etc. All such land which are in practice used as common resources were treated as CPRs for data collection on benefits accruing to villagers from the CPRs even if they were located outside the boundary of the village (NSS 1998–99: 8). The information used in the analysis pertains to the latter approach. The UPS measure excludes from the labor force all those who are employed and/or unemployed for a total of less than six months. Thus persons who work intermittently, either because of the pattern of work in the household farm or enterprise or due to economic compulsions and other reasons, would not be included in the labor force unless their days at work and unemployment totaled over half the reference year. The list of work in Table 1 was asked to all women who as per UPS stated reported to be engaged in domestic and extra domestic work. All this work is unpaid. An element of unpaid work that is excluded from the above list is workers who are engaged in family enterprises as unpaid workers. This group, as per the NSSO definition is counted within the labour force, as opposed to women engaged in domestic and extra domestic work, which is also unpaid. See Jodha 1986. The correlation coefficients are 0.489 and 0.502 between the CPR-dependent women’s work and availability of CPR in 1999–00 and 2009–10, both significant at 1% levels. A person whose principal usual status is determined on the basis of doing some work for six months or more, may have pursued some other economic activity for 30 days or more during the reference period of 365 days preceding the date of survey. The status in which such economic activity is pursued during the reference period of 365 days preceding the date of survey is the subsidiary economic activity status of the person. Notably, a person who is a non-worker by UPS may be a worker by the usual subsidiary status (USS). Environmental vulnerability has been captured by two indicators in Agarwal 1997a, namely annual precipitation and percentage under forest cover. For data across Indian states see Table 3 in Agarwal 1997a. There is a strong relationship with vegetation growth and surface and ground water recharge with the amount of precipitation. Thus it has been assumed that the critical dry region is deprived not only in terms of the extent and its reduction of the CPR, but also in terms of the nature of vegetation it supports and the water bodies it holds within that extent, when it is compared with the critical humid region.

110

S. Sen

12.

The regional patterns and trends of non-CPR related work is quite different when compared to the CPR based activities. The residual states and favorable dry regions experience lower extent of participation of non-CPR based activities compared to the critical dry region. Refer to Table 1 for the list of three works taken into account by Fig. 9 that in totality encompass CPLR. The differences in share of women performing all three activities are significant at 1% level in both periods of time as per the test of equality in proportions. The extent has been measured as a percentage of women engaged in DEDA activities, while depth has been measured as a percentage of women in CPRrelated activities. Note that the numbers of observations are lower in the latter than the former in the corresponding categories. This is the reason that a higher change of depth is often not significant, whereas the same is significant for extent.

13. 14. 15.

Acknowledgements The author is grateful to Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, for funding ‘Gender Atlas’, due to which work in this article was initiated. The author wishes to thank Prof. Saraswati Raju and Dr. Deepak Mishra for the enriching discussions they had with them while writing the paper. The author expresses her appreciation to Swati Sinha and Dinabandhu Mondal for provide valuable assistance in mapwork.

References Abraham V (2009) Employment growth in rural India: distress driven? Econ Pol Wkly 44(16):97– 104 Adhikari B (2005) Poverty, property rights and collective action: understanding the distributive aspects of common property resource management. Environ Dev Econ 10(1):7–31 Agarwal B (1992) The gender and environment debate: lessons from India. Fem Stud 81(1):119–158 Agarwal B (1997a) Gender, environment, and poverty interlinks: regional variations and temporal shifts in rural India, 1971–91. World Dev 25(1):23–52 Agarwal B (1997b) Bargaining and gender relations: within and beyond the household. Fem Econ 3(1):1–51 Agarwal B (2002) Environmental action, gender equity and women’s participation. Dev Chang 28(1):1–44 Agarwal B (2003) Gender and land rights revisited: explaining new prospects via the state, family and market. J Agrar Chang 3(1 & 2):184–224 Banerjee P (2006) Land acquisition and peasant resistance at Singur. Econ Pol Wkly 41(46):4718– 4720 Beck T (1994) Common property resource access by poor and class conflict in West Bengal. Econ Pol Wkly 29(4):187–197 Beck T, Nesmith C (2001) Building on poor people’s capacities: the case of common property resources in India and West Africa. World Dev 29(1):119–133 Bhullar L (2008) The Indian forest rights act 2006: a critical appraisal. Law, Environ Dev J 4(1):20– 34 Cavendish W (2000) Empirical regularities in the poverty-environment relationship of rural households: evidence from Zimbabwe. World Dev 28(11):1979–2003 Chen M, Vanek J, Lund F, Heintz (2005) Women work and poverty, progress of the world’s Women. JUNIFEM, New York

Scarcity of Common Property Resources and Spatiality of Women’s …

111

Chopra K, Dasgupta P (2002) Common pool resources in India: evidence, significance and new management initiatives: policy implications of CPR knowledge in India. Report on a Workshop, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, India Choudhuri P, Desai S (2020) Gender inequalities and household fuel choice in India. J Clean Prod 265:121487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121487 Deshpande A, Kabeer N (2019) (In)visibility, care and cultural barriers: the size and shape of women’s work in India. Discussion papers series in economics (DP No.04/19), Ashoka University, Department of Economics, Haryana, India Ghosh MG, Beck T (2000) Common property resources and the poor: findings from West Bengal. Econ Pol Wkly 35(3):147–153 GOI—Government of India (2008) Common guidelines for watershed development projects. Department of Land Resources, New Delhi Gowda MN, Savadatti PM (2004) CPRs and rural poor: study in north Karnataka. Econ Pol Wkly 39(33):3752–3757 Heltberg R (2001) Determinants and impact of local institutions for common resource management. Environ Dev Econ 6:183–208 Himanshu (2011) Employment trends in India: a re-examination. Econ Pol Wkly 46(37):43–59 James AJ, Verhagen J, van Wijk C, Nanavaty R, Parikh M, Bhatt M (2002) Transforming time into money using water: a participatory study of economics and gender in rural India. Nat Res Forum 26(3):205–217 Jatav M, Sen S (2013) Drivers of non-farm employment in rural India. Econ Polit Weekly Suppl Rev Rural Aff 48(26 & 27):14–21 Jodha NS (1986) Common property resources and rural poor in dry regions of India. Econ Pol Wkly 31(27):1169–1181 Johri A, Krishnakumar N (1991) Poverty and common property resources—case of a rope making industry. Econ Pol Wkly 26(50):2897–2902 Kumar S, Hotchkiss D (1988) Consequences of deforestation for women’s time allocation, agricultural production and nutrition in hill area of Nepal. Research Report 69, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC Kerr J (2002) Watershed development, environmental services, and poverty alleviation in India. World Dev 30(8):1387–1400 Mazumdar I, Neetha N (2011) Gender dimensions: employment trends in India, 1993–94 to 2009– 10, Occasional Paper No. 56, Centre for Women’s Development Studies, New Delhi Mearns R (1999) Access to land in rural India: policy issues and options. Policy Research Working Paper 2123, Rural Development Sector Unit, World Bank, South Asia Region http://documents1. worldbank.org/curated/en/502021468751137942/pdf/multi-page.pdf Meinzen-Dick RS, Brown LR, Feldstein, HS, Quisumbing AR (1997) Gender, property rights, and natural resources. World Devel 25(8):1303–1315 Mishra A, Mishra DK (2012) Deforestation and women’s work burden in the eastern Himalayas, India: insights from a field survey. Gend Technol Dev 16(3):299–328 Mwangi E (2007) Subdividing the commons: distributional conflict in the transition from collective to individual property rights in Kenya’s Maasailand. World Dev 35(5):815–834 Naidu SC (2011) Access to benefits from forest commons in the western Himalayas. Ecol Econ 71:202–210 Narain U, Gupta S, van ‘t Veld K (2008) Poverty and resource dependence in rural India. Ecol Econ 66:161–176 Narain V (2009) Growing city, shrinking hinterland: land acquisition, transition and conflict in peri-urban Gurgaon. India. Environ Urbanization 21(2):501–512 Neff D, Sen K, Kling V (2012) Puzzling decline in rural women’s labor force participation in India: a reexamination. No 96, GIGA working paper, Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg NSSO—National Sample Survey Organization (1999) Common property resources in India. Report No. 452, NSS 54th round. Government of India, New Delhi

112

S. Sen

NSSO—National Sample Survey Organization (2000). Employment unemployment survey, report No. 455, NSS 54th round. Government of India, New Delhi NSSO—National Sample Survey Organization (2010) Common property resources in India, Report No. 538, NSS 66th round. Government of India, New Delhi Pasha SA (1992) CPRs and rural poor: a micro level analysis. Econ Pol Wkly 27(46):2499–2503 Peluso NL, Humphrey CR, Fortmann LP (1994) The rock, the beach, and the tidal pool: people and poverty in natural resource-dependent areas. Soc Nat Resour 7(1):23–38 Pramanik A, Kishorenagar R, Sahoo S (2004) Caste and common property resources: a study of a land scarce village in Orissa. Working paper, Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi Quiggin J (1993) Common property, equality and development. World Dev 21(7):1123–1138 Raju S (2011) Reclaiming places and spaces: the making of gendered geography of India. In: Raju S (ed) Gendered geographies: space and place in South Asia. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, pp 31–59 Ramnath M (2008) Surviving the forest rights act: between Scylla and Charybdis. Econ Pol Wkly 43(9):37–42 Randeria S (2003) Cunning states and unaccountable international institutions: legal plurality, social movements and rights of local communities to common property resources. Eur J Sociol 44(1):27– 60 Ribot J, Peluso N (2003) A theory of access. Rural Sociol 68(2):153–181 Sen S (2008) Watershed programmes and rural development in India. In: Wassan R, Dutta KL (eds) Water first. Sage Publications, New Delhi, pp 243–256 Sen S, Mallik C (2012) Understanding Gujarat’s agricultural growth in a liberalizing environment: signs of a redefined margin. In: Sood A (ed) Poverty amidst prosperity: essays on the trajestory of development in Gujarat. Aakar Publication, Delhi, pp 88–127 Sen S, Mondal S (2019) Understanding women’s role in agriculture in the eastern Gangetic basin: the macro and micro connections, Technical report, ACIAR, Australian Aid, SaciWaters, Hyderabad.http://saciwaters.org/new1/images/aciar/Technical%20Report.pdf Singh P, Pattanaik F (2020) Unfolding unpaid domestic work in India: women’s constraints, choices, and career. Palgrave Commun 6(1):1–13 Shiva V (1988) Staying alive: women, ecology and survival in India. Kali for Women, New Delhi Srivastava N, Srivastava R (2010) Women, work and employment outcomes in India. Econ Pol Wkly 48(28):49–63 Thompson EP (1986) The making of the English working class. Penguin, Harmondsworth

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation in An Agriculturally Developed Region of India Jitender Kumar and Mahabir S. Jaglan

Abstract The state of Haryana is a part of agriculturally developed region in northwest India. Irrigation system in the region is heavily dependent on groundwater resource which has got depleted during last two decades. Like other agriculturally developed states of India, decline in water table and diminishing accessibility of groundwater are big issues for the farmers in the state. Based on primary data, the present study assesses the levels and determinants of physical and economic accessibility of groundwater to farmers in different groundwater availability regimes. It brings out that there are striking inequalities in physical access to water between groundwater rich north-eastern region and water-scarce south-western region of the state. Furthermore, the physical accessibility of groundwater significantly varies across class size of farmers particularly in the latter region. There is also a huge gap in the economic accessibility of groundwater between north-eastern and southwestern parts of the state. It also varies greatly across the class size of farmers and the magnitude of inequality is very high in groundwater scarcity region. Physical access to groundwater is largely determined by the cost of tube well irrigation and same is true in case of economic accessibility too. Overall the access to groundwater in the state is inversely proportional to the cost of groundwater extraction. Farm size and fragmentation of land holdings are other dominant factors in determination of groundwater accessibility in water-scarcity areas in south-western region of the state. Keywords Haryana · Water table · Groundwater access · Irrigation cost · Amortized cost · Water rights

J. Kumar (B) · M. S. Jaglan Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana 136119, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari (eds.), Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3100-9_5

113

114

J. Kumar and M. S. Jaglan

1 Introduction Groundwater irrigation has played a crucial role in development of Indian agriculture. Irrigation provided the base to package agricultural technology driven Green Revolution initiated in 1960s in India. Expansion of groundwater (tube well) irrigation has further driven the agriculture system since 1980s leading to further enhancement of agricultural productivity and efficiency. But India’s groundwater sector has slowed down since 2000–01, most markedly in eastern India due to lowered groundwater tables (Mukherji et al. 2013).The situation is no different in north-western India also. There is a widespread overexploitation of groundwater in Haryana as in about 86% area of the state water draft exceeds the annual recharge. The persistent overexploitation of groundwater resources has culminated in depletion of this precious natural resource in the state (Kumar and Jaglan 2018). Groundwater overexploitation with falling water level has serious equity implications. Overexploitation of this resource is emerging as a major concern both in terms of threat to its sustainability and inequity in its distribution among farmers. It has caused long term threats to sustainability of agriculture resulting from rising extraction cost and depletion of groundwater resources due to long-term decline in water tables (Fishman et al. 2011). Overexploitation of groundwater has become a big problem and hurdle in developmental process in agriculturally developed regions of India (Sarkar 2012).There have been numerous studies which have brought out that mining of groundwater resource and increase in cost of its extraction have led to inequality in access to groundwater particularly in the water-scarcity areas (Shah 1991; Bhatia 1992; Moench 1992a, b; Nagraj and Chandrakanth 1997; Shaheen and Shiyani 2005). Groundwater is a prime source of water for the people world over and its depletion is adversely affecting its accessibility. Access to water is viewed as basic human right, a social necessity and a critical environmental resource (Abu-Zeid 2001). Accessibility of groundwater means equitable distribution of groundwater among people in a geographical area. In India, water rights are tied to land ownership. Hence, inequality in land distribution generates inequality in access to groundwater too. The inequality in land distribution in India can be gauged from the fact that marginal and small farmers (owning less than 2 ha land) account for about 85% of total farmers, but they own only 44.57% land, whereas medium and large farmers (15%) occupied 55.43% land (GOI 2014). The unequal distribution of land of this magnitude poses challenge to fair access to groundwater in water-scarce regions. The size of ownership holding is a big factor in accessing water for irrigation (Pant 1984). Ill-defined property rights combine with unequal land distribution to promote greater inequity in access to groundwater. It is the resource poor people who bear the brunt of growing inequity and water scarcity (Kumar and Saleth 2018). The poor are likely to be left out in the race of groundwater irrigation in such areas. In agriculturally developed state like Punjab the externalities of groundwater depletion pose greater concern for socio-economic equity in the access to this resource (Sarkar 2011). Negative externalities have arisen

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation …

115

in the race to exploit more and more groundwater resources (Nagraj and Chandrakanth 1997). In the efforts to extract more and more sub-soil water and to bring more area under groundwater irrigation, marginal and small farmers are likely to lose more because they are unable to invest hefty amount required for drilling as well as installation of new tube wells. As a result, groundwater becomes non-reachable to resource poor farmers and they become dependent on large farmers to access it (Singh 2002). The competition among users to access more and more water also results in spatial, intra and intergeneration inequality in access to groundwater (Nagraj and Chandrakanth 1995). As a consequence, there emerges the widespread apprehension that instead of reducing relative inequalities among rural incomes, groundwater irrigation development may actually enlarge and accentuate both absolute and relative inequalities already prevalent among the farmers (Shah and Raju 1987; Shah 1993). However, emergence of water markets has improved accessibility to groundwater irrigation, particularly for marginal and small farmers in the initial phase of their development. But, in advanced phases, unsustainable and over extraction of groundwater could lead to inter-generational inequities (Mukherjee and Biswas 2016). Groundwater is not treated as a common pool resource due to its intensive exploitation by large and very large farmers (Dubash 2002; Pant 2005; Reddy 2005). It does not take much effort for one to realize that groundwater economy in India is controlled by medium and large farmers, and all its benefits are likely to accrue to the rich farmers. Janakarajan (1993) in his study has brought out that inequality in access to groundwater can create social differentiation which may be the cause of deprivation, poverty, and social tensions. Unequal accessibility of groundwater resources and declining water table play a vital role in increasing rural poverty, social inequality, and tension in social harmony (Janakarajan and Moench 2006).

1.1 Scope of the Study Haryana is by and large a semi-arid area with perpetual soil moisture deficit. The rainy season in the state is largely confined to 3 months in monsoon season. The state largely depends on the tube well irrigation for sustaining agricultural development. The present study is a modest attempt to assess the accessibility of groundwater resource across different regimes of groundwater availability and farm size classes of farmers. It attempts to realize the following specific objectives. I. II.

To examine the levels of physical and economic accessibility of groundwater resources across different groundwater regimes and size of farms. To analyze the determinant of farmers’ access to groundwater in the state.

116

J. Kumar and M. S. Jaglan

1.2 Study Area The state of Haryana in India is located between 27° 39 to 30° 56 N latitudes and 74° 27 to 77° 36 E longitudes, covering an area of 44,212 km2 (Fig. 1). The geographical expansion of the state has the natural boundaries in the form of the Shiwalik Hills in the northeast, the Yamuna River in the east, the Ghaggar River in the north, Aravalli Hills in the south and the Thar Desert in the west. In terms of political boundaries the state is bounded by Uttar Pradesh and Delhi in the east, Punjab in the north, Himachal Pradesh in the northeast and Rajasthan in the south and west. Being located in the interior of Indian sub-continent the state has mostly warm and semi-arid climatic conditions. It is receives over 75% of total annual rainfall from south-westerly monsoon during July to September. The average annual rainfall of the state is 560 mm which varies from less than 300 mm in south-western parts to over 1000 mm in the hilly tracks of northeast. The state has subtropical continental monsoon climate having seasonal rhythm and great annual range of temperature. The state is chronically deficit in surface water resources and mainly depends on groundwater for irrigation.

Fig. 1 Location of study area and ground water availability regimes (Prepared by authors based on Table 1)

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation …

117

2 Data Base and Methodology The study utilizes both primary and secondary data. Primary data has been derived through survey of selected households from different groundwater availability regimes in Haryana from June to August 2014. The groundwater regimes denote the magnitude of groundwater availability (IA) which has been obtained for different districts of the state as following: IA = V/A, where IA is index of groundwater availability (m/ha); V is volume of groundwater in district/state (ha-m); and A is area of district/state (ha). The district-wise data of volume of groundwater has been obtained from Central Ground Water Board (CGWB 2013), Faridabad, Haryana. The groundwater availability regimes have been delineated on the basis of district-wise groundwater availability index as computed above and criteria cited in Table 1. The High Ground Availability Regime (HGAR) mostly lies in north-eastern and eastern parts, the Table 1 Groundwater availability regimes in Haryana Categories of groundwater availability regime

Abbreviation used in the study

Districts (as in 2013)

Index of groundwater availability (m/ha)

Low groundwater availability regime (≤0.20 ha m)

LGAR

Bhiwani

0.12

Mahendergarh

0.13

Moderate groundwater availability regime (0.21–0.26 ha m)

MGAR

High groundwater availability regime (above 0.26 ha m)

HGAR

All groundwater availability regimes (Mean 0.23 ha m)

AGAR

Sirsa

0.15

Gurgaon

0.17

Rewari

0.20

Hisar

0.21

Kaithal

0.23

Rohtak

0.26

Panipat

0.27

Karnal

0.29

Yamunanagar

0.29

Faridabad

0.30

Kurukshetra

0.31

Ambala

0.33

Sonipat

0.35

Jind

0.37

Haryana

0.23

Source Based on data obtained from Central Ground Water Board, Faridabad, Haryana 2013

118

J. Kumar and M. S. Jaglan

Moderate Groundwater Availability Regime (MGAR) covers the districts of Hisar (includes present Fatehabad), Kaithal and Rohtak (includes present Jhajjar) and Low Groundwater Regime (LGAR) encompasses south-western parts and Sirsa district of the state. The HGAR is mostly a groundwater rich area and the LGAR is largely groundwater scarcity zone having very deep water table. The MGAR lies in between these two zones and irrigated by both tube wells and canals (Fig. 1). These categories/regimes have also been utilized for comparing the results and analysis of primary data.

2.1 Sample Design The present study employs multistage sampling for selection of sample districts, village and farmers (Table 2). In Stage 1 one district each has been selected purposively from each groundwater availability regime. Mahendergarh district has been selected from LGAR where tube well is the only source of irrigation. It is a water scarcity area which faces severe groundwater depletion problem. Fatehabad district has been selected from MGAR. This district experiences conjunctive use of water where both canals and tube wells supplement each other as source of irrigation. The third district chosen for the study is Yamunanagar which falls in HGAR. It is a groundwater rich area where tube well is the only source of irrigation and does not have groundwater depletion a major problem. In Stage II two villages, from each chosen district in stage I, have been randomly selected for sampling. In Stage III 75 farmers from each sample village have been selected randomly for the household level survey. Thus, there are 150 farmers surveyed from each of three groundwater availability regimes and in total 450 farmers have been surveyed for the present study. The sample farmers have been classified as marginal farmers (up to 1.00 ha), small farmers (1.01–2.00 ha), medium farmers (2.01–4.00 ha), large farmers (4.01–8.00 ha) and very large farmers (more than 8.00 ha) to assess variations in groundwater parameters across farm size. The extraction rates of groundwater from tube wells have been obtained as per following procedure. The volume of groundwater extracted from the Table 2 Sample design for field survey Sample design Groundwater availability regime

District

Village

Farmers

Low groundwater availability regime

Mahendergarh

Baproli

150

Moderate groundwater availability regime

Fatehabad

Dangra

Chinalia 150

Narel High groundwater availability regime

Yamunanagar

Jathlana Alipur

150

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation …

119

tube wells of different horse power has been measured by filling a container of tube well water in given time using a stop watch. The volume of water (liter/hour) has been converted into ha cm/hour. Since it was not possible to take the measurement of groundwater of all selected (450) farmers’ tube wells so in total 55 tube wells (10 LGAR, 10 MGAR, and 35 HGAR) of different horse power were picked for this purpose. The detail about the average extracted volume of water by different horse power tube wells in different groundwater regimes are given in the Table 3.

Table 3 Volume of groundwater extracted from different horse power sample tube wells Particulars

Horse power of tube wells 3HP

5HP

7HP

10HP

12HP

15HP

20HP

Low groundwater availability regime Water extraction (liter/hr.)

0

0

0

0

0

12,000

13,333

Water extraction (ha-cm/hr.)

0

0

0

0

0

0.12

0.13

No. of samples

0

0

0

0

0

5

5

Moderate groundwater availability regime Water extraction (liter/hr.)

0

0

0

0

0

60,000

72,000

Water extraction (ha-cm/hr.)

0

0

0

0

0

0.60

0.72

No. of samples

0

0

0

0

0

5

5

High groundwater availability regime Water extraction (liter/hr.)

45,000

51,429

55,385

65,454

72,000

80,000

90,000

Water extraction (ha-cm/hr.)

0.45

0.51

0.55

0.65

0.72

0.80

0.90

No. of samples

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

All groundwater availability regimes Water extraction (liter/hr.)

45,000

51,429

55,385

65,454

72,000

50,666

58,444

Water extraction (ha-cm/hr.)

0.45

0.51

0.55

0.65

0.72

0.50

0.58

No. of samples

5

5

5

5

5

15

15

Source Field Survey, 2014

120

J. Kumar and M. S. Jaglan

2.2 Computation of Indices The total quantum of water extracted by an individual farmer in a year has been obtained by identifying the horse power of tube well owned by him and then multiplying the average water extraction (ha-cm/h) of that tube well by number of hours the tube well was run by the farmers during different crop season in an agriculture year. (i) Index of Physical Accessibility =

A1 + A2 + A3 NI

A1 = Volume of groundwater extracted during Kharif Season (ha-cm) A2 = Volume of groundwater extracted during Rabi Season (ha-cm) A3 = Volume of groundwater extracted during Zaid Season (ha-cm) NI = Net Area Irrigated (ha). The value of index is expressed as cm/ha/year. (ii) Index of Water Use Intensity (IW) for different classes of farmers is computed as IW = WP/IP WP—Proportion of water extracted in total volume of groundwater extracted by all sample farmers of a groundwater availability regime. IP—Proportion of irrigated area in total groundwater irrigated area by all sample farmers of a groundwater availability regime. (iii) The Amortization cost of Dug well /Tube well (T1) is computed by amortizing the money spent on tube well adopting the method followed by Diwakara et al. (2005). An interest rate of two per cent is taken while calculating amortized cost of tube well. It represents the rate of inflation in the cost of tube well, labor, and pump sets and other accessories. Hence,   T1 = Compounded investment on dug well/Tube well ∗ (1 + i)(AA) ∗ i /[∗(1 + i)(AA) − 1]Compounded investment on Dug well /Bore Well = BW/DW cost ∗ (1 + i)(AA) where, i = interest rate 2 per cent per year, BW = Bore well, DW = Dug well, AA = the average age of well/tube well. The average age of well/tube well is computed by following method: Average age of Dug well/Tube well = Year of Data Collection(2014) − Year of Dug well/tube well construction

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation …

121

Amortization Cost of Pump-set and Accessories/conveyance Structure (T2) is computed as. Amortized Cost of Pump set and Accessories/conveyance Structure (T2) = {[Sum of compounded cost of pump set + pump house/conveyance Structure * (1 + i) 10 * I]/[(1 + i) 10 − 1]}. The working life of pump set, conveyance pipe, and accessories is assumed to be 10 years. (iv) Annual Cost of Groundwater Extraction (AE) is computed as AI =

T1 + T2 + R1 + E1 A1 + A2 + A3

T1 = Amortization Cost of Dug well /Tube well (INR) T2 = Amortized Cost of Pump set and Accessories/Conveyance Structure (INR) R1 = Annual Repair and Maintenance Charges (INR) E1 = Annual Electricity Charges (INR). It is expressed as INR (Indian Rupee) per ha cm. (v) Index of Economic accessibility of Groundwater: =

A1 + A2 + A3 × 1000 AI

It is expressed as ha cm per INR 1000 cost of Irrigation (vi) Index of Land Fragmentation is computed as =

P1 O1

P1 = No. of parcel of operational holdings O1 = Size of operational Holding (ha). Stepwise regression analysis has been carried out to analyze the influence of various parameters on physical and economic accessibility of groundwater. The indices of physical and economic accessibility of groundwater are regressed against the explanatory variables namely depth to water level (X1 ), cost of irrigation (X2 ), farm size (X3 ), and index of land fragmentation (X4 ).

3 Measures of Groundwater Access Access to groundwater means the volume of water extracted by the farmers for irrigation at a given cost in an area. It may be measured in both physical and economic terms. Physical access to groundwater can be measured in terms of volume of water accessed per unit irrigated area in an agricultural year. Economic access to groundwater can be defined as volume of groundwater drawn per unit cost incurred on

122

J. Kumar and M. S. Jaglan

its extraction. Both the physical and economic dimensions of groundwater accessibility for irrigation are linked to various factors such as availability of groundwater resource in the region, depth to water level, cropping pattern and amortization cost of tube well, horse power of pumps, power tariffs, etc. The present study measures the degree of physical and economic access to groundwater across different class sizes of farmers and different groundwater availability regimes.

3.1 Physical Accessibility of Groundwater Physical accessibility of groundwater is computed in terms of total volume of groundwater extracted by the farmers per unit irrigated area and it is expressed as cm/ha per year i.e. depth of water in cm if spread over one ha area. The intensity of water use and magnitude of physical access to groundwater in the state of Haryana varies across groundwater availability regimes and landholding size based classes of farmers (Table 4). The application of groundwater for irrigation per ha in HGAR is 6 times more than LGAR and 1.5 times more than MGAR. As far as access to groundwater by farm size is concerned, very large farmers take the lion share (about one-third of total volume extracted) and have very high intensity of water use (1.26). On the other hand, marginal farmers with lowest water use intensity (0.71) extract only 4.6% of total extraction while these figures are 0.85 and 15% respectively for the small farmers. The medium farmers draw about one-fourth of total volume of groundwater with water use intensity of 0.99. There is a big gap in the water use intensity across farm size in water-scarcity region (LGAR). Medium and large farmers in this zone extract about 80% of total volume of extracted water with the intensity index 1.20 and 1.15 respectively. The marginal farmers extract very small amount of water (about 9%) with very low water use intensity (0.68). In MGAR, very large farmers extract about 35% of the total extracted water with highest water use intensity (1.08). Large and medium farmers also have good access to groundwater in this regime. But the marginal and small farmers together extract only about 13% water with low water use intensity index (0.88 and 0.78 respectively). The difference in the intensity of groundwater use is less pronounced in HGAR. In this regime, very large and large farmers together extract about 56% of total extracted groundwater with water use intensity of 1.07 and 1.02 respectively. The marginal and small farmers extract about one-fourth of total volume of extracted water. They have the water use intensity index of 0.89 and 0.95 respectively. The physical access to groundwater greatly varies across groundwater availability regimes. On an average, there is 71 cm/ha groundwater extracted by the farmers in the state (Table 4). The index of accessibility of water is highest in HGAR (102 cm/ha) followed by MGAR (66 cm/ha) and least amount of water is accessed by the farmers in LGAR (16 cm/ha). It reveals that there is huge difference in physical access to groundwater resources across the availability regimes. The farmers in HGAR, on an average access 6 times more groundwater volume than those in LGAR. There

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation …

123

Table 4 Physical access to groundwater across class size of farmers and groundwater availability regimes (cm/ha/year) Particulars

MF

SF

MEF

LF

VLF

Total

Low groundwater availability regime Volume of groundwater extracted (ha-cm)

305 (9.04)

735 (21.78)

954 (28.27)

1381 (40.92)

DNA

3375 (100.00)

Net irrigated area (ha)

28.54 (13.21)

59.51 (27.55)

51.01 (23.62)

76.92 (35.61)

DNA

215.98 (100.00)

Index of water use intensity

0.68

0.79

1.20

1.15

DNA

1.00

Amount of Water extracted per ha of NAI (cm/ha)

10.69

12.35

18.70

17.95

DNA

15.63

Moderate groundwater availability regime Volume of groundwater extracted (ha-cm)

1145 (3.87)

2608 (8.81)

8158 (27.57)

7186 (24.28)

10,497 (35.47)

29,594 (100.00)

Net Irrigated area (ha)

19.76 (4.41)

50.60 (11.30)

121.05 (27.04)

108.90 (24.33)

147.36 (32.92)

447.67 (100.00)

Index of water use intensity

0.88

0.78

1.02

1.00

1.08

1.00

Water extracted per ha of NAI (cm/ha)

57.95

51.54

67.39

65.99

71.23

66.11

High groundwater availability regime Volume of groundwater extracted (ha-cm)

2136 (4.72)

8447 (18.68)

9967 (22.04)

9845 (21.77)

14,831 (32.79)

45,226 (100.00)

Net Irrigated area (ha)

23.48 (5.32)

86.84 (19.69)

100.81 (22.85)

94.33 (21.39)

135.63 (30.75)

441.09 (100.00)

Index of water use intensity

0.89

0.95

0.96

1.02

1.07

1.00

Water extracted per ha of NAI (cm/ha)

90.97

97.27

98.87

104.37

109.35

102.53

(continued)

124

J. Kumar and M. S. Jaglan

Table 4 (continued) Particulars

MF

SF

MEF

LF

VLF

Total

All groundwater availability regimes Volume of groundwater extracted (ha-cm)

3586 (4.59)

11,790 (15.08)

19,079 (24.40)

18,412 (23.55)

25,328 (32.39)

78,195 (100.00)

Net Irrigated area(ha)

71.78 (6.50)

196.95 (17.83)

272.87 (24.70)

280.15 (25.36)

282.99 (25.62)

1104.74 (100.00)

Index of water use intensity

0.71

0.85

0.99

0.93

1.26

1.00‘

Water extracted per ha of NAI (cm/ha)

49.96

59.86

69.92

65.72

89.50

70.78

Source Field Survey data, 2014 Notes NAI—net area irrigated, MF—marginal farmer, SF—small farmer, MEF—medium farmer, LF—large farmer, VLF—very large farmer, ha cm—hectare centimeter, ha—hectare, Figures in parentheses indicate percentage to total, DNA—data not available

is also a significant difference in the quantity of groundwater accessed across the classes of farmers. On an average, a very large farmer accesses about 90 cm/ha groundwater per year. On the other hand, marginal and small farmers extract only about 50 and 60 cm/ha water respectively. The water accessibility decreases with the diminishing size of landholdings. There is a big difference in physical accessibility of water between large and small farmers in LGAR. But this gap bridges progressively in MGAR and HGAR which underlines that better availability of groundwater facilitates higher accessibility as well as equity in its distribution among farmers.

3.2 Cost of Groundwater Extraction Physical access to groundwater alone does not ensure that groundwater can be accessed by all farmers. The cost of obtaining the groundwater for irrigation also matters. This is particularly true for the marginal and small farmers who do not have sufficient capital for installation and maintenance of tube wells. Table 5 reveals that overall annual amortized cost per tube well for the sample farmers comes out to INR 19,324. The cost happens to be very high in LGAR (INR 31,646) and quite low in HGAR (INR 4223). The tube well amortized cost is very low in north-eastern parts of state (HGAR) while it is almost four times higher than this in south-western Haryana (LGAR). This is mainly attributed to depth of water table. There are also variations in tube well amortized cost across land size classes of farmers. The annual amortized cost of tube well is highest among marginal farmers (INR 22,884) followed by small farmers (INR 20,963). It is lowest among very large farmers (INR 12,411). Overall

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation …

125

Table 5 Irrigation cost across class size of farmers and groundwater availability regimes Particulars

MF

SF

MEF

LF

VLF

Total

Low groundwater availability regime Annual amortized cost per functioning tube well (INR)

37,024

31,684

31,953

29,274

DNA

31,646

Annual cost of groundwater extraction INR per ha-cm

971

733

670

445

DNA

619

Moderate groundwater availability regime Annual amortized cost per functioning tube well (INR)

27,095

26,975

24,785

23,018

20,958

22,104

Annual cost of groundwater extraction INR per ha-cm

379

269

109

90

72

116

High groundwater availability regime Annual amortized cost per functioning tube well (INR)

4533

4231

4357

4076

3865

4223

Annual cost of groundwater extraction INR per ha-cm

104

46

16

16

11

25

All groundwater availability regimes Annual amortized cost per functioning tube well (INR)

22,884

20,963.33

20,365

18,789.33

12,411.5

19,324.33

Annual cost of groundwater extraction INR per ha-cm

265

138

89

77

36

86

Source Field Survey, 2014 Notes MF—marginal farmer, SF—small farmer, MEF—medium farmer, LF—large farmer, VLF— very large farmer, ha cm—hectare centimeter, DNA—data not available

the amortization cost of tube wells in the state is inversely proportional to the size of landholding of farmers. This may be attributed to the economy of scale. The difference in amortization cost of tube well across farm sizes is highest in LGAR i.e. INR 37,024 for marginal farmers and INR 29,274 for large farmers. However, in MGAR and HGAR there is not as big difference in amortization cost across the landholdings size class of farmers. Overall, difference in amortization cost of tube wells is so huge across different groundwater regimes and landholding sizes of farmers that a marginal farmer in LGAR incurs about 8 times more amortization cost than a very large farmer in HGAR. The cost of groundwater extraction (INR/per ha-cm) also provide insight into the dynamics of tube well irrigation economy. It may be observed from Table 5 that average cost of tube well water extraction is INR 86 per ha-cm in the state. The cost is highest in groundwater scarcity zone (LGAR) i.e. INR 619. In comparison to this per ha-cm cost of water is quite low in MGAR (INR 116) and merely INR 25 in HGAR. In fact, groundwater extraction cost in LGAR is more than 24 times higher than that in HGAR and that is a huge difference for a small state like Haryana. Furthermore, there is a huge difference in cost of tube well irrigation across landholdings size classes. The cost of irrigation declines with increase in the size of landholdings. It is

126

J. Kumar and M. S. Jaglan

found to be highest in case of marginal farmers (INR 265) followed by small farmers (INR 138) and medium farmers. It is quite low for very large farmers (INR 36). The marginal farmers in LGAR bears monumentally high cost of irrigation (INR 971) per-ha cm followed by small farmers (INR 733). Similarly, the cost of tube well irrigation declines with increase in size of farming in HGAR and MGAR too. The lowest cost (INR 11 per ha-cm) is found among very large farmers in HGAR. This means that a marginal farmer in Mahendergarh district (LGAR) is paying 88 times more irrigation cost than a very large farmer in Yamunanagar district (HGAR). This has led to development of groundwater markets in the water-scarcity areas and makes the marginal and small farmers dependent on medium and large farmers for the supply of water for irrigation.

3.3 Economic Accessibility of Groundwater Economic accessibility of groundwater is measured in terms of volume of groundwater drawn per INR 1000 cost of its extraction. It is evident that on an average a farmer extracts a volume of groundwater equal to 11 ha-cm per thousand INR extraction cost. The index of economic accessibility of groundwater is very high (40.6 hacm) in HGAR in comparison to that in MGAR (8.6 ha-cm) and LGAR (1.6 ha-cm). It reveals that there is a huge difference in economic access to groundwater across different availability regimes. The accessibility is extremely low in LGAR which has very deep water table and experiences perpetual groundwater scarcity. On the other hand, groundwater is accessible at very low cost to the farmers in HGAR (Table 6). It reveals that better/easy availability of groundwater is a very big factor in its economic accessibility. Table 6 Economic accessibility of groundwater across class size of farmers and groundwater availability regimes (ha-cm/INR 1000) MF

SF

MEF

LF

VLF

Total

Low groundwater availability regime 1.0

1.3

1.4

2.2

DNA

1.6

3.7

9.1

11.1

13.9

8.6

21.9

61.8

63.5

89.2

40.5

7.2

11.2

13.0

27.0

11.8

Moderate groundwater availability regime 2.6 High groundwater availability regime 9.6 All groundwater availability regimes 3.7

Source Field Survey, 2014 Volume of water in ha-cm drawn per INR 1000 cost Notes MF—marginal farmers, SF—small farmers, MEF—medium farmers, LF—large farmers, VLF—very large farmers, ha cm—hectare centimeter, DNA—data not available

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation …

127

Economic access to groundwater is unequal across the class size of farmers too. It is highest among very large farmers as they draw 27 ha-cm water per thousand INR cost of extraction. It decreases sharply with the diminishing farm size as it is 13 ha-cm for large farmers, 7.2 ha-cm for small farmers and merely 3.7 ha-cm for marginal farmers. Very large farmers have most economic access to groundwater for irrigation (89.2 ha-cm) in HGAR. But there is a huge difference in this regard across the classes of farmers as it is merely 9.6 ha-cm for marginal farmers. In MGAR and LGAR also economic accessibility of groundwater is skewed towards large farmers. In LGAR marginal farmers access only 1.0 ha-cm water per INR 1000 expenditure. The empirical analysis reveals that there is gross inequality in economic access to groundwater both across groundwater availability regimes and class size of farms. In this regard, an average farmer in HGAR is 27 times better off than in LGAR. There is such a huge difference in economic accessibility of groundwater in the state that a marginal farmer in LGAR has to spend 89 times more money to extract same amount of groundwater than a very large farmer in HGAR. This colossal gap in economic accessibility of groundwater may cause gross economic inequality in the agrarian society.

4 Factors in Accessibility of Groundwater Groundwater is one of the most commonly used water resource for irrigation by the farmers. As discussed in preceding section they do have unequal access to this resource. There are various factors affecting equal access to groundwater resources. Depth to water level, cost of irrigation, land fragmentation and size of land holdings are main factors causing unequal access to this natural resource. Among these factors the first three cast negative influence, while fourth has positive impact on groundwater access.

4.1 Depth to Water Level The depth to water table is a big factor in determining the expenditure incurred on extraction of groundwater. Drastic fall in water table due to excessive use of groundwater has posed a serious challenge as marginal and small farmers are likely to lose access to groundwater because they do not have resources to invest huge amount for drilling, installing and maintaining tube wells. Chasing water table is beyond the reach of most of the resource poor farmers. In such a situation, they have to depend mostly on large and very large farmers for groundwater irrigation, i.e, accessing through groundwater markets. This has severe equity implications especially in a situation where farmers have little opportunity to earn their income from sources other than irrigated agriculture (Dhawan 1982). There are various micro level studies that have highlighted serious equity implications of groundwater exploitation with

128

J. Kumar and M. S. Jaglan

falling water levels particularly in the water-starved regions (Shah 1991; Bhatia 1992; Moench 1992a, b; Nagraj and Chandrakanth 1997).

4.2 Cost of Irrigation Cost of groundwater irrigation is a crucial factor as installation and maintenance of tube well require a big investment. With the declining water table, this cost is further increasing as it requires heavy investment for installation of new tube well and purchasing new submersible pump. It has gone beyond the reach of farmers, particularly for the marginal and small farmers who do not have sufficient capital for big investments. The situation is worse in groundwater scarcity zone and dry area where water level has dropped very deep. The cost of tube well irrigation has further increased since initiation of economic liberalization in early 1990s as subsidies on power tariffs; tube wells and water conveyance equipments have been systematically withdrawn. It has tilted the scale disproportionately against the small and marginal farmers. Many of such distressed farmers are forced to sell their land or they are trapped in debt in the process of installing new tube wells or upgrading the old one. This has led to development of water markets where some large and very large farmers have emerged as potential water sellers and some others mostly marginal and small farmers as water purchasers (Janakarajan 1993; Vaidyanathan 1996).

4.3 Size of Landholdings Land and water are precious resources for rural society in India as they provide livelihood to people in agrarian societies. The size of ownership landholding not only determines the agrarian class but also gives farmers the entitlement of groundwater use for irrigation. The groundwater rights are attached to land; hence, the quantum of water extraction is proportional to the size of landholding. So the size class of land influences farmers’ access to groundwater resources. The size of land holding has consistently declined in India as a consequence of increasing population pressure on land. It declined to 1.08 ha in 2015–16 as compared to 1.15 ha in 2010–11. The small and marginal holdings taken together (up to 2.00 ha) constituted 86.08% of the total holdings, while their share in the operational area stood at 46.94% (GOI 2016). Increasing proportion of marginal and small farmers is likely to impede equity in accessibility of groundwater. The smaller farmers are not able to compete with large and very large farmers in harnessing groundwater resource.

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation …

129

4.4 Land Fragmentation Land fragmentation means division of landholding in various plots. It is a situation where a farmer operates a number of owned or rented non-contiguous plots at the same time (Wu et al 2005; Bentley 1987). There are numerous problems posed by land fragmentation i.e. access to groundwater, time wastage in movement between different parcel of land, difficulty in machinery use, inability to apply modern agricultural technology, waste of capital and labour, loss of soil and productivity, land conflicts etc. It creates impediments in development and modernization of agriculture (Cicek 1996). The owners/tenants of multiple plots of land, face the problems in location of tube well and conveyance of water for irrigation. The integration of ownership landholding through land consolidation solves this problem, but it recurs with passage of time and divisions of holdings among next generation owners and thus adversely affects farmers’ access to groundwater resource.

4.5 Determinants of Physical Accessibility Using stepwise regression analysis, the index of physical accessibility of groundwater (volume of water extracted in ha-cm) has been regressed against the explanatory variables namely depth to water level (X1 ), cost of irrigation (X2 ), farm size (X3 ), and index of land fragmentation (X4 ). This exercise has been carried out separately for all sample farmers (AGAR) and sample farmers belonging to LGAR, MGAR, and HGAR. It is evident from Table 7 that when all sample farmers are taken together the cost of irrigation (X2 ) enters at step 1 and explains 83.9% inter-farmer variations in physical accessibility of groundwater. Index of land fragmentation (X4 ) enters at step 2 and along with X2 explains about 85.3% of variations. Depth to water level (X1 ) enters at step 3 and together with two variables mentioned above explains about 85.8% of variations. Cost of irrigation (X2 ) and depth to water level (X1 ) variables are negatively regressed and index of land fragmentation (X4 ) is positively associated with the dependent variable. The regression coefficients are significant at 1% level. It reveals that physical access to groundwater is largely determined by the cost of irrigation. The increasing cost of irrigation casts negative effect on physical accessibility of groundwater. In the regression model for LGAR (Table 8), farm size (X3 ) enters at step 1 of regression equation and explains about 62.9% of variations in physical accessibility of groundwater. It is positively associated with physical accessibility of groundwater and significant at 1% level. Index of land fragmentation (X4 ) enters at step 2 and along with farm size (X3 ) explains about 69.6% of variations. Cost of irrigation (X2 ) enters at third step and along with two earlier mentioned variables explains about 71.5% of variations in dependent variable. Depth to water level (X1 ) enters at step 4

X2 X4

X2 X4 X1

Step 2

Step 3

0.926

0.924

0.916

R

85.8

85.3

83.9

R2 × 100

0.5

1.4

83.9

Increase in R2 × 100

0.857

0.852

0.839

R−2

1.298*

2.339*

895.229*

F

Standard error of estimate 0.002 0.003 0.520 0.006 0.524 0.006

Regression coefficient −0.916 −1.029 0.163 −0.853 0.144 −0.176

−16.027* 5.680* −3.727*

−41.029* 6.509*

−48.359*

T

86.483

86.068

86.996

Intercept

Computed from field survey data Note Independent Variables: X1—depth to water level, X2—annual cost of irrigation, X3—farm size, X4—index of land fragmentation, Dependent Variable: Physical Accessibility of Groundwater, *Significant at 1% Level

X2

Step 1

Variables

Table 7 AGAR—stepwise regression analysis (physical accessibility)

130 J. Kumar and M. S. Jaglan

X3 X4

X3 X4 X2

X3 X4 X2 X1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

0.854

0.846

0.834

0.793

R

73.0

71.5

69.6

62.9

R2 × 100

1.5

1.9

6.7

62.9

Increase in R2 × 100

0.722

0.709

0.692

0.627

R−2

97.789*

122.069*

168.549*

250.935*

F

0.365 −0.274 −0.222 −0.141

0.390 −0.315 −0.238

0.561 −0.348

0.793

Regression coefficient

0.165 0.098 0.002 0.004

0.168 0.097 0.002

0.126 0.098

0.103

Standard error of estimate

4.567* −4.518* −2.939* −2.798*

4.800* −5.234* −3.088*

9.191* −5.709*

15.841*

T

22.151

16.281

12.004

9.537

Intercept

Computed from field survey data Note Independent variables: X1—depth to water level, X2—annual cost of irrigation, X3—farm size, X4—index of land fragmentation, dependent variable: physical accessibility of groundwater, *Significant at 1% level

X3

Step 1

Variables

Table 8 LGAR—stepwise regression analysis (physical accessibility)

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation … 131

132

J. Kumar and M. S. Jaglan

and raises the explanatory power to 73%. It is evident that farm size and fragmentation of landholdings are two big factors explaining variations in physical access to groundwater in LGAR. Farm size has positive effect, while land fragmentation has negative effect on physical accessibility of groundwater. Large farmers have better accessibility of groundwater as they can afford to invest in installation of deep tube wells in this water-scarcity region. Table 9 reveals that in MGAR cost of irrigation (X2 ) enters at step 1 of regression and explains about 22.4% of variations in physical accessibility of groundwater. Farm size (X3 ) enters at step 2 and along with cost of irrigation (X2 ) explains about 25.9% of variations. Cost of irrigation is negatively and farm size is positively regressed with physical accessibility of groundwater and regression coefficients in both cases are significant at 1% level. In MGAR farmers have conjunctive use of water and tube well irrigation is supplemented by canal irrigation and vice versa. Low explanatory power also indicates equitable distribution of irrigation water in this region. In HGAR, cost of irrigation (X2 ) enters at step 1 of regression and explains about 60.8% of variations in physical accessibility of groundwater (Table 10). Farm size (X3 ) enters at step 2 and along with cost of irrigation (X2 ) explains about 73.5% of variations. Cost of irrigation is negatively and farm size is positively regressed with physical accessibility of groundwater and their regression coefficients are significant at 1% level. This shows that in HGAR by and large physical accessibility of groundwater increases with increase in farm size, but it declines with increase in cost of groundwater extraction. The regression analysis reveals that when all sample farmers are taken together cost of irrigation emerges most dominant variable to explain inter-farmer variation in physical access to groundwater. However the influence of explanatory variables varies across different groundwater availability regimes. In LGAR large farmers are found to have big advantage in terms of access to groundwater as they have capital to invest in deep boring of tube wells. In MGAR, landholding size and cost of irrigation influence physical accessibility positively and negatively respectively. But physical accessibility of groundwater does not pose much problem to the farmers in this groundwater regime as they have access to canal water too. In HGAR cost of irrigation limits the physical access to groundwater but it increases with farm size.

4.6 Determinants of Economic Accessibility Stepwise regression analysis has been carried out to decipher the influence of various factors on economic accessibility of groundwater. It is evident from Table 11 that for all sample farmers, the cost of irrigation (X2 ) enters at step 1 of regression model and explains 33.5% inter-farmer variations in economic accessibility of groundwater. Farm size (X3 ) enters at step 2 of regression model and along with annual cost of irrigation (X2 ) explains 42.5% of variations in economic accessibility of groundwater. Index of land fragmentation (X4 ) enters at step 3 and along with earlier entered variables explains 43.6% of variations. While depth to water level (X1 ) enters at

0.473 22.4

0.508 25.9

3.5

22.4

0.006 0.009 0.306

0.248 25.633* −0.295 0.258

Intercept −2.998* 59.792 2.621*

−6.535* 65.498

Regression coefficient Standard error of estimate T

0.219 42.700* −0.473

F

Computed from field survey data Notes Independent variables: X1—depth to water level, X2—annual cost of irrigation, X3—farm size, X4—index of land fragmentation, dependent variable: physical accessibility of groundwater, *Significant at 1% level

X2 X3

Step2

R2 × 100 Increase in R2 × 100 R−2

Step 1 X2

Variables R

Table 9 MGAR—stepwise regression analysis (physical accessibility)

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation … 133

X2 X3

Step 2

0.857

0.780

R

73.5

60.8

R2 × 100

12.7

60.8

Increase in R2 × 100

0.731

0.606

R−2

203.377*

229.733*

F

Standard error of estimate 0.011 0.011 0.107

Regression coefficient −0.780 −0.578 0.409

−11.813* 8.365*

−15.157*

T

97.078

101.773

Intercept

Computed from field survey data Notes Independent Variables: X1—depth to water level, X2—annual cost of irrigation, X3—farm size, X4—index of land fragmentation, dependent variable: physical accessibility of groundwater, *Significant at 1% level

X2

Step 1

Variables

Table 10 HGAR—stepwise regression analysis (physical accessibility)

134 J. Kumar and M. S. Jaglan

X2 X3

X2 X3 X4

X2 X3 X4 X1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

0.668

0.660

0.652

0.578

R

44.6

43.6

42.5

33.5

R2 × 100

1

1.1

9

33.5

Increase in R2 × 100

0.441

0.432

0.422

0.333

R−2

89.602*

114.984*

165.046*

225.341*

F

Standard error of estimate 0.003 0.003 0.277 0.003 0.287 0.674 0.007 0.294 0.674 0.008

Regression coefficient −0.578 −0.470 0.319 −0.565 0.354 0.154 −0.840 0.325 0.173 0.273

−7.729* 8.005* 3.366* 2.833*

−11.461* 8.951* 2.996*

−12.326* 8.368*

−15.011*

T

17.968

17.544

19.043

27.682

Intercept

Computed from field survey data Notes Independent variables: X1—depth to water level, X2—annual cost of irrigation, X3—farm size, X4—index of land fragmentation, dependent variable: economic accessibility of groundwater, *Significant at 1% level

X2

Step 1

Variables

Table 11 AGAR—stepwise regression analysis (economic accessibility)

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation … 135

136

J. Kumar and M. S. Jaglan

step 4 and along with other three variables explain 44.6% of variations. The regression analysis brings out that cost of irrigation and farm size explains most variations in economic accessibility of farmers, though their explanatory power is of moderate level. Economic accessibility of farmers decreases with increase in the cost of irrigation and increases with decrease in the farm size. The regression analysis (Table 12) for LGAR reveals that farm size (X3 ) enters at step 1 of regression and explains about 69.4% of variations in economic accessibility of groundwater. It is positively associated with economic accessibility of groundwater and its regression coefficient is significant at 1% level. Index of land fragmentation (X4 ) enters at step 2 and along with farm size (X3 ) explains about 73.9% of variations. The cost of irrigation (X2 ) enters at step 3 and along with farm size (X3 ) and index of land fragmentation (X4 ) explain about 76.7% of variations. It is evident that economic accessibility of groundwater in LGAR enhances with increase in the farm size but it diminishes with increase in the cost of irrigation and land fragmentation. In MGAR, cost of irrigation (X2 ) enters at step 1 of regression analysis and explains 81.7% of variations in economic accessibility of groundwater (Table 13). Farm size (X3 ) enters at step 2 and along with cost of irrigation (X2 ) explains 87.8% of variations. It implies that in MGAR the cost of irrigation though negatively associated is the main factor in explaining economic access to groundwater. However, it increases with enlargement of farm size. The situation is not much different in HGAR. The regression analysis (Table 14) reveals that cost of irrigation (X2 ) enters at step 1 of regression and explains about 62.6% of variations in economic accessibility of groundwater in HGAR. Farm size (X3 ) enters at step 2 and along with X2 explains 79.2% of variations. Depth to water table (X1 ) enters at step 3 and along X3 and X2 explains about 81.4% of variations. Like MGAR, cost of irrigation and farm size are main variables explaining economic access to water in HGAR too. It is clear from the above analysis that economic accessibility of groundwater in the state of Haryana is negatively influenced by increasing annual cost of irrigation, land fragmentation and deepening water table. But farm size has positive impact on economic accessibility as it increases with enlargement of farm size.

5 Conclusion and Policy Implications The inequality in access to groundwater resource has serious implications for the farmers in agriculturally developed areas in India. The present study analyses the magnitude of inequality in physical and economic access of groundwater to farmers in the agriculturally developed state of Haryana and explores its determinants across different groundwater availability regimes. The study brings out that access to groundwater and intensity of its use varies significantly across the groundwater availability regimes and class size of farmers. The intensity of water use for irrigation in groundwater-rich regime (HGAR) is 6 times more than water-scarcity regime (LGAR). The marginal and small farmers are in disadvantageous position, while large farmers take the lion’s share of groundwater and hence have very high intensity of

X3 X4

X3 X4 X2

Step 2

Step 3

0.876

0.859

0.833

R

76.7

73.9

69.4

R2 × 100

2.8

4.5

69.4

Increase in R2 × 100

0.763

0.735

0.692

R−2

160.577*

207.756*

335.617*

F

0.431 −0.243 −0.295

0.644 −0.284

0.833

Regression Coefficient

0.025 0.015 0.000

020 0.015

0.016

Standard error of estimate

5.880* −4.462* −4.248*

11.373* −5.014*

18.320*

T

1.983

1.092

0.755

Intercept

Computed from field survey data Notes Independent variables: X1—Depth to water level, X2—annual cost of irrigation, X3—farm size, X4—index of land fragmentation, dependent variable: economic accessibility of groundwater, *Significant at 1% level

X3

Step 1

Variables

Table 12 LGAR—stepwise regression analysis (economic accessibility)

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation … 137

X2 X3

Step2

0.937

0.904

R

87.8

81.7

R2 × 100

6.1

81.7

Increase in R2 × 100 0.876

0.816

R−2

527.383*

660.868*

F

Standard error of estimate 0.001 0.001 0.051

Regression Coefficient −0.904 −0.668 0.341

−16.723* 8.538*

−25.707*

T

9.940

13.024

Intercept

Computed from field survey data Notes Independent variables: X1—depth to water level, X2—annual cost of irrigation, X3—farm size, X4—index of land fragmentation, dependent variable: economic accessibility of groundwater, *Significant at 1% level

X2

Step 1

Variables

Table 13 MGAR—stepwise regression analysis (economic accessibility)

138 J. Kumar and M. S. Jaglan

X2 X3

X2 X3 X1

Step 2

Step 3

0.902

0.890

0.791

R

81.4

79.2

62.6

R2 × 100

2.2

16.6

62.6

Increase in R2 × 100

0.810

0.789

0.624

R−2

212.815

279.470

248.177

F

Standard error of estimate 0.035 0.030 0.308 031 0.358 0.050

Regression coefficient −0.791 −0.560 0.468 −0.631 0.346 −0.183

−14.189* 6.877* −4.165*

−12.933* 10.804*

−15.754*

T

63.927

44.779

62.268

Intercept

Computed from field survey data Notes Independent variables: X1—depth to water level, X2—annual cost of irrigation, X3—farm size, X4—index of land fragmentation, dependent variable: economic accessibility of groundwater, *Significant at 1% level

X2

Step 1

Variables

Table 14 HGAR—stepwise regression analysis (economic accessibility)

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation … 139

140

J. Kumar and M. S. Jaglan

water use. The physical accessibility of groundwater is computed in terms of volume of water extracted by farmers per unit irrigated area expressed as cm/ha per year. There is a huge difference in physical access to groundwater between groundwaterrich regime (HGAR) in north-eastern region (102 cm/ha) and groundwater scarcity regime (LGAR) in south-western Haryana (16 cm/ha). Physical accessibility also significantly diminishes with decrease in class size of farmers. Very large farmers draw about 90 ha-cm water per year, while this figure for marginal and small farmers is 50 ha-cm. The difference between large and small farmers in this regard is quite wide in the water-scarcity regime (LGAR). But this gap bridges progressively in MGAR and HGAR. It underlines the fact that better availability of groundwater not only facilitates higher accessibility of water but also helps in maintaining equity in its distribution among farmers. The cost of groundwater extraction by tube well (amortization cost) also varies significantly across the groundwater availability regimes and class size of farmers. The economic accessibility of groundwater is measured in terms of volume of water drawn per unit cost of irrigation (ha-cm per INR 1000). There is a huge difference in economic access to groundwater across the state of Haryana as it is very high in HGAR (40.6 ha-cm), low in MGAR (8.6 ha-cm) and extremely low in LGAR (1.6 ha-cm). Similarly, there is a big gap in this regard between very large farmers (27 ha-cm) and marginal farmers (3.7 ha-cm). It implies that groundwater availability and size of farm are very big factors in economic access to groundwater. It has been hypothesised that size of farm has positive impact on access to groundwater while cost of irrigation, depth to water table and land fragmentation cast negative influence on it. The stepwise regression analysis brings out that for the state as a whole the physical access to groundwater is largely determined by the cost of irrigation. The physical accessibility declines with increase in cost incurred on tube well irrigation. Farm size and land fragmentation are other two big factors in explaining inter-farm variations in physical access to groundwater in water-scarcity regime (LGAR). But in MGAR and HGAR physical access to water is significantly impaired by enhancement in the cost of irrigation but improves with increases in farm size. The economic access of groundwater to farmers in the state, as hypothesised, is largely explained by the cost of irrigation and farm size. But in LGAR, farm size is the most significant factor in explaining inter-farm variations in economic accessibility. Land fragmentation and cost of irrigation are other important factors in this regard. But once again the cost of irrigation and farm size are main factors in explaining economic access to groundwater in MGAR and HGAR. The colossal gap in the accessibility of groundwater has huge implications in terms of inter-regional and inter-personal rural economic disparity in the state of Haryana. The cost of irrigation is a big factor in access to groundwater for marginal and small farmers particularly in water-scarcity regions. The problem may be addressed by modifying the tube well irrigation policy and introducing differential electricity tariff rates to benefit the marginal and small farmers in groundwater scarcity districts. The pooling of land and farm machinery, installation of tube wells in joint ownership and use of micro irrigation systems are other options available to enhance the equitable distribution of groundwater resources among farmers.

Inequalities in Access to Groundwater for Irrigation …

141

References Abu-Zeid M (2001) Water pricing in irrigated agriculture. Int J Water Resour Dev 17:527–538 Bentley J (1987) Economic and ecological approaches to land fragmentation: in defense of a muchmaligned phenomenon. Annu Rev Anthropol 16:31–67 Bhatia B (1992) Lush fields and perched throats: political economy of groundwater in Gujarat. Econ Pol Wkly 27(51–52):142–170 CGWB – Central Ground Water Board (2013) Dynamics of groundwater resources of India. Faridabad, Haryana Cicek A (1996) Socio-economical benefits of the land consolidation and functional analysis of its effect on the crop production value. In: 2nd agriculture economic congress of Turkey, Cukurova University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Economy, Adana Dhawan BD (1982) Development of tube well irrigation in India. Agricole Publishing Academy, New Delhi Diwakara H, Kapoor S, Chandrakanth MG (2005) Watershed and tubewell irrigation investment in India: evaluation using financial and econometric analysis. http://www.toenre.com/downloads/ 2005_paper_on_watershed_Diwakara_kapoor_mgc.pdf. Accessed Sept 15 2020 Dubash NK (2002) Tubewell capitalism: groundwater development and agrarian change in Gujarat. Oxford University Press, New Delhi Fishman RM, Siegfried T, Raj P, V. Modi V, and Lall U (2011) Over-extraction from shallow bedrock versus deep alluvial aquifers: reliability versus sustainability considerations for India’s groundwater irrigation. Water Resour Res 47:W00L05. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011WR010617 GOI—Government of India (2014) Agriculture census. Agriculture Census Division, Department of Agriculture and Co-Operation, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi GOI—Government of India (2016) Agriculture census. Agriculture Census Division, Department of Agriculture and Co-Operation, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi Janakarajan S (1993) Economic and social implications of groundwater irrigation: some evidence from South India. Indian J Agric Econ 48(1):65–75 Janakarajan, Moench M (2006) Are wells a potential threat to farmers’ well-being? The case of deteriorating groundwater irrigation in Tamil Nadu. Econ Polit Wkly 41(37):3977–3987 Kumar J, Jaglan MS (2018) Dynamics and spatial pattern of groundwater depletion in Haryana. Indian Groundwater 10:76–92 Kumar MD, Saleth MR (2018) Inequality in the Indian water sector: challenges and policy options. Indian J Hum Dev 12(2):265–281 Moench MH (1992a) Chasing the water table: equity and sustainability in groundwater management. Econ Pol Wkly 27(51–52):171–177 Moench MH (1992b) Drawing down the buffer: science and politics of groundwater management in India. Econ Pol Wkly 27(13):7–14 Mukherji A, Rawat S, Shah T (2013) Major insights from India’s minor irrigation censuses: 1986–87 to 2006–07. Econ Pol Wkly 48(26/27):115–124 Mukherjee S, Biswas D (2016) An enquiry into equity impact of groundwater markets in the context of subsidized energy pricing: a case study. Indian Inst Manag Kozhikode Soc Manag Rev 5(1):63–73 Nagraj N, Chandrakanth MG (1995) Low yielding irrigation wells in peninsular India: an economic analysis. Indian J Agric Econ 50(1):47–58 Nagraj N, Chandrakanth MG (1997) Intra and inter-generational equity effects of irrigation well failures. Econ Pol Wkly 32(13):41–44 Pant N (1984) Productivity and equity in irrigation systems. Ashish Publishing House, New Delhi Pant N (2005) Control of and access to groundwater in UP. Econ Pol Wkly 40(26):2672–2680 Reddy RV (2005) Costs of resource depletion externalities: a study of groundwater overexploitation in Andhra Pradesh, India. Environ Dev Econ 10(4):533–556 Sarkar A (2011) Socio-economic implications of depleting groundwater resource in Punjab: a comparative analysis of different irrigation systems. Econ Pol Wkly 46(7):59–66

142

J. Kumar and M. S. Jaglan

Sarkar A (2012) Sustaining livelihoods in face of groundwater depletion: a case study of Punjab, India. Environ Dev Sustain 14:183–195 Shah T (1991) Water markets and irrigation development in India. Indian J Agric Econ 46(3):335– 348 Shah T (1993) Groundwater markets and irrigation development: political economy and practical policy. Oxford University Press, New Delhi Shah T, Raju KV (1987) Working of groundwater markets in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat: results of two village studies. Econ Pol Wkly 22:36–47 Shaheen FA, Shiyani RL (2005) Equity redistribution: groundwater bore-wells in north Gujarat. Econ Pol Wkly 40(4):307–312 Singh D (2002) Groundwater markets in fragile environments: key issues in sustainability. Indian J Agric Econ 57(2):180–196 Vaidyanathan A (1996) Depletion of groundwater: some issues. Indian J Agric Econ 51:184–192 Wu Z, Liu M, Davis J (2005) Land consolidation and productivity in Chinese household crop production. China Econ Rev 16:28–49

Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis: Some Reflections from India Sachinder Singh

Water is the driving force of all nature. —leonardo da vinci

Abstract The phenomenon of demand for fresh water is continuously outstripping its renewable supply and it is being witnessed and experienced globally. It is with this concern that people talk about water emerging as the ‘new oil’ in the near future. In such a scenario many more people would be deprived of this free gift of nature. Taking stock of such situation emerging in different parts of the world and India in particular, the present chapter discusses two different but inter-twined issues relating to water; ‘Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis’. Whereas, the former situation relates to growing scarcity or availability of water to people less than that is required as per standard norms; and the latter is about the emerging situation wherein the sources of water are getting polluted and the factors contributing to deterioration of their water quality and turning them into unsustainable sources. Population growth, faulty agricultural practices, climate change, and excessive use of groundwater are some of such contributing factors. The study suggests some corrective measures of water management emphasising the role of traditional mechanisms and modern technology; appropriate correction in agricultural practices; formulation and implementation of water usage and conservation policy; and adoption of scientific methods of water use at the individual and collective levels. The efforts of people to understand the nature of these crises and finding their solutions, at all geographical scales, are key factors to save water resources and onward march of human civilisation. Keywords Water crisis · Groundwater depletion · Water availability · River pollution · Rainwater harvesting · State water policies

S. Singh (B) Department of Geography, M D University, Rohtak, Haryana 124001, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari (eds.), Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3100-9_6

143

144

S. Singh

1 Introduction Water is one of the essential elements for the sustenance of all forms of life on the earth. It is fundamental to all issues from local to global concern such as climate change, food security, energy production, industrial development etc. It is “the ultimate connector in the global commitments towards a sustainable future: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are highly dependent on improved water management” (UNESCO 2020, p. v). More importantly, water is not just central to development; rather it is a basic human right and vital for the maintenance of peace and security in world. Since the dawn of humanity water has acted both as a creator and annihilator of civilisations. Water “also takes a cultural and religious significance for many societies in terms of rituals, blessings, concepts of nice vistas or leisure activities and [is] fundamental to the development of agriculture and, hence civilisations” (Holden 2014, p. 1). It is also central to various literary writings,1 movies,2 and a number of folk and movie songs. Whatever way we conceptualize and theorize the term development/sustainable development,3 and whatever way we highlight the recent innovations in science and technology; water as a natural free gift makes up the basic essence of life. Despite repetitive pledges made by various national and state governments to provide sufficient safe water to the needy and scientific cautions about excessive use of water, increasing deterioration of water quality is a big issue before the humanity, and still much serious is to be done on this front. As anthropogenic interventions in the global environment are scaling new heights, the question of water availability and deterioration of its quality is becoming an important issue of concern. The huge alterations done in the hydrological cycle, atmosphere etc. has profound influence on the volume and quality of water available. The United Nations in its Water Conference (UN 1977) at Mar del Plata promised the people right to safe drinking water irrespective their stage of development and socio-economic conditions. It is in the backdrop of this situation the present study discusses two different but inter-twined issues related to water, ‘crisis of water’ and ‘water in crisis’. Whereas, the former situation relates to growing scarcity or availability of water to people less than that is required as per standard norms; and the latter is about the emerging situation wherein the sources of water are getting polluted and the factors contributing to deterioration of water quality and turning them into unsustainable sources. There are various factors contributing in ‘crisis of water’ as well as ‘water in crisis’. The present study enumerates these factors and also suggests some corrective measures towards making water a sustainable resource.

Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis: Some Reflections from India

145

2 Crisis of Water The Earth’s hydrosphere “contains a huge amount of water—about 1388 million cubic kilometres. However, approximately 97% of this amount is saline water, only 3% is freshwater…The mean value of renewable global water resource is estimated at 42,700 km3 per year, and this is extremely variable in space and time” (Holden 2014, p. 10). Difference in total available water resources (in km3 y−1 ) in Brazil (8233) and Kuwait (0.02) shows that although water is available everywhere its availability varies across the world. The extreme variability in the amount of available water on the one hand, and manifold increase in the consumptive water use4 in the last few decades, on the other, is leading to what we call crisis of water,5 i.e. availability of consumable water for the people lesser than the standard norms. In fact, until recently people usually lived their lives largely as per the ecological conditions of the regions they inhabit. This was reflected in their way of life, agricultural practices, types of houses, use of water etc. However, with the advent of more advanced technology and global flow of information, people’s daily routine choices are not the exclusive construction of their ecological domains. Rather their accessibility to different kinds of products manufactured at far-off places has increased enormously. Changes in the structure of economic activities under Neo-Fordism and their geographical expansion at a much wider scale in the process of accumulation of more capital have also increased the burden on the existing water resources at specific locations around the world. The UN Conference on Sustainable Development, 2012 identified water scarcity6 as one of the challenges to achieve eight Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2000. In order to understand the severity of the problem, it is a general practice to categorise the scenario of lesser water availability as ‘water stress’, ‘water scarcity’ and ‘severe water scarcity’. For accessing the criticalness about availability of water in an area the most widely used indicator is Falkenmark Index (Falkenmark et al. 1989). It is based on thresholds of freshwater per inhabitant per year. If the availability of fresh water in a country is below 1700 m3 then it is said to be experiencing ‘water stress’; below 1000 m3 is called ‘water scarcity’; and below 500 m3 is termed as ‘absolute water scarcity’. There are “currently 28 countries which have less than 500 m3 water internally available to them per person per year and 45 countries with less than 1000 m3 per person per year” (Holden 2014, p. 11). In addition to these, there are “44 countries in the world which depend on other countries for over 50% of their renewable water resources” (Holden 2014, p. 12). This put these countries in a different kind of geopolitical situation vis-a-vis their neighbours. By 2025, 1800 million people of the world are expected to be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity (FAO 2020). The problem of water availability in India has recently been highlighted in a report of the Niti Aayog (2018). Following excerpts from the report reveal the gravity of situation. “It’s a matter of concern that 600 million people in India face high to extreme water stress” (p. 1); “About three-fourth of the households in the country do not have drinking water at their premise”; and “…about two lakh people die every year due to inadequate access to safe water. The crisis is only going to turn worse in

146

S. Singh

future. By 2030, the country’s water demand is projected to be twice of the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people and an eventual 6% loss in the country’s GDP” (p. 15). Furthermore, “84% rural households do not have piped water access” (p. 27). Another report of the Niti Aayog (2019) also points a grim picture of water availability scenario in India: “In 2016, per person disease burden due to unsafe water and sanitation was 40 times higher in India than in China and 12 times higher than in Sri Lanka” (p. i); “5 of the world’s largest cities under water stress are in India, with Delhi being second on the list” (p. 16). Similarly, “as of 2014, no major city in India supplied 24 × 7 water to its entire urban population” (p. 16); and “…only 35% of urban households in India have piped water in their dwelling as the primary source to support drinking water needs” (p. 16). The “average per capita water availability, which is already low enough for India to be categorized as water stressed, is expected to reduce further to 1341 m3 by 2025 and 1140 m3 by 2050, close to the official water scarcity threshold” (p. 27). The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and State Ground Water Departments have classified 6881 administrative/assessment units of India into different categories on the basis of ratio between the stage of groundwater extraction and annual replenishable ground water recharge, as safe (≤70%), semi-critical (>70 and ≤90%), critical (>90 and ≤100%) and over exploited (>100%). Table 1 reveals that 62.64% blocks in the country are categorised safe, 14.12% are semi-critical, 4.55% are critical and 17.23% are over-exploited. In addition 100 blocks (1.45%) are categorised as saline. The situation may not seem grave at the macro-level, however, it is evident that about 39% overexploited blocks are located in Tamil Nadu alone, followed by Rajasthan (15.59%), and Punjab (9.19%). The north-western region in the country has high concentration of overexploited blocks. In this regard Punjab topped the list with 78.98% of its blocks followed by Delhi (64.70%), Rajasthan (62.71%), and Haryana (60.94%). The situation is becoming alarming as in addition to the groundwater, the availability of surface water is also receding. There are reports that almost all the major river basins are experiencing water deficiency now (Malhotra 2016, p. 49). The regular news reports on water crisis also indicate depletion of both surface and groundwater resources in India. In June 2019, the people of Chennai experienced an acute shortage of drinking water. There was rationing of water by Municipal Corporation and private agencies supplied water through tankers at a much higher. The crisis was so acute that water was supplied to the city through a special train from Jolarpet (217 km away from Chennai). The state government had to pay about INR 8.6 lakh as a tariff for water train per trip to the Southern Railways and had allocated INR 65 crore for this project to transfer water (The Indian Express 2019). We have witnessed such water trains running in other states also (e.g. Maharashtra, Rajasthan).There are villages in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh where people (especially women and children) have to travel long distance in scorching heat to fetch water. In many areas, such journeys are so treacherous that people, especially women, develop back-ache problems.

Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis: Some Reflections from India

147

Table 1 Categorisation of assessment units (blocks/Mandals/Firkas/Talukas) in India on the basis of level of groundwater development in 2017 State/UT

Number of assessment units Safe

Semi-critical Critical

Over-exploited Saline

Total

Andhra Pradesh

501(74.78)

60 (8.96)

24 (3.58)

45 (6.72)

40 (5.97)

670(100.00)

Arunachal Pradesh

11(100.00)

0 (0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

11(100.00)

Assam

28(100.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

28(100.00)

Bihar

432(80.90)

72 (13.48)

18(3.37)

12(2.25)

0(0.00)

534(100.00)

Chhattisgarh

122(83.56)

22 (15.07)

2(1.37)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

146(100.00)

Delhi

3(8.82)

7 (20.59)

2(5.88)

22(64.70)

0(0.00)

34(100.00)

Goa

12(100.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

12(100.00)

Gujarat

194(78.23)

11(4.44)

5(2.02)

25(10.08)

13(5.24)

248(100.00)

Haryana

26(20.31)

21(16.41)

3(2.34)

78(60.94)

0(0.00)

128(100.00)

Himachal Pradesh

3(37.50)

1(12.50)

0(0.00)

4(50.00)

0(0.00)

8(100.00)

J&K

22(100.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

22(100.00)

Jharkhand

245(94.23)

10(3.85)

2(0.77)

3(1.15)

0(0.00)

260(100.00)

Karnataka

97(55.11)

26(14.77)

8(4.55)

45(25.57)

0(0.00)

176(100.00)

Kerala

119(78.29)

30(19.74)

2(1.32)

1(0.66)

0(0.00)

152(100.00)

Madhya Pradesh

240(76.68)

44(14.06)

7(2.24)

22(7.03)

0(0.00)

313(100.00)

Maharashtra

271(76.77)

61(17.28)

9(2.55)

11(3.12)

1(0.28)

353(100.00)

Manipur

9(100.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

9(100.00)

Meghalaya

11(100.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

11(100.00)

Mizoram

26(100.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

26(100.00)

Nagaland

11(100.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

11(100.00)

Odisha

303(96.50)

5(1.59)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

6(1.91)

314(100.00)

Punjab

22(15.94)

5(3.62)

2(1.45)

109(78.98)

0(0.00)

138(100.00)

Rajasthan

45(15.25)

29(9.83)

33(11.19) 185(62.71)

3(1.02)

295(100.00)

Sikkim

4(100.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

4(100.00)

Tamil Nadu

427(36.62)

163(13.98)

79(6.78)

462(39.62)

35(3.00)

1166(100.00)

Telangana

278(47.60)

169(28.94)

67(11.47) 70(11.99)

0(0.00)

584(100.00)

Tripura

59(100.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

59(100.00)

0(0.00)

Uttar Pradesh 540(65.06)

151(18.19)

48(5.78)

91(10.96)

0(0.00)

830(100.00)

Uttarakhand

13(72.22)

5(27.78)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

18(100.00)

West Bengal

191(71.27)

76(28.36)

1(0.37)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

268(100.00) (continued)

148

S. Singh

Table 1 (continued) State/UT

Number of assessment units Safe

Semi-critical Critical

Over-exploited Saline

Total

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

35(97.22)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

36(100.00)

Chandigarh

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

1(2.78)

1(100.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

1(100.00)

Dadra & 1(100.00) Nagar Haveli

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

1(100.00)

Daman & Diu

0(0.00)

1(50.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

2(100.00)

Lakshadweep 6(66.67)

3(33.33)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

9(100.00)

Puducherry

2(50.00)

0(0.00)

0(0.00)

1(25.00)

1(25.00)

4(100.00)

Total

4310(62.64) 972(14.12)

1(50.00)

313(4.55) 1186(17.23)

100(1.45) 6881(100.00)

Source Govt. of India 2019 Note Figures in parentheses are per cent of total

3 Water in Crisis The connotation ‘water in crisis’ means the scenario wherein our rate of consumption of water is surpassing the rate at which the nature can replenish this resource. In addition to this, the other contributing factor in making water an unsustainable resource is the mixing of hazardous chemical and other wastes in it, making it unsafe for consumption. This exerts further pressure on the already depleting consumable water resource. The lesser availability, non-availability of potable water or availability of unsafe drinking water, however, opens the gates for the creation of water market and water mafia. Under neoliberal phase, the water market is expanding every day (Singh 2012). All this is making the availability of clean (mineral) water a highly priced commodity7 and for a large section of the population, gone are the days when consumable water was a free community resource. In fact, “as water has officially joined the likes of gold and oil and is being traded on Wall Street as a futures commodity” the journey of water as the ‘new oil’ has begun (Sengupta 2021). At the global scale, around “22% of world’s population rely solely on groundwater. An estimated 10% of global groundwater consumption is unsustainable in that water is being extracted faster than it is being replenished, and 10% of global food supply is based on such unsustainable groundwater exploitation (USAID 2011, quoted in West and Odling 2014, p. 123). In the case of India, the present situation and the possible future scenario is summarised by the Niti Aayog (2018) report, “with nearly 70% of water being contaminated, India is placed at 120th place amongst 122 countries in the water quality index” (p. 1); “critical groundwater resources which account for 40% of our water supply are being depleted at unsustainable rates” (p. 27); “40% of the population will have no access to drinking water by 2030”; “21 cities,

Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis: Some Reflections from India

149

including New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad, will run out of groundwater by 2020, affecting 110 million people”; “6% of GDP will be lost by 2050 due to water crisis” (p. 28). Another Niti Aayog (2019) report further states that “as of 2015, India treated only 30% of the wastewater generated in the country” (p. 16); and “70% of India’s surface water is contaminated” (p. 27). As per 2015 WaterAid Report8 “80% of the surface water in the country [i.e. India] is polluted” (Sengupta 2019, p. 18). The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report states, “India has lost 90% of its major surface water sources due to pollution and encroachment” (cited by Sengupta 2019, p. 18). A study of Terrestrial Water Cycle (TWS—based on dynamics of groundwater, soil moisture, surface waters, snow and ice) of GRACE9 (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) concludes that in northern India extractions already exceed recharge during normal precipitation years which does not bode well for the availability of groundwater during future droughts (Rodell et al. 2018, p. 652).

4 Factor Inducing Water Crisis Various anthropogenic activities are contributing to the process of making water an unusable resource. Some of these are listed below.

4.1 Population Growth Increase in population is putting extra burden on the existing water resources. It has been aptly noted by Schmidt (2018, p. 2) that by “the mid-1990s, humans collectively appropriated half of the Earth’s annual supply of accessible freshwater, largely as the result of water use increasing at several times the rate of population growth in the twentieth century". The world’s population is growing by “about 80 million people a year, implying increased freshwater demand of about 64 billion cubic meters a year…[Consequently, by] 2025, 52 countries containing two-third of the global population are expected to be short of water” (Holden 2014, p. 12).

4.2 Water Intensive Agriculture Agricultural sector is the largest consumer of water for human use. Currently, “agriculture accounts for 70% of global freshwater withdrawals, and more than 90% of its consumptive use. Population growth, coupled with changes in dietary habits, has increased the food consumption is various parts of the world. It is expected that by 2050 an additional billion tonnes of cereals and 200 million tonnes of meat will need to be produced annually to satisfy growing food demand” (FAO 2012). The kind of

150

S. Singh

food stuff we are producing and the kinds of food stuff we are processing also have a direct bearing on the quantum of water consumption. Generally production of different kind of crops is largely determined by the demand and prices of a commodity rather than its environmental cost. Take the case of rice, it “accounts for 40% of all global irrigation, and 17% of global groundwater depletion, with an average water footprint of 2500 L of water per kilogram” (WaterAid 2019, p. 9). The story is similar in many parts of the world including in the north-western states of India. According to the estimates given by Arora (2019) water requirements for producing 1 kg paddy in the region may swell to 4500 L or even more. The period from April to June in the region is of low rainfall and high water requirement for growing paddy. Advancement in transplanting time from June to mid-May means very high evapotranspiration rate resulting in increased need of irrigation and burden on underground water resources. It is true that Punjab and Haryana have contributed enormously towards the central pool to ensure the country’s food security but this has come at very high environmental cost. All are required to ponder seriously on the question whether in a large country like India these are the suitable areas for rice cultivation. Niti Aayog (2019) has pointed towards the disastrous impact of growing water intensive crops at wrong places by citing the cases of sugarcane cultivation in Maharashtra and rice in Punjab. It is noted that “nearly 100% of the sugarcane crop in Maharashtra is grown through irrigated water, while parts of the state are already facing severe water crisis. Similarly, Punjab, which is the third largest producer of rice in India, grows paddy using nearly 100% irrigation cover. As a result, while Punjab tops the table in land productivity, it uses more than three times the water than Bihar and more than twice the amount of water than West Bengal, to produce one kg of rice. What is more alarming is that 80% of the water used for irrigating the paddy fields in Punjab is drawn from groundwater source”.

4.3 Human Induced Water Pollution Water pollution means contamination of water bodies and groundwater resources. It can be a point-source pollution (coming from a single source) or multiple/diffuse sources. Pollution of the water can be due to natural factors also as “large amounts of sediment can be washed into streams and rivers during rainstorms, and toxic metals find their way into surface waters where concentrations of metal ores occur. These are natural processes and the environment will be able to neutralize the effects on water quality over time. Pollution caused by human activities, on the other hand, is usually on a larger scale, can often happen rapidly and can take a much wider variety of forms” (Chapman et al. 2014, p. 93). Anthropogenic factors like draining of chemicals in running water, excessive use of fertilizers, sewage water, and industrial wastes in groundwater affect the quality of water. A brief note on contamination of rivers and groundwater here deserves attention.

Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis: Some Reflections from India

4.3.1

151

Rivers

The free-flow of water in the form of rivers is one of the most majestic wonders of nature. Rivers are source of water and numerous aquatic lives. They are not just free flowing entities but essence of physical and spiritual life. This is why rivers have also remained associated with various religious scriptures and daily religious routines followed by millions of people. Take the case mighty river Ganga, besides lifeline of millions of people; it has very high reverence in Hinduism. It is treated as goddess and worshipped. Its water is considered pure and used in all important ceremonies in a person’s life cycle. It is believed that by taking a dip in it, people not only get rid of their sins but also facilitates their way to attain moksha (liberation from cycle of life and death).10 It is a highly paradoxical proposition that how such a revered river can be polluted to the extent that at many places even outdoor bathing in it is not recommended. Its biological health is not good as there has been decline in DO (dissolved oxygen) and increase in BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) and TC (total coliform).Through various anthropogenic activities (dams, barrages, industrialisation, extensive agriculture, catchment deforestation, urbanization etc.) not only its natural flow is obstructed but also it is polluted through release of industrial wastes, sewage and various other means. According to Central Pollution Central Board 2018 report, out of 29 states and seven union territories of India, 27 have critically polluted river stretches. The report identifies 351 polluted stretches on 323 rivers in these states and union territories (cited by Sengupta 2019 p. 19). We are damaging the rivers on which we are so dependent11 through many more ways. Besides draining solid waste, untreated sewage and hazardous industrial waste, the rivers are being damaged through deliberate efforts of diverting their flows, sand mining etc. The other two adverse things happening in the case of rivers is the decline in their surface flow and reduction in catchment area. Data provided by the Central Water Commission shows that from 1984–85 to 2014–15, water in the Indus got reduced by 27.78 billion cubic meters (bcm), almost equal to the average water available in the Cauvey. In the Brahmaputra River the flow was reduced by 95.56 bcm and in the Ganga River by 15.5 bcm. The data released in 2017 shows another disturbing trend; between 2004–05 and 2014–15, the catchment areas of the Indus, the Ganga, and the Brahmaputra were reduced by 1%, 2.7% and 0.6% respectively (Verma 2020, p. 202). Sand mining, deforestation and transformation of catchment area into agricultural and urban lands are leading to such changes. This is affecting the carrying capacity and the self-cleaning character of the rivers12 (Gosain 2020, pp. 206–207). Broadly the same pattern exists elsewhere also as “a strikingly small fraction of the world’s rivers remain unaffected by humans” (Vörösmarty et al. 2010, p. 556).

4.3.2

Groundwater

The Central Ground Water Board is continuously monitoring the quality of groundwater on different parameters since 1974. It is being done through a network of 14,377

152

S. Singh

observation wells (as on 31.3.2015). The quality of groundwater is being determined as per norms of Bureau of Indian Standards and locations are identified where water is fit or unfit for human consumption. The suitability of groundwater for drinking purposes is determined by inorganic contaminants like salinity, chloride, fluoride, nitrate, iron and arsenic. It has been observed that there are large areas in the country which fall under desirable or permissible category and hence suitable for drinking purposes. There are, however, certain pockets where groundwater quality is beyond the permissible limits of more than 2000 mg/l (corresponding to electric conductance of about 3000 µS/cm at 25° C) in the case of salinity; more than 1000 mg/l in the case of chloride; more than 1.5 mg/l in the case of fluoride; more than 45 mg/l in the case of nitrate; more than 1.0 mg/l in the case of iron, and more than 0.05 mg/l in the case of arsenic (Table 2). Such locations are called groundwater quality hotspots. In these areas, due to non-availability of alternate source, there are all possibilities of people having different kinds of health problems. In total there were 587 locations in the country at which salinity in groundwater was in excess of permissible limits and its highest concentration (33,000 µS/cm) was recorded at Kanakkanpatti (Palani block, Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu).The problem of salinity is more pronounced in western India and in certain pockets of south Indian states, barring Kerala. About 54% locations of high salinity were found in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Delhi. In the case of chloride contamination, there were 230 locations where underground water was found to be unfit for drinking purposes. Majority of these locations were found in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Its highest concentration (17,784 mg/l) was recorded at Madambakkam (St. Thomas block, Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu). Excess concentration of fluoride was found at 637 locations in the country with higher concentration in western, southern (barring large tracts of Maharashtra and Kerala) and eastern parts of the country. Rajasthan had highest number of such locations (21.19%) followed by Karnataka. Its highest level (23.75 mg/l) was found at Ramsara1 (Nohar block, Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan). The contamination of nitrate was found at 2015 locations. Barring north-eastern states, large tracts of north Indian hill states, and West Bengal, these locations are widely spread out in the country. Its highest value (4405 mg/l) was recorded at Bonali (Bonli block, Swai Madhopur district of Rajasthan). The excess amount of iron in water was recorded at 1391 locations, of which about 54% were in West Bengal, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. The other states where such locations were found included Rajasthan, Karnataka, Assam, Haryana and Punjab. The highest concentration of iron (65.9 mg/l) was at Taramala (Mohana block, Gajapati district of Odisha). Concentration of arsenic, another poisonous chemical, was recorded at 134 locations. Of these 82 (i.e. 61.19%) were located in West Bengal followed by Uttar Pradesh. The other states where arsenic presence was found included the states of Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Assam, Haryana, Bihar, Karnataka and Jharkhand.

0

110

35

0

0

1

36

0

16

24

0

0

9

9

144

Gujarat

Haryana

Himachal Pradesh

J&K

Jharkhand

Karnataka

Kerala

Madhya Pradesh

Maharashtra

Manipur

Meghalaya

Orissa

Punjab

Rajasthan

27

Delhi

Goa

2

Assam

1

0

Arunachal Pradesh

Chhattisgarh

0

Andhra Pradesh

Bihar

Salinity > 2000 mg/L

79

State/UT

72

1

2

0

0

6

1

0

10

6

0

0

8

60

0

18

0

0

0

0

26

Chloride 1000 mg/L

135

18

48

1

0

10

21

1

117

17

3

2

47

44

0

15

10

6

2

0

39

Fluoride > 1.5 mg/L

225

55

116

0

0

225

229

33

222

44

24

13

58

178

0

45

37

46

0

0

193

Nitrate > 45 mg/L

68

41

416

4

3

34

13

32

64

30

46

0

51

30

5

3

184

38

56

2

40

Iron > 1.0 mg/L

Table 2 Locations having unfit groundwater quality for human consumption on six chemical parameters in India, 2015

0

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

1

0

0

2

0

0

0

5

2

3

0

0

(continued)

Arsenic > 0.05 mg/L

Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis: Some Reflections from India 153

230

0

21

0

0

587

Tripura

West Bengal

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Daman & Diu

Total

Source Govt. of India 2018

0

0

Uttarakhand

0

1

0

0

3

6

24

17

10

Chloride 1000 mg/L

Uttar Pradesh

Tamil Nadu

Telangana

Salinity > 2000 mg/L

32

State/UT

Table 2 (continued)

637

0

0

8

0

6

32

43

12

Fluoride > 1.5 mg/L

2015

0

0

0

0

2

55

132

83

Nitrate > 45 mg/L

1391

0

13

147

4

0

25

38

4

Iron > 1.0 mg/L

134

0

0

82

0

0

33

0

0

Arsenic > 0.05 mg/L

154 S. Singh

Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis: Some Reflections from India

155

4.4 Climate Change Anthropocene period13 has witnessed unparalleled damages to the nature by human beings which has not only challenged many of the earlier questions but also their possible explanations. This includes the question of water management. Schmidt (2018, p. 3) has quite rightly remarked, “From a hydrological perspective, water had been manageable because the water cycle was assumed to be stable, with variability from year to year fluctuating within natural limits. But on a planet where humans were changing the climate, the assumption of hydrological stability couldn’t be maintained. Climate change, the hydrologists argued, did not simply change the patterns of water’s natural variability. Rather, changing the climate altered the Earth system itself. The knock-on effect was that the very idea of a stable water cycle was thrown into a tailspin because, if the Earth itself is not operating within natural limits, then neither is the global hydrological cycle. Unfortunately, water is not entirely unique in this regard". The global warming is leading to heat accumulation in the atmosphere. Interestingly warming of atmosphere has a direct bearing on the availability of water. “A “warmer atmosphere can carry more water vapour…The atmosphere can carry 7% more water vapour per degree temperature increase” (Sitch and Drake 2014, p. 41, also see Rodell et al. 2018).

4.5 Overexploitation of Groundwater Resources One of the possible indicators of accessing the situation of ‘water in crisis’ is the stage of groundwater extraction, i.e. ratio of current annual ground water extraction to annual extractable groundwater resource. The state-wise data reveals that the situation is very bad in case of some of the north-western states and national capital of India (Table 3). Punjab top the list of the states over-extracting groundwater (165.77%) followed by Rajasthan (139.88%), Haryana (136.91%) and Delhi (119.61%). There are five states and union territories in the category of semi-critical state (>70 and ≤90%) with regard to level of groundwater extraction which include Chandigarh (89%), Himachal Pradesh (86.37%), Tamil Nadu (80.94%), Puducherry (74.33%), and Uttar Pradesh (70.18%). Inclusion of some of the river flow rich states in the list is really a worrisome signal. Keeping in view the above, one should not be astonished to note that India is the “largest groundwater user in the world, with an estimated usage of around 230 cubic km per year, more than a quarter of the global” (World Bank 2010, p. ix). All this is going in a country where people are worshipping water for centuries. It is a paradox that on the one hand we have the concept of Jal Devta (water God) and rivers are treated as Goddess, on the other, we are involved in the process of making water unsustainable resource. It is strange how Homo sapiens can be so irresponsible to work against their own survival and survival of other innocent species.

156

S. Singh

Table 3 State-wise groundwater recharge and extraction in India, 2017 State/UT

(In billion cubic meters) Total ground water recharge

Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam

Total discharge

Annual extractable ground water resource

Stage of ground Current annual water extraction (per cent) ground water extraction

21.22

1.07

20.15

8.90

Safe (44.15)

3.02

0.36

2.67

0.01

Safe (0.28)

28.67

4.42

24.26

2.73

Safe (11.25)

Bihar

31.41

2.43

28.99

13.26

Safe (45.76)

Chhattisgarh

11.57

1.00

10.57

4.70

Safe (44.43)

0.32

0.02

0.30

0.36

Over Exploited (119.61)

Delhi Goa

0.27

0.11

0.16

0.05

Safe (33.50)

Gujarat

22.37

1.12

21.25

13.58

Safe (63.89)

Haryana

10.15

1.01

9.13

12.50

Over exploited (136.91)

Himachal Pradesh

0.51

0.05

0.46

0.39

Semi-critical (86.37)

J&K

2.89

0.29

2.60

0.76

Safe (29.47)

Jharkhand

6.21

0.52

5.69

1.58

Safe (27.73)

Karnataka

16.84

2.05

14.79

10.34

Safe (69.87)

5.77

0.56

5.21

2.67

Safe (51.27)

Madhya Pradesh

36.42

1.95

34.47

18.88

Safe (54.76)

Maharashtra

31.64

1.74

29.90

16.33

Safe (54.62)

Manipur

0.43

0.04

0.39

0.01

Safe (1.44)

Meghalaya

1.83

0.19

1.64

0.04

Safe (2.28)

Mizoram

0.21

0.02

0.19

0.01

Safe (3.82)

Nagaland

2.20

0.22

1.98

0.02

Safe (0.99)

Odisha

16.74

1.17

15.57

6.57

Punjab

23.93

2.35

21.58

35.78

Over-exploited (165.77)

Rajasthan

13.21

1.22

11.99

16.77

Over-exploited (139.88)

Kerala

Sikkim

Safe (42.18)

5.63

4.11

1.52

0.00

Tamil Nadu

20.22

2.02

18.20

14.73

Semi-critical (80.94)

Telangana

13.82

1.25

12.37

8.09

Safe (65.45)

1.53

0.29

1.24

0.10

Safe (7.88)

Tripura

Safe (0.06)

(continued)

Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis: Some Reflections from India

157

Table 3 (continued) State/UT

(In billion cubic meters) Total ground water recharge

Uttar Pradesh

Total discharge

Annual extractable ground water resource

69.93

4.60

Uttarakhand

3.04

0.15

2.89

1.64

Safe (56.83)

West Bengal

29.33

2.77

26.56

11.84

Safe (44.60)

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

0.37

0.04

0.33

0.01

Safe (2.74)

Chandigarh

0.04

0.00

0.04

0.03

Semi-critical (89.00)

Dadra & Nagar Haveli

0.07

0.00

0.07

0.02

Safe (31.34)

Daman & Diu

0.02

0.00

0.02

0.01

Safe (61.40)

Lakshadweep

0.01

0.01

0.004

0.002

Safe (65.99)

Puducherry

0.23

0.02

0.20

0.15

Semi-critical (74.33)

431.86

39.16

392.70

248.68

Safe (63.33)

Total

65.32

Stage of ground Current annual water extraction (per cent) ground water extraction 45.84

Semi-critical (70.18)

Source Govt. of India 2019

5 Corrective Measures Present is not only the key to the past but also holds the key to our common future. Our planet is quite big but our actions in the past have proved the scale at which we are capable of damaging it. We take everything from the nature and give shape to or transform it. Living without nature can only be an absurd thought. We must not forget that human beings are not beyond nature rather part of it. The statement by Hubert Reeves, a French-Canadian astrophysicist (www.pinterest.ca/pin), here deserves special mention: Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible God and destroys a visible Nature. Unaware that this Nature he’s destroying is this God he’s worshiping.

We all have to think where we stand presently and what we are going to offer to future generations? The need of the hour is to ponder over this question and look for the corrective measures.

158

S. Singh

5.1 Water Management: Collaboration of Past Practices and Present Skills The Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) has played a very important role in conservation and management of natural resources. There have been various well developed traditional mechanisms of rain water harvesting in India (Govt. of India 2020). Almost all ecological regions had such mechanisms, ranging from Zing system in Ladakh to Yeri and Ooranis in Tamil Nadu, and from Khadins, Bawadi, Tanka in Rajasthan to Apatani in Arunachal Pradesh. These rainwater harvesting and conservation systems were based on community ownership and management. During last few decades many of these systems have been abandoned and are in dilapidated state. There is an urgent need to rejuvenate village ponds14 and other rain water harvesting systems. However, this requires reviewing the role of state in the revival and functioning of these systems. In fact, after independence, the responsibility of supplying drinking water was taken over by the state. In this change over, the role of traditional water bodies almost diminished with the passage of time (Centre for Science and Environment 1997). There is not only a need to revive these traditional systems, they should be upgraded based on present know how and supplemented with modern water harvesting structures. The Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) of the Ministry of Jal Shakti (Govt. of India 2021) is such an intensive water conservation campaign for which 1592 stressed blocks in 256 districts in the country have been identified where groundwater availability has reached critical and over-exploited levels. The whole process of water conservations will be taken by taking five aspects (water conservations and rain water harvesting, renovation of traditional and other water bodies, reuse of water and recharging of structures, watershed development, and intensive afforestation). In addition to the traditional local knowledge, we can take advantage from modern technology and experiences gained across international borders. Government of India is working on these lines and various MoUs are signed in recent years with foreign countries in water sector (for details, see Govt. of India 2021). In this regard, a lot can be learnt from a rainfall deficient country, Israel which has set very high standards in water re-cycling and management. “It recycles 85% of its used water, the highest in the world. Drip irrigation enables it to achieve 70–80% water efficiency in agriculture, the highest in the world. It has the world’s largest seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant, which annually produces 100 million cubic metre of desalinated water at a low $0.52/m3 ” (Malhotra 2016, p. 55). Recently during the visit of Indian Prime Minister to Israel (July 4–6, 2017), the MoU is signed between the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation of India and the Ministry of Energy of the Israel for a nationwide awareness campaign for water conservation and to promote re-use, recharge and recycling of water (for details, see MEA 2018).

Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis: Some Reflections from India

159

5.2 Agriculture: Using Efficient Irrigation Technologies and Diversify Cropping Pattern As agriculture accounts for maximum water withdrawal for human use, we should emphasize for efficient irrigation technologies. These “can help to boost food production with a limited water supply. Precision irrigation, soil-moisture monitoring and laser-levelling of fields, for example, have the potential to double productivity per unit of water for many crops…[It is extremely important as] worldwide only about 1% of irrigated land is irrigated by precision systems” (Gleick 2002, p. 373). The use of efficient irrigation technologies should be coupled with appropriate choice of crops as per ecological conditions of the area. The latter will also be a step forward in the direction of water conservation and management. India had attained its national self-sufficiency in food grains largely due to Green Revolution—biochemical technologies of seeds and fertilizers strongly correlated with irrigation. However, the mainstay of Green Revolution remained wheat-rice crop combination that is going on even in the soil-moisture deficit areas of India. This has led to over-exploitation and depletion of groundwater resources. There is an urgent need for crop diversification and removal of water intensive crops like paddy and sugarcane from the cropping pattern in such areas. The water intensive crops may be replaced by maize, gram, oil seeds, pulses etc. However, for initiating such a change, some catalysts in the form of monetary incentives to the farmers are required from the state. Haryana has recently launched some crop diversification schemes such as Jal Hi Jeewan Hai (water is life) in 2019 and Mera Paani Meri Virasat (my water my inheritance) in 2020 to encourage farmers for taking up cultivation of maize, arhar (pigeon pea) and soyabean in place of paddy. It was also announced that agriculture produce under these schemes would be procured by the state government (for details, Govt. of Haryana 2020). The main reasons behind peasants continuing with wheat-rice crop combination are high economic return and procurement for these crops. It is for sure that farmers are not going to switch over to alternative cropping pattern unless they get remunerative prices for other crops and there is a policy of procurement for alternative crops. Agricultural universities, home science departments and departments related to food sciences can also help in changing cropping pattern. If a variety of nutritious and tasty products made from such crops with potential of giving higher economic returns to the farmers are developed, the rice–wheat cycle in water deficit areas can be broken.

5.3 Role of Water Governance As water becomes scarcer, the role of water governance (both government and private) becomes vital. In overall terms, the water governance should be all about: who gets (user), what (quality of water), where (location), when (time), and how much (amount of water). The lack of effective governance has a direct bearing on

160

S. Singh

mounting water crisis. Take the case of groundwater in India which has fallen drastically over last few decades. It’s incomprehensible that new tube-well connections are allowed in water deficit areas and even in the blocks/areas that are categorised as ‘dark’ (overexploited areas). Recently Punjab State Power Corporation Limited cleared around 1.5 lakh tube-wells connections (Sood 2018, p. 11).There are reports that farmers are getting new connection in the dark zone too. This is a governance failure and it may result in groundwater depletion beyond replenishment. Similarly surface water and groundwater pollution poses a serious environmental hazard in various areas in India. It is strange that the state, at certain instances, appears so weak in identifying and monitoring these environmental hazards and take appropriate legal action against polluters. Take the case of Ganga Action Plan where despite investing crore of rupees things have not improved objectively. It is strange that neither religion (as highlighted in the case of river Ganga) nor voices of scientists are helping. Dr GP Agarwal (Swami Sampoornand), a doctorate from University of California, Barkeley, recently gave his life for the cause of river Ganga. He was on 111 day fast to save Ganga. There are satellite imageries; there is state machinery but no control over encroachments in catchment areas of rivers or draining of industrial waste and sewage. There are instances of disappearance of mountains and hills due to illegal extraction.15 We must also acknowledge the fact that “there cannot be a single water management policy across time and space. The simple reason is that there is hydrological “variability in time and over space [which] meant that all societies needed to rationally manage water in ways that would allow them to adjust to change” (Schmidt 2018, p. 115). In India we have numerous water policies and related laws. However, in order to improve the scenario of water governance we have to realize the fact that manya-times we are more enthused about giving global face to the problems (e.g. water availability, climate change) than recognizing the fact that all global problems have some local roots. Our global problems will remain unsolved unless and until we understand the ethos of working at the local level. This can be done by framing the water policies corresponding to the local ecological conditions with some coordination and monitoring at the central level. This will make them more functional and nature friendly. We must remember that while “it is sometimes easy to assume that water security is assured primarily via dams, reservoirs, treatment works and distribution networks, it is in the end nature that replenishes the freshwater that underpins all economic activity” (WWF 2018, p. 15). Secondly, in addition to long time focus on developing means to attain the equilibrium between demand and supply of water, policies should also give top priority to develop means and make people aware about the optimal use and re-use of water. Similarly technologies making waste-water usable can supplement the natural supply of water. Thirdly, we also require some mechanism to fix the accountability in respect of each such policy. In the absence of accountability, even proper policies, plan and well developed infrastructure would not yield expected results.

Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis: Some Reflections from India

161

5.4 Raising Awareness About Water Conservation Among People Various events related to water conservation are being held from time to time in different educational and other institutions throughout the country. Holding such events serves a purpose. They play an important role in imbibing the idea of preciousness of water. But in most cases holding such events is nothing but a media events and wastage of public money. It is the individual level behavioural change that is required for inculcating the habit of responsible water use. We have to understand that every single drop of water either saved or re-used is water conserved. Here lies an effort and responsibility of each individual. No system of governance can make surveillance to the level of an individual person. All of us must scale down our water use and it is certainly not a difficult exercise. The only thing that matters is to remind ourselves repeatedly to use water judiciously. The lesson of giving respect to water is to be learnt religiously. Here lies the role of an individual and community. Neither of the two can function independently as quite emphatically stated by William James “The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community” (quoted by Schmidt 2018, p.xi). Visual documentaries can also help in making people aware about the preciousness of water. One such documentary is Paani Dee Hook (pain of water). It is a YouTube series about the alarming water situation in the Punjab. Similarly people should be made aware about efforts going on for reviving water bodies. This can be done by acknowledging the hard work done either by individuals or NGOs (e.g. Rainwater Club of a Civil Engineer and Urban Planner, Vishwanath Srikantaiah of Bengaluru in reviving thousands of wells) in areas of water conservation and management. Greater public participation is required for more efficient use and re-use of water. Even innovative ideas from the public should be encouraged.

5.5 Climate Change: Pay Attention to the Experts in the Field Climate change is simply not all about change in the climate. It is also about availability and sustainability of water. It is not only affecting ecosystems, economies and human societies in innumerable ways (like increase in intensity and frequency of floods, droughts, heat-waves etc.), it is also affected by various anthropogenic factors like changes in land-use and land-cover, water withdrawal rate, water regulation, greenhouse gases emissions etc. The United Nations World Water Development Report 2020 on Water and Climate Change (UNESCO 2020) has highlighted the fact that in climate change, water “can be part of the solution. Water can support efforts to both mitigate and adapt to climate change. Wetland protection, conservation agriculture and other nature-based solutions can help to sequester carbon in biomass and soils. Improved waste water treatment can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and produce biogas as a source of renewable energy” (UNESCO 2020). This,

162

S. Singh

however, will become reality only when politicians and decisions makers pay attention to related scientific researches. We already have so many talks and environmental movements across the world, now it is time for action. In addition, greater public participation is required to manage climate risk and water management.

6 Concluding Remarks The present study discusses two inter-twined issues related to water, ‘crisis of water’ and ‘water in crisis’. The former situation relates to growing scarcity or lack of availability of water to the people and the latter is about the contamination of sources of water. It also discusses the factors contributing to deterioration of water quality and turning them into unsustainable sources. The water crisis and crisis of water looms large in the world despite various corrective measures adopted by the various state or national governments towards making water a sustainable resource. There are various countries, including India, where the average per capita water availability has declined continuously. The picture emerging at aggregate level is also gloomy as it is expected that by 2025, 1800 million people in world will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity. The situation is becoming alarming in India as in addition to the groundwater, the availability of surface water is also receding. There are reports that almost all the major river basins are experiencing water deficiency. The lack of safe drinking water and sanitation has also led to increase in per person diseases burden in India which is 40 times higher than China and 12 times higher than that of Sri Lanka (Niti Aayog 2019). Contamination and pollution of water sources is another issue that has magnified the problem of water crisis. About 70% of water in India is reported contaminated and the country is placed at 120th place in terms of water quality index amongst 122 countries (Niti Aayog 2018). With this water (especially consumable) is becoming an unsustainable natural resource. Even the groundwater is not a safe source of water. In the north-western states, the underground water is being depleted at a much faster rate than annual replenishable ground water recharge. Here the scenario in terms of over-exploitation of groundwater is becoming worrisome each day. According to CPCB about 90% water sources in India are lost due to pollution and encroachments. There are reports that all major rivers in the country are now having deficient flow and the country has lost majority of surface water sources due to pollution and encroachments. This is going to be extremely disastrous as lives of millions of people are dependent on rivers. Various factors that contribute in water crisis and crisis in water include growing population pressure, water intensive agriculture, and human-induced pollution of water sources, climate change and overexploitation of groundwater resources. The processes such as overcrowding of urban spaces, intensive cultivation of paddy and sugarcane, global warming have led to reduction in flow and river water quality, and depletion of quantity and deterioration of groundwater quality. There could be various corrective measures of water conservation and management. For making things to improve, we have to wake up and work at all levels and scales. Employment of

Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis: Some Reflections from India

163

measures such as collaboration between past practices and modern skills; efficient irrigation technology and crop diversification; improvement in water governance; raising awareness about water conservation among common people; and listening to and practicing the advice of the experts. Rather than focusing merely on demand– supply equilibrium, the need of the hour is for a major shift towards optimal use of water and from top-down approach to down-up approach. The efforts of people to understand the nature of these crises and finding their solutions, at all geographical scales, are keys to save water resources and onward march of human civilisation. End Notes 1.

2.

3.

4. 5.

6.

7.

8.

One can have glimpse of importance of water and traditional social barriers in its use in one of the classic stories, Thakur Ka Kuan (1932), by renowned Hindi-Urdu writer Munshi Premchand. Some of the important movies/short movies highlighting the crises of water include Do Boond Pani (1971), Kaun Kitney Paani Mein (2015), Turtle (2018), and Paani (2019). Despite being central to all types of development, it is strange how the “Brundtland Report all but ignored water” (Schmidt 2018, p. 145). Things have not improved much later on also. “Within the 2030 Agenda, water serves as an (often) unacknowledged but essential connecting factor for attaining the different Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)…[similarly]…water is not mentioned in the Paris Agreement per se…[and]…is hardly mentioned in the Sendai Framework” (UNESCO 2020, p. 2). When “water is withdrawn and then not returned to the resource that provided it…is known as consumptive water use” (Holden 2014, p. 12). When we deal with issues like crisis of water or water in crisis, our discussions generally remained restricted to human beings as if this is the only species on the earth that requires water. Generally, either we fail to pay attention or remain least bothered about the water requirements of other species. The silent cries of these remaining species should be heard and taken care off. They have all the rights to have not only water but sufficient, clean and safe water. There is no consensus on the term ‘scarcity of water’. The simple reason being that for measuring scarcity of water “competing metrics make different assumptions about socio-economic contexts, data gathering and aggregation, and environmental variability” (Schmidt 2018, p. 141). Despite all difficulties in measuring water scarcity objectively across time and space there is a general agreement that the problem about water scarcity is becoming alarming each day. There are various costly brands in the market in the name of pure, clean mineral water. One such brand is Kona Nigari. It costs $402 per 750 ml. bottle (for details, financesonline.com) and is harvested 3000 ft below the surface of the Pacific Ocean of Hawaii. WaterAid based its analysis on government data.

164

9.

10. 11.

12. 13.

14.

15.

S. Singh

Since “its launch in 2002, the GRACE mission has tracked the ice-sheet and glacier ablation, ground water depletion and other TWS changes” (Rodell et al. 2018, p. 651). For further details on river Ganga and its importance in Hinduism see (Singh 1994, 2013, 2020). In South Asia a large population is dependent on rivers for water. Here, “more than 1.4 billion people rely on water from Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Yangtze and Yellow rivers, with the Himalayas as their source” (Immerzeelu et al. 2010, quoted in Sitch and Drake 2019, p. 37). Rivers have some natural self-cleaning character but can tolerate pollution only up to a level. “We are living through the Great Acceleration—a unique event in the 4.5 billion history of our planet—with exploding human population and economic growth driving unprecedented planetary change through the increased demand for energy, land and water. This is so great that many scientists believe we are entering a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene” (WWF 2018, p. 22) (for details on the Anthropocene, also see Zalasiewicz et al. 2008) An extremely valuable book on the relevance of ponds is by a renowned environmentalist Mishra (1993) Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talab (Ponds are still relevant today) which was a result of his eight years of field research on traditional ponds and water management system in India. In addition to ponds, a lot can be learnt even from knowledge acquired by tribals for preserving the ecology (including water). One such tribe is Apatani tribe living in the Ziro valley of Arunachal Pradesh. Apatanis are leading the case in terms of their traditional ecological knowledge to preserve the water. Mountains are not only the tectonic wonders but play a very crucial role in climatic and water conditions of an area. In recent years, we are witnessing disappearance of various mountains and hills largely due to illegal excavation. One such case is of Aravalli mountain. “A 2018 report by Supreme Courtappointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) says that 25% of the Aravalli range has been lost due to illegal mining in Rajasthan since 1967–68” (Jitender and Kapil 2019, p. 35). The story is almost similar in other areas, the Aravalli passes through. Continuous degradation of Aravalli is not only evident in the disappearance of associated hills, fauna and flora, expansion of Thar desert but also in the decline of availability of water.

Acknowledgements The author thanks Prof. M.S. Jaglan, Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra for his constructive comments and suggestions on the paper.

Crisis of Water and Water in Crisis: Some Reflections from India

165

References Arora VK (2019) Turning the tide. The Tribune, May 20, Chandigarh Centre for Science and Environment (1997) Dying wisdom: rise, fall and potential of India’s traditional water harvesting systems. Tughlakabad Institutional Areas, New Delhi Chapman PJ, Kay P, Mitchell G, Pitts CS (2014) Surface water quality. In: Holden J (ed) Water resources: an integrated approach. Routledge, New York, pp 79–122 Falkenmark M, Lundquist J, Widstrand C (1989) Macro-scale water scarcity requires micro-scale approaches: aspects of vulnerability in semi-arid development. Nat Res Forum 13(4):258–267 FAO (2012) Coping with water security. Rome FAO (2020) Water scarcity. www.fao.org/land-water/water/water-scarcity/en/ accessed on 1.05.2020 Gleick PH (2002) Soft water paths. Nature 418:373 Gosain AK (2020) Why Are Rivers More Polluted Today, State of India’s Environment 2020. Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, pp. 206–207 Govt. of Haryana (2020) Mera paani meri virasat. Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, https://Agriharyana.gov.in. Accessed 29.1.2021 Govt. of India (2018) Ground water quality in shallow aquifers in India. Bhujal Bhawan, Faridabad Govt. of India (2019) National compilation on dynamic ground water resources of India, 2017. Bhujal Bhawan, Faridabad Govt. of India (2020) Stepwells of India. Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, New Delhi http://jalshakti-dowr.gov.in/. Accessed 28.1.2021 Govt. of India (2021) MoUs with foreign countries. Ministry of Jal Shakti, New Delhi http://jalsha kti-dowr.gov.in/. Accessed 28.1.2021 Holden J (2014) Water fundamentals. In: Holden J (ed) Water resources: an integrated approach. Routledge, New York, pp 1–18 Immerzeelu WW, van Beek LPH, Bierkens MFP (2010) Climate change will affect the Asian water towers. Science 328:1382–1385 Jitender and Kapil (2019) Broken beyond repair. Down to Earth, April 1–15:34–44 Malhotra S (2016) The real cost of water. Bus Today (May 22):46–55 MEA (2018) Lok Sabha question no 2550 on MoU with Israel. Answered by Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. https://www.mea.gov.in/lok-sabha.htm?dtl/29292/QUESTION_ NO2550_MOU_WITH_ISRAEL. Accessed 28.1.2021 Mishra A (1993) Aaj bhi khare hain talab. Swaraj Parkashan, Nagpur Niti Aayog (2018) Composite water management index. Government of India, New Delhi. https:// niti.gov.in/writereaddata/files/document_publication/2018-05-18-Water-Index-Report_vS8compressed.pdf. Accessed 20.10.2020 Niti Aayog (2019) Composite water management index. Government of India, New Delhi http:// social.niti.gov.in/uploads/sample/water_index_report2.pdf. Accessed 28.01.21 Rodell M, Famiglietti JS, Wiese DN, Reager JT, Beaudoing HK, Landerer FW, Lo MH (2018) Emerging trends in global freshwater availability. Nature 557(1707):651–659. https://doi.org/10. 1038/s41586-018.0123-1 Schmidt JJ (2018) Water: abundance, scarcity and security in the age of humanity. Sage, New Delhi Sengupta S (2019) Towards day zero. In: State of India’s Environment—2019. Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, pp 18–23 Sengupta R (2021) California to trade water on Wall Street. Down to Earth, January 1–15:9 Singh RPB (1994) Water symbolism and sacred landscape in Hinduism. Erdkunde 48(3):210–227 Singh RPB (2013) Hindu tradition of pilgrimage: sacred space and system (Chapter 5 The Ganga River: Images, Sacrality and Salvific Places). Dev Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi Singh RPB (2020) Sacrality and waterfront sacred places in India: myths and the making of place. In: Ray C (ed) Sacred water: a cross-cultural compendium of hallowed springs and holy wells. Routledge, London, pp 80–94

166

S. Singh

Singh S (2012) The Neo-liberal game of privatising water. Natl Geogr J India 58(3):89–98 Sitch S, Drake F (2014) The changing water cycle. In: Holden J (ed) Water resources: an integrated approach. Routledge, New York, pp 19–48 Sood A (2018) Digging for disaster. The Tribune, June 3, Chandigarh The Indian Express (2019) Parched Chennai finally gets water on train from Vellore. July 13, Chennai UN—United Nations (1977) Report of the United Nations water conference, New York UNESCO (2020) The United Nations world water development report 2020: water and climate change. Paris USAID (2011) https://www.usaid.gov/reports-and-data. Accessed 30.01.2021 Verma R (2020) Distress call. In: State of India’s Environment—2020. Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, pp 202–205 Vörösmarty CJ, McIntyre PB, Gessner MO, Dudgeon Prusevich DA, Green GPS, Bunn SE, Sullivan CA, Liermann CR, Davies PM (2010) Global threats to human water security and river biodiversity. Nature 467:555–561 WaterAid (March 2019) Beneath the surface: the state of world’s water. New Delhi West JL, Odling NE (2014) Groundwater. In: Holden J (ed) Water resources: an integrated approach. Routledge, New York, pp 123–160 World Bank (2010) Deep wells and prudence: towards pragmatic action for addressing groundwater overexploitation in India. Washington DC WWF (2018) Living planet report 2018: aiming higher. In: Grooten M, Almond REA (eds) Gland, Switzerland Zalasiewicz J et al (2008) Are we now living in the Anthropocene? GSA Today 18(2):4–8. https:// www.pinterest.ca/pin/349803096032664948/

Economic Development and Regional Disparities

Socio-cultural Spaces and Dynamics of Transformation in Rural India Sachidanand Sinha, Ruchika Singh, and Sonali Bhatia

Abstract This study explores the processes of socio-cultural transformations by examining as to how the institutionalization of democratic principles and the forces of modernization engage with the predominant socio-cultural values of the traditional institutions in rural India. In so doing, the study tries to understand the implications of these processes on the traditional institutions and the emergent cultures of modernization itself. It presents two case studies—first pertains to access to water where democratic panchayat (local body) institution forms an unethical alliance with the traditional power structure of the village and allows itself to be taken over, not in form but in content. The second case provides a macro-level analysis of interaction between Khap Panchayats (the traditional institutions) and modernity. To comprehend the socio-cultural transformations in both case studies, the study employs the analytical trilogy of dominant, residual and emergent socio-cultural processes as proposed by Raymond Williams and also Myrdal’s theory of modernization using the conception of ‘independent’ and ‘instrumental’ values. It reveals that the dominant group(s) may, depending upon the context(s), invoke the traditional power of caste dominance (as in case 1) and/or the modern values of modernization (as in case 2) in its expectation of gaining legitimacy of the State on the one hand and support of the common population on the other. The traditional structure is presented as ‘independent’ to those of the modern which in effect contradicts the ‘instrumental’ values of modernity. Therefore, the ability to affect breakdown in the ingredients of ‘independent’ structures and values of traditional institutions are made to eclipse as residues of the past practices and behavior take precedence. Thus, the effectiveness of the institutions of democratic polity remains segmental, sporadic and disparate in space.

S. Sinha (B) · S. Bhatia Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India e-mail: [email protected] R. Singh Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, U.P. 273009, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari (eds.), Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3100-9_7

169

170

S. Sinha et al.

Keywords Tradition · Modernization · Institutions · Dominant castes · Residues · Decentralization · Khap panchayat

1 Introduction There has been a significant decline of the ‘rural’ (Jodhka and Simpson 2019) in the narratives of India’s economic growth and crisis in the wake of failures therein. This has been more pronounced ever since the structural adjustment policy was initiated in the early 1990s. The rural would only casually figure in the imaginations of the urban middle class, who has been influencing the policies of the State and appears to be in sync with the processes of the global capitalism, only when there is ravaging flood or drought and sporadic concerns when farmers committed suicides. The plights of over two-thirds of India’s population that lived in villages only occasionally catches the attention of the politicians and policy makers as “…the dominant narratives of the globalizing India today are constructed in the metropolitan centers by the rising urban middle classes” (Jodhka and Simpson 2019). Is it that the rural has become insignificant? We note that contribution from agriculture to the GDP has been shrinking fast. But we can’t ignore the fact that over two-thirds of India’s population lives in the villages and more than half of the main working population continue to find employment in agriculture and allied activities. The question is whether the wide-ranging concerns of the rural populations remained neglected all through the last seven decades? While the answer could be both—‘yes’ and/or ‘no’, depending upon the parameters one selects to analyze, it would be worth considering as to how within the dominant political and social relations underlined by institutionalization of democratic principles and order, the predominant sociocultural values of traditional institutions defined and lived within the principles of caste identity and related avenues of stratification have engaged with the democratic values in particular and forces of modernization in general? Have the traditional institutions weakened in the wake of the dominant and emergent cultures of modernization? Alternatively, have these traditional institutions adapted to the dominant forces and created emergent structures and thus underscoring breakdown of modernization? Professor MH Qureshi, formerly professor, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, who introduced scientific study of the rural landscapes to us and remained alive to the structural and institutional frameworks of the traditional ‘rural’ India and how these interacted with the impulses of modernity and democratic polity. This essay is a tribute to his scholarship and dedication to the cause of the agrarian rural that is in the midst of epochal transformation. The study presents two case studies—the first pertains to access to water where the State is seen to be instrumental in providing part funding in close association of the village panchayat (council) in a backward village of Uttar Pradesh; while the second provides a macro level analysis of how the reemergence of the traditional caste forum (Khap Panchayat) has not only weakened the instruments of the legal

Socio-cultural Spaces and Dynamics of Transformation in Rural …

171

village panchayat but has subsequently advanced its legitimacy and ‘authority’ of control over the social and cultural affairs of the local territorial populations and has thus successfully retained the dominance and power in the favor of traditional high/dominant castes. These case studies enable us to propose following Raymond Williams (Williams 1977) three-fold analytical categorization of cultural processes— dominant, residual and emergent. While the dominant processes of the modern democratic State through its bureaucracy and objective normative parameters of equity and justice, and legitimization of participatory democracy through the promulgation of Panchayati Raj Act may have widened the scope of democratic governance and outreach of basic services etc. in the rural areas, it has also lent a new lease of life, if not structurally, but culturally to the dormant or residual forces of stratification. We then go on to understand the processes that may have been responsible for bypassing breakdown of traditional structures by applying the two-fold distinction proposed by Myrdal (1968)—‘independent’ and ‘instrumental’ values (Singh, 1977). Singh helps in understanding ‘independent’ and ‘instrumental valuations’ within the context of Myrdal’s theory of social change imbedded in circular and cumulative transformation: “The crucial factor in development is an ‘upward’ movement of the social system as a whole with all its component ‘conditions’. These conditions as described by Myrdal are: (1) output and income; (2) conditions of production; (3) levels of living; (4) attitudes towards life and work; (5) institutions; and (6) policies. He assumes a uni-directional causal relationship between these conditions; an ‘upward’ or ‘downward’ movement in one would cause cumulative movement of similar nature in other conditions too. Value premises, related to these conditions might differ … specially in regard to conditions which are treated for their ‘independent’ (as a goal in themselves) values as different from those having ‘instrumental’ values…The ‘independent values’ in a traditional society differ from those of a modern society, and more often they are mutually contradictory. But ‘independent values’ cannot be demonstrated to be false or irrelevant without transforming them into ‘instrumental values’ (Singh, 1977).” We may also take a close look at what Myrdal says in this context: “…an upward change in any one of these conditions has, in addition to the ‘independent” value attached to it, an “instrumental” value, dependent on the effect of such a change on the upward movement of other conditions, and thus of the whole system. The ‘independent’ valuation may in turn be instrumental to some values that lie outside the social system, or it may be desired for its own sake. The independent value of a change is most apparent for the components of levels of living. Adequate food, better housing, improved facilities for health, education, and training, and general improvement of cultural facilities are all desirable in their own right and as means to the fuller development of the human personality, and are to that extent independent of their effects on other conditions and, in particular, on productivity and incomes. The independent positive valuation of an upward movement in conditions in the social system other than levels of living is less evident. In the traditional valuations in an underdeveloped country some of the upward changes in other conditions might even be negatively valued. The tendency in an underdeveloped country to attach an independent positive valuation not only to development as a whole, but to each of the various changes in those interdependent conditions that

172

S. Sinha et al.

are in line with development, gives more force to the urge for development itself. Still more basic to the conception of development is, however, the notion of a causal interdependence of the various conditions and the implied notion that a change upwards in one of the less desirable conditions has an instrumental value because of its ability to cause upward changes in other conditions (Myrdal 1968).” In the two case studies discussed below we have tried to unravel as to how independent value pertaining to quality of living presented through the developmental policy for access to drinking water is utilized and delegated legitimacy through the democratic institution of the local panchayat to further the interests of the powerful sections by either maintaining the status quo (as per the traditional valuation of inequality and caste based untouchability) or further perpetuating the exclusion and dependence of the traditional subjugated segments in a perpetually water scarce environmental context. In the other case study, conflict between the independent values of personal freedom in a democratic polity is seen to run in conflict with the traditional institution of marriage.

2 Case 1: Co-production of Rural Power Structure and Access to Water Water is seen as indispensable to economic growth and overall development of a society in the current neoliberal water governance praxis. It is widely accepted among the policymakers that water needs to be managed efficiently based on market-based solutions (increasingly within the neoliberal architecture of governance) to address the highly differentiated access to water. The key assumption in the presented solution is the State failure to manage its resources and thus, for unrestricted economic growth and human well-being; the nature of State’s relation with water and its citizen needs to be transformed through changing governance structure. Interestingly, with proposed pricing mechanism and dependence on the private sector for developing water infrastructure, the current structure of neoliberal water governance notably focuses on democratic devolution of water management i.e. from centralized to decentralized water governance and larger participation of communities in managing their resources (Sangameswaran 2010; Kulkarni 2011; Joshi 2011). The trends that are being pushed together in water governance is not coincidental as it not only dismantles the existing regulatory and management structures but it vigorously reproduces a set of water-society relations depending on the social, political and ecological context in such a way that it (re)produces and (re)enforces the social and power structure (Harris 2009). Therefore, understanding access, use and control of water in rural context needs a closer examination of the interaction of water, society and the instruments through which water governance is mediated. In so doing, it unfolds the processes and techniques/tools (material and discursive) employed to co-produce unequal socio-natures and also expose the state-class-caste alliance committed to maintaining the power structure.

Socio-cultural Spaces and Dynamics of Transformation in Rural …

173

The study explores how the instruments of water governance facilitate/mediates the inequitable water distribution without threatening the rural power structure and how these instruments itself become a tool to redefine their relations with modernity and development. To understand the complex interaction of these instruments with water which constitutes water-society relations, it scrutinizes the existing political ecology and critical geography scholarship particularly interrogating what constitutes nature and how it interacts with society (Castree 1995; Castree and Braun 1998; Cornut and Swyngedouw 2000; Huber 2010). The traditional binary visualization of the world as human–environment which indicated a distance/separation between them has been negated as propounded by the hydrological cycle. Rather, nature and society are mutually constitutive entities intimately tied with one another in their historical and geographical contexts, and create hybrid socionatures (Cornut and Swyngedouw 2000; Huber 2010). Swyngedouw (1999) has explained the contemporary water geography and ecology of Spain as the ‘product of centuries of socioecological interaction’ which further expands our understanding of the ways nature and society interact. Borrowing and reinterpreting Lefebvre’s notion of “the production of nature,” Swyngedouw (1999) suggests that “socionature itself is a historical– geographical process (and therefore time/place specific). It insists on the inseparability of society and nature and maintains the unity of socionature as a process.” In earlier understanding, where nature or nonhuman processes are produced socially as Marx had insisted; but in socionature, all nature including social nature is a historical–geographical process. Thus, the idea that nature is external or substratum on which social relations produce nature does not recognize the production of different forms of nature over time and space. For example, Swyngedouw (1999) shows how modernization process transforms the intertwined nature and society relations and gets materialized in the production of new water flows and the construction of new waterscapes. Drawing on the fieldwork conducted on accessibility to drinking water in Kushmha village in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, the study attempts to articulate these processes of transformation of water-society relations by both material and discursive instruments. This study is based on the primary survey using a multi-level stratified random sampling of 80 households of Kushmha village in March 2018 which involved a questionnaire-based survey, participatory observation, focussed group discussions and personal interviews. In Kushmha, hand pumps are overwhelmingly used for drawing drinking water. There are nearly 75 hand pumps in the village out of which 69 were mapped using GPS. The village has wells mostly situated in the backyard and agricultural fields of upper caste (Brahmins) and dominant castes (Kushwahas and Mauryas). For irrigation, the major source of water is canal coming from Dhandhraul dam and groundwater is accessed through submersible pumps. To understand the socio-spatial configuration along with the ecology of groundwater, caste localities are delineated on a map using field inputs which correspond to the different wards demarcated for local governance (Fig. 1). The village is divided into 13 wards inhabited by different caste groups’1 Each ward has its elected representative.2

174

S. Sinha et al.

Fig. 1 Kushmha village—panchayat wards and location of hand pumps. Source Based on Field Survey (2018)

The caste composition of the village indicates the social order that is integrated into spatial order (Table 1). The gradient of the socio-spatial order and uneven groundwater ecology shapes and mediates the water flow which gives water a social life intimately enmeshed with historical conjuncture. Thus, how water is distributed and accessed is determined by the interaction of social, political, ecological, cultural and technological factors constituting hybrid socio-natures. In Kushmha village, the spatial arrangement of social order follows the Hindu cosmological schema which assigns the place to different caste groups in a particular direction based on the notion of purity and pollution (Bhatia 2020). The village is settled around a temple (Kushmeshwari Devi) which forms the central part and inhabited by upper caste (Brahmin). The western part where the canal passes through the village is dwelled by the dominant/agriculturist castes that have acquired political (elected representative in the constituency) and economic power (landownership). The groundwater ecology is uneven as the aquifer is much shallower (75–100 feet) in the western and northern part as compared to the southern and eastern part of the village (200–250 feet). The eastern part is dwelled by Muslims and poor landless other backward castes (OBCs) and the southern part is inhabited by Dalits (lower castes). Access to water infrastructure changes the way groundwater is extracted and potentially transforms water society relations. In Kushmha village, wells with mono block motors on farmlands and submersible pumps are exclusively owned by the

Socio-cultural Spaces and Dynamics of Transformation in Rural …

175

Table 1 Ward-wise distribution of communities, numerical strength, ritual and economic rank in Kushmha village S. No.

Numerically preponderant

Ceremonial or ritual/economic status

Ward numbers

1

Chaurasia

Middle/low

1

2

Brahmins and Chandrabanshi

High/high

2

3

Brahmins

High/high

3

4

Chaurasia

middle/low

4

5

Paswan

Low/low

5

6

Muslim

Low

6

7

Yadav and Brahmins

Middle and high/ middle and low

7

8

Kushwaha

High/high

8, 9, 10

9

Chaurasia and Maurya

Middle/Low

11

10

Chamar

low/low

12

11

Chamar

Low/low

13

Source Field Survey, 2018

upper and dominant castes as they can afford to invest money in diversifying their modes of water extraction. The flow of canal water is not unaffected by seasonal variations. So, during the summer season when canal water level declines, groundwater extraction using submersible pumps is a common phenomenon for irrigation purposes which further jeopardizes the already stressed groundwater availability for drinking purposes. This affects the Dalits, Muslims and OBCs (other than Kushwahas and Mauryas) the most as they do not have access to any alternative sources of water. To understand how water extraction technologies changes and constitutes the water-society relation and the processes of its interaction with geographically situated waterscapes, we have broadly analysed the inherent characteristics of hand pumps located in different caste localities, design of hand pump installation and implication on the customary water sources previously available to Dalits, Muslims and poor OBCs after the introduction of newer technologies accessible to extract groundwater.

2.1 Socio-Ecological Contours of Water Availability and Accessibility The intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics of hand pump vastly differ depending on where the hand pump is located. The pressure on hand pumps located in Dalit, Muslim and poor OBCs are huge as compared to other hand pumps. The hand pumps in front of Brahmin household are out of reach for others to fetch water without permission. These hand pumps are installed exclusive on grounds of socially

176

S. Sinha et al.

sanctioned norms and traditions. Furthermore, having invested money for installing personal hand pumps as well as submersible pumps, no one can ask for water from these hand pumps belonging to upper castes. The quantity of water availability in these hand pumps also differs as the upper and dominant castes have reported to have water availability 24 h even in summer. While, Dalits, Muslims and OBCs generally have water available only for certain hours depending on the groundwater level, interruption or breakdown in water supply and crowd at water points. However, during summer season, most of their hand pumps run dry (Fig. 2). The uneven distribution of groundwater has serious implications on accessibility of drinking water. The ‘given’ uneven ecology of water is further complicated by its manipulation through different means (power relation based on caste, class and political association, technology, and space). In Kushmha village, it was found that hand pumps are dug deeper in the areas where water can be found at shallow depths while hand pumps in relatively drier areas (extremely low water level) are dug at shallow depths (Bhatia 2020). Brahmins, Kushwaha and Mauryas who are relatively better off as compared to others in the village, could afford to install hand pumps deeper using their close association with the Panchayat, access to government policy (Jal Nidhi) where one has to pay only 33% of total installation cost, access to technology (hand pumps, canal, electricity and submersible pump) as they can invest huge amount of money, and historical advantage of favourable space and location

Fig. 2 Kushmha village—availability of hand pumps. Source Based on Field Survey (2018)

Socio-cultural Spaces and Dynamics of Transformation in Rural …

177

(near the canal, huge space in front of upper caste households) (Fig. 3). In the given uneven water ecology, the areas where the water level is much lower as compared to other areas are mostly inhabited by Chamars, Paswans, Kolis, Chaurasia, Jaiswal, Yadavas, and Dusadhs. The social, ecological and spatial structure of the village is such that people who are socially downtrodden and poor are the one who faces the consequences of uneven ecology the most. And, this is continuously maintained through both material and discursive ways to keep the structure intact if not, the different forms of new configurations of society and ecology are put into place to keep the asymmetrical power relations in control and access to drinking water. In Kushmha, to understand ponds, we need to look at the three main sources of irrigation, i.e. canal, ponds and baulis (step wells) and rainfall. Kushwaha is the community who works 12 months in the agricultural field, thus, they require water for irrigation throughout the year except for monsoon season. They extract water using motor pumps directly from the canal while others depend on collected rainwater in ponds and baulis (step wells). There are channels/water courses carved out from the canal for irrigating small patches of land allotted by the government to Dalits and OBCs. However, since the water level in the canal remains very low during summers, it hardly reaches these channels. Whatever the water in the canal is available during the summer season, it is mostly drawn by the farmers belong to the dominant caste,

Fig. 3 Kushmha village—mode of payment for installation of hand pumps. Source Based on Field Survey (2018)

178

S. Sinha et al.

Kushwaha given their proximity to the canal and access to motors enabling water extraction. Water infrastructures play an active role in redesigning the ways water is extracted. It not only enables material extraction thus, the material transformation of water landscape but also creates water imaginations within the socio-ecological contours. Technology in this sense inherits the agential role in determining the flow and density of water and transforms the relations constituting water landscape and society. It is a powerful tool facilitated and mediated through governance structure at the global and local scale which acts as an enabler for the production of a set of relations favouring privatization of water sources and dispossession of customary water rights. The coverage rate is the dominant neoliberal idea to deal with differential access to water. However, in the village, it was found that the community owned water infrastructures are of poor quality (time and cost to access water is higher) whose maintenance cost (recurring) is much higher which is not supported by the neoliberal State in the later stage. It is expected from the community to manage their resources without providing them with proper tools and knowledge.

2.2 Decentralization and Democratization of Water Governance Since the 1990s, many countries have taken the initiative to decentralize governance especially in the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America (Kulkarni 2011). Several reports by the World Bank have flagged decentralization as the foremost agenda in the twenty-first century. In India, decentralization discourse has been shaping the country’s governance idiom, which formally became the part of the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment in 1992. Broadly, decentralization is the transfer of administrative and political functions at the local level (Kulkarni 2011). In this section an attempt has been made to analyze how caste, gender, class and religious inequality entrenched in the socio-spatial structure of Kushmha village contradicts the idea of democratic decision making in water allocation, use and access. In the village, there often arises conflict on whether to call tankers or not between the upper castes and other landowners who have uninterrupted access to water in summer season and the lower castes and poor OBCs who do not have access to any alternative source of water specially during the parching summer months when the water table drops drastically low. This decision has to be taken by the representatives of 13 wards in the village. But, the meeting for tanker was always conducted secretly by the Sarpanch (head of the village council) and the representatives of an upper and dominant caste who do not find any reason to call water tanker in the village. For tanker water facility, the panchayat has to spend one lakh rupees from the funds granted to Panchayats for local developmental work. There are many incidences of the utilization of Panchayat funds for greater control over water resources. Such as, the building of concrete water storage tanks with tap facility in front of Sarpanch’s

Socio-cultural Spaces and Dynamics of Transformation in Rural …

179

office whose access is restricted for the nearby poor households and building of Ramleela stage beside the only pond earlier accessible to the Dalits and Muslim women by changing the meaning encoded in pond water. Its name has been changed to ‘Shri Ram Jalashay’ and used only for religious purposes, hence, legitimizing restricted access essentially to maintain the purity of water. The local governance institutions which are represented by democratically elected people are co-opted by the regional power structure which finds various ways and means (spatial, technological, knowledge and ideological) to maintain and coproduce the historical socio-political order and these techniques/tools constituted in process of co-production is the result of power structure itself. The Sarpanch of Kushmha village, at the time of survey, was a Dalit woman who had been trying to win from the Scheduled Caste (SCs) reserved seat but lost every time even after having the support of Dalit community. However, she managed to win from the unreserved seat in 2017 only after gaining the support of the upper and dominant castes along with Dalits and poor OBCs community. After winning the election, the Dalits were not happy as she formed an open alliance with the upper castes ignoring the interests of all others and did what the dominant upper castes wanted. Despite the political win for a Dalit in Panchayat election, it could not be translated into the ability to make a crucial decision for water allocation. In a focused group discussion with Dalit women, it was reported that during her term; not a single Dalit household could benefit from the provisions of the Jal Nidhi programme, while the people belonging to Kushwaha, Brahmin and Prajapati castes took a major share of the funds allocation under this programme in the village.

3 Case 2: Khaps and Modernity—Survival Strategies The second case study presents interplay between traditional institution of the Khap Panchayats in the wake of the contemporary village panchayats and other institutions of the rational-legal orders in particular and influences of modernity on the traditional institutions; and how the Khap Panchayats adopt various survival strategies. We generally tend to understand village or rural and urban as binary opposites—the former associated with traditional values and relations, that are more communitarian or collective and resistant to change while the later as individualistic, prone to change and modern. However, in the Indian case, but for the exceptions of the metropolitan cities, the urban centers are largely defined so based on the criteria employed by the Census of India though such urban areas may be dotted with both physical and social forms and structures that could be more akin to ‘rural’. On the contrary, in view of increased interactions and closer networks and interdependence between the urban and the rural, certain urban impulses gradually enter the socio-cultural fabric of the rural and thus impacting social values, behavior and expectations. So, one may expect variations in forms and contents of social change and transformation in rural hinterlands of large and small towns. Similarly there are differences in this regard

180

S. Sinha et al.

between the rural areas that have higher degrees of interaction with urban areas and those almost untouched by urban impulses. A village settlement is a relatively closed system that asserts, interprets and protects traditional institutions by enforcing and regulating relations and forms of interactions and behavior that seek legitimacy from values and symbolism of the distant past. The past is often invoked to gain social legitimacy and support. The changes in the traditional spheres under the impact of centrifugal forces of urbanism, generates various forms of socio-structural and political discords and conflicts which disturbs the domination of the traditional structure as the traditional structure begins to sustain breakdowns and move down to residual or dormant position or mode. Urbanism, as a way of life is not just limited to the cities, and is differentiated from urbanisation as a process. The essence of urbanism here is a pattern of living which can and does diffuse beyond the limits of urban areas even in the absence of urbanization. There is a constant change in the lifestyle of the rural people as urban life is penetrating in all area of contemporary societies with increased rural–urban interactions and networks. This centrifugal force of modernity which emanates from the urban nodes, with regular rural urban interaction, influences the way of life, and provides more opportunities and options, and thus the pattern of urban living diffuses beyond the limits of the urban area. This diffusion of choices and opportunities leads to the spread of economic resources and power that may have the potential to usurp the hitherto dominance of the traditional castes in the predominant agrarian and hierarchical social order. The forces of urbanisation expose the traditional spaces, which bring these spaces near to the dialectical processes of homogenization and differentiation, integration and fragmentation, universalization and particularization (Douglas 2002) and these may translate into some kind of overt or covert conflict or contestations between the spaces of modernity and spaces of tradition. These changes have replaced the traditional certainties by the new anxieties and concerns, and under this change most of those on the losing side of prospects could be seen as inclined towards maintaining and perpetuating the old traditional structure, which seemingly assures securities through undisturbed framework of social and economic dominance (Chin and Mittelman 2000). Khap Panchayats operate as “territorial—political units” and “social organizations” in certain parts of Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. As social organizations these traditional institutions claim to provide the basis of co-operation, mutual support and inter-relation; and also include the social norms, rules and controls that regulate the behavior and interaction patterns and also determine the networks that operate in the community (Bowen et al. 2000) and as political organization, these are concerned with the establishment and maintenance of internal co-operation and external dependence (Schapera 1956). The Khap Panchayats act as formal caste organizations which provide a means for the caste to extend and consolidate their control over space. Khap is an exogamous, patri-clan institution, largely a Jat caste outfit occupying the territories around Delhi. Other castes too have their Panchayats—Rajputs, Ahirs, Rors, Gujjars, Brahmin, etc. but they are caste organizations. Khap is a Gotra (clan or sub-caste) centric social forum or organization covering or having a cluster of villages dominated by a particular Gotra of Jats who

Socio-cultural Spaces and Dynamics of Transformation in Rural …

181

claim to have a common genealogy with each Jat clan extending over a compact geographical area of its own. The Khap Panchayats in modern times are largely a Jat preserve (Chaudhary 2014).

3.1 Adaptation of Khaps to Modern Changes and Challenges The Khap Panchayats have gone through processes of change and adjustments under the increasing influence of urbanism and the overarching democratic political order. The rural societies governed by the traditional norms and values for long have found itself ‘re’-situated in the governance zone of newly created and developed modern institutions which are more democratic in nature. With the changing times, certain traditional relations and structures of domination and privileges have been transformed or challenged while certain other traditional norms have been sustained. This brings in contradictions between well-entrenched traditional practices and newly evolved socio-cultural codes. The complex and spatially well-articulated socio-political structure of the traditional caste councils of Jats, with deep rooted social capital within, helps to maintain their dominant position within the Khap area and provides privileged position to the Jats to extend and consolidate their control over space, particularly in the rural areas, which is gradually coming in contact of the impulses of change emanating from the urban areas. These have been the sources of tensions, contradictions and challenges to the process of urban-centered modernity and in turn these emergent stresses have also induced ample frequencies of change in the structures and functions of the Khaps over the space. Space is changing and urban values and lifestyle is being adopted by rural people. No rural society now can be termed as purely traditional. Modernity brings about new attitudes and behavior and produces urban-ruralism in which rural population tends to emulate the urban traits. For example, it may influence age of marriage, reduce fertility rates due to adoption of birth control measures, exposure to information, education, economic empowerment, knowledge of rights, democratic values, appreciation for institutions that promote egalitarianism and constitutional values. So, the value of urbanism brings the social landscape of Jats closer to the modern institutions of education, economic empowerment, occupational diversification, knowledge of rights, democratic values and with all these the structure and function of Khap Panchayats is being challenged. In order to maintain their domination these traditional social institutions have undergone some changes. These changes in the rural lifestyles may bring gradual transformation from “what it has been” to “what it chooses to make of it”, and such changes in social aspect of rural society bring in certain forces with them which have potential to uproot the rigid traditional structures, and with these possibilities the modernity creeps into the old tradition and then it brings accretion and transmutation of traditional forms (Singh 1977). The very idea of change in the traditional structure and values brings in contradictions in the Khaps, which can be seen as tussle between the traditional way of

182

S. Sinha et al.

functioning and the new emerging ways out of modernity, as both are operating on the same space in the same time. The value of urbanism intertwined with modernity, makes its space though assimilation (Rudolph and Rudolph 1967), and this propels the traditional societies to proceed through a transitional stage in which the traditional cultural forms have necessarily to undergo syncretic changes. And these changes will come through the contestations and conflict within the domain of traditional societies. With the force of urbanism come the changes which generate tensions because the changing idioms of social transformation, is not entirely structured according to the ‘Jat ideal model’ (of domination). Modernity spawned the aspirations of ‘to be heard’ and ‘to be more visible’ and not falling in line with the dominant power structure of the traditional landscape of Khaps. These have created situations where certain things which, as per the traditional social order in the Khap area, could be resolved or taken care of at the local level are now seen to be slipping out of the hands of these traditional socio-political structures. There is an emergence of new Khaps as an outcome of various social processes, emerging out of the spatial contradictions and contestations in modern times. As modernity gives the aspirations of ‘desire to be heard’ and ‘desire to be more visible’, to newly3 emerged rural elites so more voices can be heard for the representation of the traditional domination and few if not found a space for controlof-theirs they form their own territories, which lead to the emergence of more number of Khaps in the region in recent past. The structure of domination which, hitherto was controlled by the Jats in the region are now becoming feeble as new income opportunities has led to the emergence of new elites among the Jats and other communities as a consequence of the processes of economic and political empowerment. Though this economic empowerment is unevenly distributed in space, and among the social groups and even within the Jats, it has certainly brought in resources and opportunities, which generates a sense of threat to the established structure of domination. The spread of the economic resources and opportunities following the instruments of development planning and the green revolution technology has created many power foci which create conflicts and contradictions in space which has been traditionally dominated by the Jat Khaps. The Khaps of the region want to win these contradictions to re-assert their dominance and, for this, time and again these institutions try to impose their self-proclaimed social reform agenda in their territories and thereby try to seek a new lease of life for themselves. They try to assert their legitimacy by organizing of meetings on a number of social issues, (i.e. improving sex ratio, dowry ban, improving girl education, banning female feticides, maintaining ground water recharge, restricting number of guests in marriages or funeral ceremonies, etc.). Such acts help them gain some relevance as they also try to ‘appropriate the social reformist image.’ With the increasing means of communication, it becomes relatively easy for them to conduct meetings frequently. Through these meetings and assemblies, these institutions display their affluence and power to conduct such a big meeting as it needs lot of arrangements. They use such opportunities to stage their political support and power to the other newly affluent individuals (within their caste and of other castes too). These panchayats develop into a platform to show the united

Socio-cultural Spaces and Dynamics of Transformation in Rural …

183

power of the traditional domain of the Khaps to the modern legal system. As claimed by the 2006 Shoram Khap Panchayat that the government should not intervene into the functioning of the social organizations, and these are the platforms to mobilize collective pressure on the State machinery, in order to get things done as suited to their interest. The ‘reforming suggestions’ (or diktats) to ‘guide’ the daily life choices can be heard from the platforms of the several Khaps, which is also interpreted by the political elites as suggestions from the elderly to restrict the social evils in society. This mild tone of political elites for these customary panchayats shows the interference and importance of these institutions in the modern political system. It is not that these traditional institutions did not exist earlier, but the re-emergence of the Khaps can be seen as their urgency to re-unify and to mobilize the support of Jats for political gains. The traditional space of the Khaps is being encroached upon by the modern institutions, urban projects, which bring in the dominant culture of urbanism and weakens the force of the dominant ideology of certain groups. This change is drastic where traditional society comes in contact with the modern one directly or over a long period of time. In the villages which have relatively greater impact of urbanism and which are more proximate to the urban center, Khaps become more organized in functioning. While the village which are ‘more rural’ and yet to taste the advances of urbanism, may not have fluent functioning mechanism, but are more rigid in maintaining and protecting traditional values. Such remote villages are less governed and intervened by the modern law and order, so Khaps there can afford to be the ‘strict social instruments’ to maintain their dominance. With this one can clearly distinguish, rather can derive, a pattern of assertion by the Khaps at two different geographical spaces (villages)—one which are near to the urban center, (e.g. Meham (Rural), Bohar, Khidwali, Baraut (Rural), or at the urban centers like Rohtak, Sisauli, Budhana) which try to assert their dominance by conducting the well-organized huge meetings more frequently in renovated or newly constructed ‘Khap Bhawans’ (Khap House) which are symbolic to their domination. Distinguished persons from the community, urban elites, political and bureaucratic elites, ex-servicemen, and other eminent persons of the region are invited and honored, to show-off their political linkages and importance in the contemporary politics and State system. Others that are relatively ‘more rural’ and considered to be seated in the interior villages in terms of their modern network and linkages to the urban centers, (Gurawar, Ranchhar, Silawar) assert themselves on the very traditional pattern. In these villages, the values of the traditional institutions are not yet facing any significant challenges. In these ‘tradition dominated spaces’, the pattern of the assertion of a Khap is also much traditional in which the ‘izzat’ (honor), ‘bhaichara’ (brotherhood) and ‘quam’ (community) must be protected by strict implementation of diktats, and any kind of challenge to these principles, is considered as a challenge to the hitherto dominant authority vested in the Khap Pradhan (head), and strict punishments are levied by the community on violators of the social norms.

184

S. Sinha et al.

3.2 Caste Endogamy and Marriage Fields Caste endogamy is one of the basic principles for maintaining the caste structure. Kinship exogamy is a marriage system in which all gotras of the descendants from seven (or five or three) generations on the father’s side and five (or three) on the mother’s side are excluded for marriage alliance. In addition, the territorial exogamy further eliminates the possibility of finding a marriageable partner from the adjoining villages of a Khap territory. The prevalent norm here revolves around the axiom of khera mahara hai (it’s our territory). As marriage provides the structural link between kinship and caste, they act more fiercely as marriage vigilant group. Thus, the maintenance of marriage alliance is one of the most important self-declared responsibilities of Khap Panchayats to maintain a tight control over the shortage of women available in their marriage pools in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. In earlier times, people followed the avoidance of marriage in five generation gotras from father side and three from mother side to maintain the healthy kinship relations, which over the years, due to gotra saturation process, have shrunk the scope of suitable marriage. Hence, the communities have begun to drop certain gotras from the exogamy list. What we find that in the recent few years a person can marry in the maternal grandmother gotra, which is commonly called as “Nani ko Kaani Karna4 ” (making maternal grandmother invisible or redundant). There are cases in which marriages are consummated in paternal grandmother gotra also. The uncompromising principle of kinship exogamy in marriage field can now be negotiated within the Khap territory, but what matters in negotiation is the concurrence of the larger ‘bhaichara’ (brotherhood) to any such aberration that is not found to be in order with reference to some point of time in the distant or near past. The role of the family or the person is thus subjugated to that of the ‘bhaichara’. Recently Satrol Khap (of 42 villages) of Haryana took an initiative to relax certain restrictions imposed on marriage norms with respect to the intra-Khap and inter-caste marriages. There are examples of several other Khaps relaxing the marriage restrictions within last few years, which clearly indicate the compulsions arising out of the abnormal demographics (low sex ratio). Baraha Khap and Nogama Khap of Jind district lifted the ban on marriage, which was based on three centuries old ‘bhaichara’ norm between two ‘brotherly gotras’, namely Bura and Sanga gotras (Siwach 2014). Another group of five villages called Panchgami has opened matrimonial ties with neighboring Megalpur village in Narwana Block of Jind district (The Tribune 2015). Though such relaxations look like a ground-breaking move for these conservative and regressive social bodies but these actions are rather demand driven due to shortage of probable brides in the region. This reveals the fear of change in time and emerging contradictions to remain traditional and to remain relevant for the young generation. To consider these changes as social revolutions would be wrong. These changes are reflections of the compulsions emerging out of a social crisis arising due to shortage of brides, which may in times lead to large scale and more comprehensive changes. Thus, the independent value of kinship is now being used as instrumental value.

Socio-cultural Spaces and Dynamics of Transformation in Rural …

185

3.3 Khaps and Agency of Women Traditionally Khaps have been all-male institutions dominated by older males that enforce social control over their communities in keeping with rigid patriarchal, kinship, age and gender norms. But recently, several Khaps have instituted women wing and appointed a women head. In a recent move the Satrol Khap has created a women wing to ensure the women participation. The head of the Mahila (women) wing wants to involve young girls to participate in Khap proceedings, as they ‘should know about these traditional Panchayats’. In her words “Young girls should also get to know which villages they might get married into. They should know where to maintain brotherhood; after all they might marry into those villages” (Ghosal 2014). This so-called empowerment again seems to have an objective to tame the women and to encourage ‘their’ understanding about ‘their’ marriage-fields, so as to regulate their choices and more objectively their sexuality, as it has little less to do with ‘their’ freedom to participate in the Panchayats. Though, one may argue that the women participation in Khaps is the beginning of the social transformation of patriarchal hinterland of Khaps while these changes are just ‘cosmetic’ and essentially derived by the compulsion of circumstances. The head of the Kandela khap claimed and demanded rupees 5 crores from the government, in return of the active campaigning in the Kandela khap territory to make people aware of the social evils. Another case is organizing chintan shivir (contemplation camp) by the Balyan Khap in Budhana tehsil on 4th April 2017, where Khap head appealed to the government to approve salary to the khap heads as they are contributing their time for various social causes (Pal 2017). This indicates that the Khaps are searching for new grounds for their revival by keeping the agenda of social change and eradicating social evils.

4 Concluding Discourse: Breakdown of Modernization or Traditions; Selective Modernization and Emergent Adaptations The two case studies described above present diverse interplay between the traditional and modern democratic institutions. In Kushumha village the structure of traditional domination of the upper castes realigns itself whereby the dominant structure of power located in the legitimate village panchayat is conveniently appropriated by the upper/dominant castes (in collaboration with the OBCs) in their favor through the means that could be termed as ‘legitimate’ but clandestine. In the context of the Khap Panchayats, it is evident that these traditional organizations/forums respond ‘favorably’ to the impulses of modernity by adopting (at least in their statements issued after the Khap meetings) progressive stances and allegiance to the principles of equity and justice. But in order to maintain that the dominance of the Jats become secondary to none in the socio-political equation of power at the local and regional scales, the

186

S. Sinha et al.

Khaps adopt the strategy by invoking cultural values of ‘bhaichara’(brotherhood) located in the past. The gesture to accommodate modern principles of individual’s choice and freedom in marriages is conditioned by two major developments in the Khap areas—adverse and declining sex-ratio, which is a consequence of deep-seated patriarchal values that has led to illegal feticides, and the other whereby the young boys and girls having increased access to education and other facets of modernity are less responsive to caste and kinship or Khap exogamy and have begun to assert their preference in marital alliances, which just two decades ago was the sole preserve of the male head of the family in consultation with the kin members of the Khap/village. In order to comprehend the processes of socio-cultural transformations as observed above, the present study employs the analytical trilogy of dominant, residual and emergent socio-cultural processes as proposed by Williams (1977) and also Myrdal’s theory of modernization, whereby he distinguishes between the ‘independent’ and ‘instrumental’ values that institutions and social conditions have for their people. By dominant one may imply such cultural values that are effective and hegemonic. Thus, the traditional dominant structure of stratification is as much hegemonic as the values associated with the modern institution of the village panchayat that resonate the constitutional goals of equity and justice. The dominant group(s) may, depending upon the context(s), invoke the traditional power of caste dominance (as in case 1) and/or the modern values of modernization (as in case 2). The structure of tradition is presented as ‘independent’ to those of the modern values. The cultural value of caste is presented as independent in matters of marital alliance but it is in contradiction to the modern value of equity. While in effect what is presented as ‘independent’ may be in contradiction to those of the ‘instrumental’ values of modernity. Thus, the instrumental values associated with universal legal system, education, urbanization, rational bureaucratic systems of administration and judiciary that have the ability to effect breakdown in the ingredients of ‘independent’ structures and values of traditional institutions are made to eclipse as residues of the past practices and behavior, although they may remain dormant ready to arise and strike quietly or violently when the situations so became necessary. According to Williams (1977), “Any culture includes available elements of its past,…to be observed, to be examined, or even on occasion to be consciously ‘revived’, in a deliberately specializing way…The residual, by definition, has been effectively formed in the past, but it is still active in the cultural process, not only and often not at all as an element of the past, but as an effective element of the present…The residual cultural element is usually at some distance from the effective dominant culture, but some part of it, some version of it—and especially if the residue is from some major area of the past—will in most cases have had to be incorporated it the effective dominant culture is to make sense in these areas…By ‘emergent’ I mean, first, that new meanings and values, new practices, new relationships and kinds of relationships are continually being created…definitions of the emergent, as of the residual, can be made only in relation to a full sense of the dominant.” Although the institutions of democratic polity were all encompassing, their effectiveness remained segmental, sporadic and disparate in the space. The supposedly autonomous structure of caste and similar system of stratification and dominance of

Socio-cultural Spaces and Dynamics of Transformation in Rural …

187

traditional import increasingly began to experience serious stresses and thus these institutions underwent adaptive changes vis-à-vis the pre-requisites of modernization and also continued to resist them (Singh 1977). The development planning that began in the 1950s targeted the rural with a series of programs and reforms, such as the Community Development Programme, land reform legislations and agricultural growth through green revolution technologies. These programs did produce some positive results, with significant regional variations. For example, the limited success of land reforms helped in changing the agrarian relations in some states as well as creating conditions for later economic changes (Jodhka and Simpson 2019). The benefits, however, did not percolate much downwards. The structural breakdown of the traditional dominance and other associated values remained where they were, although its hegemonic potentials had been greatly reduced. We may, therefore, conclude by reproducing what Williams (1977) has to say: “What has really to be said, as a way of defining important elements of both the residual and the emergent, and as a way of understanding the character of the dominant, is that no mode of production and therefore no dominant social order and therefore no dominant culture ever in reality includes or exhausts all human practice…On the contrary it is a fact about the modes of domination, that they select from and consequently exclude the full range of human practice. What they exclude may often be seen as the personal or the private…,” but may have wider and comprehensive implications for the larger society and polity. Notes 1.

2.

3. 4.

General caste includes Brahmins (Pandey, Choubey, Tripathi); Other Backward Castes (OBCs) includes Chaurasia, Sharma, Chandrabanshi, Kushwaha/Mauryas, Sonar and Yadavas; Scheduled Castes (SCs) includes Dalits (Harijans), Paswans and Dusadhs. For greater detail, refer to Bhatia S. 2020. Caste, Class and the Power of Water: The Socio-Political Ecology of Drinking Water in Rural India, Geography and You,(4–5): 66–72. Not the part of the influential adjudicating body in the past, and recently emerged on the rural political scene. Nani ko Kani Karna is the phrase given to describe the marriages which are consummated in the gotra of maternal grandmother (locally known as Nani).

References Bhatia S (2020) Caste, class and the power of water: the socio-political ecology of drinking water in rural India. Geogr You 4–5:66–72 Bowen GL, Martin JA, Mancini JA, Nelson JP (2000) Community capacity: antecedents and consequences. J Community Pract 8(2):1–21 Castree N (1995) The nature of produced nature: materiality and knowledge construction in marxism. Antipode 27(1):12–48

188

S. Sinha et al.

Castree N, Braun B (1998) The construction of nature and the nature of construction: analytical and political tools for building survivable future. In: Castree N, Braun (eds) Remaking reality: nature at the millenium. Routledge, London, pp 2–41 Chaudhary DR (2014) Khap panchayat and modern age. National Book Trust, New Delhi, p 1 Chin CBN, Mittelman JH (2000) Conceptualizing resistance to globalization. In: Gills BK (ed) Globalisation and the Politics of resistance. International political economy series, Palgrave Macmillan, London, p 29–45 Cornut P, Swyngedouw E (2000) Approaching the society-nature dialectic: a plea for a geographical study of the environment. Belgeo. Revue belge de géographie 1–2–3–4: 37–46 Douglas K (2002) Theorizing globalization. Sociol Theory 20(295–305):300 Ghosal, A (2014, April 25) Storm in a khap: first woman member aims to bridge gender bias. The Indian Express Harris LM (2009) Gender and emergent water governance: comparative overview of neoliberalized natures and gender dimensions of privatization, devolution and marketization. Gend Place Cult 16(4):387–408 Huber MT (2010) Hyphenated geographies: the deindustrialization of nature-society geography. Geogr Rev 100(1):74–89 Jodhka SS, Simpson E (2019) (eds) India’s villages in the 21st century: revisits and revisions. Oxford University Press India Joshi D (2011) Caste, gender and the rhetoric of reform in India’s drinking water sector. Econ Pol Wkly 46(18):56–63 Kulkarni S (2011) Women and decentralised water governance: issues, challenges and the way forward. Econ Pol Wkly 46(18):64–72 Myrdal G (1968) Asian drama: an enquiry into the poverty of nations. Penguin, Harmondsworth Pal R (2017, April 5) Khap panchayat’s contemplation camp in Muzaffarnagar. Patrika. Retrieved from https://www.patrika.com Rudolph LI, Rudolph SH (1967) The modernity of tradition: political development in India. University of Chicago Press, Chicago Sangameswaran P (2010) Rural drinking water reforms in Maharashtra: the role of neoliberalism. Econ Pol Wkly 45(4):62–69 Schapera I (1956) Government and politics in tribal societies. Watts & Co., London, C.A, p 218 Singh Y (1977) Modernization of Indian tradition. Thompson Press, Delhi Siwach S (2014, April 22) After Satrol khap’s historic decision, other khaps may soften stand on marriage norms. Times of India. Retrieved from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com Swyngedouw E (1999) Modernity and hybridity: nature, regeneracionismo, and the production of the Spanish waterscape, 1890–1930. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 89(3):443–465 The Tribune (2015, December 18) Nogama khap lifts ban on marriage between two ‘brotherly’ gotras. Retrieved from https://www.tribuneindia.com Williams R (1977) Marxism and literature. Oxford University Press, New York

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes in the Post-reform Period Abdul Shaban and Sanjukta Sattar

Abstract This study examines the locational changes in commercial and industrial activities in post-economic reform period in India using data from the Third (1990) and Sixth (2013–14) Economic Censuses. It finds decline in employment intensity of enterprises, indicating jobless growth in India in the post reform period. The impact of the level of economic development of states on location of enterprises has declined in the post reform period. The industrial and commercial development still remains spatially polarised, and, in fact, the district level data show that the polarization of industries has intensified. Existing industrial regions of South, Western and NorthWestern India have grown in their size while a large part of Central, Eastern and North-Eastern India remains devoid of meaningful industrial activities and employment opportunities. This has led to massive migrations from these industrially backward regions to the industrially advanced regions. During post-reform period where OAEs (household level enterprises) and to a large extent NDEs (small enterprises) have expanded all over the country, the DEs (large enterprises) have mainly located in already economically developed states. It is found that the linguistic diversity of a state is negatively related to the industrial and commercial units and workers in that state. Keywords Economic reform · Industrial and commercial development · Industrial regions · Jobless growth · Spatial polarization

A. Shaban (B) School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai 400088, India e-mail: [email protected] S. Sattar Department of Geography, University of Mumbai, Kalina, Mumbai, Santacruz (E) 400098, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari (eds.), Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3100-9_8

189

190

A. Shaban and S. Sattar

1 Introduction The industrial growth and development has historically been lopsided in India (Karan 1964). In the post-Independence period, attempts were made to disperse the industries for balanced regional development. There were various working groups and committees set up by the Planning Commission to suggest measures for effective dispersal of the industries to small and medium towns both to overcome the regional inequality and to provide work opportunities to people in their own regions. This was also considered a measure to overcome the issues arising out of migration of people to major cities. In this connection, the ‘National Committee on Development of Backward Areas’ in its report on ‘Industrial Dispersal’ in 1980 suggested that panning for industrialisation and urbanisation have to go together (PC 1980). Till 1991, the government efforts to disperse the industries to rural areas, small and medium towns could not succeed to any significant scale due to inadequacy of infrastructure and human resources needed for industries in those towns and also due to the lack of local markets. The small and medium towns as such largely remain(ed) as functional hubs of administration [‘tehsil’(local administrative headquarter) or district headquarters or local mandis (local wholesale grain market)] hardly offering any employment opportunities other than limited opportunities for rickshaw pulling, head-loading, etc. After the liberalization of economy in 1991, the government intervention with regard to directing industrial location to backward areas and small and medium towns took a backseat and market forces emerged as prominent factors to guide industrial location. In the above context, the present chapter attempts (a) to briefly examine changes in industrial policy in post-liberalisation phase vis-à-vis preliberalisation phase of Indian economy, (b) to find out the impact of the changes on location of industrial and commercial activities in India, and (c) to study the impact of economic development, human capital, cultural diversity and urbanization with regard to dispersal of industrial and commercial activities and emerging industrial and service space economy of India. To understand the location and geographical shift of industries, if any, the study has used the data from Economic Census (EC) 1990 and 2013–14 (the latest one for which unit level data are available). EC is the only source on economic activity which provides data for all economic establishments in the country at State and District levels. The Annual Survey of Industries data are limited to registered enterprises at State level, which themselves are large units with considerable developmental and industrial location disparities. These factors limit the merit of the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) data in examining the micro geographical changes. EC though provides limited characteristics of economic establishments as compared to ASI, but for the study it suffices as it uses only number of enterprises, their types, and workers (hired and un-hired) from the data. In EC, an economic establishment is defined as units which at least sell a part of their goods/services. Where an establishment has branches on several locations, each branch is considered one economic establishment. EC does not include crop production and plantation in economic establishments (MoSPI 2014).

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes …

191

There is a need to clarify the limitation of the data. It is the Third Economic Census data (MoSPI 2008), the oldest of the series, that is available at unit level in electronic form from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India and this data is very suitable for our purpose for comparative analysis—before and after the economic reform. Given the internal disturbances in Jammu & Kashmir and Chhattisgarh in 1990s, the data for these two states were not collected. Data are also not available for the districts of Chhattisgarh for EC 1990, except for Sarguja district. Further, the electronic data from MoSPI for EC 1990 has missing National Industrial Classification (NIC) label for 173,112 economic establishments that employ about 3.5 million workers. Given the large number of enterprises in the country, these missing data, however, account for only 0.71% of economic establishments and 3.4% of workers. Further, the missing values only relate to the two states mentioned above and for NIC label, which only impacts the industrial classification rather than the total counts. For Karnataka, and some other states the labels for Open Account Establishments or Enterprises (OAE), NonDirectory Establishments (NDEs), DE (Directory Establishments) are missing but it has been for less than 10% of the establishments. With these limitations of data, we have compared 1990 data with 2013–14 data and computed some statistics and ratios. However, more than 90% of the data for the states for which we have some missing observations for OAE, NDE or DE are available. While comparing various growths and ratios, we need to keep these limitations of 1990 data in mind. For 2013–14, complete data for all the districts and states are available (MoSPI 2016). The study has been organised in seven sections as following. After discussing the major changes in industrial policy in India with respect to industrial location in pre and post-economic reform periods in Sect. 2, Sect. 3 reviews the literature on locational aspects of industries and impacts of urbanisation/urban centres, economic development of a region, human capital, and cultural diversity on the location of the industries. Section 4 broadly outlines the constituents and share of various sectors in industrial activities in India with respect to number of economic establishments of different types and workers engaged therein. A detailed geographical analysis of industries and their locations at state and district level (through maps) is presented in Sect. 5. Section 6, employing before-after analysis under panel data regression framework and using state level data, examines the changes in impact of per capita income, human capital (per cent population graduate and above in 15 + age group), cultural diversity (linguistic diversity) and urbanization rate on number of economic establishments and workers. Section 7 concludes the study.

2 Industrial Policy and Spatial Dispersal of Industries The policy instruments aimed at dispersal of industries in space from major industrial regions/towns to economically backwards areas for their development have

192

A. Shaban and S. Sattar

changed over the years in India. There are three distinct phases of evolution/change of industrial policy in India since independence.

2.1 The Phase of Deliberate Location of Public Sector Industries in Backward Areas This policy instrument continued till 1970. In the initial part of this phase, the main aim of industrial policies was to reconstruct the Indian economy and speed up growth to overcome the economic backwardness caused by colonial rule. Therefore, Industrial Policy Resolution 1948, the first industrial policy resolution of independent India, did not make any reference to development of backward areas or industrial dispersal. However, the Industrial Policy Resolution 1956 was very elaborate one and made specific reference to development of industries in backward areas. Many heavy and iron steel industries (like Bhilai Steel Plant in 1957, Durgapur Steel Plant in 1962) were set up under the guidelines of this Industrial Policy Resolution. Specific emphasis on dispersal of industries started being put since Third Five Year Plan (1961–66) (PC 2020; Narasimham 1962).

2.2 The Phase of Concessional Finance (1971–1991) A number of financial instruments were used for industrial dispersal during 1970s and 1980s. The main financial measures employed were central investment subsidy scheme and tax relief. Further, the government also attempted to develop infrastructures (transport, research and development facilities) in underdeveloped areas to attract industries (PC 1980). Many of these instruments continue to be used even today; such as infrastructure development schemes by Industrial Development Corporations at state levels, and concessional finance and tax rebates to industries in backward areas by central and state governments. The precursor of these types of instrument mainly were Pande Working Group and Wanchoo Working Group set up by National Development Council in 1969 to lay down criteria for identification of backward areas, and to deal with the incentives for starting industries in backward areas, respectively. The Wanchoo Working Group recommended many concessions, including exemption from income and corporate tax and import duties on machineries and components for industries; excise duties, sales tax, and transport subsidy (PC 1980). However, 1971 onwards, the licensing policy was made more restrictive with respect to geographical location of industries. In 1971, the central government decided to restrict the licensing of some industries within certain radius of cities with population above 0.5 million. To add to the financial incentives and accelerate the industrial dispersal, in 1988, government of India announced ‘Growth Centre Scheme’ for development of backward areas (PC 1980).

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes …

193

2.3 The Phase of Economic Reforms and Increased Reliance on Market Forces Initiation of economic reforms or neo-liberalisation in India since 1991 has led to many changes in the industrial policy. In the post-reform era certain previous policy instruments for industrial dispersal have continued (like transport subsidy to industries in backward areas), but others such instruments have been abandoned and new ones have been introduced. In sum, this phase has witnessed, (i) almost exit of the state from many types of industries through disinvestments, (ii) devolution of power to state for management of industrial policy, (iii) increased competition among states through various policies to attract the private national and international investments, (iv) significant structural change in the economy from agricultural and industrial sectors to services and knowledge industry. To effect the neoliberal changes, labour laws have been made flexible and deregulations of wages and pensions have been brought in. In fact, the main emphasis has now shifted to economic viability of industries rather than generation and promotion of development (in backward areas) or creation of employment. The balanced regional development, more or less, is rhetoric and that too echoes only at national level. In quite contradictory ways, the industrial policy also advocates spread of industrialization to backward areas of the country; that it has to be actively promoted through appropriate incentives, institutions and infrastructural investments (MoI 1991). To further increase the competitiveness of Indian export in international market and growth of the economy, foreign direct investments (FDI) up to 100% has also been allowed under automatic route for most manufacturing activities in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) (MoCI 2003). However, after COVID-19 crisis, the Central Government is advocating within the liberalization framework, the Atmnirbhar Bharat (self-sufficient India) with a ‘vocal for local’ slogans. It is not clear whether it will turn into a policy or it is only to divert the attention of public from the slowdown (2014 onwards) and contraction/technical recession (in 2020) of economy because of a number of mis-calculated actions by the Central Government, like demonetization in 2016, Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017, lockdown in March 2020 due to COVID-19, and not being able to manage the COVID-19 crisis again in April-May 2021. In sum, though, the Central and State Governments continue to offer tax and subsidy incentives to the industries for their location in backward areas, (specifically, industrial development corporations in every state continue to develop industrial sites with infrastructure to pull private investments in backward areas) and encourage cluster development for economic efficiency (GoI 1997), the negative growth of formal sector workers continues, informalisation of economy is on rise and regional inequalities in income continue to sharpen (see Shaban 2006).

194

A. Shaban and S. Sattar

3 Locational Aspects of Industries Though not one-to-one, but a strong positive association exists between urbanisation and industrialisation. The location of an industry at a place often leads to concentration of population, and as such growth of a town. Many cities and towns in the world have evolved in this way. However, the industries can also be attracted by social overheads of a town, availability of labour (specifically with higher human capital), capital or existing market. Increasing economies of scale (where development itself becomes a cause for further development) leads to further growth of the town and concentration of industries. The development and policy literature have acknowledged the potential possessed by towns for initiating and accelerating economic growth. Francois Perroux mooted the idea of growth poles (Perroux 1970; Monsted 1974) which, in the context of space economy, was identified as ‘urban centre’ led growth by many (see Gore 1984). Myrdal (1957) and Hirschman (1958) commended the role of urban centres in economic development; however, the dispute remains about the nature of impacts on the periphery in terms of effectiveness of trickle down/spread effect and polarisation/backwash. The new economic geography (Marshall 1890; Krugman 1991; Venables 2005) and other literature, focussing on increasing economies of scale (Krugman 1980; Gardiner et al 2011), free trade, and factor (land, labour) immobility, thick (labour) market effect (Helsley and Strange 1990), and knowledge spill over (Henderson 1988), productivity increase (Rosenthal and Strange 2004) and strong inter-firm linkages, foretell the spatial clustering of economic activities. The diseconomies of scale can create spread effect but for market access and to get advantage of other associated benefits of agglomeration, the industries will remain within the periphery of the urban centres. Thus, the urbanisation at theoretical level is assumed to have strong linkage with industrialisation, and the spatial distribution of towns thus can strongly influence the spatial economy. Literature on diversity and development has been sparse and a few studies in this area have not been able to show effective impacts of diversity, like linguistic diversity of a region, on economic or industrial development. However, it is theoretically assume that a culturally diverse region will have more potential for economic growth because of innovative possibilities of different cultural groups through interaction of such groups. In this conceptualization, diversity facilitates economic and industrial development. In the long run, however, it can also create more cultural diversity through agglomeration of different cultural and ethnic communities (through inmigration) and thus reinforcing the virtuous cycle of economic growth and industrial development. Though, converse can also be true if the region experiences cultural conflicts (Adelman and Morris 1967; Lloyd Reynolds 1985). Additionally, regional development in India can also be explained using conception of political regimes like ‘patrimonial’ (e.g. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar), ‘social democratic’ (e.g. West Bengal) and ‘developmental’ (e.g. Gujarat) states (see Kohili 2009), human capital distribution, agglomeration economies, historical institutional systems of landownership

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes …

195

[like zamindari (landlord system), ryotwari (land ownership by tiller), etc.], infrastructural development, etc. However, given the lack of space the present study does not widen its scope to include all these factors.

4 Constituents and Growth of Industries in India The study presents the rural and urban shares and growth rates of total enterprises and workers in Tables 1, 2 and 3. The number of enterprises in India (leaving out the states of Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh), increased from 24.22 million to 59.48 million (Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh included), that is experiencing an annual growth rate of about 3.9%. The workers in these establishments also grew from 77.1million to 131.29 million, with annual growth rate of 2.3%. The data as such show that (a) apparently, there has been a tremendous increase in entrepreneurship in India, as growth of establishments points out, (b) however, the labour absorption of the establishments has declined in the post reform period, that is from 3.19 workers (paid or unpaid) to 2.24 workers per economic establishment (Table 3). This is indeed a very sharp decline and that is why several studies have shown that India has experienced jobless growth in the post-reform period (Kannan and Raveendran 2009; Madhavan 2018). Among, the sectors, only exception is wholesale trade, retail trade, restaurant and hotels sector where the change has been marginally positive. This indicates two important aspects of industrialization in India. First, in post-reform period, the economic establishments, due to the competition introduced, have become more competitive by cutting labour cost, and second, this form of economic growth may be socially disruptive as it induces higher likelihood of unemployment. There is another useful classification of economic establishment adopted by the Economic Census over the years. This classification takes into account the characteristics of enterprises in terms of hired workers and size. On this bases, the establishments are divided into (i) Own Account Establishments or Enterprises (OAEs) if they do not employ any hired workers on fairly regular basis, that means they are largely run by households, (ii) Non-Directory Establishments (NDEs) if they employ on fairly regular basis 1–5 hired workers, this shows that they are smaller enterprises, and (iii) Directory Establishments (DEs) which employ 6 or more hired workers on regular basis. The following observations may be made from the data related to OAEs, NDEs and DEs presented in Tables 4 and 5. First, India has disproportionate number of household enterprises in almost all the industrial and commercial sectors, highest being in agricultural and allied sector (86.8% in 1990 and 90.1% in 2013–14). This shows that the country does not have any meaningful industrialization as most of the establishments are household establishments. Further, growth rate of OAEs has been higher in many sectors during the period than the DEs. Only in mining and quarrying, construction, wholesale trade, retail trade, restaurant and hotels and others, DE has experienced annual growth rate higher than OAEs. In many sectors, NDEs have also experienced higher growth rate and at the aggregate level it has been highest growing

59.9

Manufacturing

Electricity, gas and water supply

Construction

Wholesale trade, retail trade, restaurant and hotels

Transport, storage and communication

Financing, insurance, 33.2 real estate and business services

61.4

Mining and quarrying

Others

Total

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9 40.1

38.6

66.8

53.3

49.2

44.1

35.6

35.2

14.9

9.6

Urban

Source Based on data from economic census 1990 and 2013–14 Note CAGR = Compound annual growth rate (%)

46.7

50.8

55.9

64.4

64.8

85.1

90.4

Rural

Agriculture and allied activities

242.2

55.5

4.4

7.7

95.2

2.2

0.4

51.8

0.5

24.5

59.48

55.81

39.67

50.48

46.67

51.22

51.48

52.69

73.74

92.03

Rural

40.52

44.19

60.33

49.52

53.33

48.78

48.52

47.31

26.26

7.97

Urban

Rural–urban distribution of enterprise (%)

1

2013–14

Rural–urban distribution of enterprises (%)

Total number of enterprises (‘00,000’)

1990

Sectors

S. No.

Table 1 Growth of total economic establishments by sector at all-India level, 1990, 2013–14

585.0

87.1

12.1

33.5

204.8

9.7

2.4

103.3

0.9

131.3

Total number of enterprises (‘00,000’)

3.9

2.0

4.5

6.6

3.4

6.6

7.5

3.0

2.5

7.6

CAGR (%) of total enterprises

196 A. Shaban and S. Sattar

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes …

197

Table 2 Growth of total workers in enterprises by sector at all-India level, 1990, 2013–14 S. No. Sectors

1990

2013–14

Rural–urban distribution of workers (%) Rural

Total Rural–urban workers distribution of (‘00,000’) workers (%)

Urban

Rural

Urban

ACGR (%) of Total total workers (‘00,000’) workers

1

Agriculture and 84.2 allied activities

15.8

90.6

92.0

8.0

228.8

4.1

2

Mining and quarrying

65.7

34.3

4.5

72.6

27.4

5.6

0.9

3

Manufacturing

47.6

52.4

229.6

44.9

55.1

303.6

1.2

4

Electricity, gas and water supply

37.6

62.4

4.0

41.7

58.3

9.6

3.9

5

Construction

35.5

64.5

6.7

43.7

56.3

23.3

5.6

6

Wholesale trade, retail trade, restaurant and hotels

40.8

59.2

176.9

38.8

61.2

384.3

3.4

7

Transport, 27.2 storage and communication

72.8

27.3

37.7

62.3

69.0

4.1

8

Financing, insurance, real estate and business services

18.9

81.1

24.5

34.4

65.6

35.4

1.6

9

Others

42.6

57.4

207.3

49.9

50.1

253.3

0.9

Total

47.3

52.7

771.4

51.7

48.3

1312.9

2.3

Source Based on data from economic census 1990 and 2013–14 Note CAGR = compound annual growth rate (%)

sector in terms of number of establishments. This underscores the growth of informal and unorganised sector in Indian economy. Second, the share of DEs has been very small in majority of the sectors (less than 10% of the total establishments) in 1990, and the scenario has not changed much changed in 2013–14. Workers in OAE and NDE across the sectors also constitute substantial shares of the total workers in these respective categories. Only in mining and quarrying, and electricity, gas and water supply, the share of workers in DEs have been more than 50% of the total workers in these respective categories. Additionally, the annual growth rates of workers in OAEs and NDEs have been substantially higher than that of the same in DEs across the sectors. This further underscore the vulnerability of workers in terms of lack of social security in India as a large share of them are out of organised economic sector.

198

A. Shaban and S. Sattar

Table 3 Change in average number of workers employed in economic establishments in pre and post reform period S. No.

Sectors

1

Agriculture and allied activities

2

Average No. of workers per enterprise 2013–14

Difference between (2013–14 and 1990)

3.70

1.74

− 1.96

Mining and quarrying

9.00

6.22

− 2.78

3

Manufacturing

4.43

2.94

− 1.49

4

Electricity, gas and water supply

10.00

4.00

− 6.00

5

Construction

3.05

2.40

− 0.64

6

Wholesale trade, retail trade, restaurant and hotels

1.86

1.88

0.02

7

Transport, storage and communication

3.55

2.06

− 1.49

8

Financing, insurance, real estate and business services

5.57

2.93

− 2.64

9

Others

3.74

2.91

− 0.83

3.18

2.24

− 0.94

Total

Average No. of workers per enterprise 1990

Source Based on data from economic census 1990 and 2013–14

5 Regional Distribution and Location of Industries In this section, efforts have been made to examine the distribution of economic establishments and workers by major states followed by the location of these establishments and workers by districts. The latter is done using district-wise maps of India for 1990 and 2013–14. Like at all-India level, in most of the states more than two-thirds of the establishments belong to OAE category, and 15–25% are NDEs. DEs constitute less than 10% of the total establishments. Only Delhi, Nagaland and Sikkim in 1990 were the exceptions in this regard. Further, annual growth rates of DEs have been far lower than the same for OAEs and NDEs during the period across the states. It reveals that informality in industrial development is a dominant characteristic across the states (Table 6). The share of workers in different categories of economic establishments reveals more accurate characteristics of nature of industrial development in the states. DE enterprises are generally big in size and a single establishment may employ much larger number of workers, equivalent to several OAEs and NDEs. Table 7 shows that the share of workers in DEs was substantial in almost all the state, but it has, despite

11.1

2.1

100.0

DE

Total

9.2

0.7

100.0

NDE

DE

Total

100.0

22.2

33.3

44.4

100.0

11.1

11.1

77.8

Mining and quarrying

7.14

3.08

8.01

NDE

DE

Total

0.00

2.86

3.99

− 2.01

3.48

1.75

4.54

3.36

100.0

6.3

23.8

69.9

100.0

9.4

18.9

71.7

Manufacturing

Source Based on data from economic census 1990 and 2013–14

8.18

OAE

Compound annual growth rate (%)

90.1

OAE

2013–14

86.8

NDE

1990

Agriculture and allied activities

No. of establishments (in million)

OAE

Types of establishments

6.88 9.16 7.37 7.40

− 1.40 − 5.05 − 3.37

100.0

6.2

25.8

68.0

100.0

5.6

16.7

77.8

Construction

− 4.22

100.0

12.5

41.7

45.8

100.0

15.4

26.9

57.7

Electricity, gas and water supply

Table 4 Growth of types of economic establishments, 1990 and 2013–14

3.41

4.12

4.95

2.92

100.0

2.6

26.7

70.7

100.0

2.2

19.0

78.8

Wholesale trade, retail trade, restaurant and hotels

6.10

1.94

4.12

7.20

100.0

2.7

21.9

75.4

100.0

7.0

33.7

59.3

Transport, storage and communication

8.56

4.68

8.00

9.87

100.0

7.6

32.9

59.4

100.0

18.4

36.8

44.7

Financing, insurance, real estate and business services

1.23

1.01

1.76

0.86

100.0

8.9

42.1

49.0

100.0

9.3

37.4

53.3

Others

3.91

2.08

4.09

4.02

100.0

4.0

24.3

71.7

100.0

6.0

23.5

70.5

Total

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes … 199

14.19

13.77

100.00

NDE

DE

Total

12.8

4.7

100.00

NDE

DE

Total

100.00

75.0

14.3

10.7

100.00

70.21

6.38

23.40

Mining and quarrying

6.60

2.22

7.11

NDE

DE

Total

0.75

1.00

3.96

− 2.30

2.09

1.22

4.50

2.08

100.00

43.0

22.9

34.1

100.00

52.36

13.42

34.22

Manufacturing

6.95 10.12 4.48 6.54

− 2.19 − 5.36 − 4.79

100.00

34.8

31.3

33.9

100.00

54.55

14.55

30.91

Construction

− 5.30

100.00

61.5

24.0

14.6

100.00

71.04

12.79

16.16

Electricity, gas and water supply

3.61

3.39

5.09

2.79

100.00

15.5

36.8

47.7

100.00

16.24

26.53

57.24

Wholesale trade, retail trade, restaurant, and hotels

4.11

2.08

4.36

6.74

100.00

33.5

26.1

40.4

100.00

52.55

24.82

22.63

Transport, storage and communication

Source Based on data from economic census 1990 and 2013–14 Note OAE = Own account establishments; NDE = Non-directory establishments; DE = Directory establishments

7.74

OAE

Compound annual growth rate (%)

82.5

OAE

2013–14

72.03

1990

Agriculture and allied activities

OAE

Types of establishments

No. of workers (in million)

Table 5 Growth and distribution of workers in OAEs, NDEs and DEs in India, 1990 and 2013–14

5.59

3.13

7.80

9.94

100.0

40.4

30.4

29.2

100.00

69.42

18.93

11.65

Financing, insurance, real estate and business services

− 0.49

− 2.06

2.05

0.51

100.00

44.0

34.3

21.7

100.00

63.58

19.18

17.24

Others

2.34

0.29

4.28

3.67

100.0

27.9

27.8

44.3

100.00

46.61

18.91

34.47

Total

200 A. Shaban and S. Sattar

63.8

73.1

67.9

–

68.4

63.3

65.4

76.2

65.6

75.5

45.6

Haryana

Himachal Pradesh

Jammu & Kashmir

Jharkhand

Karnataka

Kerala

Madhya Pradesh

Maharashtra

Manipur

Meghalaya

51.7

Delhi

69.0

70.4

Chhattisgarh

Gujarat

70.7

Bihar

Goa

60.1

Assam

45.4

18.5

26.1

18.5

28.5

28.9

23.4

–

26.3

20.7

24.0

27.3

33.9

24.5

22.5

33.4

9.0

5.3

8.2

4.2

6.0

7.7

4.8

–

5.8

5.9

7.0

8.8

14.5

4.2

4.1

6.5

5.3

77.3

Andhra Pradesh

16.8

OAE (%) NDE (%) DE (%)

States/UTs

1990

50

62

2624

1443

1229

1621

390

–

182

458

1312

61

455

38

876

477

1696

No. of establishments

53.0

82.8

71.9

65.6

76.0

70.0

50.7

66.4

73.6

72.5

70.3

63.9

54.6

71.3

67.9

71.9

77.1

39.9

14.6

23.1

31.3

20.3

24.3

45.1

29.2

21.5

22.2

25.9

28.9

35.6

24.5

28.8

25.2

19.5

7.1

2.6

4.9

3.1

3.7

5.7

4.2

4.4

5.0

5.3

3.8

7.2

9.8

4.2

3.3

2.9

3.4

OAE (%) NDE (%) DE (%)

2013–14

Table 6 State-wise growth of OAE, NDE, and DE establishments (in’000), 1990 and 2013–14

106

230

6137

2153

3355

2881

639

502

412

1165

3973

97

875

774

1707

2030

4243

No. of establishments

4.0

6.3

4.2

1.1

5.1

3.0

0.8

–

4.0

4.1

5.0

2.0

3.1

14.0

2.8

7.3

4.1

OAE

2.7

4.8

3.2

4.1

2.9

1.8

5.1

–

2.7

4.4

5.3

2.3

3.1

13.9

4.1

5.2

4.7

NDE

3.3

5.9

3.8

1.8

4.5

2.5

2.2

–

3.6

4.1

4.9

2.0

2.9

13.9

2.9

6.5

4.1

Total

(continued)

2.2

2.7

1.5

0.3

2.3

1.2

1.6

–

2.9

3.7

2.2

1.1

1.2

14.0

2.0

2.9

2.1

DE

Annual compound growth rate (%)

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes … 201

23.0

19.8

26.9

44.5

74.7

67.6

70.8

48.9

65.9

77.1

71.8

76.0

Odisha

Punjab

Rajasthan

Sikkim

Tamil Nadu

Telangana

Tripura

Uttar Pradesh 72.8

64.2

Nagaland

Uttarakhand

West Bengal

4.7

5.7

4.6

5.2

4.8

7.1

13.8

4.4

6.4

3.7

13.4

2752

183

2527

82

711

2005

11

1121

602

1100

24

23

No. of establishments

79.8

70.8

75.5

79.2

69.4

63.4

74.7

70.8

66.9

75.2

65.2

64.0

16.4

24.2

21.4

18.5

25.8

33.6

20.1

25.1

28.4

21.7

26.9

30.7

3.8

5.0

3.0

2.4

4.8

3.0

5.2

4.1

4.7

3.1

7.9

5.3

OAE (%) NDE (%) DE (%)

2013–14

5906

394

6684

237

2088

5029

37

2895

1513

2089

61

57

No. of establishments

3.6

3.8

4.5

5.2

4.3

3.9

7.5

4.2

4.0

2.9

5.9

4.8

OAE

2.6

2.9

4.7

3.7

6.7

5.1

2.8

4.5

4.6

3.0

2.2

3.3

NDE

2.4

2.8

2.4

1.2

4.7

0.2

1.2

3.9

2.7

2.0

1.8

1.3

DE

3.4

3.4

4.3

4.7

4.8

4.1

5.6

4.2

4.1

2.8

4.2

4.0

Total

Annual compound growth rate (%)

Source Based on data from economic census 1990 and 2013–14 Note The unit level data provided by MoSPI for EC 1990 on OAE, NDE and DE do not cleanly add to the total and differences are higher in case of few sates and UTs like A&N Islands, Assam, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. At the All-India level, this accounts for 17,112 establishments and 3,4 95,827 workers. The Table and growth rates above need to be read with this caution, and especially for the abovementioned states

19.3

17.0

27.1

37.3

23.8

25.6

21.0

42.1

9.7

54.3

Mizoram

36.0

OAE (%) NDE (%) DE (%)

States/UTs

1990

Table 6 (continued)

202 A. Shaban and S. Sattar

48.1

22.1

43.1

40.9

15.5

24.1

36.8

32.6

32.6

–

29.8

23.3

16.1

47.5

26.5

45.0

Assam

Bihar

Chhattisgarh

Delhi

Goa

Gujarat

Haryana

Himachal Pradesh

Jammu & Kashmir

Jharkhand

Karnataka

Kerala

Madhya Pradesh

Maharashtra

Manipur

20.5

19.6

16.5

13.8

13.2

16.5

–

23.0

18.0

19.4

19.9

22.2

22.1

22.8

21.6

16.3

34.3

54.0

35.5

70.1

42.9

52.8

–

44.4

49.3

43.9

55.8

62.3

36.7

32.9

55.0

35.3

158

8960

3690

6011

8714

1370

–

467

1355

3894

219

2085

97

2121

1681

4356

59.9

40.7

43.3

45.6

37.2

29.1

36.5

35.9

31.8

46.3

29.8

19.7

47.9

46.0

44.6

53.6

OAE (%)

No. of workers (000)

2013–14

DE (%)

OAE (%)

NDE (%)

1990

Andhra Pradesh

States/UTs

24.4

27.2

35.7

26.2

26.2

46.3

32.4

23.1

21.5

27.3

26.3

30.8

26.1

35.9

33.2

24.9

NDE (%)

15.6

32.1

21.0

28.1

36.5

24.6

31.2

41.0

46.7

26.4

43.9

49.4

26.0

18.1

22.2

21.5

DE (%)

Table 7 State-wise growth of workers (in ‘000’) in OAE, NDE, and DE establishments 1990 and 2013–14

410

14,512

4548

6919

7146

1453

1096

977

3237

9608

289

3020

1861

3244

3954

8591

No. of workers (000)

5.5

4.0

0.5

5.3

1.2

0.2

–

3.7

3.8

5.1

2.1

2.7

14.5

2.1

7.0

3.5

OAE

5.0

3.6

4.4

3.5

2.2

4.9

–

3.3

4.7

5.6

2.4

3.1

14.5

3.9

5.8

4.9

NDE

1.9

− 0.7

− 0.9 0.6 0.9 2.1

− 1.5 − 3.3 − 1.4 − 0.2

(continued)

4.2

0.3

− 3.0

0.7

–

3.3

3.9

4.0

1.2

1.6

–

2.9

3.6

1.7

0.2

0.6

13.7

3.8

− 0.2 12.0

3.0

Total

0.8

DE

Annual compound growth rate (%)

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes … 203

24.2

13.1

47.3

30.2

42.9

18.4

34.0

45.0

36.9

35.0

28.4

41.2

Nagaland

Odisha

Punjab

Rajasthan

Sikkim

Tamil Nadu

Telangana

Tripura

Uttar Pradesh

Uttarakhand

West Bengal

18.6

23.5

16.8

22.0

14.8

22.6

21.5

21.2

21.9

19.7

19.9

25.5

32.4

40.2

47.0

30.6

41.2

39.8

43.4

60.1

35.5

47.8

32.7

67.0

50.4

48.2

7454

500

7787

258

1942

5906

47

2607

1772

2619

130

72

170

54.4

32.6

52.7

53.3

33.9

41.6

40.0

45.2

35.2

55.8

32.9

40.2

26.5

22.4

23.8

26.4

26.0

26.4

32.4

20.7

28.6

31.0

26.0

29.1

33.6

39.8

NDE (%)

23.2

43.6

20.8

20.7

39.8

25.9

39.3

26.2

33.8

18.3

37.9

26.3

33.7

DE (%)

11,904

1051

14,118

404

5537

11,695

91

6262

3647

4318

162

122

289

No. of workers (000)

3.3

3.9

4.5

3.6

3.4

3.9

6.4

4.1

3.9

2.9

5.1

4.6

3.8

OAE

2.9

3.3

4.7

2.7

7.3

4.7

2.7

5.3

4.8

3.4

2.6

3.5

3.3

NDE

− 0.4

3.3 2.1

2.9 − 0.3

2.6

2.0 0.9

4.7 − 1.0

3.0

2.9

3.9

4.7

0.7

1.0

2.5

3.2

2.2

− 1.5 1.6

2.3 1.0

− 0.5

2.3

Total

0.8

DE

Annual compound growth rate (%)

Source Based on data from economic census 1990 and 2013–14 Note The unit level data provided by MoSPI for EC 1990 on OAE, NDE and DE do not cleanly add to the total and differences are higher in case of few sates and UTs like A&N Islands, Assam, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. At the All-India level, this accounts for 17,112 establishments and 34, 95,827 workers. The Table and growth rates above need to be read with this caution, and especially for the abovementioned states

19.3

Mizoram

OAE (%)

No. of workers (000)

2013–14

DE (%)

OAE (%)

NDE (%)

1990

Meghalaya

States/UTs

Table 7 (continued)

204 A. Shaban and S. Sattar

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes …

205

Fig. 1 Distribution of economic establishments and workers by district, 1990 and 2013–14. Source Based on data from Economic Census 1990 and 2013–14) Note: EE = economic establishments; whereas the number of workers are classified manually keeping in mind the comparability of categories of the two reference years, the number of enterprises are classified as per the Jenk’s method that uses the cluster method approach of classification

positive annual growth rate, declined in 2013–14. This shows increasing strength of workers in OAEs and NDEs, much more than DEs. The changes in spatial concentration of economic establishments becomes sharply evident when the establishments and workers by district are plotted on maps. What is very prominently emerging from the Fig. 1 is the fact that the industrial geography of India has not much changed over the years despite the changes in economic and industrial policies. In fact, in the post-economic reform period, the industrial locations have strengthened and expanded in the neighbouring areas of industrial clusters/regions already prominent in 1990. The three biggest beneficiary zones of economic reform in terms of spatial expansion of their industrial and commercial activities have been North-Western India, Western India, and Southern India. The North-Western region of the country extending from Agra, Bareilly to Ludhiana and Chandigarh has grown into a major industrial and commercial hub of India during this period. This region was not so prominent in 1990. Delhi remains the main hub of this region. Already existing industrial regions of Gujarat extending from Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat to Vapi, and Thane, Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Kolhapur to Solapur have grown in terms of their strength, dominance and spatial expansion to create the largest integrated industrial and commercial region of the country. Mumbai remains the main hub of this major region. The third major industrial region of the country, the South Indian region, comprises Chennai in the east, Bangalore and Mysore in the central part and the coastal districts of Kerala and Southern tip of Tamil Nadu.

206

A. Shaban and S. Sattar

This region though has also strengthened over the period, is multipolar and includes Chennai, Bangalore, Mysore, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram as major commercial and industrial centres. Further details of the industrial centres are provided in Table 8. What is very conspicuously observable from the maps is the absence of important industrial and commercial clusters/regions in Uttar Pradesh (except Western Uttar Pradesh), Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand (except mining industries which are technology intensive), Jammu & Kashmir and North-Eastern region of the country. In fact, these are the economically backward areas of the country which experience intensive out-migration and much of their working population migrate to the three industrial regions mentioned above. Figures 2, 3 and 4 depict the absolute concentration of OAEs, NDEs and DEs and workers employed therein in the districts. It is evident that the OAEs (the informal sector) are highly ubiquitous. They are present even in industrially less developed regions mentioned above. Their presence is also substantial and widespread in industrial regions of the country (Fig. 2). The NDEs which represent smaller enterprises are less ubiquitous and their spatial concentration pattern largely follows the industrial regions mentioned in Table 8 (Fig. 3). And the DEs, mostly big enterprises which largely constitute non-informal commercial units, are mostly located in the core districts of the industrial regions in the country (Fig. 4). Agriculture is the major source of livelihoods for of about two-thirds of the population of the country, while manufacturing is the driver of economic development. Therefore, these two major sectors have been mapped in terms of geographical distribution of agricultural and allied establishment (units and workers) (Fig. 5) and spatial concentration pattern of manufacturing establishments (units and workers) (Fig. 6). These figures reveals following facts. First, the post-economic reform period has seen significant growth and development of agricultural and allied sectors in a few regions of the country. These regions are Northern-Western India, extending from AgraBareilly to Amritsar; Central and Eastern Gujarat; South-Western Maharashtra and Western Marathwada; Coastal Andhra Pradesh; Southern Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala; and West Bengal. On the other hand, Central and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Eastern Maharashtra Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, North-Eastern States and Central and Northern Karnataka continue to be backward agricultural regions of the country (Fig. 5). Second, the most units of manufacturing sector have been located in the core districts of the industrial regions mentioned in Table 8. In fact, Fig. 6 shows that there has been a decline of industrial sector in Central India in terms of number of workers employed.

Region

Amritsar–Chandigarh region

Delhi–Agra–Bareilly region

Kolkata–Murshidabad region

Surat–Vadodara–Ahmedabad–Rajkot–Bhavnagar region

S. No.

1

2

3

4

Table 8 Major industrial regions of India Geographical expanse

Core centre (s)

This is the core industrial region of Gujarat. In 1990, it was largely limited to Surat, Vadodara and Ahmedabad but by 2013–14 it has expanded to cover the neighbouring districts. This region is now integrated with Mumbai–Thane–Pune–Kolhapur–Solapur region. In fact, together with Mumbai region, this region has emerged as the largest and most dynamic industrial and commercial region of India

In 1990 this region was largely limited to Kolkata and neighbouring district but by 2013–14 it included not only Kolkata and its neighbouring districts of Howrah, Hooghly, Bardhaman, but also expanded to Medinipur East, Medinipur West, Bankura, South 24 Pargana, North 24 Pargana and Murshidabad

(continued)

Surat, Vododara, and Ahemedabad are the core of this region in terms of location of industrial and commercial headquarters of the region

Kolkata is the core of the region and centre and industrial headquarters of the region

In 1990 Ghaziabad and Meerut were quite Delhi, Bareilly, Agra prominent but by 2013–14 the region expanded to include districts of Agra, Mathura, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Delhi, Meerut, Bulandshahar, Muzaffarnagar, Moradabad

Includes districts of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Ludhiana Chandigarh. This region was not very prominent in 1990 but is very much visible in 2013–14. Patiala and Sangrur have also grown around this region

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes … 207

Region

Mumbai–Nashik–Kolhapur–Solapur region

Hyderabad–Rangareddi–Nalgonda region

Coastal Andhra Pradesh belt

Bengaluru–Mysore–Chennai belt

Madurai–Coimbatore–Salem–Tiruchirappalli region

Coastal Kerala and South-Western Tamil Nadu Region

S. No.

5

6

7

8

9

10

Table 8 (continued) Geographical expanse

Visakhapatnam is the major centre of industrial and commercial offices

Hyderabad is the main industrial and commercial centre of the region

Mumbai and Pune are the major industrial and financial headquarters of the region

Core centre (s)

This region has grown southwards and has got strengthened over the period. The major districts in this region are Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode

This region is located in North-Western part of Tamil Nadu and has become quite prominent over the period

(continued)

Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode are the major commercial and industrial centres

Coimbatore, Madurai are core and the centre of industrial and commercial enterprises

This region was a leading industrial region in 1990 Chennai, Bengaluru, Mysore and has not only maintained its position but has are commercial and industrial expanded to include the neighbouring districts. The hubs main districts in this region are Bengaluru, Mysore, North Arcot, South Arcot, Chennai, Chengai Anna. Some districts have been renamed and divided into two or more districts

This belt has strengthened its industrial and commercial activities over the period. The region had moderate level concentration of industrial and commercial activities but become quite prominent in 2013–14. The district in this region are Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Yanam, Krishna, and Guntur

In 1990, it was confined to Hyderabad and Rangareddi but by 2013–14 it expanded to neighbouring districts

In 1990 it was limited to Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, and Pune, but it has expanded towards south and includes the districts of southern, western Maharashtra and Marathwada such as Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur, Satara and Aurangabad

208 A. Shaban and S. Sattar

Isolated but emerging industrial districts

11

Source Based on Fig. 1

Region

S. No.

Table 8 (continued) Geographical expanse Such prominent districts include Nagpur, Jaipur, Jalpaiguri, Anantapur, Lucknow. They can emerge growth poles in future

–

Core centre (s)

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes … 209

210

A. Shaban and S. Sattar

Fig. 2 Distribution of OAEs and related workers by districts, 1990 and 2013–14. Note and Source As for Fig. 1

Fig. 3 Distribution of NDEs and related workers by district, 1990 and 2013–14. Note and Source As for Fig. 1

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes …

211

Fig. 4 Spatial concentration of DEs and related workers (by district), 1990 and 2013–14. Note and Source As for Fig. 1

Fig. 5 Distribution of agricultural and allied establishments and related workers by district, 1990 and 2013–14. Note and Source As for Fig. 1

212

A. Shaban and S. Sattar

Fig. 6 Concentration of manufacturing establishments and related workers by district, 1990 and 2013–14. Note and Source As for Fig. 1

6 Impacts of Major Factors on Industrial and Commercial Growths There are a number of variables that impact the entrepreneurial level, its type and size of economic establishments. The number of OAEs and NDEs is expected to be higher in economically underdeveloped states or with lower per capita income (PCI), but in economically developed states the DEs and related workers may be higher. Further, percentage of graduate population (above 15 years of age group population) (GR), and percentage of urban population (URB) may positively impact the overall entrepreneurship and types of economic establishments. It is expected that cultural diversity may be positively related with innovations and entrepreneurship. The study, therefore, has used Molinar’s method to compute cultural diversity (DIV) using linguistic (number of persons speaking different languages) data. The OWEs, NDEs, DEs and total number of economic establishments are considered as dependent variables (y). The diversity index (Molinar 1991, see also Lian and Oneal 1997) is computed as follows. Diver sit y =

 n  i=1

 ρi2

−

ρi2

 n 

2 ρi2

(1)

i=1

where, i is the share (%) of the ith linguistic speakers, and p is the percentage of the largest linguistic category speakers, n is the number of linguistic groups.

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes …

213

The study uses panel data framework with two periods 1990 and 2013–14, i.e. before-and-after estimation. The population regression model used is as following, yit = β0 + β1 PC Iit + β2 G Rit + β3 U R Bit + β4 D I Vit + β5 Z i + u it

(2)

where, t denotes the year or time, while i shows the specific observation, u is the error term, and Z i denote the individual characteristics of states and they differ between states. These state attributes are also constant overtime. Then, the equation for both the years, t = 1990, and t = 2013–14, can be represented as follows, yi1990 = β0 + β1 PC Ii1990 + β2 G Ri1990 + β3 U R Bi1990 + β4 D I Vi1990 + β5 Z i + u i1990

(3)

yi2013−14 = β0 + β1 PC Ii2013−14 + β2 G Ri2013−14 + β3 U R Bi2013−14 + β4 D I Vi2013−14 + β5 Z i + u i2013−14

(4)

The Z i can be eliminated by taking difference of y between 2013–14 and 1990 and also the difference of independent variable between the values of same years (see Hanck, et al 2019). This regression equation yields robust β1 . . . β4 estimates as a possible bias due to Z i are eliminated from the model. When difference of 2013–14 and 1990 values are taken, some of the observations in NDE workers and total workers get negative values. The log of negative values is not determined and therefore these two variables, y, have been transformed as a function of their original values,X , by the following method suggested by Busse and Hefeker (2006),    y = ln X + X 2 + 1

(5)

Tables 9 and 10 show that only economic development (PCI) and linguistic diversity have impact on industrialization of states, but their impact has declined after liberalization and it has been negative. As the equation is based on differenced data, this means that wherever the change of income and linguistic diversity have been higher, the change in economic establishments and workers have been lower. This is possible because of the consolidation of economic enterprises and weeding out of the uncompetitive enterprises in the post-economic reform period. Some of the states and UTs of India have experienced increase of more than INR 4000 per capita income with adding even less than 25,000 economic establishments. Such states are Goa, Sikkim, Delhi, Pondicherry, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh, while the states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Rajasthan and Assam experienced increase of more than 1.5 million of economic establishments with per capita income increase of less than INR 4000 during the reference period. The similar situation is

214

A. Shaban and S. Sattar

Table 9 Determinants of change (1990–2013–14) in number of (ln) economic establishments Variables

(1) OAEs

(2) NDEs

(3) DEs

(4) total Establishments

Ln  Per capita income (INR)

− 1.255* (0.617)

− 1.408** (0.587)

− 0.680 (0.594)

− 1.313** (0.584)

 Graduate and above (%)

0.102 (0.101)

0.153 (0.0965)

0.145 (0.0976)

0.115 (0.0960)

 Urban population (%)

0.0224 (0.0748)

0.00326 (0.0711)

− 0.0674 (0.0719)

0.0143 (0.0708)

 Diversity

− 1.176** (0.558)

− 1.155** (0.531)

− 1.280** (0.537)

− 1.237** (0.528)

Constant

25.61*** (6.221)

26.13*** (5.915)

16.67** (5.983)

26.61*** (5.889)

Observations R-squared

28 0.253

28 0.331

28 0.303

28 0.303

Source Based on data from economic census 1990 and 2013–14 Note Standard errors in parentheses; ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.1;  shows change, that is difference between the values of 2013–14 less 1990

Table 10 Determinants of change (1990–2013–14) in number of (ln) workers in economic establishments Variables

OAE workers (2) NDE workers

(3) DE workers

(4) total workers

Ln  per capita income − 1.167 (INR) (0.683)

− 1.280** (0.587)

8.198* (4.439)

− 1.705 (2.308)

 graduate and above (%)

0.150 (0.0964)

1.209 (0.729)

0.0653 (0.379)

 urban population (%) 0.0286 (0.0827)

− 0.00810 (0.0711)

− 0.825 (0.538)

0.0196 (0.280)

 diversity

− 1.072* (0.617)

− 1.129** (0.531)

− 0.971 (4.013)

− 0.982 (2.086)

Constant

24.72*** (6.878)

25.87*** (5.914)

− 84.19* (44.73)

30.97 (23.26)

Observations R-squared

28 0.192

28 0.314

28 0.267

28 0.034

0.111 (0.112)

Source Based on data from economic census 1990 and 2013–14 Note Standard errors in parentheses; ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.1;  shows change, that is difference between the values of 2013–14 less 1990

witnessed in the case of the relationship between per capita income and number of workers in economic establishments. A large number of states experiencing low increase in workers had higher increase in per capita income giving rise to a negative slope of regression line. The state with high increase in income with low increase in workers are Goa, Delhi, Sikkim, Pondicherry, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, while Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes …

215

Bengal and Rajasthan have experienced higher increase of workers with low increase in per capita income. Only in case of DE workers the per capita income change has positive impact. This shows that DE (large enterprises) workers in the post-reform period are most likely to be concentrated in economically developed states. The linguistic diversity has negative association with workers and number of economic establishments mainly because of the North-Eastern states which experienced higher linguistic diversity and had low increase in workers during the period, and vice-versa in case of other states. In fact, the linguistic diversity has had the negative impact on the number of economic establishments and workers in both the reference years (results not produced here due to limitation of space), but only statistically significant in 2013–14.

7 Conclusion and Policy Implications This chapter attempted to examine the industrial and commercial regions of India and whether there has been any shift in the industrial and commercial locations during the post reform period. For this purpose, the study used data of Economic Census 1990 (which had some limitations due to missing data) and Economic Census 2013–14, the latest one for which unit level data are available. The following major conclusions can be drawn from the study. First, the employment elasticity of industries has declined in the post-reform period as the worker-industry ratio has substantially come down. This is why many studies have called Indian economic growth in the post-liberalization period as ‘job-less growth’. Second, there is a spatially very lopsided industrial and commercial development in the country. The post-colonial development has its roots in the colonial development and today the industrial and commercial regions conform to the regional patterns of colonial time. Only, Northern-Western India from Agra to Amritsar seems to be an exception in this regard. Third, although there has not been any significant dispersal of industrial and commercial activities in post reform period to the underdeveloped regions, there has been considerable expansion and integration of spaces within and around the existing major regions, as evident from North-Western Industrial and Commercial region, Western region and Southern region. Fourth, the underdeveloped and also heavily populated regions of the country only have informal sectors (OAEs) and as evident from other studies, they are source regions of out-migrants. Fifth, the data show that the impact of economic development of the state on OAEs, NDEs, DEs, and on workers in OAEs and NDEs has declined in 2013–14 as compared to 1990, but exception being the workers in DEs, in the core industrial and commercial sector, the impact has increased. This shows that during post-reform period where OAEs (household level enterprises) and to a large extent NDEs (small enterprises) have expanded all over the country including underdeveloped states, the DEs (large enterprises) have mainly been located in already developed states. Lastly, the linguistic diversity of the states has negative and declining impact on the industrial and commercial units and workers.

216

A. Shaban and S. Sattar

The study, as such, has some policy implications. First, the job-less growth does not augur well for a country which has a large share of unemployed population. The unemployment can further economic inequality, cause social unrest and destabilize the governments. Second, the India is poised to reap the demographic dividend and this job-less industrialization means that it will not be able to effectively exploit its available human resources. Third, there has not been meaningful regional spread of industries despite rise in the volume and gross value of products. It implies that Central and State Governments need to reshape their industrial policies to become more meaningful for employment generation and balanced regional development.

References Adelman I, Morris CT (1967) Society, politics, and economic development: a quantitative approach. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore Busse M, Hefeker C (2006) Political risk, institutions and foreign direct investment. Eur J Polit Econ 23(2007):397–415 MoCI—Ministry of Commerce and Industry (2003) Foreign direct investment in India: policy and procedures. Government of India, New Delhi. http://dipp.nic.in/manual/manual_0403.pdf. Accessed 9 Sept 2020 Gardiner B, Martin R, Tyler P (2011) Does spatial agglomeration increase national growth? Some evidence from Europe. J Econ Geogr 11:979–1006 GoI—Government of India (1997) Report of the expert committee on small enterprises 1996. New Delhi Gore CD (1984) Regions in question: space, development theory, and regional policy. Mathuen & Co., Ltd, London Hanck C, Arnold M, Gerber A, Schmelzer M (2019) Introduction to econometrics with R. https:// www.econometrics-with-r.org/. Accessed 26 Aug 2020 Helsley RW, Strange WC (1990) Matching and agglomeration economies in a system of cities. Reg Sci Urban Econ 20(2):189–212 Henderson JV (1988) Urban development: theory, fact and illusion. Oxford University Press, London Hirschman AO (1958) The strategy of economic development. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut Kannan K, Raveendran G (2009) Growth sans employment: a quarter century of jobless growth in India’s organised manufacturing. Econ Pol Wkly 44(10):80–89 Karan PP (1964) Changes in Indian industrial location. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 54(3):336–354 Kohili A (2009) Democracy and development: essays on state, society, and economy. Oxford University Press, New Delhi Krugman PR (1980) Scale economies, product differentiation and the pattern of trade. Am Econ Rev 70:950–959 Krugman PR (1991) Increasing returns and economic geography. J Polit Econ 49:137–150 Lian B, Oneal J (1997) Cultural diversity and economic development: a cross national study of 98 countries, 1960–1985. Econ Dev Cult Change 46(1):61–77. https://doi.org/10.1086/452321 Madhavan N (2018) The spectre of jobless growth. The Hindu Business Line. November 22. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/books/the-spectre-of-jobless-growth/article25 419369.ece. Accessed 9 Sept 2020 Marshall A (1890). Principles of economics, 8th edn, 1920. Macmillan, London MoCI—Ministry of Commerce and Industry (1991, July 24) Statement on industrial policy. https:// dipp.gov.in/sites/default/files/chap001_0_0.pdf. Accessed 9 Sept 2020

Industrial and Commercial Geography of India: A Study of Changes …

217

MoI—Ministry of Industry (1991) Statement on industrial policy. Government of India, New Delhi. http://siadipp.nic.in/publicat/nip0791.htm. Accessed 9 Sept 2020 Molinar J (1991) Counting the number of parties: an alternative index. Am Political Sci Rev 85(4):1383–1391. https://doi.org/10.2307/1963951 Monsted M (1974) Francois Perroux’s theory of “growth pole” and “development pole”: a critique. Antipode 6(2):106–113 MoSPI—Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (2008) Third Economic Census, 1990. Data on CD. Government of India, New Delhi MoSPI—Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (2014) Sixth economic census: guide for numerators & supervisors. Central Statistics Office, National Statistical Organization, Government of India, New Delhi MoSPI—Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (2016) Sixth Economic Census, 2013–14. Data on CD. Government of India, New Delhi Myrdal G (1957) Economic theory and underdeveloped region. Duckworth, London Narasimham M (1962) India’s third five year plan. Staff Pap (int Monetary Fund) 9(3):381–427. https://doi.org/10.2307/3866092 PC—Planning Commission (2020) 3rd Five Year Plan, Government of India, New Delhi. http://pla nningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/3rd/3planch9.html. Accessed 9 Sept 2020 PC—Planning Commission (1980) Report on industrial dispersal. National Committee on the Development of Backward Areas, Government of India, New Delhi Perroux F (1970) A note on the concept of growth poles. McKee Dl, Dean RD, Leahy WH (eds) Regional economics: theory and practice. Free Press, New York, pp 93–103 Reynolds LG (1985) Economic growth in the third world 1850–1980. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn Rosenthal SS, Strange WC (2004) Evidence on the nature and sources of agglomeration economies. In: Henderson V, Thisse J (eds) Handbook of urban and regional economics, North Holland, Amsterdam, Vol. 4, pp 2119–2172 Shaban A (2006) Regional structure, growth and convergence of income in Maharashtra. Econ Pol Wkly 41(18):1803–1815 Venables A J (2005) New economic geography. http://www.rrojasdatabank.info/newecongeogv en05.pdf. Accessed 9 Sept 2020

Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections on Tourism Development in Goa, India Babu S. Sutheeshna

Abstract Modern tourism is all-encompassing and its intricate bearings are manifested in invariably every spatial component and more particularly the physical space. The place consumption heralds many irreversible changes to the spatial arrangements and economic landscape, the more striking being urbanization. The impacts of tourism are manifested in varied forms. In the developing world especially, it brings substantive socio-economic and cultural transformations coupled with spatial reorganization. This becomes inevitable with great chunks of tourism moving to smaller towns and non-urban areas. However, this connect is scantly understood and explained, especially from the spatial perspective and that forms the rationale and premise for this chapter. The analysis provides to delineate two major trajectories: first, tourism acts as a key catalyst that transforms a primordial rural and/or peripheral landscape into urban; and second, it complements and accelerates the growth and expansion of the cities and towns. Examination of tourism development along the coastal areas of Goa adequately explains the centrality of tourism in the urbanization process, and its role in the emergence of new urban centers as well as the expansion and spread of the cities and towns. However, empirical testing could earn more focused understanding and perspectives on the complementarities of tourism and urbanization. Keywords Tourism · Urbanization · Urban tourism · Over-tourism · Spatial reorganization · Place consumption · Goa tourism development

1 Introduction One of the most striking and manifesting phenomena during post-World War-II period was the emergence of tourism as a major socio-economic force globally impacting every facet of the human lives and environs often in unprecedented ways. As communities and countries discovered the economic prospects of tourism, there B. S. Sutheeshna (B) National Institute of Watersports, Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India, Panji, Goa 403002, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari (eds.), Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3100-9_9

219

220

B. S. Sutheeshna

began mustering the efforts to tap its potential and suddenly, tourism emerged in to an invigorating business, an international trade, and a global mega-industry (Jafari 2001). It was obvious therefore to find the resonances of general development theories and its advancement in the theorization of tourism and its foundation discourses. In particular, ‘advocacy’ phase of tourism imperative ran parallel to the ‘golden age’ of development theory often attributed to the period 1945–1970s (Payne and Phillips 2010), which some scholars chose to extend well into 1980s. However, the growing empirical understanding of the discontents with development outcomes of tourism heralded a phase of disillusionment (Harrison 1988), stemming from multitudes of setbacks and disconnects with the expectations that otherwise a dynamic global economic order promised to deliver. The modernization project, developed in an attempt to explain social change in the ‘Third World’, drew relentless attacks from across and more particularly from the dependency theorists arguing it as discriminatory and against the objectives of economic welfare (Tipps 1973) By the 1990s, alternative/sustainable development formulations grew to prominence including in the tourism development discourses, strategies and framework enabling more creative engagement with globalization and leveraging of its benefits. However, a closer look at the premises of divergent formulations on tourism development until the end of twentieth century reveal that general theorizations of modernization versus dependency found vigorous elaborations in tourism discourse. By the time the world entered the twenty-first century, there emerged a marked shift in the focus of development discourse around ‘Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs) with apparent stress on reflective thinking and largely shared concerns (UNDP 2000). The moderation of otherwise ideologically conformed positions on theorization of development agenda and concerns also signaled a paradigmatic turn in the discourses including in tourism. This set a stage for changed priorities and added emphasize on the concerns of poverty reduction, shared global environmental policies/protocols, enabling of hassle-free international cross-border movements, microlevel strategizing coupled with cooperation on the State security and development. In a sense, moderation in the ideological patronage to setting of the development agenda and its mainstreaming also led to bringing the ideological anti-polar confrontations more at ease and transcending the deeply drawn schisms. The impacts of tourism are encompassing and manifest in varied forms. In the developing world especially, it brings substantive socio-economic and cultural transformations along with spatial reorganization. This becomes inevitable with great chunks of tourism moving to smaller towns and non-urban areas early on itself. However, evidences stand to support that the exogenous forces have been more influencing given the distinct nature of tourism process that foster the engagement of bipolar cultures of the ‘hosts and guests’ as well as the development of services and products to suffice fast changing demands and consumption choices. One of the inevitable outcomes of tourism that substantively symbolize the spatial transformation is urbanization though it could vary depending on the context and extent of development and geographic settings. The intrinsic nature of tourism and its dynamics could also eventuate disparate forms of urbanization and the contradictions therein, however, specific to the nature of tourism and its development. But,

Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections …

221

the tourism-urbanization connect is scantly understood and explained, particularly from the spatial perspective and that forms the rationale for the present chapter. To dwell more on this, the study makes an attempt to first map and contextualize the ongoing academic engagements on the dynamics of place consumption, ecosystems it permeates and the changes it heralds especially the urbanization. Further to capture some of these dimension, one of the most touristically developed state of Goa in India has been examined as the context. In the discussion to follow, the context has been set to begin with brief treatise on the industrial nature of tourism and the urban problematique to situate tourism urbanization and its trajectories. Thereafter, characteristics of tourism urbanization have been mapped along with the highlight of specific cases. It was imperative to also distinguish the framework of tourism urbanization and urban tourism as these are outcomes of distinct processes. In the section that follows, the study discusses the complementarities of tourism and urbanization in Goa and the manifestation of some of its contradictions. With tourism gaining fast momentum across the leading tourism cities, challenges of over-tourism aggravate the discontents and fuel anti-tourism movements. Hence, this has also been briefly addressed towards the end.

2 ‘Industrial’ Nature of Tourism Understanding the intricacies of tourism and urbanization necessitates elaborations on the nature and characteristics of tourism as an ‘industry’ and its linkages with the place and space structures, consequential transformations, and its continuities. As an industry, it is distinctly people-centric service bundles organized around facilitation of the guests (tourists) by the hosts at the hosts’ place. In many ways, the core of it lies in ‘commoditization of gaze’ and consumption of the tangibility and intangibility of place and space. The products and offerings are abundant, delivered by a complex web of producers and delivery partners that represent the formal and informal sectors. Such an amalgam of tourism often defies the conventional wisdom of a ‘product’ since it cannot be churned out of a unitary production process. The critics have been very vocal on the logic of tourism’s industry status and have argued that it does not conform to the conventional definitions of an industry (Davidson 2001; Tucker and Sundberg 1988). Leiper’s (1990) has pointed out that skepticism is ripe and tourism is not an industry at all; at best, it is a collection of industries. Smith (2004) has also held an anti-industry view and maintained that tourism stands to represent ‘industries’ denoting those segment(s) of industries producing a tourism commodity and those visitors consuming it as experience. From supply side perspective, tourists consume three types of products—tourism-oriented, residentoriented and background-oriented (Jafari 1982). This amalgamated nature of products in a way deprives tourism of the industry status in a conventional sense. However, Sutheeshna (2008) has maintained that the rational for according industry status to tourism can emerge from its end product of ‘tourist experience’. Approaching tourism

222

B. S. Sutheeshna

from this angle could contribute in evolving a rather unified and identifiable industry framework. Envisioning of a tourism system revolves around two distant geographic nodes— the origin and destination. The industrial structure that it consequents is interplay of the demand and supply systems that necessitate the mobility of the demand to the places of production called the destination in order to materialize the consumption. The places of consumption are diverse, ranging from the cities and towns to perceivably ‘unworthy’ landscapes in the deserts, mountains, and sea-beds. Such uniquely positioned ‘spatial fixity’ of the products, production, consumption connectivities set tourism apart from most other economic activities. Its divergent process may also result in distinct forms of development, impacts and eventual spatial forms and its reorganization to manifest in urbanization. The backdrop being set above could enable explanations on the dynamics of tourism and its varied manifestations over the space and time. Evident enough, the onset of tourism accelerates place consumption and touristic indulgences, creating the conditions for placement of dynamic development ecosystems and place capitalization. This in the process could consequent different place trajectories and transformations especially of the socio-economic and physical spaces. Correspondingly, the alignments in the means of production undergo changes and that in the process unlock various exogenous and endogenous agents resonating both tourism imperative and place contradictions. This is more so when tourism is superimposed over the primordial landscapes predominated by primary economic functions like the rural settings and geographic peripheries.

3 The ‘Urban’ Problem The propositions on role of tourism in urbanization cannot be substantive unless the perspectives are embedded in the theories and process of urbanization especially in the twenty-first century. Conceptually seen, themes of urbanization and the production of a space (perceived, conceived and lived) are interlinked, implying that unproductive spaces cannot support urbanization and therefore the processes driving the formation of cities and towns (Lefebvre 1991). For Harvey (1985), “urbanization has always been about mobilization, production, appropriation, and absorption of economic surpluses.” However, he largely upheld the proposition of Lefebvre that urban process has more importance in the dynamics of capitalism. The ‘urban’ and ‘urbanization’ are theoretical categories, not empirical objects (Brenner and Schmid 2014) and its emphasis is evident from the writings of Marx and Angels. The Marxian view holds the city itself as a developmental force, the seat of modern industry, division of labor, reproduction of labor-power, technological innovation and the like. The rise of the industrial city was not only vital for the expansion of productive forces but it was also politically crucial for an ascendant bourgeoisie to assert itself in their passage from feudalism to capitalism (cited in Merrifield 2013).

Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections …

223

The urbanization is no longer seen as about ‘rural–urban’ binaries or these are mere continuums of physical transformation of the socio-economic space from the ‘rural’ to ‘non-rural’ aka urban in terms of dominant production functionalities and specializations. The realm of ‘urban’ encompasses many things beyond the ‘visible city’ to endear a complex dynamics that transcend many a defined geo-political controls and power arrangements. Such a fluid existence of urbanization defies the movement towards a common definition and this admission was echoed by the U.N Population Division by stating that there is no common global definition of urban settlement (United Nations 2014). For deeper understanding, Angelo and Wachsmuth (2014) argued that urbanization needs to be approached as “a process that establishes a new relationship between the urban and non-urban, between the social and natural.” There are multiple processes at work especially in the contemporary cities, each with its own spatio-temporality and dynamics. As a result, the concept could manifest an ‘urban amalgam’ which is then ripe to draw divergent narratives and explanations rather than leaving it as sacrosanct. Sayer (1984) puts it thus: “the concept of the urban no longer has a distinctive, coherent real object, only imaginary ones.” Harvey (1996) draws further on this ambivalence and noted, “it is equally vital that the language in which the urban problematic is embedded be transformed, if only to liberate a whole raft of conceptual possibilities that may otherwise remain hidden”. Key determinants of urbanization are essentially the factors of production, especially the capital and its aggregative effects on creating surpluses and losses. Many contemporary cities continue to exist as continuums of its centuries old past where the erstwhile mercantile city can be seen traversed from the industrial to Keynesian and post-Keynesian facets. While the mercantile city negotiated in mobilizing the surpluses, industrial city marshaled on production of surpluses and the Keynesian city endeared its absorption. The grand old cities were quick to adapt to a fast transforming economic logic in succession which in the process positioned those to accrue considerable might to even influencing the world orders and power alignments. However, evolutionary paths of these cities depict the prototypical assemblage of distinct parallels, essentialities of processes, succession of capital and surpluses, urbanism and its underlying contradictions over the space and time. Thus, the complexities of the geographies of urbanization can neither be dealt in isolation nor approached as mere constructs of the cities or metropolis or regions. Rather it is a transformative process influencing the real world order at large— a planetary urbanization to paraphrase Brenner and Schmid (2014). The embodiment of economic and socio-spatial arrangements combined with infrastructural networks take the cities well beyond the traditional city core, metropolitan regions, urban peripheries, and peri-urban zones to integrate itself with the worldwide urban condition. Contemporary urbanization thus acts as a formidable force of production and a contested space for organizing the reproduction of both labor and capital (Swyngedouw 2019). Urbanization is both bane and boon. For advocates, it brings solutions to the problems it generates. In Indian context for instance Panagariya (2020) is worried about the ‘snail pace’ of urbanization and argues for fast-tracking urbanization for high economic growth. On the other, the critics would hold that the onset of an urban

224

B. S. Sutheeshna

age and the rise of the cities are sources of problems. Thus, variegated ‘urban fabric’ becomes the focal point for new approaches to urban theory, strategies of collective intervention and imaginaries of built and un-built environments (Brenner 2018).

4 Situating Tourism Urbanization The instrumentalities of tourism in urbanization are evident from the period of spa resort development in the Alps and establishment of sea-side tourism subsequently in Briton in the early phase of industrial revolution. Post-World War II, tourism grew and spread exponentially to emerge as global force and one of the most powerful socio-economic sectors in the world. Theoretically seen, tourism follows the logic of capitalist modes of production and hence the towns/cities that emerge in consequence are essential constructions of capital accumulation. As a production or consumption function, tourism is an activity pursued over a definite space that embodies the physical, socio-cultural and temporal components. Thus, urbanization consequent upon leisure, recreation, relaxation and fun indulges cannot be treated as dissimilar from the spatial reorganizations emanating from other forms of production functions even if it may differ in terms of process and manifestations. Characteristically, tourist destinations conform to most definable attributes of urban centers, particularly from the development stage in its life-cycle. However, unlike the urbanization resulting from other means and production processes and associated trade and commerce, tourist towns and cities emerge uniquely around the chains of place and space consumption. The opportunities exists in wide ranges— anything from the scenery, fun, culture, food, relaxation, recreation, learning to all such endowments that a place offers to the purveyors searching novelty and personally rewarding experiences and gratification. The consumption bundle that the visitors seek are diverse in terms of products, services and experience but it cannot be assembled through a homogenous production function since the means and processes in each case are varied and often distinct. As an industry, tourism is characteristically service in nature and the landscape that it produces or reproduces is designed to serve the tourists. The economic base of the tourist places is consequentially determined, either solely or partially, by tourism and related activities along with increasing hosting communities who serve the burgeoning visitor segments. Production of spaces for tourism consumption creates new forms of demand, which in turn, influences the land-use pattern, realignment of production forces and reorganization of local employment structure. The capitalization begins to surge in a landscape otherwise dominated by the primary economy players and its flow is directed towards infrastructure and superstructure creation to suffice tourism consumption. The conditions for tourism urbanization are created when the destination organizes itself to establish and channelize an ecosystem of production and consumption that primarily functions around the visitors, people, institutions and establishments and other stakeholders. This

Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections …

225

in the process could also exacerbate existing inequalities in the areas of tourism development. From the placeness angle, there can be seen relentless attempts on part of the destination stakeholders to curate the place in varied ways to enhance the ‘appeal’ and positioning with an intent to attract the visitors of a wider catchment. In this process of making the places more touristic and presentable, the ‘unpleasant scenes’ of the primary landscape may be altered or concealed. Gradually, the salient place features loss out and it begins to undergo metamorphism under the pressure of freshly imposed economic specializations and socio-cultural ordering around tourism and it’s supporting functions. The supply-side also envisions the opportunities unfolding and organizes to infuse further capital and labor from both within and outside. This continuum marks the arrival of urbanization as evident in the nineteenth century Europe—whether the beach-side resort towns in Great Briton or the spa-towns across the Alps. Walton (2000) has noted, “The seaside resort was a British export, one that originated in the coastal towns of Scarborough, Margate, and Brighton Over the course of the 1800s, the phenomenon made its way across Europe in Normandy, South-western France, Italy, parts of Scandinavia, and northern Germany, bringing with it the cult of health and sociability.” Post-World War II, many tourism-dependent metropolitan areas emerged viz. Las Vegas and Orlando in the United States, the Sunshine Coast, and the Gold Coast in Australia or Cancun in Mexico. Arguably, one of the critical enablers of tourism urbanization including its globalization has been the arrival of Jet age in the 1950s coinciding with the introduction of wide-bodied Jets. It heralded a surge in visitors and their widespread movement on global scale to mark the onset of modern tourism. A consistent increase in the visitor movements across the geographies has also resulted in the emergence of a diverse range of tourism destinations and products, often backed by huge international capital inflows. Its significant positive externalities and linkages has led to further capitalization of places, infrastructure development and improvement, creation of new/additional income and employment opportunities, drawing of foreign direct investments, enhancement in social mobility and economic development of destinations in general. The over-powering of tourism development and associated processes across the place and space have resulted in a varied range of impacts including urbanization of the rural areas or acceleration of the growth of towns and cities. In 1980s itself, Stanback (1985) for instance has attributed the fastest population and labor force growth rates among all urban areas in the United States to consumption centers, especially tourist cities. However, what has become distinct to the twenty-first century tourism is the redefinition of tourism practices and stereotypes driven by the technology. Particularly, the personalization of information and communication technology and its pervasive global access has brought revolutionary changes in both the tourism consumption and its supply and delivery chain. It has also marked the emergence of ‘disruptive entrepreneurs’ in newer forms and city-specific discontents as witnessed in the ‘anti-tourist’ agitations in certain leading tourism cities such a Barcelona, Amsterdam and Berlin in the Europe (UNWTO 2018).

226

B. S. Sutheeshna

5 Characterizing Tourism Urbanization Different forms and types of tourism could produce divergent socio-economic and environmental impacts, so are the impacts of tourism on urbanization. Gossling (2006) has observed that tourism is embedded in the process of urbanization mainly in two ways: first, as the main driver behind urbanization in places oriented to and suitable for tourism and leisure, a phenomenon Mullins (1991) termed as tourism urbanization’ and; second, as a catalyst of leisure production in cities/towns where a part of the city is oriented to satisfy tourist demands. However, the economy of later groups is not dominated by tourism and leisure production. There exists many studies contributing towards the understanding of direct and growing influence of tourism upon the process of urbanization globally (Hall 2006; Brooks 2016; Zhao and Dong 2017; Larsen 2019). However, the literature suggests that despite tourism urbanization assuming prominence, precious little had been done to investigate or explain the complementary relationships theoretically or empirically until 1990s. One of the earliest attempts to define tourism urbanization can be attributed to Mullins (1991) and according to him, it is “a process during which cities and the towns are built or regenerated almost exclusively for the purpose of leisure and pleasure, and thus urban growth is closely tied to tourism-related industries.” It is consumption-based urbanization, in which, the cities and towns are rapidly developed to attract short duration tourist residents. In other words, it is a new form of urbanization that emphasizes the role of tourism as the driving force of urbanization (Huang and Ke 2001; Albalate and Bel 2010). The Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast in Australia are distinct cases in this context. Mullins (1991) has approached tourism as hedonistic pursuits and situated tourism urbanization within the discourse on post-modernity, post-modern city, consumption, and commoditization of leisure and services that support tourism. Characteristically, tourism urbanization tends to focus on high value amenity environments and associated with other forms of amenity related urbanization, particularly in coastal areas (Mullins 1990, 1999; Hall 2005). Mullins (1991) has also observed that this process is largely sustained by a petty bourgeoisie class of small business owners, and is featured by active state entrepreneurialism and regulation from various levels of government. Another study by David (1998) attempted to evaluate the effects of tourism on eight tourism-dependent American cities, which led to the delineation of two distinct patterns; the leisure cities and tourism metropolises. The leisure cities specialize in ‘sun, sand, and sea’ tourism where the vacationers are heavily dependent on consumption of the nature. On the other hand, the tourist metropolis specializes in large, artificial, highly capital-intensive tourist attractions such as theme parks and casinos. It was however observed that a rapid rate of growth in population was common to both categories and the land-use and physical changes were primarily driven by increased needs of physical infrastructure for tourism services. However, unlike nineteenth century tourism-driven urbanization, what distinguish the process in recent decades are the scale, complexity, and diversity of tourism and

Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections …

227

leisure consumption experiences that are specifically created or purpose-built on the urban landscapes. Unlike most conventional towns and cities, the urban landscapes emanating from touristic indulges are distinct in that these are seen purpose-built to suite the tourist consumption. Hall (2005) has also made an attempt to summarize the recent pattern of tourism urbanization and its characteristics resulting from the ‘sale and consumption of pleasure’. Of late, China has emerged as one of the leading countries to engage in tourism urbanization research in vigorous ways. Zhao and Dong (2017) has mapped the major themes being investigated viz. tourism-driven urbanization, tourism agglomeration and urbanization, tourism and local urbanization, promotion mechanism between tourism development and urbanization, use of tourism to shift the population concentration toward urban areas, improving urban functions to shift the consumption behavior of people from traditional living consumption to modern recreational consumption and like. The review stands to suggest that tourism has emerged an important industry that supports rapid urbanization. Their empirical analysis has further established the role of tourism in agglomeration economies, creation of new jobs and types, optimization of urban spatial structure, guiding civilized lifestyles besides providing sufficient incentives to promote tourism agglomeration. These processes significantly and positively influences urbanization. However, a Ushaped relationship emerges suggesting that tourism agglomeration tends to slow the progress of urbanization in the initial stage but it begins to promote the process when the agglomeration grows beyond certain levels. The factors such as human capital and scale of government involvement, infrastructure, industrial structuring and interaction between tourism agglomeration and infrastructure were also observed to have significant and positive influence on urbanization. Some other studies endeavoured to investigate the link between hotel development and urbanization in China have also found positive linkages between these processes (Zhang et al. 2013; Luo and Lam 2016).

6 Tourism Urbanization Vs. Urban Tourism The context of tourism urbanization and urban tourism are distinct in terms of the processes and functioning, necessitating separate treatment and explanation. In particular, tourism urbanization needs to be understood as a process and consequential outcome of tourism development and its associated dynamics in that tourism becomes instrumental in driving urbanization. Mullins (2003) noted. ‘the fulfillment of tourism urbanization is contingent upon specifically built spaces of consumption to attract tourists, often in the form of the exploitation of nature’. Pursuing ‘tourism realestate’ as a development strategy and source of urbanization has also been reported in certain contexts and settings. For instance, Yang (2019) revealed on how tourism has turned the sleepy small town of Yiren in Yunnan Province of China into a place with diverse real estate landscapes, constituting a new pattern of urbanization.

228

B. S. Sutheeshna

Invariably, what has become evident in every tourism-driven landscape and socioeconomic transformation is the shift in dominant land-use from the primary to multitudes of tertiary urban functions and the reorganization of the economic accretion around the rapidly changing production and consumption specializations. This and other instances then suffice to deduce that tourism urbanization is a process resulting from an urban growth driven by the development of built-spaces and the processes that primarily cater tourism consumption. In contrast, urban tourism or city-based tourism deals with a form of tourism environment and attraction bundle. UNWTO defines urban tourism as a “type of tourism activity which takes place in an urban space with its inherent attributes characterized by non-agricultural based economy such as administration, manufacturing, trade, and services and by being nodal points of transport. Evidently, urban/city destinations offer a broad and heterogeneous range of cultural, architectural, technological, social and natural experiences and products for leisure and businesses” (UNWTO 2020). Ashworth and Page (2011) further qualify it by noting: “the city facilities cater to the needs of tourists but little of the city has been created specifically for tourist use.” Viewed this way, core of urban tourism lies in the city settings and context through which tourism is mediated and made to realize not exclusively but amidst many social and economic forces inherent to the urban centers. The framework of urban tourism is vast given the dimensions of spiraling urbanization around the world. According to a United Nations (2018), an estimated 55.3% of the world’s population in 2018 lived in urban settlements and it may reach whooping 60% by 2030, where one in every three persons would live in the cities with at least 500,000 inhabitants. The big cities are poised to grow bigger and number of cities with at least one million inhabitants are poised to grow from 548 in 2018 to 706 in 2030. Similarly, the megacities (10 million or above) would foresee an increase in its numbers from 33 to 43 during this period. In short, large urban centers accompanying a population of 5 lakhs and above are to increase from 1140 in 2018 to 1416 in 2030. Given such a scenario of the world’s urban population forecasing, the dynamics and features of urban tourism and urbanization are poised to undergo remarkable transformation and eventually to propel the global tourism economy. The surging urban spaces shall expect to contribute the tourism sector in two ways; first, acting as key source markets for the leisure and business tourists and; second, the surge in investments in the infrastructure and a booming well-being economy endowments of those cities would become instrumental to attract visitors and further increase in their numbers. Eventually, the global options for tourism destinations expand, and that in turn, push the countries to a scenario where the cities are drawn to compete with each other within and outside for the visitors pie of all kinds—long and short hauls and durations. Thus, the process of urbanization and urban tourism are inseparable from the social, spatial, economic, and technological as well as governance challenges of urbanization and local responses to globalization. But, unlike other geographically defined tourism forms like the seaside or mountain, explanations in urban tourism is inherently complex given the diversity of urban settings and innumerable forces in work. Continuance of tourism development will

Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections …

229

reshape and redesign a multifarious urban mosaic, motivations and consumption patterns, cultural perspectives of host and guests, industry, markets and everything surrounding the city. Thus, it is imperative to approach the cityscape as an amalgam of innumerable elements and possibilities that the developers coalesce to perform certain discrete tourism opportunities and functions. It becomes therefore inevitable for the city managers to proactively engage in specializations depending on their intent and professed strength in the specific city endowments—natural, built and performing—to remain relevant in an internationally competitive tourism market. The cliché of ‘newness’ is one of the ways being used to position the city in a globalized tourism-scape. To remain competitive and attractive therefore, key city attributes may be fashioned in a manner that present a diverse portfolio of attractions even at the cost of authenticity. The city may be reinvented, refurbished, rebuilt, re-imaged, and packaged to characterize and manifest a multi-faceted city and its tourism opportunities to sustain the visitors’ interests. In the bundling of touristic offerings viz. in the culture, heritage, ethnicity, sports, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions), shopping and a host of attributes that matters to assume a ‘tourism’ suffix assume prominence in the city schematics and its positioning in the larger tourist scape. Indeed, the intense competition would keep pushing the cities and countries to pursue vigorous commodification and touristification of the cityscape. The managers would also strategize their energies towards attracting and incentivizing the foreign capital to the city make-over and sustaining the visitor interests. Usually, the city Centre offers a wide range of activities in a relatively compact environment (Cave and Jollife 2012) and that is more common to most olden cities. There also exists a tendency to concentrate and localize the activities in certain pockets of the cityscape but depending on the things worth matters to the visitors. It could be from architecture, creative arts precincts, ethnic migrant neighborhoods, nightlife, shopping to physical and socials infrastructure and amenities. Of late, tourism is widely used as a means for urban regeneration especially in the decayed tourism cities of the industrialization era and those mature cities staring at stagnation or decline. Yet another but preferred space is the rural–urban fringe and the trend suggests that these are now locus centers for many recreational, leisure and tourism activities; something typical to fast growing modern cities and urban conglomerations. Notably, development of urban tourism along the city peripheries and the growth of cultural districts are manifestation of new landscapes for tourism, leisure and the wider cultural industries. In Montreal for instance, the park-lands and waterbodies with the urban environments are being linked to tourism (Cave and Jollife 2012). However, in vastly connected and dynamic cities, intriguing networks of engagements woven around tourism could result varied consequences to the tourists, host community, and the industry. Thus, the studies on urban tourism have to be necessarily multifaceted as in case of propositions on urbanization; for each city represents diverse tourism themes and multi-industry specialization arrangements. Thus, as Wall and Mathieson (2005) noted, addressing the quantum of changes in the cities attributable to tourism as compared to non-tourism activities and the impacts

230

B. S. Sutheeshna

of those changes on the city’s urbanization is a complex problematic. Therefore, deeper understanding of urban tourism would depend on the explanations of urban context in which it is embedded (Yang 2019). However, despite an overarching global presence of urban tourism, many reviews held that its theoretical foundations are weak and restrictive owing to the near detachment of these themes from the wider debates in urban studies. Similarly, most urban tourism research is evently case-study driven, and as field of study, major challenges also emerge from the vague demarcation and a lack of analytical frameworks (Cave and Jolliffe 2012) as well as vaguely formulated set of activities (Edwards et al. 2008). Persistence of academic neglect, Yang (2019) argues, not only impede the theoretical understanding on evolution of the cities at a global scale in its development of tourism but it is also compounded by the covert engagement of geographers, planners and those working in urban studies. All too often, tourism phenomenon is ignored from critical investigations in spite of the fact that many cities in the national systems play the crucial roles of gateways and destinations simultaneously. Theoretically, explanations in urban tourism cannot be contained within an evolutionary framework of tourism destination area life-cycle (TALC) models owing to its vast and multifaceted canvas. Accordingl to Smith (2006), it is far from discernible phases of city development and its growth and development trajectory (life-cycle) cannot be subject to simplistic notions of TALC. In multi-functional cities for instance, tourism is programmed as one of the development options, and often limiting to selected pockets and not on a pan-city level. More so, it is often superimposed on a cityscape of many micro-geographies, where the dynamism and complexity of each micro-space may differ depending on the scale, functionalities, stakeholder connectivities, specializations (both tourism and non-tourism) and future development policies and plans. Therefore, the engagements with urban tourism would demand a social science focus to suffice explanations on the urban tourism processes. It is worth contextualising Ashworth and Page (2011) here who noted that in order to aid the understanding of the scope and scale of urban tourism, the investigations need to focus on integrating the themes such as social dynamics, notion of world cities, re-globalization, and rescaling of cities, as well as migration. Further, existing body of research demonstrates the multi-disciplinary nature of many scholarly engagements though it is largely rooted in the urban and economic geography, sociology and related disciplines.

7 Tourism, Spatial Reorganization and Coastal Urbanization: The Goan Context Unlike other ecological settings such as the mountains or forests, coasts have gathered disproportionately greater attention from the holiday makers and that dates back to

Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections …

231

the early phase of industrialization. A large body of literature analyzing the transformations of the coastal settings resulting from the introduction of tourism exist already. Some notable theoretical models of tourism development indeed have emerged from explaining the evolution of coastal tourism (Young 1973; Miossec 1977; Noronha 1997; Butler 1980; Gorsem 1981; Ridolfi et. al. 2018). However, the critiques have held that these models over-emphasize on ‘localness’ of destination development and it is weak on integration of the external factors in the modeling notwithstanding the fact that the later has a direct influence on the development process (Ioannides 1992). The functioning of tourism system interdependencies of global forces and local agents in tourism development are unavoidable, and thus, Agarwal (2002) has noted that interplays of global–local dynamics of tourism system are subjects of investigation since early 1990s. The coastal area of India was opened for tourism in early 1960s with the arrival of the ‘sun, sea and surf’ holiday makers especially the stereotypical ‘hippies’ though it was confined to a few isolated pockets of Goa and Kerala viz. Calangute and Kovalam and that pattern largely prevailed until 1980s. But, post-1990 economic spurt in India became instrumental to the acceleration of the scale and complexities of tourism development in the coastal areas, especially along the beaches. Unprecedented growth in the visitors to the beaches also resulted in the shift of investment base from the local to regional and pan-India levels bringing more complexity and dynamism to the beach landscapes. The rapid capital accumulation took place in the accommodation sector had its reflexes and investments in a diverse spectrum of tourism and support services picked up the pace in greater pace. The Government agencies have stepped at this stage with the schemes for infrastructure public services and comforts development. Sensing the potential, the coastal and beach tourism assumed policy and promotion focus invariably across all coastal states and their initiatives have gathered impetus from the Central Government policies. In the process, many beach destinations underwent complete transformation from primary rural landscapes to urban centers and that has changed the place-offerings and specializations, land-use and socio-economic relations etc. Nothwithstanding this, tourism driven urbanization is least investigated and understood subject in India, especially the spatial (landscape) and socio-economic challenges it heralded in the backdrop of the loss in traditional economic and place alignments to the new dynamics brought by tourism. Thus, to contextualize the role of tourism in development and in urbanization process in Indian context, the case of Goa, one of most touristically developed states has been examined and discussed in the following section.

7.1 Tourism Development in Goa Often called as ‘Pearl of the Orient’, Goa heavily relies on tourism for its socioeconomic needs. This erstwhile Portuguese colony, which became part of the Indian Union in 1961, embodies a unique history and culture reflected in its liberal, tolerant

232

B. S. Sutheeshna

attitude and food. Together with the tranquil beaches and distinct natural assets, Goa sets a distinct identity for varied leisure and tourism indulgences. The ‘Brand Goa’ gained strength from its inherent and to establish the position as one of the most sought after states for domestic and international tourists in India which the numbers itself would suggest. As per the Govt. of Goa Tourist Statistics for instance, foreign arrivals have increased from 92,700 in 1985 to 9, 38,841 in 2018, recording an annual average growth rate of 27.66%. Whereas, quantum of the domestic arrivals has been much higher at 7.74 lakhs in 1992, which rose to 70.82 lakhs in 2018 at an annualized average rate of growth of 31.34%, making it way ahead of the foreign arrivals. Availability of visitor accommodation is also huge and as per the Goa Government records, total bed capacity of registered units as on September 2017–2018 was 90,413 in 4399 hotels (Table 1). However, these figures appear partial given that visitor accommodations in the informal sector largely do not figure in the Government data base since these units do not ususally register with such agencies. Citing Travel & Tourism Association of Goa, Chari (2020) has estimated that the unaccounted inventory of rooms in Goa is to the tune of 40% of total rooms available. Geographically, tourism is highly concentrated in a few coastal taluks (administrative units) of Goa namely Bardez, Tiswadi, and Salcete, which together accounts for over 88% tourists and nearly 90% of the official bed capacity (Fig. 1). Further, Bardez taluk, where Baga-Calangute-Sinquerim tourist corridor is situated, receives largest number of tourists (36.7%) and houses over 58% bed capacity of the state of Goa. In the early years of Goa under the Indian Union, main industry was the ores of iron and manganese and its exports (Sawker et al. 1998). But, by mid-1990s, tourism emerged in prominence and generated 13.7% state’s net domestic product, 7% employment and tax revenues each (Kirloskar Consultants Ltd. 1994 cited in Sutheeshna 2012) The Economic Survey of Goa 2002–2003 noted that, at current prices, tourism contributed 24.7% to the tertiary sector and 13.8% to the state gross domestic product (SGDP). In terms of employment generation, total contribution of tourism sector (direct and indirect) was around 20%. A subsequent estimate accounted the sector’s contribution to the SGDP at 15% (GGJDC 2012). Table 1 Goa: Taluka-wise distribution of tourists and bed capacity in 2017–2018 Taluka

Domestic tourists Foreign tourists Total tourists No. of hotels No. of beds

Bardez

2639,586

289,219

2928,805

2818

52,530

Tiswadi

2259,707

230,093

2489,800

386

12,738

Salcete

1365,940

275,442

1641,382

554

15,780 2878

Mormugao

76,126

46,512

122,638

84

Pernem

560,426

51,258

611,684

431

3517

Other taluks

130,512

59,477

189,980

126

2970

Goa (Total)

7032,297

952,001

7984,289

4399

90,413

Source Statistical Handbook of Goa 2017–2018

Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections …

233

Fig. 1 Tourist arrivals in taluks of Goa—2017–2018. Source Drawn by author based on Table 1

Goa has emerged as a leading state of India on account of development indicators. Although it stood on top on Human Development Index (HDI) in 1990, the position dropped second to Kerala in 2017 (SBI-ECOWRAP 2019). The 15th Fifteenth Finance Commission of India (2020) has highlighted the noticeable achievements of Goa on key socio-economic indicators in recent decades and also marked it as having

234

B. S. Sutheeshna

the highest share of urban population (62.17%) among all Indian states. The migrant community in the state is projected to outnumber the native population by 2021. The State also enjoys highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita among all Indian states, 2½ times of the country. The per capita net state domestic product (SDP) was also higher in 2018–19 was INR 467,998 against national average of INR 126,406. Of all indicators, what is more striking is the sharp fall in the rate of poverty from 14.92% in 1993–1994 to 5.09% in 2011–2012. The rural population below poverty line (BPL) also decreased from 28% in 2004–2005 to 6.8% in 2011–2012, whereas in the urban areas, corresponding figures were 22% and 4% respectively.

7.2 Complementarities of Tourism and Urbanization in Goa Among the Indian States, Goa is seen as most urbanized as nearly two-third of its population in 2011 was reportedly living in the urban areas, an increase of 12.9% over 2001 against a national average of 3.3%. While Goa’s total population increased by 24.64% during 1991–2011, the corresponding increase in the urban population was substantially high, over 89% (Table 2). Data further reveal that while rural population recorded a marginal increase of 1.02% during 1991–2001, it recorded a sharp decline by 20.85% during the decade that followed; a trend unusual for any state in India. The trend at district level has also followed a similar path though the proportion and rate of urbanization has been comparatively higher in South Goa. With a view to infer the complementarities of tourism on urbanization process, the trend in taluk-level urbanization has been examined for those situated along the coastal stretch of Goa as tourism is largely concentrated in these areas (Table 3). In North Goa, taluks of Bardez and Tiswadi have been the hubs of tourism, whereas in South Goa, the concentration is largely in Salcete taluk. In these taluks, urban population has increased substantially of account of both the proportion of urban population as well as emergence of new census towns. The data also suggests that Table 2 Decadal change in total and urban population in Goa over 1991–2011 Goa/Districts Goa (Total) Decadal change (%)

2011

2001

Total

Urbana

1458,545

62.1

35.23

South Goa

640,537

Decadal change (%)

25.82

North Goa

818,008

Decadal change (%)

44.28

8.23 64.59 8.73 60.27 7.84

1991

Total

Urbana

Total

Urbana

1347,668

49.76

1169,793

41.01

39.78

15.20

48.62b

16.08b

589.095

55.82

504,989

50.35

29.38

16.66

8.18b

14.8b

758,573

45.1

664,804

33.94

14.1

51.48

44.46b

17.02b

Source Different volumes of District Census Handbook of North Goa and South Goa a Urban population %; b Change during 1981–1991

Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections …

235

Table 3 Decadal change in Taluk-level urban population in Goa (2001–2011) District/Taluks South Goa

Total

2001

Total

Urbana

Towns

Total

Urbana

Towns

1458,545

62.1

23

1347,668

49.76

17

Mormugao

154,561

85.6

4

144,949

83.0

3

Salcete

294,464

72.2

12

262,035

57.8

9

Canacona North Goa

2011

45,172

27.7

1

43,997

27.1

1

Total

818,008

60.27

47

758,573

45.1

27

Bardez

237,440

68.7

16

227,695

58.6

11

Tiwdadi

177,219

78.81

10

160,091

65.63

5

Pernem

75,747

39.69

5

71,999

13.35

2

Source Different volumes of District Census Handbook for North Goa and South Goa a Urban population %

major concentration of population has occurred around relatively smaller and satellite towns of urban agglomerations. For instance, Bardez and Tiswadi taluks have added 5 new census towns each during 2001–2011, whereas 3 new towns were added to Salcete taluk during same period. The new beach towns that have emerged in Bardez taluk are Arambol, Mandrem, Morjim, Anjuna, and Nerul whereas; Pilerne is located in the vicinity of Candolim-Calangute-Baga tourism corridor. The transformation of rural landscape and urbanization of these locations is primarily attributable to the development of tourism. Murmugao taluk has highest share of urban population in Goa (85%) owing to its status as Goa’s major industrial Centre and closeness to the Dabolim Airport and Seaport. Coastal areas of Pernem taluk in North Goa is emerging as major tourism centers and the places such as Morjim, Anjuna, Vagator etc. which are already popular and have gained acceptance across the domestic and foreign tourists. Growth of tourism in these places may be attributed to the spillover effects of overcrowded Candolim-Calangute-Baga tourism corridor where one invariably encounters most malaises of mass tourism. Indeed, the boom in construction activities all along the coastline of Goa for tourism and associated purposes is evident since early 1990s (D’silva et al. 1998). The fall-out of unprecedented urbanization in Goa has already drawn attention of the local people and the campaign to arrest its pace is gaining momentum. The dependence on tourism particularly in the northern coastal areas of Goa is a growing concern and the traditional economic activities such as agriculture, fishing, and all other primary sectors that used to be the backbone of the village economy are facing stark neglect. Conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural use is rampant, ancestral dwellings are razed and more investments is being diverted to owning apartments. The latest Census figures are also revealing of spiraling housing construction in Goa where the number of houses grew three-times against decadal population

236

B. S. Sutheeshna

growth of 8.2% (2001–11). Goa is also reported to have highest proportion of locked houses in the country to the tune of 1.4%. The local production of foodstuffs has also been reduced and the dependency for essential food items of those once selfsufficient village economies is increasing. Similarly, while the landowners have benefitted from the speculative land market, the local poor are left to bear the brunt of it in various ways. Spiraling land-values are reducing the access of land to the poor, the living costs increase to unaffordable levels and challenges of mass land conversion and deforestation have become new normal. Consequentially, the slums have sprung around major urban and industrial centers like Vasco, Verna, Madigan and Trivia as these absorb a huge migrant population, particularly low-income workers. Worst of it are the challenges stemming from the residues of uncontrolled and haphazard development manifested in the pollution and mounting waste. The discussions thus enable to draw on the catalytic role of tourism in the process of urbanization in Goa especially along the coastal regions where tourism has emerged as the primary driver of the economy. These regions have been largely the focus of tourism development and policy of the State, which in the process, have also led to reduced tourist activities in the hinterland areas. It thus becomes reasonable to hold that over-emphasis of tourism along a few pockets of the coastal areas has resulted accelerated urban development and crowding, putting pressure on the coastal landscapes. The tourism corridors of Candolim-Calangute-Baga, other coastal towns of North Goa and Colva-Cavellosim corridor of South Goa are sufficing instances of such relationships. Vaz et al. (2017) using landscape metrics have also brought out that rapid urbanization in Goa is closely linked to the parallel expansion in the tourism industry, one of the larger sectors of the economy. They further argued that the dynamics of urban sprawl continue to be uncontrolled and sporadic and that defies sustainable development, which is crucial to the welfare of the people.

8 Tourism Urbanization, Over-Tourism and Discontents The lessons stand to suggests that tourism is a strong driver of urbanization in many and newer ways. By virtue of its fast growth, spread and specializations, the sector has emerged stronger and the thrust is gaining new dimensions especially as a growth and development strategy for the cities and the nations at large. The burgeoning tourist numbers and the localized demand of the people for a better quality of life and more diverse urban recreation opportunities are driving yet another transformation in the emergence of tourism agglomerations. According to Porter (1998), it occurs when the geographic concentrations of interconnected tourism enterprises, firms in related industries, and associated institutions in related fields that cooperate but also compete. Tourism agglomeration acts as a dynamic force and process in tourism destinations, which integrates multiple tourism elements in geographic space resulting certain spatial forms and functional specializations. The agglomeration economy eventuates therein becomes a significant force that drives the economy and promotes

Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections …

237

urbanization across the regions. This relationship has been empirically tested in China by Zhao and Dong (2017). This relationship positively influences urbanization in general and there emerges a U-shaped relationship between these processes. Further, the forces of human capital, government scale, infrastructure, and industrial structure do significantly and positively influence urbanization. The growth in the sharing economy and fast increase in the over-powering influence of the disruptive technology platforms operating in the larger tourism spectrum which took the control of the tourism supply chain also threw open fresh challenges of unprecedented nature. Their ‘consumer localization’ strategies of acquisition, amalgamation, strategic alliances etc. have not only impacted the local businesses like accommodation sector but have also given impetus to a spurt in the development of a new of tourism services and experiences to suffice visitor satisfaction. This has brought the consumers in direct contact with ‘local community’. At least amongst the sizable sections of tourists, business praxis of these disrupters in likes of AirBnb, Booking.com, TripAdvisor, Uber etc. have had radical effects on the way the people consume tourism and the places, particularly the cities. The unprecedented rush in recent years of the tourists driven by these e-commerce platforms to the popular destinations across the world have resulted in the manifestation of a new form of mass tourism revelation called over-tourism. According to Milano et al. (2018), it is the excessive growth of visitors leading to overcrowding in areas where the residents suffer the consequences of temporary and seasonal tourism peaks, which enforced permanent changes to their lifestyles, access to amenities and general well-being. This form of massification is characteristically different from mass tourism mainly on three counts: its pervasive effects on the community space through the rentals of private homes, over-crowding of the neighborhoods resulting from excessive presence of the tourist all over andconversion of the ’residents as more of visitors in their own land and homes’. In many places particularly, it has resulted what is known as ‘Venice Syndrome’, often used to refer to the phenomena of tourism saturation and the exodus of local residents to the surrounding urban centers. This recent transformation of mass tourism destinations instrumented by the technology platforms has become fiercely contentious subject especially in the cities of Europe globally known for tourism and hedonistic pursuits. Specifically in southern Europe, even organizations such as the Assembly of Neighborhoods for Sustainable Tourism and the Network of Southern European Cities against tourism were formed to lead protests and social movements to fight against over-tourism and its impacts on local residents and environmental systems. In many ways thus, overtourism creates a by-polar world-on the one side are the visitors longing to live like a local and immerse in the ‘place’ seeking authentic experience. While on the other are the residents who negotiate the reality of their home-land vanishing its character beneath touristication as being revealed in innumerable forms. They worry all that are alien to their community living—the souvenir shops, crowding of the ‘others’, long queues of coaches, crowded and disorderly streets and neighborhoods, noisy bars, the revelers and parties, care-free clothing, permissive behavioral expressions and all that the locals could sense as never belonged to them.

238

B. S. Sutheeshna

Even more permeating are the enormous strains surmounting the residents as a result of excessive use of the local amenities and infrastructure. Thus, over-tourism is not only about excessiveness of the ‘otherness’ and their free-wheeling instincts but it is equally or even more concerning a subject of spatiality and sustainable co-habitation of the guests and the hosting communities.

9 Path Ahead The surging optimism that tourism contributes in development draws credence from the fact that tourism and travel sector accounts for 10.3% of global GDP (US$ 8.9 trillion in revenue in 2019) and resulted in 01 job in every 10 jobs created (WTTC 2020). However, this chapter has been drafted at a crucial time in the history of the mankind wherein the mundane world has been shaken by a menacing Covid-19 pandemic that gripped the world and grounded a vibrant global tourism industry as never before. Notwithstanding the looming uncertainties, tourism is poised to grow progressively and the optimism in the long-run is ripe as being echoed by the likes of UNWTO which expect to attain its long-term forecast of 1.8 billion international tourist arrivals by 2030. Such expectations are however rooted in sound foundations viz. massification of the travel culture, relentless quest for alternate travel behavior and its spread away from the traditional core of the developed world and the like. Thus, the tourism-urbanisation nexus is expected to remain strong and maintain its pace ahead even though there exists possibilities for the emergence of newer forms of urbanisation resulting from the changes in the behavioural patterning of visitors and their search for new geographies of destinations. This study suffices to delineate two distinct trajectories of inter-relationships: First, the catalytic role of tourism in transforming the primordial rural or peripheral landscapes into urban areas; Second, the complementarities of tourism in accelerating the growth and expansion of existing urban centers. It explores and maps the industrial nature of tourism and problematique and characteristics of tourism urbanization. It discusses the complementarities of tourism and urbanization in Goa and the manifestation of some of its contradictions and challenges in terms of over-tourism and discontents that fuel anti-tourism agitations. With the massive surge in tourism demand expected globally in the years ahead, these trajectories are poised to further amplify and add stronger impetus to expeditious reorganization of the production means and concomitant transformations of the related functions and processes. The magnifying momentum may also get translated into multitudes of transformations across the spatial structures and socio-economic arrangements of the destinations, compounding further the nexus of place consumption. It could in the process drive many conflicts and open new vistas for amplified contestation of tourism and its development dynamics, and no less could be the spirited anti-tourism advocacies and movements. In a developing country context, the working of tourism in Goa is distinctly positioned to demonstrate its bearing on both forms of urbanization. Began with the

Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections …

239

arrival of hippies in the early 1960s, accelerated tourism development can be seen as an instrument of transformation particularly in certain pockets of gaze along the coastal areas of the north and south Goan districts. Its pace became so fast from late 1980s that it not only accelerated the overall development of these pockets but the momentum accrued therein also created the conditions for many erstwhile fishing hamlets to turn into new towns and urban centers. Revealing enough, the potent force of tourism was instrumental in the urbanization of the primordial rural settings along the coastal zones, barring perhaps the town of Vasco da Gama. On the other hand, the exponential increase in tourist arrivals and the associated processes of enabling in nature to match the surging demand resulted in the revelation of another facet of tourism-urbanization nexus in Goa. Indeed, its emergence as one of the most urbanized states in India and, to a large extend, vows to the burgeoning tourism development by virtue of the fact that tourism is viewed as the single largest segment of the Goan economy. The major cities and towns are in the close proximity to major tourism hubs, and therefore, it is not unusual to see these towns expanding and spreading at a faster pace. The causative agents in this process can be in-migration, place capitalization, accessibility, reinforcement, spiraling of vacation homes and real estate development, particularly in and around major urban centers. Thus, it is not unreasonable to draw the parallels between coastal urbanization in Goa and the patterns reported in the studies of Mullins (1990, 1991) and Yang (2019). Tourism development in Goa, for instance, may not have assumed the degree of contestation that tourism has negotiated in the Western Europe especially in the backdrop of challenges surrounding over-tourism in recent years. Still, the uncertainties emanating from an uncontrolled and unregulated tourism in Goa, especially its contents and form of development, is progressively challenged by the destination communities. This would gather further momentum given a surging tourism, which then to accelerate the logic of tourism capitalization and globalization, representing paradigm shifts in the places and development dynamics. The objections mounting on many development projects in Goa, and even the contestation of the Goa Regional Plan-2021 (which is still in draft form even after 09 years of its announcement), are instantaneous of this growing trust deficit and community unrest. Elsewhere in India also, contestations of tourism projects are vivid and in September 2018 the National Green Tribunal (NGT) passed directions to the Government for undertaking the carrying capacity assessment of ecological sensitive and geologically fragile areas by a Special Expert Committee, instantaneous being Manali and Mcleodganj. Thus, there cannot be any denying that tourism is widespread to manifest as much an inevitable and inescapable reality of the daily living even if many people may not wish it to be so. Nevertheless, it is important to account the sensitivities of tourists and the discretionary nature of their consumption, which allows adequate flexibility to them to divert the travel plans to such places where the perceived barriers are less. Thus, it becomes imperative to recognize that even the perceived barriers could pose palpable challenges to the destinations including de-tourism. It may then eventuate a situation of under-utilization of the place capabilities and potential including jeopardising the investments being already ploughed in various forms

240

B. S. Sutheeshna

to satisfy a surging demand. Thus, the logic of place consumption and its bearing on the spatial dynamics including the urbanization demands judicious negotiations on part of the destination managers to strive for dual objectives of competitive and sustainable development.

References Albalate D, Bel G (2010) Tourism and urban public transport: holding demand pressure under supply constraints. Tour Manage 31(3):425–433 Agarwal S (2002) Restructuring seaside tourism: the resort lifecycle. Ann Tour Res 29(1):25–55 Angelo H, Wachsmuth D (2014) Urbanizing urban political ecology: a critique of methodological cityism. Int J Urban Reg Res 31(1):16–27 Ashworth G, Page SJ (2011) Urban tourism research: recent progress and current paradoxes. Tour Manage 32(1):1–15 Brenner N, Schmid C (2014) The ‘Urban Age’ in question. Int J Urban Reg Res 38(3):731–755 Brenner N (2018) Is the world urban? February 4, Colloquium Presentation, Center for Environment, Harvard University. https://www.colorado.edu/geography/2018/02/09/neil-brenner-world-urban Brooks S (2016) Informal settlements in Jamaica’s tourism space: urban spatial development in a small island developing state. Urban Island Stud 2:72–94 Butler RW (1980) The concept of a tourist area cycle of evolution: implications for management of resources. Can Geogr 24(1):5–12 Cave J, Jolliffe L (2012) Urban tourism. In: Robinson P (ed) Tourism: the key concepts. Routledge, London, pp 268–270 Chari B (2020) Tourism department teams to crack-down on illegal trade. Times of India, Goa Edition, 26 September D’Silva E, Jose I, Furtado R, Russell S (1998) Tourism and the environment: an introduction. In: Sawkar K, Noronha L, Mascarenhas A, Chauhan OS, Saeed S (eds) Tourism and the environment case studies on Goa, India, and the Maldives. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank Case Studies 19681, New York David LG (1998) Tourism urbanization in the United States. Urban Aff Rev 34(1):3–27 Davidson TL (2001) What are travel and tourism industry: are they really an industry? In: Theobald WF (ed) Global tourism. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, pp 22–29 Edwards D, Griffin T, Hayllar B (2008) Urban tourism research: developing an agenda. Ann Tour Res 35(4):1032–1052 Fifteenth Finance Commission of India (2020) Government of India, New Delhi. https://pib.gov.in/ newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=197607 GGJDC—Goa Golden Jubilee Development Council (2012) Goa 2035: Vision and road map, (Zero draft). https://www.vibrantgoa.com/Goa-Vision-2035.pdf Gorsem E (1981) The spatio-temporal development of international tourism, attempt at the centre periphery model. In: La consommation d’espace par le tourisme et sa préservation. Aix-enProvence, CHET, pp 150–170 Gössling S (2006) Tourism and water. In: Gössling S, Hall CM (eds) Tourism & global environmental change: ecological, social, economic and political interrelationships. Routledge, Abindon, pp 180–194 Hall CM (2005) Tourism: rethinking the social science of mobility. Prentice-Hall, Harlow Hall CM (2006) Tourism urbanization and global environmental change. In: Gossling S, Hall MC (eds) Tourism and global environmental change: ecological, economic, social and political interrelationships. Routledge, London, pp 142–155 Harrison D (1988) The Sociology of modernization and development. Routledge, London

Tourism, Urbanization and Spatial Reorganization: Some Reflections …

241

Harvey D (1985) The urbanization of capital: studies in the history and theory of capitalist urbanization. Basil-Blackwell, Oxford Harvey D (1996) Cities or urbanization? City: Anal Urban Trends Cult Theory, Policy, Action 1(1–2):38–61 Huang X, Ke D (2001) On the role of developing tourism on urbanization. J Central China Normal Univ (nat Sci) 35(2):225–228 Ioannides D (1992) Tourism development and resort dynamics: an alternative approach. Ann Tour Res 19:711–731 Jafari J (1982) The tourism market basket of goods and services: the components and nature of tourism. In: Singh TV, Kaur J, Singh DP (eds) Studies in wildlife parks and conservation. Metropolitan Publications, New Delhi, pp 1–12 Jafari J (2001) Scientification of tourism. In: Smith VL, Brent M (eds) Tourist and guests revisited: tourism issues of the 21st century. Cognizant Communication Corporation, Elmsford, pp 28–41 Larsen J (2019) Ordinary tourism and extraordinary everyday life: re-thinking tourism and cities. In: Frisch T, Somer C, Chistoph S, Stoltenberg L, Stors N (eds) Tourism and everyday life in the contemporary city. Routledge, London, pp 24–41 Lefebvre H (1991) The production of space. Blackwell, Oxford (French version published in 1974) Leiper N (1990) Partial industrialization of tourism systems. Ann Tour Res 17(3):600–605 Luo JM, Lam CF (2016) A qualitative study of urbanization effects on hotel development. J Hosp Tour Manag 29:135–142 Milano C, Cheer J, Novelli M (2018) Overtourism is becoming a major issue for cities across the globe. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/07/overtourism-agrowing-global-problem. Accessed 12 Dec 2019 Merrifield A (2013) The urban question under planetary urbanization. Int J Urban Reg Res 37(3):909–922 Miossec JM (1977) Un modèle de l’espace touristique. L’espace Géogr 6(1):41–48 Mullins P (1990) Tourist cities as new cities: Australia’s Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. Australian Planner 28(3):37–41 Mullins P (1991) Tourism urbanization. Int J Urban Reg Res 15(3):591–597 Mullins P (1999) International tourism and the cities of Southeast Asia. In: Judd D, Fainstein S (eds) The tourist city. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, pp 245–260 Mullins P (2003) The evolution of Australian tourism urbanization. In: Hoffman LM, Fainstein SS, Judd DR (eds) Cities and visitors: regulating people, markets, and city space. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford Norohna F (1997) Fighting the bane of tourism. Economic and Political Weekly, 20th December: pp 3253–3255 Panagaria A (2020) Urbanise fast for high growth: India’s land policies are at the bottom of its economy failing to take off. The Times of India, February 05. https://timesofindia.indiatimes. com/blogs/toi-edit-page/urbanise-fast-for-high-growth-indias-land-policies-are-at-the-bottomof-its-economy-failing-to-take-off/ Payne A, Phillips N (2010) Development. Polity Books, Cambridge Porter M (1998) On competition. Harvard Business Review Press, Bostan MA Ridolfi I, Pujol DR, Ippolito A, Saradakou E, Luc S (2018) An urban political ecology approach to local development in fast-growing tourism-specialized coastal cities. Tourismos 12(1):166–199 Sawker K, Noronha, L, Mascarenhas A, Chauhan OS (1998) Tourism and the environment: issues of concern in the coastal zone of Goa. In: Report, The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The World Bank, Washington DC Sayer A (1984) Defining the Urban. Geo J 9(3):279–285 SBI-ECOWRAP (2019) Human development index across Indian States: is the glass still half empty? 08 March 2019, Issue No: 94. https://sbi.co.in/documents/13958/14472/Ecowrap_2019 0308.pdf Smith M (ed) (2006) Tourism, culture and regeneration. Routledge, London

242

B. S. Sutheeshna

Smith SLJ (2004) The measurement of global tourism: old debates, new consensus and continuing challenges. In: Lew AL, Hall CM, Williams AM (eds) A companion to tourism. Blackwell Publishing, London, pp 25–35 Stanback T (1985) The changing fortunes of metropolitan economies. In: Castells M (ed) High technology, space and society. Sage, New York, pp 122–142 Sutheeshna BS (2008) Tourism as discipline and industry: some comments on the progressing debates. In: Sutheeshna BS, Mishra S, Parida BB (eds) Tourism development revisited: concepts, issues & paradigms. Response Books, London, pp 33–53 Sutheeshna BS (2012) Coastal tourism: development patterns, issues and challenges. Lambert Academic Publishing, Saarbrucken Swyngedouw E (2019) The urbanization of capital and the production of capitalist natures. In: Vidal M, Smith T, Rotta T, Prew P (eds) The Oxford handbook of Karl Marx. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190695545.013.30 Tipps DC (1973) Modernization theory and the comparative study of societies: a critical perspective. Comp Stud Soc Hist 15(2):199–226 Tucker K, Sundberg M (1988) International trade in services. Routledge, London United Nations (2014) World urbanization prospects: the 2014 revision, highlights. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, New York United Nations (2018) The world’s cities in 2018, Data Booklet. https://www.un.org/en/events/cit iesday/assets/pdf/the_worlds_cities_in_2018_data_booklet.pdf UNDP—United Nations Development Programme (2000) Millennium development goals. https:// www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sdgoverview/mdg_goals.html. Accessed 17 Jan 2021 UNWTO—United Nations World Tourism Organization (2018) ‘Overtourism’? Understanding and managing urban tourism growth beyond perceptions executive summary. September https://www. unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284420070 UNWTO—United Nations World Tourism Organization (2020) Urban tourism. https://www.unwto. org/urban-tourism Vaz E, Hannes T, Kotha M, Arsanjani JJ (2017) Urban change in Goa, India. Habitat Int 68:24–29 Wall G, Mathieson A (2005) Tourism: change, impacts and opportunities. Pearson, Harlow Walton JK (2000) The British seaside: holidays and resorts in the twentieth century. Manchester University Press, Manchester WTTC—The World (2020) Economic impacts report. https://wttc.org/Research/Economic-Impact. Accessed 12 Dec 2010 Yang L (2019) Tourism driven urbanization in China’s small-town development: Yiren town, China. Int J Tourism Anthropol 7(2):132–156 Young G (1973) Tourism: blessing or blight? Penguin, Harmondsworth Zhang H, Luo JM, Xiao Q, Guillet B (2013) The impact of urbanization on hotel development: evidence from Guangdong Province in China. Int J Hosp Manage 34:92–98 Zhao L, Dong Y (2017) Tourism agglomeration and urbanization: empirical evidence from China. Asia Pac. J Tourism Res 22(5):512–523

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity Specific Markets in Varanasi City Sarfaraz Alam, Satya Prakash, and Harsh Jaiswal

Abstract Varanasi city, situated in the Middle Ganga plains in India, has been an important trading centre and economic hub of the region since medieval times. A vital element of the economic landscape of the city is the continuing existence of several specialised traditional market centres, locally known as mandis. Some of these mandis are still thriving despite the corporatization of the market systems. Specialised in specific products, such as milk, flower, betel leaves, grains, brass utensils, birds, coconut and marriage items (bangles), idols, iron equipments, religious books, spices, beeds, etc., these mandis mirror the social and cultural specificity of the city and its surroundings. The transaction and trade of the commodities sustain not only the unique skills of people but also the cultural practices of the region. These mandis constitute distinct spatial elements of the city landscape and add to its heritage value. Generally, people belonging to specific castes and communities dominate the mandis offering specialised products and services. Hence, the location and distribution of these traditional commodity specific markets have a robust areal association with social and cultural geographies of the city. The present study maps the spatial distribution of these markets in the city in the context of the changing social and cultural realities. With the help of observation and interviews of key persons, it attempts to locate the forces of continuity and change in these mandis. It contemplates as how these mandis will negotiate and adapt to revolutionary changes in terms of corporatization of market, new marketing strategies and spatial re-organisation of the city. Keywords Mandi · Commodity specific markets · Urban–rural linkages · Cultural heritage · Varanasi urban regeneration · Ritual-market links S. Alam (B) Department of Geography, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India S. Prakash Geography Discipline, Bhojpuri Adhyayan Kendra, Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India H. Jaiswal Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari (eds.), Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3100-9_10

243

244

S. Alam et al.

1 Introduction According to Arthpedia (2019), the term mandi is a Hindi word which denotes a market place. Traditionally, such markets were meant for transaction of primary commodities, such as grains (Galla mandi), vegetables (Sabzi mandi), milk (Doodh mandi), betel leaves (daan dariba), spices (masala mandi), flower (phool mandi), coal (koyala mandi), iron (loha mandi), etc. However, the meaning of the term has evolved to incorporate a market place for almost every tradable item. So, people also organise mandis as fairs for sale and purchase of animals like cattle, goats, horses, mules, camels, buffaloes and poultry birds. Presently, the term mandi stands for a market place where a specific commodity is bought and sold. These mandis perform various economic and non-economic functions for the localities of the city where they are located. They are also crucial for the development of the region in which the city is located as these mandis establish the linkage of the city with the regional economy through the flow of goods, commodities, services, money and people. It also facilitates development of transport and communication linkage of the city with smaller urban centres and villages in the surrounding region and even beyond. At the same time, these mandis are also the sites of the complex relationship-based trading system of agents, wholesalers and retailers. Some of these mandis have trans-regional linkage as well. Though the mandis are very important for the city, local, regional as well as national economies, their functional efficiency and very existence depend in no small extent on the policy decisions at state and national level. Therefore, understanding the diversity and complexity of these rapidly changing markets and their relationships with larger economic forces currently transforming the linkages between rural and urban India is vital in enabling greater participation, inclusion, and dynamism in India’s economic growth (Kapur and Krishnamurthy 2014, p 2).

2 Objectives and Research Questions The present study maps and evaluates the spatio-economic significance of traditional markets (mandis) in Varanasi city. It analyses the changing characteristics and functions of these markets in relation to corporatization of economy, new technology and government policies. In final analysis it examines how these mandis will negotiate revolutionary changes in technologies, marketing strategies and spatial reorganization of the city. With the help of regular observations of marketing process and interviews of key persons, it attempts to locate the forces of continuity and change in these mandis. The study explores various aspects of traditional mandis of Varanasi city keeping following research questions in mind. What are the nature and structure of conventional urban mandis and how are they changing? Where are these mandis located, and how are they spatially distributed in the city? In what ways the distribution of mandis relates to the economic landscape of the city? What are the

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity …

245

patterns of inter-linkage between mandis? How are mandis coping with technologies and economic changes? How do mandis relate to the popular religious image of the city?

3 Concepts, Context and Classification of Mandis In South Asia, the term mandi stands for the wholesale market for commodities of specific types. They are usually defined as the wholesale markets where commodities brought from outside are sold in the city (Kumar 2014, p 285). Historically, mandis can be placed between a village and a town and are taken to mean a market and a small town where merchants inhabit (Devra 2014, p 245). Mandis, which were called mandapika during medieval times, were generally established in urban centres or central places to which nearby villagers brought their surplus produce to sell. Producers as well as traders from nearby villages come to urban mandis to sell primary and secondary commodities and products. During the medieval and colonial periods of Indian history, mandis also functioned as centres of realisation of State dues from the traders and merchants who either passed through it or sold their goods in those places (Devra 2014, p 245). The nature of mandis varies in India. There are different local names for specific types of mandis. Each of these mandis has particular characteristics and are therefore suffixed or prefixed by a specific name. In other words, markets with specific nomenclature convey particular meaning and function. Market centres with different terminologies and their definitions, along with examples from Varanasi, are presented in Table 1. Interestingly, most of these terms got nomenclature from regional languages spoken during the medieval and colonial periods. However, their meanings and functions change with times. Mandis are also identified and named on the basis of types of products sold—Sabzi Mandi, Doodh Mandi, Galla Mandi, Dal Mandi, Loha Mandi, Koyla Mandi, Masala Mandi, etc. In Varanasi city, there are specialised markets for almost every tradable commodity and products, ranging from agricultural commodities, minerals, livestock products, furniture, basketworks, etc. (Table 2). The presence of a wide variety of specialised markets of different products and commodities indicates the diversity of the city in terms of trade and consumer needs. In other words, a highly diverse city with regards to the socio-economic structure and culture would lead to establishment of different types of specialised mandis. Varanasi is not only a city of antiquity; it is also an incredibly diverse human habitat in terms of social, economic and cultural characteristics—class, caste, religion, ethnicity, language, nationality. This diversity is reflected by the presence of different types of specialised mandis in the city (Table 2). These mandis can be classified on various bases.

246

S. Alam et al.

Table 1 Nomenclatures of market centres, meanings and examples from Varanasi City Nomenclature Definition

Examples

Bazar

It is a generic term used to refer to a place where goods are purchased and sold

Orderly (Ardali) Bazar, Gilat Bazar and Pakki Bazar

Ganj

They are identified with the grain Jagatganj, Chetganj, Aushanganj, markets, generally named after its Hukulganj and Bisheshwarganj founder (Kumar 2014, p 285). They are fixed daily markets and also historically recognised as a Hindu market

Dariba

Dariba refers to short lane or street Naya Paan Dariba (located near usually located in the busy commercial Chowk) and Purana Paan Dariba area and generally associated with the (located in Aurangabad) sale of paan or betel leaves (Kumar 2014, p 285)

Haats

Haats (called hatta in earlier times) are periodic, usually weekly village markets. In urban centers, haats are market streets lined with shops

Saharanpur Wooden Handicraft Urban Haat, Arnav Haat. A number of weekly markets are organized specific place and date in many places in the city

Katra

Market attached to a noble’s palace or within the walls built by him (Kumar 2014, p 285)

Piplani Katra and Resham Katra

Gola

Gola means a market, especially of grains (granary)

Gola Dinanath and Gola Ghat

Nakhas

Nakhas are daily cattle and animal markets (Kumar 2014, p 285)

Nakhas in Varanasi city was earlier a horse market. Later on, it became a known market for perishable articles of food (Dube 1976, pp 64–66)

Peth

The market held at a fixed place around Weekly markets are organized at many a city and its suburbs on fixed days places in the city (e.g., Raviwar Peth) (Kumar 2014, p 285)

Chungi

A place where traders from the village bring grains and sell directly to consumers

Sarai

The term sarai is derived from the Kachchi Sarai and Hadha Sarai Persian language. It stands for rest houses or inns or halting stations build by emperors or rich landlords during medieval times where travellers would rest at the ends of a day’s journey. They were made for moving troops as well as ordinary people, and for catering the needs of travellers, including some some shops

Bhadaon Chungi

(continued)

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity …

247

Table 1 (continued) Nomenclature Definition

Examples

Chowki

Chowkis are preferred halting places of Chowki Ghat traders/check posts or transit posts on the trade route of the region. Slowly, they gained the status of mandi with the progress of trade and commerce in the area

Chowk

The general market place located at an important road junction

Chowk and Naya Chowk

Bara

The storehouses for commodities

Babu Ram ka Bara and Rup Singh ka Bara

Sattak

A market place situated on periphery of Generally organized in villages villages where local produce of daily requirements is sold

Satti

A maket place generally located in the Sunderpur Satti and Chandua Satti periphery in small urban centres where local produce of daily requirements is sold

Mandi

A market place generally located in the Dal Mandi, Saptsagar Mandi periphery of large urban centres where (specialised in medicines), Doodh products from the surrounding region Mandi, Sabzi Mandi and Anaj Mandi are sold

Sources Compiled information obtained from Kumar (2014), Dube (1976) and Gupta (1977)

3.1 Commodities and Products Based Classification Most traditional mandis are specialised in specific product or merchandise for which they are known in the city or the region (Table 3). Some mandis are dedicated to agricultural products, such as vegetables, milk, processed milk (khowa) betel leaf, spices (masala), coconuts, grains, etc. Some of these products are perishable (e.g., vegetables, betel leaves, milk, khowa, etc.). Some markets are specialised in processed agricultural products (masala and khowa) while others are specialised in minerals or mineral-based products (iron and coal). There is a market for animals (Bakri Mandi, i.e., market for goats) and even human labour (Mazdoor Mandis).

3.2 Location Based Classification Mandis are found distributed all over the city. But their location depends on factors such as accessibility, culture, availability of space, etc. Some markets in the city are located where the demand is highest while others are located near transportation routes (Table 4 and Fig. 1). Some mandis such as Nariyali Bazar, Masala Mandi and Khowa Mandi are situated in the core of the city while others such as Sabzi Mandi

248

S. Alam et al.

Table 2 Traditionally specialised markets (Mandis) in Varanasi City Commodities

Name of Mandis

Grains

Bisheshwarganj, Trilochan (closed), Khojwa, Samne Ghat and Prahlad ghat (temporary)

Vegetables

Chaukhamba, Pahadiya mandi, Bhojubir, Lamhi, Paanchkoshi, Chandua Satti, Sunderpur, Manduadih, Nuaon and Ramnagar Chowk

Grocery

Gola Dinanath

Hardware (brass and copper)

Thatheri Bazar

Basketwork

Raja Darwaza

Horse

Sarai at Aurangabad (now closed)

Goat meat

Khassi Tola

Ghee

Gheehutta

Paan

Naya Paan Dariba

Charcoal/coal

Koyala Bazar (northeast of Machhodari)

Varanasi silk

Kunj Gali, Madanpura

Gold ornaments

Resham Katra

Milk

Godaulia, Englishia Lane, Bisheshwarganj, Samne Ghat, Pandeypur, Chhittupur

Flower

Bans Fatak Flower Mandi near Chowk and Kisan Phool Mandi in Englishia Lane

Loha

Lohatiya and Maldahiya. Lohatiya

Coconut

Nariyali Bazar

Khowa

Khowa Gali

Idol

Kalimahal and Devnathpura

Birds

Baheliya Tola

Furniture

Jangambari

Atar

Chowk

Source Field observation, 2020 Table 3 Classification of Mandis based on commodities and products in Varanasi City Types of Mandis

Examples

Agricultural products

Sabzi Mandis, Doodh Mandis, Paan Dariba, Phool Mandis and Nariyali Bazaar

Processed agricultural products

Masala Mandi and Khowa Mandi

Minerals

Loha Mandi and Koyala Mandi

Animal resources

Bakri Mandi and Khassi Tola

Human resources

Mazdoor (Labour) Mandis

Source Field observation, 2020

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity …

249

Table 4 Classification of Mandis on the basis of their location in Varanasi City Location of Mandis

Examples

Core of the city

Nariyali Bazaar, Masala mandi, Naya Paan mandi and Khowa Mandi

Periphery of the city

Sabzi mandis and Galla mandis

On transport network

Loha mandi and Koyala Mandi

Near religious sites

Phool mandis and Peetal mandi

Everywhere

Doodh mandis

Source Field observation, 2020

and Galla Mandi are mostly located in its periphery. But the mandis specialising in bulkier and heavier products such as iron (Loha Mandi), and charcoal (Koyla Mandi) are located near railways or road transport network. The flower mandis are mainly located near to religious structures such as temples and revered shrines (mazars) whereas, Doodh Mandis have quite ubiquitous distribution because of their universal demand.

3.3 Number Based Classification Generally, the number of specialised mandis in the city depends on types of products, number of consumers and the nature of their distribution. Highly specialised mandis in the city are in single-digit, but lesser specialised mandis have a higher frequency (Table 5). Similarly, commodities and products which have greater demands in the city (e.g., vegetables, grains, milk), the frequency of markets specialised in these products and commodities is higher.

4 Historicity of Mandis Varanasi, also known as Banaras, is the largest city of the middle Ganga plain and it has been the most important centre of silk manufacturing for many centuries. The city is situated on the bank of the river Ganga which has been the most important river of the Gangetic plain for inland trade. It is located in the heart of the middle Ganga plain, a region of very fertile soil and agricultural prosperity. The city has attracted pilgrims from across the country and developed a close network with many parts of the country. Because of these locational, historical and cultural advantages, the city emerged as a leading inland commercial centre of the Gangetic plain during the colonial period (Greaves 1909). The historians often highlight the emergence of Varanasi as an important economic centre during medieval and British India. “Banaras was a centre of textile production, with silk brocades as speciality, but also benefited from the agricultural performance of rich and stable tracts which

250

S. Alam et al.

Fig. 1 Distribution of traditional markets (mandis) in Varanasi city, 2020. Source Drawn by authors using google map

surrounded it. Since it stood astride the fair-weather artery of the Ganges itself, the city became a major inland port for the transit trade, not only from Bengal to Delhi but also from Nagpur and the Maratha territories to the south” (Mishra 2014, p 263). An urban historian has described Banaras as a key urban site with economic importance in northern India during the period of British ascendency in South Asia.

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity …

251

Table 5 Classification of Mandis on the basis of their numbers in Varanasi City Number of Mandis

Examples

Single

Nariyali Bazaar, Masala Mandi, Paan Mandi, Koyala Mandi, Khowa Mandi and Attar Bazar

Two

Phool Mandi and Loha Mandi

More than two

Sabzi Mandis, Doodh Mandis and Galla Mandis

Source Field observation, 2020

“Banaras had long been an important centre for the production and trade of textiles, including silk and muslin, and served as a station in trans-regional trade, both over land and along the river, often conducted under the auspices of gosain (mendicant) trading conglomerates. Banaras was in this respect understood as the principal commercial connection between Bengal and Maratha territories of central India. Banaras also sat at the center of a vibrant regional economy encompassing Mirzapur and Ghazipur, as well as Jaunpur. Banaras district alone possessed more than 1,000 square miles of agricultural land towards the end of nineteenth Century, most of it cultivated for rice, barley, maise (maize}, and other foodstuffs. Banaras city was also able to draw on the abundant sandstone materials required for its actual physical infrastructure from the nearby town of Chunar” (Dodson 2012, p 263).

Freitag (2006, p. 244) has emphasised the perceived image of a vibrant commercial life of Varanasi during the nineteenth century as complementary to its religious aspects. She points out that the business image of the Varanasi was due to its position on the main east-to-west trade route, which guaranteed the flow of Banaras-produced goods (silk, bracelets and other consumable products) to distant places. Thus, the city acquired its economic importance on account of its strategic location and consequent growth in regional and extra-regional economic linkage during the British Empire. In this regard, Singh (2018, pp. 104–105) has emphasised that: “Banaras during the 19th Century was also remarkable for its commercial and business activities. The city was the great mart to which the shawls of the north, the diamonds of the south, and the muslins of the eastern provinces were gathered, and it had very considerable silk, cotton, and woolen industries of its own. Swords, shields, and spears from Lucknow and Monghyr and those European luxuries that were becoming popular in India circulated from Banaras to distant parts, from Bundelkhand to Gorakhpur and Nepal, mainly through the riverine arteries. Many specialised market areas were developed inside the city.” Thus, many of the present specialised markets owe their origin to the nineteenth and early twentieth century. It is another matter that some of these markets have declined in their importance (e.g., atar market) or altogether vanished (e.g., swords, spears and shields markets) due to changes in technology and consumer demands. On the other hand, many new market centres specialising in new products have emerged in the city (e.g., khowa, vegetables, milk).

252

S. Alam et al.

5 Locational and Functional Relevance of Mandis 5.1 Coconut Mandi Coconut market is locally known as Nariyali Bazar. Located in Bulanala area near Vishwanath Temple, as the name indicates, this market specialises in the sale of coconut. Coconuts are brought here from far off places such as Kerala, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha. People of the city are engaged in this market as transporters, labourers, distributors, and sellers. The demand for coconut rises during the marriage season. The business has expanded in recent years due to growing demand not only from temples but also from the increasing population of South Indians (mainly Telugu) in the city. People and shopkeepers from the city and traders from nearby smaller cities and towns visit the mandis to purchase coconut.

5.2 Wooden Toys Mandi This mandi is located in Kashmiriganj locality of Khojwa. The main items sold here are wooden doll, wooden tray, musical instruments, wooden decorative items, sindur (vermillion) pot, etc. This market is nearly two hundred years old. Skilful local artisans prepare toys for over 20 shops located in the locality. Like other handicraft industries, wooden handicraft is also witnessing modernisation. Big shopkeepers are increasingly using social media and e-commerce for selling products. People belonging to various communities are engaged in this business. Woods of gulhar (sycamore) and sagauna (teak) trees form the primary raw materials of these artifacts. These are purchased from within the city as well as from outside. The principal activities in this mandi are processing of woods, hand carving, painting, etc. In recent years, some artists have migrated to Rajasthan where they earn much higher than their parent city. As a result, the industry has declined to some extent. The main customers are retailers and whole sellers from the city as well as from outside. Individual customers also purchase items from here. The dolls and toys sold in the are meant for both playing of children and ritual significance. The decoration items and tinsel in cloth toys are of brought from Jaipur. Traditionally, the toilet and trinket boxes were gifted to the bride at the time of marriage.

5.3 Flower Mandis There are two wholesale flower mandis in the city—Bans Fatak Flower Mandi near Chowk and Kisan Phool Mandi in Englishia Lane. The flowers sold in these mandis include gulab (rose), genda (marigold), bela (jasmine), rajnigandha (tuberose), kamal (lotus). Farmers bring flowers from nearby villages and sell in these mandis

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity …

253

to priests, worshipers and shopkeepers. Some permanent shopkeepers also purchase flowers from farmers and sell the same at higher prices in mandi. In addition to flowers, some other items such as sparkles (used in garlands), baskets, bouquets, mahuwar (headgear made of flowers and worn at the time of marriage by the groom) and flower vase are also sold in the market. Farmers come to the mandis using various modes—bicycle, bus or tempo. The mandi times varies with seasons. The ownership of the mandis is private, which mean it is organised on private land, and farmers pay rent for space for their shops. Both the mandis are located close to temples or markets. The reasons for their location in the vicinity of Vishwanath temple and Satyanaran Temple, is that there is high demand of flowers among Hindu pilgrims/devotees for offerings. Naturally, nearly 80% of the demand for the flower comes from the Hindu community. Location of cremation grounds nearby— Manikarnika Ghat (within 500 m) and Harishchandra Ghat (within 2 km) also raises the demand of flowers. Muslims offer the flower to mazar. The demand for flowers peaks during marriage and festival seasons. Thus, the daily demand for flowers comes from temples and mazars, while seasonal demand is due to marriages and festivals. Nearly half a dozen shops in mandis are permanent, while majority of them are makeshift. It is mostly the males who operate the flower shops. Permanent shops are usually quite elaborate and sell a variety of flower and related products. These shops are neither owned nor run by farmers but by professional shopkeepers. In addition to flowers, these shops sell different types of garlands and bouquets. Some flower sellers organise their shops beyond the designated mandi space, i.e., on either side of roads and on raised platforms. Here, mostly women sell flowers. It is a maledominated business where 8 out of every ten shopkeepers are males. Florists come to this market from a radius of about 25 kms from the city. Some of the important places from where farmers come to sell flowers are Chiraigaon, Kapildhara (where Varuna meets river Ganga), Paanchkoshi (near Sarnath), Rasool Garh, Ledhupur and Rajatalab. The mandi also supplies flowers to many places within the city, such as Maidagin, Godaulia, Chetganj, Bhelupur, Luxa, and Kamaccha. Customers (smaller sellers as well as individual consumers) from these places arrive in mandi at various hours of the day to purchase flowers. Some farmers directly supply the flowers to customers’ homes on occasions of marriage and birthday celebrations. In the early hours, demand for flowers mostly come temples and mazars.

5.4 Attar Market Attar market is strategically situated in Chowk area of the city. In the past, there were ten shops, but at present their number is reduced to three. Out of these, two are only retail shops while the third one, which is a wholesale shop, is the largest one, and also engaged in preparing attar locally. While one shop is 110 years old, the other two are over 70 years old. That means no new shop has come up in recent years. The wholesale shop which prepares attar at its place gets its raw materials such as kewda (an essence extracted from Pandanus odoratissimus) (from Ganjam, Odisha), rose

254

S. Alam et al.

(from Sikanderpur, Ballia) and sandal (from Mysore). While aged employees are engaged in preparation of attar, the younger ones do packaging and transportation. The retail shops get their finished products from Kannauj. Beside attar, all these shops are selling related aromatic products such as kevada jal, gulab jal (rose water), and agarbatti (incense sticks). Interestingly, all three shops also sell perfumes. The customers purchase perfume for both religious and personal use. The reason for the location of the market is Vishwanath temple, where natural fragrance is offered to the deity. The demand for attar also comes from mazars located nearby. Further, attar is very popular among Muslims, who live in large number in nearby localities such as Dalmandi, Govindpur, Madanpura and Pandey Haveli. These shopkeepers supply attar to retailers in various cities and towns of eastern Uttar Pradesh. For the wholesaler, the market is expanding for these commodities. Further, the wholesaler keeps on innovating to remain relevant in the market. The owner prepares new items and packages them attractively. The wholesaler sells high-end products (ranging from Rs. 20,000 to 20,00,000 lakhs per kg). On the other hand, the retailers are finding it difficult to run their shops due to the high cost of natural products and the availability of cheaper substitutes. They have also brought some innovations in business techniques and packaging. They have started selling all those products which are related to perfumes at cheaper rates.

5.5 Milk Mandis Varanasi city is famous for various milk products and its umland is well known for milk production. Several milk products such as ice-cream, lassi, rabari, khowa, sweets, paneer, cheese, chhena, kheer, kulfi, curd, srikhand, makhkhan, ghee, maththa, etc. are prepared in the city. Many people are involved in the milk markets as milkmen (sardar), dairy businessmen, confectionaries, caterers, etc. There are several doodh (milk) mandis in the city located at several places—Godaulia, Englishia Lane, Bisheshwarganj, Samne Ghat (near Lanka), Pandeypur, etc. Some of these mandis are over hundred years old. All these market places are owned privately. Milkmen sell milk under open sky and market places are small and highly congested. Some of the milkmen sell milk in streets closest to mandi due to scarcity of space. These markets are mostly located near big food markets as they mainly cater to the needs of big buyers of milk like restaurant owners, sweets-makers/shops, tea stalls operators, caterers, etc. Individual customers, mostly from local mohallas (localities) purchase milk from mandis. The demand for milk also comes from worshippers of Lord Shiva for offering in temples. The price of milk varies with changing seasons. The prices of milk shoot, generally, during marriage and festival seasons. Some local dairy companies also buy milk from these mandis. Milk sellers mostly bring milk from villages in the periphery of the city where they keep their buffalo and cows. Most of these mandis remain functional till noon. However, some mandis remain open for longer time. Bisheshwarganj opens twice— in the morning as well as evening, while the milk market at Godaulia remains open

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity …

255

for 24 h and seven days a week. Milk sellers, locally known as sardars or baltawala collect milk from the khatals or small-scale milk dairies from the villages (Alam 2014). Some of them bring milk by local buses, train or jeeps from a distance of 50 km. Others coming from nearby villages prefer personal motorcycle or cycles for carrying milk buckets to these markets.. The study by Yadava et al. (2008, p. 61) reveals a direct relationship between the quantity of milk carried to the market by an individual milk supplier and the distance they travel. That means longer the distance covered more is the quantity of milk carried to the market by the supplier. The smaller size milk sellers are usually more predominant in the mandis located on the periphery of the city (Samne Ghat, Chhittupur and Pandeypur). On the other hand, there is a dominance of large-scale milk carriers in the mandis located in the city centre (Godaulia and Englishia Lane). The milk sellers have a definite social profile and most of them belong to Ahir, Pal and Patel castes; but women are almost absent from this business (Yadava et al. 2008, p 50).

5.6 Khowa Gali (Mandi) This lane is popularly known as Khowa Gali, lies about 200 north of Vishwanath Temple. This lane is famous for the sale of dairy products such as khowa, chhena and paneer. The place acquires its name from the main products sold in shops flanking the lane. Dairy products are sold in permanent shops as well as on open raised platforms in the alley. The sellers of dairy products come from villages located near peripheral area of the city (Raja Talab, Chaubepur, Lohta, Ram Nagar, etc.) as well as from the far-off areas (Chakiya, Chandauli, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Nagar in Mughal Sarai and Bhabhua in Bihar). The people of Ahir caste dominate this unorganised dairy business. Varanasi city is known for its traditional sweets. The well-known sweets makers, restaurant owners and caterers purchase milk products and ingredients such as khowa, chhena and paneer. The consumption and demand for dairy products increases during festivals and marriage seasons. Local shop keepers admit that it is during these seasons that adulterated milk products enter the market. There is a lack of regular monitoring by the Government to check adulteration and the quality of milk products. Often, there are reports of contaminated milk products sold in the market. The milk products in the market face a stiff competition with milk cooperatives like Amul, Mother Dairy, Sudha, Mamta, Parag, etc.

5.7 Resham Katra This market is located near famous Dal Mandi and specialises in gold ornaments. This market predates the independence of the country. It was established about 150 years back during the British time. This market is centrally located in the city and well

256

S. Alam et al.

connected to other parts of the city. Its proximity to the main market centres of the city, i.e., Godaulia and Dalmandi, readily attracts customers. But the market has narrow streets lacking parking place. In addition to gold ornaments, this market also specialises in items (ornaments) made of silver, bronze and brass. There are also small shopkeepers specialising in garlands made of moti (pearl). There are both small and large shops mostly owned by Agarwal, Soni and Sarraf communities, the market faces competition from corporate jewelers like Tanishq and Kalyan.The customers of this market mostly belong to the middle and lower-middle classes who come from the city as well as nearby villages and smaller towns. Being an old market in many cases customers has developed a rapport with shopkeepers. This practice is continuing since many generations and is a significant factor in flourishing of this market.

5.8 Thatheri Bazar This is a retail market mainly specialised in utensils and religious articles of brass and copper. It is also known for markets of gold and silver ornaments (Sarraf Bazaar). It is located in Ghasi Tola, few hundred meters from Vishwanath Temple. This mandi is over hundred years old. There are around 100 shops in the market where workers belong to both Hindu and Muslim religious faith. Some skilled workers of the mandi come from Muradabad district in western Uttar Pradesh. There are local manufacturers and designers of ornaments but brass items are brought from Muradabad as well. Business in the bazar booms during Diwali season, especially the gold market. The business has expanded in recent years despite stiff competition with recently opened branded jewelry shops in the city. Thatheri Bazar shops sell gold and silver items at a reasonable price. Hence, customers belonging to the mostly lower middle class and the pilgrims from outside the city visit this market for purchasing brass utensils, worship items, gold and silver jewelry items.

5.9 Naya Paan Dariba (New Betel Market) Varanasi is famous for its paan (betel leaves) particularly ‘banarasi paan’. But betel leaves and related products are imported from outside and are assembled and processed in the city’s biggest market—Naya Paan Dariba. The term ‘dariba’ comes from the Persian word which stands for a market specialising in articles of similar types. Paan Dariba stands for a market centre of betel and related articles. Earlier, this market was located in Aurangabad locality of the city, which is now known as Purana Paan Dariba. But about three decades ago, it was shifted to its present location in Nai Pokhari locality near Mahakaleshwar Mahadev Temple of Chetganj. Hence, it is called Naya Paan Dariba. Dimakopoulos et al. (2015, p 7) have described the socio-spatial landscape of Naya Paan Dariba as following:

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity …

257

Because of the outstanding position of Varanasi inside the Indian paan business the Paan Dariba as the city’s centre of paan leaf trade exhibits a substantial part of the socio-economic landscape. The landscape of paan leaf business is constituted by the geographical confines of the paan trade around the main market building of Paan Dariba, located in Varanasi’s district Chaitganj. The central space of paan business in Varanasi is situated along a main road and several crossroads around the Paan Dariba as the space where most of the ingredients shops, paan stalls and warehouses can be found in a correlated conglomerate….

The main products sold in the market are related to paan masala, such as sopadi, katha, chuna, rasna, tambaku, kesar, kimam, ilaichi, cloves, etc. Additionally, the market is known for tobacco products such as gutkha, cigarette, bidi, etc. The famous betel and tobacco business in Varanasi has pan Indian connections. The market obtains a variety of betel leaves—Sachi, Magahi, Chandrakala, Jagarnathi, Belkuli, etc. from the states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Bengal twice a week (Tuesday and Saturday). The traders import specific articles from different parts of India, e.g., paan from West Bengal and Odisha; katha from Himachal Pradesh; bidi, chuna and supadi and ilaichi from Kerala, tobacco from Kanpur, and gutkha and cigarette from Maharashtra (Fig. 2). This business is mainly run by the people belonging to Chaurasia (also known as Barai or Paanwari) castes. In recent years, due to the unemployment problem, a few people from Brahmin and Ahir castes have entered in this business. The high rate of GST (Goods and Service Tax) on paan, paan masala, cigarette, bidi, gutkha, etc. has adversely affected the business owned by both small and big traders. The customers are mostly big paanwari (i.e., those who prepare paan) who come from Varanasi and nearby districts, such as Bhadohi, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Allahabad, Chandauli, and Mirzapur.

5.10 Loha Mandi There are two specialised markets of iron and iron implements in Varanasi—Lohatiya and Maldahiya. Lohatiya is the oldest market of iron and steel products. It is oldest iron market of the city, is located near Kabir Chaura Hospital, at a distance of about five km from the Cantonment Railway Station and near the old NH 2. The market is famous for trading of iron items like iron rolls, TMT bars, steel bars, tools, birds’ cages, utensils and bucket. This market is over a century old and contains about 200 big and small iron items shops. The market space is quite congested and occupied by both Hindus and Muslims. Apart from new purchase people also exchange their old iron items with the new ones here. It is a wholesale market for small shopkeepers dealing with iron products in Varanasi and surrounding districts. The relatively cheaper rate of products and availability of items in a wide variety are the main reasons for the popularity of the market. This market is marked by traffic jams, as the roads are very narrow. There is no quality control of the products sold but it is growing due to ever expanding demands for iron products. There is stiff competition among shopkeepers. “As the

258

S. Alam et al.

Fig. 2 The spatial linkages of Naya Pan Dariba (New Betel Market) of Varanasi city, 2020. Source Drawn by authors based on field survey

name implies, Lohatia bazaar is a metal market and the main cobblestone road which runs through the market is lined with encroaching shops that sell thick-slatted parrot cages, buffalo tethering spikes, drum-sized cauldrons for boiling milk, and ladles whose size would match the cutlery of Ravana’s kitchen. Anvil, arc-welders, and river-wrenches spark, flash, and grind as contractors turn out dozens of bath-sizes feeding troughs, evaporative air coolers, and meter upon meter of chain links” (Alter 1992, p 27).

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity …

259

The second market, Maldahiya, is located near Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth. This market is relatively newer as it was developed during the 1960s. There are about 250 big and small shops in the market. It was developed due to congestion of Lahatiya market. At the time of establishment, it was a spacious market with wide roads and pathways. This market specialises in a wide variety of iron and steel products (iron rods, metal sheets/plates, steel coils, steel pipes, flat steel bars, steel plates, railing fitting items, construction materials, iron channels, etc.). It is located less than one km away from Varanasi Cantonment Railway Station. This facilitates transportation of heavy raw material by railways. The metal for iron items is brought by rail mainly from Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal. This mandi is mostly dominated by Hindu traders. While most traders and shopkeepers are from upper castes and Vaishya community, workers are mostly from lower castes who are primarily engaged in loading–unloading and transporting the iron items. Apart from locals this market also serves the customers from nearby towns such as Mirzapur, Chandauli, Gyanpur and Jaunpur. The main attractions of this market are reasonable price and adequate stock and variety of various iron products. But the market has got congested as a result of its expansion and increase in number of shops over the time. There is also a problem of encroachment on roads. Its location on the road leading to Varanasi junction railway station has increased the problem of traffic management.

5.11 Masala Mandi (Spices and Dry Fruits Market) This market is known by different names like Gola Dinanath Mandi or Gola Dinanath Masala Mandi or simply Masala Mandi or Gola Dinanath. This market is nearly 250 years old and is easily accessible by roads to customers from within and outside the city. It has about 200 retail and wholesale shops. The Gola Dinanath is famous for the wholesale market of herbs and spices. It is the biggest market of not only spices but also of dry fruits and herbal medicines. The raw material and finished products of spices, dry fruits and herbs for this market are brought from far off places such as Kanpur, Lucknow, Delhi, Nainital, Purnia, Chennai etc. It sells more than 20,000 varieties of spices (cardamom, cumin seeds, cinnamon, clove, etc.), dry fruits and medicinal herbs (Ayurvedic, Yunani, etc.). It caters to the customers from eastern UP, Bihar, parts of Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand. Some other popular items sold here are mewa giri, makhana, badam, kaju (cashew), raisins, etc. In recent years, some shops have got modernized and the number of shops and varieties of products has increased.

260

S. Alam et al.

5.12 Galla Mandis The Galla mandi (grain market) is also known as anaj (grain) mandi. In the nineteenth century, there were two grain-markets in Varanasi city, one at Trilochan and the other at Khojwa. The latter was once located in the periphery of the city but now it now located in one of the most densely populated part of the city (Singh 2009, p 91). Presently, there are many small and few large Galla mandis in the city (Samne Ghat, Khojwa, Bisheshwarganj, etc.). The largest and the most famous of these is the Bisheshwarganj Galla Mandi. This mandis is famous for grains, pulses and nuts. The main factors in its location are transport and demand for grains in the city. This market is located within 3 km from Varanasi City Railway Station and 1 km from the river Ganga. There are about 300 small and big shops in this mandi, but not all of them are grain shops. The mandi obtains food grains and products from far off places such as Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur, etc. The shopkeepers also purchase grains directly from the farmers of the region. The market is shrinking as many households are now buying packaged gains from supermarkets.

5.13 Sabzi Mandis There are seven major sabzi (vegetable) mandis in the city—Pahadiya, Bhojubir, Lamhi, Paanchkoshi, Chandua Satti, Sunderpur, Manduadih, Nuaon, and Ramnagar Chowk. Of these Pahadiya Mandi is the largest one. Some mandis are located outside the municipal boundary of the city, e.g., Ramnagar Chowk and Nuaon. Bisheshwarganj, Chandua Satti and Sunderpur mandis are premier vegetable markets for the city dwellers. Pahadiya and Chandua Sattis are big wholesale vegetable mandis whereas Sunderpur, Bisheshwarganj, Panchkosi are smaller wholesale mandis. Vegetable shops are mostly makeshift arrangements. Farmers coming from villages sell their harvest on the roads and in designated spaces in the mandi. Some of the shops selling non-perishable products such as onion, garlic, ginger, etc. are permanent structure. Contrary to other markets, the subzi mandis have a large number of female sellers, especially in case of small vegetable shops. There are many local vegetable farmers themselves selling fruits and vegetables in the mandis. They come from nearby villages in the early morning hours and return by evening.

5.14 Furniture Market The most significant furniture market in the city is located in Jangambari, near Godaulia. Jangambari is over 50-year-old and located in the older part of the city surrounded by residential colonies and markets. The market offers a variety of products and specialises in furniture like beds, tables, chairs, almirah etc. There are some

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity …

261

50 small and large shops in the market. Almost all the big shops have their factories to manufacture these items. There are also some shops specialised in selling branded items. Shopkeepers are mostly local and belong to diverse communities. In addition to shopkeepers the furniture market provides employment to workers in factories and thelawalas (cart owners) in transportation. The customers of the furniture are mostly from the city, though few wealthy customers also come from nearby villages and towns. Marriage seasons are the busiest times for this market.

5.15 Idol Market Varanasi is a city of temples where myriad festivals are celebrated throughout year. The idols of God and Goddess remain in great demand during the times of festivals of Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. Kalimahal is the most famous place for making and marketing of marble idols. It is located near Naya Paan Dariba in Chetgan. About 200 years old this place is also known as Kalimahal Murti Mandi. There are about 250 shops-cum-houses in Kalimahal associated with selling idols, sweets, fruits and vegetables. However, there are only about 30 shops specialised in idol making and sale. Six shopkeepers specialise in making and sale of marble idols. The main castes engaged in idol carving are Gaur Rajputs and Gaur Brahmans. Since it is a skillbased business, people engaged in this business have inherited their skills from their forefathers. Many of them are involved in this business for many generations. The market sells idols of various size, types and prices. The highest demand is for idols of Hindu goddesses and gods such as Durga, Lakshmi, Kali, Saraswati, Ganesh, Hanuman, Sai Baba, Radha-Krishna, Shankar, etc. People from far-off places such as Mumbai, Delhi, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, and eastern Uttar Pradesh as well as nearby places of Bihar come to purchase idols from this market. Small shopkeepers from this and neighboring cities purchase idols from this market for their own shops. The demand for idols of specific gods and goddesses increases during the festivals (e.g., idols of Saraswati during Saraswati Pooja, Lakshmi-Ganesh during Diwali and Durga during Dussehra). The second idol market is at Devnathpura which is famous for clay idols for the festival i.e., Dussehra, Basant Panchami and Kali Pooja. Raw materials for making idols are obtained from local as well as distant markets (e.g., bamboo from Maidagin, clay from Ganga river bank from Ramnagar side and nails from Lohatiya, husk from nearby villages as well as from Kolkata and colours from local markets). The demand for idols comes from Varanasi city as well as adjoining districts of Bhadohi and Chandauli. The idol making continues throughout the year except for two months after Diwali festival. Earlier there were ten shops but six shops specialised in clay idols are functional at present. The bigger shops employ up to twenty labourers/artists specialising in a specific task of idol making work. The ban on the immersion of idols in the river and rising costs of raw materials has also adversely affected clay idols business. The livelihood security of the artists and workers is under threat and some of them have migrated to Rajasthan.

262

S. Alam et al.

5.16 Bird Market There is one bird market in the city, known as Baheliya Tola. It is located in Machchodri ward behind Katuapura Mandi. The name of the market comes from Baheliya (fowler) community, a Hindu caste whose traditional occupation is to trap birds from the forest and sell them in the market. The locality has approximately 20 shops and most shops are permanent. But some of the sellers coming with birds and sitting on a chabutara (platform) or along the broader part of the lane. The birds and animals sold in the market are parakeets, owls, pigeons, cuckoos, bulbuls, chicks, laal munia (red avadavat), star finch, neelkanth (Indian roller), peacocks, love birds, exotic birds, white rats, rabbits, squirrel, monkeys etc. Some birds like peacocks are kept and sold clandestinely and illegally. The demand and supply of birds fluctuate with seasons. Birds supply increases after the hatching of eggs in the spring season. The demand for owls rises during Diwali festival while neelkanth bird during Dussehra festivities. During recent period baheliyas have shifted to Ramnagar and Muslims have taken over this business. The fowlers catch the birds and supply the same to the shopkeepers. The sale birds are on both, retail as well as wholesale basis. Usually the ‘bird lovers’ known as shaukeens are the main customers, who belong to different communities and classes. Parrots are in high demand because of their speaking abilities and cuckoos are liked for their melodious voice. Children are fond of love birds and laal munia. Pigeons are mostly purchased by customers for duels and also by kabutarbaaz (pigeon-trainers). Most customers belong to the surrounding localities of the city, but bird lovers from distant places are not uncommon. It is the fowlers who supply birds from the forests. Exotic birds are brought from faraway places too. However, due to the prohibition of trade of Indian birds and protected animals under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, the market has declined with time. Due to regular raids conducted by the Forest Department, shopkeepers do not keep prohibited birds and animals.

6 Linkages of Mandis As most of the mandis have a long history and are embedded in socio-cultural milieu of the city, they have been important sites of economic linkages. Whatever their forms or nature, the mandis are usually dense sites of economic, social and political activity, connecting and shaping the relations between the town and the countryside, and local markets and larger national and global circuits of capital and commerce (Kapur and Krishnamurthy, 2014: 2).

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity …

263

6.1 Linkages among Traditional Markets The traditional mandis located in the city serve its population in several ways. At the same time, many of these mandis are interlinked to one another. For example, doodh (milk) and khowa mandis provide milk and other milk items to confectionaries and famous caterers/sweets shops specialising in traditional Varanasi sweets and located in the old city. Khowa mandi supply products such as khowa, chhena and paneer to confectionaries and caterers. Similarly, sweet shops and eateries specialising in traditional Varanasi cuisine, located in the Kachauri Gali, obtain grains from nearby Bisheshwarganj Galla Mandi and spices form Gola Dinanath.

6.2 Linkages with Regional and National Economy Mandis have economic linkages and functional relationships across space. There are two types of economic linkages between the mandis in Varanasi city and surrounding area. The mandis in the city procure goods, commodities and raw materials from varying distances. Hence, they have been classified accordingly (Table 6). Perishable agricultural and dairy products, such as vegetables, flowers and milk are mostly procured from the nearby villages of surrounding area. Grains and Khowa are brought to respective mandis from the villages and towns of the region in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Commodities such as spices, herbs, beetle leaves, iron, coal and coconut come from far off states, such as Kerala, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha etc. Mandis also symbolise a place that provides economic service to an area/space of varying distance. As is evident from Table 7, there are three types of mandis in the city in terms of distance covered by customers to purchase commodities. There are mandis which cater to the needs and requirements of city dwellers only. It is very rare for customers from outside the city visit mandis to purchase perishable goods like vegetables, milk and khowa. For some products, such as food grains (rice, wheat), pulses, coconut and flowers, the demand mostly comes from the city. Still, people from small towns and villages also come to buy these products occasionally, particularly on the occasion of festivals and marriages. For spices, herbs, beetle Table 6 Classification of Mandis by range/region of commodities procurement Region/Range

Types of Mandis

Local and surroundings Sabzi Mandi, Doodh Mandi and Phool Mandi Regional

Galla Mandi and Khowa Mandi

Extra-regional

Masala Mandi, Paan Mandi, Loha Mandi, Koyala Mandi and Nariyali Bazaar

Source Field observation, 2020

264 Table 7 Classification of Mandis by area/range served

S. Alam et al. Area served

Types of Mandis

City only

Sabzi Mandi, Doodh Mandis and Khowa Mandi

City and surroundings

Nariyali Bazaar, Phool Mandis and Galla Mandis

From outside the region

Masala Mandi, Paan Mandi, Loha Mandi and Koyala Mandi

Source Field observation, 2020

leaves, iron and iron implements and coal, there is demand from near and far of villages and towns and cities, besides Varanasi city itself.

6.3 Linkages of Mandis with Religious Places Varanasi is a prominent religious city of India which is dotted with a large number of religious-cultural structures and revered places such as temples, shrines and mosques. Many of these religious places need goods and commodities for performance of rituals. There exist unique linkages between the traditional markets and religious places. For example, the devotees of Kashi Vishwanath Temple and some other temples purchase milk, flowers, coconuts and attar for performing worship and offerings to deities. Interestingly, there are specialised mandis of these commodities in the vicinity of the temples and shrines. Similarly, the people coming to Manikarnika Cremation Ghat to pay obeisance to dead bodies purchase flowers from the Flower Mandi located nearby at Bans Fatak. After cremation of the dead bodies, people often visit Kachauri Gali market to buy local food items and sweets. There is a Mazar of Shaheed Salman Shah in front of the Chowk Police Station. The devotees who visit this mazar purchase flower and attar (perfume), agarbatti (joss sticks) from specialised mandis. Figure 3 reveals that traditional markets in Varanasi city in the vicinity of religious-ritual places have evolved and specialized in certain goods, articles and commodities required for performing worship and rituals at these places.

7 Changes and Continuity in Traditional Market Structure What is the present condition of these markets? What future holds for them? How will these markets survive the forces of corporate capitalism and urban renewal programmes? These questions need to be answered to visualize the future shape and scenario the mandis in the city. There is hardly any doubt that the mandis of Varanasi city are changing, the matter of interest is the pace of their change, adaptation and resilience. Some mandis which emerged and flourished during the colonial times

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity …

265

Fig. 3 Linkages of traditional mandis within Varanasi city, 2020. Source Drawn by authors based on field survey

became redundant with times and have since become extinct. For example, due to the decline of river transportation, the Galla Mandi, at Prahlad Ghat on the banks of the river Ganga, has vanished. However, even now, older Galla mandis of Khojwa and Bisheshwarganj retain their value and continue to serve the city consumers. A mandi that was famous for selling of horses and other animals at Aurangabad locality of the city during the British period is now extinct because of the declining importance of the animals in urban life. Some mandis of the city have witnessed a sharp decline. An appropriate example is Attar Mandi. Once a flourishing business, this market has shrunk conspicuously, and presently there are only three shops left in the market. This decline is due to the revolution in perfume technology that has led to decline in demand for attar. Shopkeepers are adapting to the situation by selling modern perfume in addition to

266

S. Alam et al.

Table 8 The changing characteristics of Bans Fatak Flower Mandi Criteria

Earlier

Present

Products sold

Only specialised in the sale of flowers

Flower accessories such as sparkle and bouquets

Customers

Nearby areas

Distant areas

Sellers

Nearby areas

Distant areas

Type of shops

All temporary shops

Some permanent, rest temporary

Number of sellers

Fewer

Many

Area of market

Only in the designated area

Outside designated area

Market type

Simplistic market

Holistic market

Source Field observation, 2020

attar. Some markets have been adversely affected due to government policies. For example, betel leaf business has been severely affected owing to higher rates of GST (goods and service tax). The importance of Baheliya Tola bird market has declined considerably due to the restriction imposed by wildlife laws. The mandi specialising in charcoal has lost its significance due to alternative fuel sources. There are also some mandis that have gained significance over time. The number of milk and vegetable mandis has increased with times. Now, new such mandis have come up in the periphery of the city. For example, Nuan Vegetable Mandi was developed some years back on the National Highway. Similarly, a small private milk mandi has come up at Chhittupur village on the periphery of the city. Some of the mandis have undergone transformation according to the changing market requirements. One such example is the Flower Mandi of Bans Fatak (Table 8). Now days, flower sellers in this market also sell accessories besides flowers. Compared to earlier times, now flower farmers come from distant areas come to sell flowers, and the numbers of shops have increased with time. Shopkeepers keep large quantity of flower products to cater to the growing demand of consumers who come from distant areas as well. Varanasi city developed fast owing to the implementation of the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) during last decade. There were many infrastructural projects executed in the city. Recently Varanasi city has been chosen to develop as a Smart City. The space of the city is getting re-organised in the name of renovation and service up-gradation. The lack of space is a major constraint in the development of the city. Therefore, one of the strategies has been to demolish the old structures and develop the malls, high rise building, and multistorey parking. For example, Sanjay Cloth Market, located in Godaulia, was demolished in 2019 to pave way for multistorey parking. Similarly, the congested built-up area around Kashi Vishwanath temple was demolished in 2019 to develop the temple complex. Further, there are also plans for the beautification of the city. There is a possibility of demolition of many mandis located in the congested old city areas and being shifted elsewhere. The business concentrated in the areas of Chowk, Godaulia, Assi and Bisheshwarganj is likely to be shifted away. It is all likelihood that the silk

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity …

267

sari market of Vishwanath Lane, copper and brass market of Thatheri Bazar would be shifted to spacious and easily approachable area (Singh 2018). However, this is likely to affect the heritage buildings and landscape of this historical city. It is essential to note that these mandis, with highly unorganised spatial forms and rustic appearances, have been serving the city since decades and centuries and therefore add to the heritage value of the localities. These traditional markets have also played a crucial role in the economic development of the city and represent strong linkages between rural producers and urban consumers. Furthermore, the economic vitality of these markets is also attributed to their strategic locations. Their relocation will surely take life out of them, and in the process, essential elements of the economic and cultural landscape of the city will get lost forever. In the absence of the mandis the city landscape is certainly bound to be impoverished in terms of heritage.

8 Conclusions The foregoing analysis clearly brings out the specificity of traditional mandis of Varanasi city and change and continuity therein. As the largest and culturally the most iconic city of the middle Ganga Plain since ancient times, Varanasi evolved as an important regional centre of economy and commerce during the British period. It mainly happened due to the river transportation and its location on the route connecting the Indo-Gangetic plain and Peninsular India. A vital element in the economic space of the city has been the emergence of specialized commodity markets during colonial times due to the specific requirements of the city. These have played a vital role in the emergence of Varanasi city as an important trading centre of the region. At present, these mandis not only provide goods and commodities to the city-dwellers but also link the city with its umland and other cities of the region and country. One of the most unique features of these specialized markets has been their close linkage with the religious places and socio-spatial structure of the city. The location of some of these mandis near popular temples and mazars indicates close relations between religious and economic complex in the city. Some mandis (e.g., idol making/selling) owe their origin/existence to the demands created by socio-religious festivals and temples. People belonging to specific caste and religious community are found to be dominating some of these mandis. The transportation linkages, particularly the Ganga river and national highway network, have also influenced the location of traditional markets in the city. Thus, most of the mandis are found located on the economically strategic places—on the bank of the river Ganga, in the vicinity of religious sites and near railway stations and national highways. The study brings out that some of these mandis have lost their significance due to corporatization of the economy and changing requirements of the consumers within the city. The government policies, particularly the urban renewable programme, have changed the city structure and in the process have adversely affected some of the traditional markets. Some mandis have vanished while some others are on the verge of their extinction. However, there are many traditional markets which

268

S. Alam et al.

have not only survived but have also prospered. The resilience and adaptability of these markets to the changing times have not only helped them to survive, they have rather prospered and grown alongside the modern market centres. Some mandis have changed significantly with times but at the same time, they have also retained semblance of their traditional practices. Due to ongoing urban renewal process, there is a possibility of demolition of some of the mandis located in the congested old city areas and being shifted elsewhere. Their relocation will surely take life out of them, and in the process, essential elements of the economic, historical and cultural landscape of the city will be lost forever. It would not only dent the image of the city as the custodian of traditions but also destroy its regional character and moral fiber.

References Alam S (2014) Urban rural linkages and livelihood shift in rural area: a case from India. Reg Dev Dialogue 35(1):26–45 Alter JS (1992) The Wrestler’s body: identity and ideology in North India. University of California Press, Berkeley Arthpedia (2019) Mandi. http://arthapedia.in/index.php?title=Mandi. Accessed 18 Jan 2020 Devra GSL (2014) Formation and growth of mandis and chokis in western Rajasthan, AD 1700– 1830. In: Sharma Y, Malekandathil P (eds) Cities in Medieval India. Primus Books, New Delhi, pp 243–261 Dimakopoulos I, Vivek KK, Heyink ME (2015) Governing the paan leaf value chain. In: Schütte S, Kreutzmann H (eds) Making a living in Varanasi: social place and socioeconomic space. Berlin geographical paper, vol. 44. Centre for Development Studies (ZELF), Institute of Geographical Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, pp 5– 20. https://www.geo.fuberlin.de/geog/fachrichtungen/anthrogeog/zelf/Medien/download/Berlin Geographical_Papers/BGP44_Making-a-Living-in-Varanasi.pdf. Accessed 22 July 2020 Dodson MS (2012) Introduction. In: Dodson MS (ed) Banaras: Urban forms and cultural histories. Routledge, New Delhi, pp 1–13 Dube KK (1976) Use and misuse of land in KAVAL towns. The National Geographical Society of India, Varanasi, UP Freitag SB (2006) Visualising cities by modern citizens: Banaras compared to Jaipur and Lucknow. In: Gaenszle M, Gengnagel J (eds) Visualizing space in Banaras: images, maps, and the practice of representation. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, Germany, pp 233–251 Greaves E (1909) Kashi the city of illustrious or Benares. The Indian Press, Allahabad Gupta RS (1977) Hind¯ı kah¯an¯ı k¯a s´ilpa-vidh¯ana. Hind¯ı S¯ahitya Sam . sth¯ana, Ajmer, Rajasthan Kapur D, Krishnamurthy M (2014) Understanding mandis market towns and the dynamics of India’s rural and urban transformations. CASI Working Paper Series, 14–02; F-35007-INC-1, Centre for the Advanced Study of India, California. https://www.theigc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ Kapur-Krishnamurthy2014Working-Paper-1.pdf. Accessed 18 July 2020 Kumar R (2014) Ahmadabad: its markets and urban linkages in the seventeenth century. In: Sharma Y, Malekandathil P (eds) Cities in Medieval India. Primus Books, New Delhi, pp 279–295 Mishra KP (2014) Pilgrims, fairs and banking. In: Sharma Y, Malekandathil P (eds) Cities in Medieval India. Primus Books, New Delhi, pp 263–277 Singh RPB (2009) Transformation on the cradle of time. In: Singh, RPB (ed) Banaras: making of India’s heritage city. Planet Earth & Cultural Understanding, Series Publication 3. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, pp 49–103

Continuity and Changing Characteristics of Traditional Commodity …

269

Singh RPB (2018) Urbanisation in Varanasi and interfacing historic urban landscapes. In: Sudhakar GJ, Balaji G (eds) Urbanisation in Indian history: Proceedings of the National Seminar, 5–6 January 2018. C.P.R. Publications, C.P.R. Institute of Indological Research, Chennai, pp 83–135 Yadava RS, Sharma VN and Alam S (2007–2008) Socio-economic and health conditions of milkmen of Varanasi city: case studies of three milk mandies. The North Eastern Geograph 35(1–2): 45–61

Dynamics and Spatiality of Socio-economic Development during Post Liberalization Period: A Study of Ahirwal Region (Haryana), India Ankita Yadav and Mahabir S. Jaglan Abstract The socio-economic landscape of the state of Haryana has transformed fast following restructuring of economy, popularly known as economic liberalization, initiated in India during early 1990s. The Ahirwal, a distinct socio-cultural region of the state, had been historically marked by socio-economic backwardness. But during post liberalization era this region has experienced perceptible upward change in the parameters of development particularly on the account of speedy transformation of the economy. This region overtook rest of the state in terms of parameters of socio-economic development by the beginning of current century. But the processes of economic development in the region are strongly concentrated in Gurugram district which has emerged as a hub of neo-liberal economic activities in national capital region. It is transforming the social and economic characteristics of the region traditionally characterized by its socio-cultural homogeneity. This has created economic-spatial differentiations in the region with Gurugram on the top and Mahendragarh district on the bottom. It is a classic case of breaking down of a formal (socio-cultural) region under the mighty pressure of expanding functional (economic) zone in the vicinity of national capital. This model of development has created the spatial complex of finance capital accumulation and neo middle class prosperity on one side and socio-economically backward hinterland in its vicinity on the other side. Keywords Ahirwal region · Socio-economic development · Post liberalization · Transformation · Economic-spatial differentiations · Regional disparity

A. Yadav (B) Geography, Department of Higher Education, Panchkula, Haryana, India M. S. Jaglan Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari (eds.), Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3100-9_11

271

272

A. Yadav and M. S. Jaglan

1 Introduction: Conceptual Framework of Socio-Economic Development Development encompasses positive change in social, economic, cultural, political, institutional, psychological, ecological and ethical aspects in a society (Conyers 2001). Generally, mechanized agriculture, industrialization, better health and education facilities, improved and adequate transport facilities, and better organized administration are some of the factors which together foster development (Nizamuddin 2014). Socio-economic development is an outcome of multi-dimensional processes which improve the quality of life of the people. It is a set of gainful qualitative, quantitative and structural changes in various spheres of a society. It involves upward movement of the entire social system and amounts to satisfaction of economic, social, political and cultural rights, unbiased distribution of development benefits and opportunities, dignified living environment, gender equality and empowerment of the poor and marginalized sections (Bhatia and Rai 2003; Ohlan 2013). The socioeconomic indicators are observable and measureable phenomena which encompass the information regarding the degree of satisfaction of human needs (Drewnowski 1972). The process of socio-economic development involves many components. Socio-economic conditions, demographic factors and human development status are the cardinal indicators to measure the development level of a community or an area. Social and economic development of a society is also measured in terms of secular change in the indicators such as gross domestic product, life expectancy, literacy, infant mortality rate, malnutrition, health, agricultural productivity, poverty, employment and so on (Takamori and Yamashita 1973; Atkinson and Bourguignon 1982; Maasoumi 1986; Slottje 1991; Das 1999; Sharma 2012; Karim 2013; Rai and Bhatia 2014; Sultana and Aktar 2016). The concept of socio-economic development has been defined in different ways by geographers, economists and regional scientists, highlighting different aspects. In order to analyze the levels of socio-economic development in spatial context, one has to choose relevant indicators. However, the selection of a set of such indicators is a difficult task. In different countries of the world there are different sets of indicators used to identify the levels of social and economic development. There is also an opinion is that socio-economic development indicators should relate to the outputs rather than the inputs of development programs (Moser 1972).

1.1 Regional Disparity in Development The problem of regional imbalance in the levels of socio-economic development is a global phenomenon. However, the degree of its prevalence is higher in the developing countries like India (Koropeckyj 1972). Different regions of the country grow at unequal pace, resulting in inter-regional and intra-regional disparities which in turn are the root cause of various socio-economic problems. The phenomenon of

Dynamics and Spatiality of Socio-economic Development …

273

uneven development has been a subject of intense debates in the context of both developed and developing countries. Disparities in social and economic development across the regions and intra-regional disparities across different segments of the society have been the major concerns in India since independence (Tripathy et al. 2011). The spatial structure of socio-economic development has been distorted to a greater extent due to deep rooted social, economic, political, historical, natural, and other forces of spatial organization (Sharma and Kumar 1993). Socio-economic planning has been used in India as an instrument for bringing about uniform regional development because one of the main objectives of the developmental program has been a progressive reduction in regional disparities in the level and pace of development. This necessitates an active role of the state to intervene in the process of development, particularly for developing basic socio-economic infrastructure. The Planning Commission of India since Fourth Five Year Plan has made credible efforts to plug in the regional inequality and imbalance through its area development plans and special program for backward districts (Rajeshwari and Jaglan 2010).

1.2 Post-reform Economic Dynamics and Regional Inequality It has been hypothesized by proreform social scientists that private investment and particularly foreign direct investments invited by different states in India would lead to the convergence of developed and underdeveloped areas. Equitable distribution of private and public investment during post reform period is expected to reduce both inter-regional and intra-regional disparities in the income in India (Mallick 2014). But the results have not been as per expectations of non-classical convergence hypothesis. The post liberalization experience reveals that concentration of the finance capital has been at the favored locations, mostly in the vicinity of existing industrial clusters. Some non-metropolitan industrial districts have emerged in coastal areas but most industries have come up at new locations in the existing industrial areas. (Chakravorty 2003; Kalra and Thakur 2015). Consequently the industrial states are growing much faster in terms of state domestic product than backward states. There is no evidence of convergence of economic growth among states (Bhattacharya and Sakthivel 2004). There is economic divergence leading to widened inter-regional gaps in the levels of development rather than the backward regions catching up with the developed regions. The regional disparity seems to be multiplying currently in the liberalized economies. India has experienced accentuation of regional economic inequality during post liberalization period (Sanga and Shaban 2017). Here, the relevant question that has worried most of the policymakers and planners is how to improve the lot of backward regions and thereby enhance the standard of living of people in these areas.

274

A. Yadav and M. S. Jaglan

1.3 Preview of Developmental Process in Study Area The study pertains to Ahirwal which is a socio-cultural region lying in the cradle of Aravalli ranges in southwestern parts of the state of Haryana in India. Dominantly inhabited by the agrarian Ahir community, it has been one of the socio-economically backward tracts of the state. This region does not follow the actual boundary of administrative units, hence, for the purpose of the present study the districts of Gurugram, Rewari and Mahendragarh which constitute bulk of its territory have been demarcated as Ahirwal region (Fig. 1). Ahirwal region extends between the latitudes, 27º 79´ to 28º 54´ N, and longitudes 75º 89´ and 77º 24´ E. It is bordered by Bhiwani and Jhajjar districts in the north, Delhi, Faridabad, Palwal and Mewat districts in the east and Rajasthan in the west and south. It covers a geographical area of about 4751 km2 , constituting about 10.74% of the total geographical area of the state and accounting for 13.16% of the total population in 2011. Ahirwal is a part of National Capital Region (NCR). Gurugram is the main town of the region which has housed the industrial units of different types and business establishments during recent years. Rewari has emerged second largest industrial town in the region. Since its inception in 1966 the state of Haryana has emerged as one of the agriculturally developed states in India. The agricultural landscape of the state has got transformed very fast since the introduction of new agricultural technology in the mid-1960s. It was the package technology in the form of high yielding varieties seeds, chemical fertilizers and farm mechanization which ushered growth in the stagnating agricultural economy of the state. However, the pace of agricultural development slowed down during post liberalization period. But despite this the state of Haryana has achieved a remarkable growth in its agricultural sector. It has elevated itself to the position of second largest contributor to India’s central pool of food grain stock. Majority of the people in the state are directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture and its allied activities for earning the living (Government of Haryana 2017). For about four decades after independence, the industrial development in the state was largely confined to Faridabad town with some contributions from Yamunanagar, Ambala and Panipat towns. But industrial map of the state has witnessed significant change since inception of economic liberalization in early 1990s. Having geographical advantage in terms of covering the largest territory of NCR, Haryana has emerged as one of the better industrialized states of India during last two decades. The city of Gurugram, in the vicinity of national capital, has emerged as a major hub of the information technology services and automobile industries in the country (Rakesh 2009). There is significant regional disparity in the levels and processes of economic development in the state. Historically, the Ahirwal region in southwestern Haryana has suffered economic backwardness. The agricultural backwardness of the region may be attributed to the fact that it is a dry tract, largely devoid of surface irrigation. The limited groundwater resources in the region remain overexploited. Consequently, this region did not keep pace with rest of the state in terms of agricultural development following Green Revolution in mid 1960s (Tejpal and Jaglan 2010). This region was

Dynamics and Spatiality of Socio-economic Development …

275

Fig. 1 Location of study area. Source Drawn by authors from Administrative Atlas of Haryana, Census of India, 2011

also not counted among industrially developed areas of the state despite the location of Maruti industry during late 1970s. Initiation of economic liberalization during early 1990s, however, induced industrialization in the vicinity of national capital and that also included a part of Ahirwal region. In fact, the industries established in Ahirwal region during post liberalization period have concentrated around the Gurugram millennium city. Ahirwal region has also been among the socially backward areas of

276

A. Yadav and M. S. Jaglan

the state of Haryana which has lagged in terms of social and gender equity, access to education and health care, nutrition and sanitation (Jaglan and Sindhu 2008). The process of economic restructuring during post liberalization period has definitely left its imprints on the economy and society in different regions of the state of Haryana. There is a dearth of studies evaluating the levels of socio-economic development in the state and its regions. Hence, it would be interesting to assess socio-economic transformation of Ahirwal region during post liberalization period, as it has been one of the beneficiaries of economic restructuring since 1990s.

2 Scope, Material and Methods of Study The Ahirwal region in Haryana has experienced fast economic transformation and consequent socio-demographic changes during post liberalization period. The present study has been undertaken with the broader objective of assessing the dynamics and spatial pattern of socio-economic development in the region following the restructuring of economy since early 1990s in India. The study is aimed at evaluating the changing levels of social, economic and infrastructural development; and assessing the dynamics and spatial pattern of overall level of socio-economic development in Ahirwal region viz-a-viz the rest of state. It has been hypothesized the foreign finance capital induced economic dynamism has brought about socio-economic development in the region which was largely a backward area.

2.1 Material and Methods The study is based on secondary data that broadly pertains to three years, 1991, 2001 and 2011. It relates to various aspects of social, economic and infrastructural development which has been collected from Statistical Abstracts, Department of Economic and Statistical Analysis, Haryana. In addition, data pertaining to population, sex ratio, literacy rate and workforce structure, availability of toilet, electricity connection, bathroom and kitchen facility have been collected from various tables of Census of India 1991, 2001 and 2011 (District Census Handbooks, Tables on Houses, Household Amenities and Assets, Socio-cultural Tables C Series), Office of the Registrar General of India website (http://censusindia.gov.in). District level indirect estimates of infant mortality rate have been obtained from National Health Systems Resource Centre website (http://nhsrcindia.org). Total fertility rate data has been computed and obtained following the methods employed for fertility calculation by Registrar General of India (1997) and Guilmoto and Rajan (2002, 2013). There are problems of data availability and compatibility for some indicators. Age at marriage data for 1991 is available in a different format than that in 2001 and 2011. The data related to separate kitchen facility and bathrooms within house are not available for 1991. The data related to number of primary and middle schools

Dynamics and Spatiality of Socio-economic Development …

277

are available for 2012 and not 2011. The data pertaining to agricultural indicators has been collected for three trienniums, i.e. 1989–92, 1999–02 and 2010–13 from Statistical Abstract of Haryana, Government of Haryana, 1991; 1992; 1993; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2012; 2013; 2014. Triennium averages for these three periods has been taken to smoothen inter annual variations in agricultural attributes. A big limitation of the secondary data used in the study is its non-availability below the level of district. It has restricted the number of observations to three (districts of Ahirwal region). It has hampered spatial statistical analysis of indicators of development to some extent. There are 56 indicators developed which have been used for computing various indices of socio-economic development (Table 1). The methods of computation of the indicators are self-evident except agricultural productivity. All the crops occupying 1% or more of total cropped area have been taken into account to calculate the agricultural productivity using method of Bhalla and Tyagi (1989). For computing agricultural productivity the physical output of crops has been converted into monetary terms multiplying it by 2012–13 farm harvest prices. The gross output in money terms has been divided by net sown area to obtain output per unit area or agricultural productivity.

2.2 Selection of Indicators and Computation of Development Indices There are various recent studies that have computed the indicators of development and depicted regional disparity in the levels of socio-economic development in India (Sharma 2012; Mustaquim and Asif 2016; Sultana and Aktar 2016; Bala 2017; Sharma 2017; Hazarika and Hazarika 2019). For the present chapter indicators developed using secondary data have been classified under three sub headings namely social, economic and infrastructural development. There may be a question on taking indicators of infrastructural development when there are adequate number of direct indicators of social and economic development. But we must not forget that infrastructural development is of great help in promoting regional development. This is particularly true for improving the levels of human, industrial and agricultural development in a region (Nair 2004). While the input and output indicators are not deciphered in case of social and economic indicators, the infrastructural indicators are entirely input based and cover both social and economic infrastructure. The composite indices have been computed for every set of indicators separately as well as at aggregate level. The indices of social, economic and infrastructural development have been constructed by dividing the figures of concerned indicators by the state average value following the method devised by Kundu (1992). Two negative indicators, infant mortality rate and total fertility rate, have been converted into positive indicators by subtracting their scale free values from a constant value 2. The scale free values of different indicators so obtained have been summed up and subsequently divided by the number of indicators to get the composite indices.

278

A. Yadav and M. S. Jaglan

Table 1 The list of indicators of socio-economic development A. Social development indicators

B.3 Workforce structure indicators

A.1 Demographic Indicators 1. Level of urbanization (percentage of urban population) 2. Sex ratio (females/1000 males) 3. Child sex ratio (0–6) (females/1000 males) 4. Female median age at marriage (years) 5. Male median age at marriage (years) 6. Infant mortality rate (number of infant deaths/1000 live births 7. Total fertility rate (number of children born/1000 women) A.2 Educational Indicators 8. Total literacy rates (per cent) 9. Female literacy rates (per cent) 10. Girls Gross enrollment ratio at primary school level (enrollment in primary level/population of official-age group for primary level × 100) 11. Girls Gross enrollment ratio at middle school level (enrollment in middle level/population of official-age group for middle level × 100) 12. Girls Gross enrollment ratio at high/senior secondary school level (enrollment in high/ senior secondary level/population of official-age group for high and senior secondary level × 100) 13. Teacher pupil ratio (number of teachers/1000 students) A.3 Household Amenities Indicators 14. Availability of toilet facility (per cent households) 15. Availability of electricity (per cent households) 16. Availability of separate kitchen facility (per cent households) 17. Availability of bathrooms within House (per cent households) B. Economic Development Indicators B.1 Agricultural Indicators 18. Proportion of net sown area to geographical area (per cent) 19. Cropping intensity (total cropped area/net sown area × 100) 20. Proportion of net irrigated area to net sown area (per cent) 21. Irrigation intensity (gross area irrigated/net area irrigated × 100) 22. Level of agricultural productivity (Rs/ha) 23. Consumption of chemical fertilizers (kg/ha) 24. Application of pesticides (kg/ha) 25. Availability of tractors (number of tractors/1000 ha) 26. Availability of pump sets (number of pump sets/1000 ha) B.2 Industrial Indicators 27. Factory population ratio (number of factories/lakh persons) 28. Density of factories (number of working factories/100 km2 ) 29. Industrial workers population ratio (workers/lakh persons) 30. Industrial workers factory ratio (no of workers/no of factory)

31. Total work participation rate (percentage of workers in total population) 32. Female work participation rate (percentage of female workers in female population) 33. Proportion of non-agricultural workers to total workers (per cent) 34. Proportion of female non-agricultural workers to total female workers (per cent) C. Infrastructural Development Indicators C.1 Educational Infrastructure Indicators 35. Availability of primary schools (number of primary schools/lakh persons) 36. Density of primary schools (number of primary schools/100 km2 ) 37. Availability of middle schools (number of middle schools/lakh persons) 38. Density of middle schools (number of middle schools/100 km2 ) 39. Availability of high and senior secondary schools (number of high and senior secondary schools/ lakh persons) 40. Density of high and senior secondary schools (number of high and senior secondary schools/100 km2 ) 41. Availability of colleges (number of colleges/ten lakh persons) 42. Density of colleges (number of colleges/1000 km2 ) C.2 Health Infrastructure Indicators 43. Availability of government hospitals (number of hospitals/10 lakh persons) 44. Density of government hospitals (number of hospitals/1000 km2 ) 45. Availability of community health centers (CHCs) (number of CHCs/1000 km2 ) 46. Density of community health centers (number of CHCs/1,20,000 persons) 47. Availability of primary health centers (PHCs) (number of PHCs/30,000 persons) 48. Density of primary health centers (PHCs) (number of PHCs/1000 km2 ) 49. Availability of health sub centres (HSCs) (number of HSC/5,000 persons) 50. Density of health sub centres (HSCs) (number of HSCs/100 km2 ) 51. Availability of beds in government hospitals (number of beds/lakh persons) C.3 Transport, Communication and Finance (Banking) Indicators 52. Availability of metalled roads (length in km/lakh persons) 53. Density ofmetalled roads (length in km/100 km2 ) 54. Availability of motor vehicles (number of vehicles/lakh persons) 55. Availability of post office (number of vehicles/lakh persons) 56. Accessibility of banking services (percentage of households availing banking service)

Source computed by authors from secondary data sources mentioned in Sect. 2.1

Dynamics and Spatiality of Socio-economic Development … Table 2 Index of demographic development

279

District/Area

1991

2001

2011

Gurugram

1.00

0.95

1.10

Rewari

0.94

0.94

0.96 0.90

Mahendragarh

0.89

0.91

Ahirwal Region

0.93

0.92

1.01

Rest of Haryana

1.01

1.01

0.99

Source as for Table 1

The value of indicator for the rest of Haryana, Ahirwal region and the districts of the region has been divided by the state average to make the series free of scale bias without affecting the relative position of different geographical units. The composite index of overall socio-economic development has been computed by taking the mean of composite indices of social, economic and infrastructural development. At every level the index value above 1 indicates higher levels of development than state level, whereas, its value less than 1 represents lower level in relation to the state average.

3 Social Development 3.1 Parameters of Demographic Development The composite indices of demographic development in the rest of Haryana, Ahirwal region and inter-district difference within the region have been shown by Table 2. Ahirwal region lagged behind the rest of Haryana in terms of demographic parameters in 1991. The index value of levels of demographic development for Ahirwal region was 0.93. During next decade also there was no progression in demographic parameters in the region as index value remained 0.92 in 2001. The region gained most in this regard during next decade. In 2011, its index value (1.01) was slightly higher than the rest of Haryana (0.99). In fact, Ahirwal region has surged ahead of the rest of Haryana primarily on the account of higher level of urbanization in 2011. There is also a very significant inter-district difference in level of demographic development in Ahirwal region as Gurugram district (1.10) remains most developed whereas Mahendragarh district (0.90) is least developed. Rewari districts in the region also remains consistently poor performer in demographic parameters.

3.2 Parameters of Educational Development Ahirwal region has been performing quite well in terms of educational parameters vis-a-vis rest of the state of Haryana. In 1991 level of educational development in

280 Table 3 Index of educational development

A. Yadav and M. S. Jaglan District/Area

1991

2001

2011

Gurugram

0.94

0.86

1.04

Rewari

1.17

1.09

1.09 1.06

Mahendragarh

1.01

1.06

Ahirwal Region

1.02

0.96

1.06

Rest of Haryana

0.99

1.01

0.99

Source as for Table 1

Ahirwal region (1.02) was slightly higher than rest of Haryana (0.99) (Table 3). It’s surprising that in 2001 Ahirwal region (0.96) lagged far behind the rest of state (1.01) in this regard. But in 2011 this region surged far ahead of rest of Haryana in this regard as index value of development increased to 1.06 in comparison to 0.99 for the rest of Haryana. Within Ahirwal region Rewari district has been the leader in educational development during last two decades, while Mahendragarh district ranks second.

3.3 Parameters of Household Amenities Ahirwal region has been quiet backward in terms of household amenities (Table 4). The index value of amenities in the region in 1991 was 0.72 which meant that Ahirwal was far behind the rest of Haryana (1.02). It progressed well in possession of household amenities during next two decades. In 2001 also the region lagged behind the rest of the state as value of composite index was 0.87. In 2011 it came close to the state average (0.99). But there is a significant inter district gap in availability of household amenities within Ahirwal region. Gurugram district has been leading in this regard during last two decades. In 2011 index value for Gurugram district was 1.12 which was far higher than the districts of Mahendragarh (0.82) and Rewari (0.97). Table 4 Index of availability of household amenities

District/Area

1991

2001

2011

Gurugram

0.81

0.91

1.12

Rewari

0.71

0.90

0.97

Mahendragarh

0.56

0.77

0.82

Ahirwal Region

0.72

0.87

0.99

Rest of Haryana

1.02

1.02

1.01

Source as for Table 1

Dynamics and Spatiality of Socio-economic Development … Table 5 Index of social development

281

District/Area

1991

2001

2011

Gurugram

0.92

0.90

1.09

Rewari

0.94

0.97

1.01 0.93

Mahendragarh

0.82

0.91

Ahirwal Region

0.89

0.92

1.02

Rest of Haryana

1.01

1.01

0.99

Source as for Table 1

3.4 Levels of Social Development The composite index of social development represents the sum total of indices of demographic, educational and availability of household amenities parameters (Table 5). Ahirwal region was socially quite a backward area in comparison to the state average level and the rest of Haryana during early 1990s. The value of composite index for Ahirwal region was 0.89 while it was 1.01 for the rest of Haryana in 1991. It lagged behind the rest of state in terms of level of social development in 2001 too. But during first decade of twenty-first century Ahirwal region (1.02) took a leap forward to surpass the rest of state (0.99) in this regard. Furthermore, there has been a consistent progression in the level of social development in all the districts of Ahirwal region. But Gurugram district has gained most during last decade and in 2011 it had highest index value (1.09) in the region. Mahendragarh remains socially most backward district of the region (0.93).

4 Economic Development 4.1 Parameters of Agricultural Development The state of Haryana has taken a big leap forward in agricultural development during last five decades. But Ahirwal region has not gained much in this economic sector Table 6 Index of agricultural development

District/Area

1989–92

1999–02

2010–13

Gurugram

0.82

0.79

0.76

Rewari

0.87

0.92

0.83

Mahendragarh

0.83

0.76

0.72

Ahirwal Region

0.84

0.81

0.77

Rest of Haryana

1.03

1.03

1.04

Source as for Table 1

282

A. Yadav and M. S. Jaglan

(Table 6). Index value of agricultural development for Ahirwal region (0.84) in 1989– 92 reveals that the region was quite backward with respect to the rest of Haryana average (1.03). The level of agricultural development in the region has further gone down during last two decades. The index value of agricultural development did slide to 0.81 in 1999–02 and 0.77 in 2010–13. This region has been consistently backward than the rest of state during last two decades. Lack of irrigation facilities is the main cause of agricultural backwardness in the region. Rewari district has recorded higher level of agricultural development than other districts of Ahirwal region during this period. Mahendragarh district has remained most backward district in this regard in the region.

4.2 Parameters of Industrial Development Agriculturally backward Ahirwal region was in no better position in terms of industrial development too till 1991 (Table 7). It is evident by the very low index value of industrial development of the region (0.73) compared to the rest of state (1.05) in 1991. But following the restructuring of Indian economy in 1990s by 2001 Ahirwal region emerged as one of the industrially developed areas of the state during this period. The index value of industrial development of the region sharply rose to 1.17 in 2001 and 1.99 in 2011. The figures for the rest of state declined to 0.97 and 0.84 respectively for the same years. It reveals that the region has gained industrially much more than the rest of state during post liberalization period. However, the inter-district gap in industrial level has widened within Ahirwal region. Gurugram district with index value 4.12 in 2011 has emerged as a leading industrial area not only in the region but also in the state. There has been some spill over effect of industrialization in adjoining Rewari district too. But Mahendragarh district continues as one of least industrialized district of the state. Table 7 Index of industrial development

District/Area

1991

2001

2011

Gurugram

0.93

1.72

4.12

Rewari

0.68

0.82

0.94

Mahendragarh

0.52

0.44

0.34

Ahirwal Region

0.73

1.17

1.99

Rest of Haryana

1.05

0.97

0.84

Source as for Table 1

Dynamics and Spatiality of Socio-economic Development … Table 8 Index of workforce development

283

District/Area

1991

2001

2011

Gurugram

1.27

1.25

1.29

Rewari

0.86

0.99

1.14

Mahendragarh

0.88

0.93

0.93

Ahirwal Region

1.00

1.02

1.13

Rest of Haryana

0.99

0.99

0.98

Source as for Table 1

4.3 Parameters of Workforce Development Ahirwal region was at parity with the rest of state in terms of workforce structure till early 1990s. It is observed that the workforce structure in the region has consistently tilted in the favor of secondary and tertiary activities over the period 1991 to 2011 (Table 8). The workforce structure in the region was at par with the state average in 1991. But it surged ahead of the rest of state in 2001 with index value 1.02. This region recorded further advancement during the first decade of twenty-first century and by 2011 it surged ahead of the rest of Haryana with index value 1.13. But, there has been a big inter-district gap in the level of workforce development within Ahirwal region. Since 1991 Gurugram district has been consistently ahead of other districts in this regard. Rewari district has recorded significant improvement in workforce structure over last two decades. Mahendragarh district made a little progress during first decade but stagnated since the beginning of twenty-first century.

4.4 Levels of Economic Development The composite index of economic development has been constructed from the indices of agricultural, industrial and workforce development. It brings out that Ahirwal was an economically backward region during pre-liberalization period (Table 9). The index value for the region (0.86) indicated that it lagged far behind the rest of Haryana. Mahendragarh (0.74) was economically most backward district of the region whereas Table 9 Index of economic development

District/Area

1991

2001

2011

Gurugram

1.01

1.25

2.06

Rewari

0.80

0.91

0.97

Mahendragarh

0.74

0.71

0.66

Ahirwal Region

0.86

1.01

1.30

Rest of Haryana

1.02

0.99

0.95

Source as for Table 1

284

A. Yadav and M. S. Jaglan

Gurugram district (1.01) was on a par with the state average. During next decade (1991 to 2001) the level of economic development increased significantly in Ahirwal region. During the last decade of twentieth century Gurugram district (1.25) gained most in terms of economic development. But Mahendragarh district did slide down during this period. The economy of Ahirwal region took a perceptible leap forward during first decade of twenty-first century. The index value (1.30) in 2011 depicts that during post liberalization period this region has attained the level of economic development higher than the rest of Haryana. But this has accentuated inter-district economic disparity within Ahirwal region. Gurugram district (2.06) in the vicinity of Delhi has made a huge stride forward economically as compared to Mahendragarh district (0.66) and Rewari district (0.97).

5 Infrastructural Development 5.1 Parameters of Educational Infrastructure Educational infrastructure includes schooling and college facilities. Unlike most of social and economic parameters, Ahirwal region (1.20) was way ahead of the rest of Haryana (0.97) in terms of educational infrastructure in 1991 (Table 10). In fact it has maintained its supremacy during last two decades. In 2001, the index value for Ahirwal region (1.12) had a dip but it increased again in 2011 (1.21). Despite fairing quite well at aggregate level Ahirwal region has maintained significant inter-district inequality in the levels of educational infrastructure. Rewari district (1.36) recorded highest index value of educational infrastructure in 1991 followed by Mahendragarh district (1.22). Rewari with index value 1.34 was the leading district in this regard followed by Mahendragarh district in 2001 too. But in 2011 Mahendragarh district emerged as most developed district (1.38) in terms of educational infrastructure followed by Gurugram district (1.23). Table 10 Index of educational infrastructure

District/Area

1991

2001

2011

Gurugram

1.11

1.01

1.23

Rewari

1.36

1.34

1.18

Mahendragarh

1.22

1.13

1.38

Ahirwal Region

1.20

1.12

1.21

Rest of Haryana

0.97

0.98

0.97

Source as for Table 1

Dynamics and Spatiality of Socio-economic Development … Table 11 Index of health infrastructure

285

District/Area

1991

2001

2011

Gurugram

0.97

0.82

1.04

Rewari

1.03

1.14

1.24 1.03

Mahendragarh

0.98

1.08

Ahirwal Region

0.99

0.97

1.09

Rest of Haryana

1.00

1.01

0.99

Source as for Table 1

5.2 Parameters of Health Infrastructure Health infrastructure taken here pertain to government health facilities i.e. hospitals, community health centres, primary health centres and health sub-centres. The index value of health infrastructure for Ahirwal region was 0.99 in 1991 which meant that it was almost on par with the state average (Table 11). In 2001 Ahirwal region slightly slipped in terms of health infrastructure as index value was 0.97. But this region surged ahead of the rest of state during first decade of twenty-first century as its index value increased to 1.09. But there have been inter-district variations in the levels of health infrastructure within Ahirwal region. Rewari district has been far ahead of other two districts in this regard during last two decades. In 2011 index value of health infrastructure for Rewari district was 1.24, whereas it was 1.04 and 1.03 for Gurugram and Mahendragarh districts respectively.

5.3 Parameters of Road Transport, Communication and Banking Infrastructure Ahirwal region has maintained better road transport, communication, and banking infrastructure in comparison to the rest of Haryana during last two decades (Table 12). In 1991 the composite index value of these parameters in Ahirwal region was 1.05 which was quite higher than the rest Haryana (0.99). The index value for the region further increased to 1.08 in 2001 but declined to 1.04 in 2011. It reveals Table 12 Index of road transport, communication and banking infrastructure

District/Area

1991

2001

2011

Gurugram

1.09

1.08

1.00

Rewari

1.10

1.18

1.10

Mahendragarh

0.94

1.00

1.02

Ahirwal Region

1.05

1.08

1.04

Rest of Haryana

0.99

0.98

0.99

Source as for Table 1

286 Table 13 Index of infrastructural development

A. Yadav and M. S. Jaglan District/Area

1991

2001

2011

Gurugram

1.06

0.97

1.09

Rewari

1.16

1.22

1.17

Mahendragarh

1.05

1.07

1.14

Ahirwal Region

1.08

1.06

1.11

Rest of Haryana

0.99

0.99

0.98

Source as for Table 1

that Ahirwal region has had higher level of infrastructure of transportation, communication and banking facilities than the rest of Haryana. However, there have been inter-district variations in the levels of development of these parameters of infrastructure in Ahirwal region. Interestingly, in 2011 the level of development was highest in Rewari district (1.10).

5.4 Levels of Infrastructural Development Ahirwal region has been one notch up in overall level of infrastructural development in comparison to the rest of Haryana during last two decades (Table 13). In 1991 Ahirwal region had index value 1.08 which was significantly higher than the rest of Haryana (0.99). The situation was not different in 2001 as the index value of infrastructural development for the region was 1.06 and 0.99 for the rest of state. The infrastructure in Ahirwal region got further strengthened during next decade as its index value rose to 1.11. However, there are variations in the levels of infrastructural development within Ahirwal region. Rewrai district has recorded high level of infrastructural in the region during last two decades. Mahendragarh district has improved its position continuously during this period. Whereas, in the case of Gurugram district there was a dip in 2001 but it recovered significantly between 2001 and 2011.

6 Levels of Socio-Economic Development The Ahirwal region with index value 0.94 lagged far behind the rest of state (1.01) in terms of level of socio-economic development in 1991 (Table 14). The socioeconomic backwardness of the region during early 1990s is mainly attributed to lack of development in both economic (0.86) and social (0.89) spheres. However, during that period as well Ahirwal region maintained higher level of infrastructural development (1.08) in comparison to the rest of Haryana (0.99). There were considerable inter-district variations in level of socio-economic development within Ahirwal region in 1991. Gurugram district (1.0) mainly on account of better infrastructural

Dynamics and Spatiality of Socio-economic Development …

287

Table 14 Composite index (C.I.) of socio-economic development: 1991 District/Area

C.I. of social development

C.I. of economic development

C.I. of infrastructural development

C.I. of overall socio-economic development

Gurugram

0.92

1.01

1.06

1.00

Rewari

0.94

0.80

1.16

0.97

Mahendragarh

0.82

0.74

1.05

0.87

Ahirwal Region

0.89

0.86

1.08

0.94

Rest of Haryana

1.01

1.02

0.99

1.01

Haryana State

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

Source as Table 1

facilities was on par with state average in this regard. Mahendragarh with composite index value 0.87 was most backward district of the region. It lagged in terms of both economic (0.74) and social (0.82) parameters of development. Rewari district did very well in infrastructural sphere (1.16) but it trailed in terms of economic development (0.80) in 1991. The parameters of socio-economic development in Ahirwal region changed fast during last decade of twentieth century. Consequently, it was placed on par with the state average in 2001 (Table 15). It progressed well in the parameters of economic and infrastructural development but lagged behind the rest of Haryana in the sphere of social development (0.92). In 2001, Gurugram (1.04) was socio-economically most developed district of Ahirwal region as during the preceding decade this district (1.25) had a big leap forward in economic sphere. However, it continued to trail in terms of parameters of social development. It was closely followed by Rewari district (1.03) which was mainly due to outstanding performance of the district in terms of infrastructural development (1.22) and reasonable progression in social sphere (0.97). But Mahendragarh district (0.90) continued to lag behind other districts of the region in most parameters of socio-economic development. Table 15 Composite index (C.I.) of socio-economic development: 2001 District/Area

C.I. of social development

C.I. of economic development

C.I. of infrastructural development

C.I. of overall socio-economic development

Gurugram

0.90

1.25

0.97

1.04

Rewari

0.97

0.91

1.22

1.03

Mahendragarh

0.91

0.71

1.07

0.90

Ahirwal Region

0.92

1.01

1.06

1.00

Rest of Haryana

1.01

0.99

0.99

1.00

Haryana State

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

Source as for Table 1

288

A. Yadav and M. S. Jaglan

Table 16 Composite Index (C.I.) of socio-economic development: 2011 District/Area

C.I. of social development

C.I. of cconomic development

C.I. of infrastructural development

C.I. of overall socio-economic development

Gurugram

1.09

2.06

1.14

1.43

Rewari

1.01

0.97

1.17

1.05

Mahendragarh

0.93

0.66

1.09

0.89

Ahirwal Region

1.02

1.30

1.11

1.14

Rest of Haryana

0.99

0.95

0.98

0.97

Haryana State

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

Source as for Table 1

The fastest incremental change in the socio-economic parameters of Ahirwal region was recorded during first decade of twenty-first century. As a result this region attained higher level of socio-economic development in comparison to the rest of Haryana in 2011 (Table 16). The index value of level of socio-economic development for Ahirwal region was 1.14 in 2011 and it was far ahead of the rest of Haryana (0.97). It is mainly contributed by sharp increase in the level of economic development in the region where index value of economic development increased from 1.01 to 1.30 during the period 2001 to 2011. But most of the developmental activities in Ahirwal region are concentrated in Gurugram district (1.43). The higher level of socio-economic development in the district is mostly on account of fast economic progression as the index value of economic development for the district was as high as 2.06 in 2011. Contrary to this Mahendragarh has remained the most backward district of Ahirwal region with composite index value 0.89. The socioeconomic backwardness in the district is mainly on account of very low level of economic development (0.66) with respect to the state average. It also lags in terms of social parameters (0.93). The level of socio-economic development in Rewari district (1.05) is above the state average. It is mainly attributed to continued infrastructural development and improvement in social parameters during first decade of twenty-first century.

7 Conclusion and Policy Implications The present study has been undertaken with the broader objective of assessing the dynamics and pattern of socio-economic development in the Ahirwal Region of the state of Haryana in India, during the post economic reform period. This socio-cultural region lies in NCR and has been the area of favored location for manufacturing and service industry. It has been hypothesized that the foreign finance capital induced economic dynamism shall bring about socio-economic development in the region

Dynamics and Spatiality of Socio-economic Development …

289

which was largely a backward area. The study assesses the progress in entire spectrum of socio-economic sphere (social, economic and infrastructural sectors) in the region viz a viz the rest of the state. It is revealed that the Ahirwal was a socially backward region in comparison to the rest of Haryana till the turn of twentieth century. But it progressed well on this front during next decade and surpassed the rest of the state in 2011. The progress of education in Gurugram and Rewari districts has been the main advancing factor in overall social development in the region. The Ahirwal was also an economically backward region till early 1990s. But the location and concentration of industries and business in Gurugram and its surrounding area following restructuring of economy has provided impetus to the economy in the region. Consequently, it has emerged as economically fastest growing area in the state. This is despite the fact that this region continues to be an agriculturally backward area. There is also a huge difference in the level of economic development between Gurugram and Mahendragarh districts of the region. The region had quite welldeveloped infrastructure in 1990s. It has been ahead of the rest of state particularly with respect to educational infrastructure. It has also significantly gained in the sphere of health, roads, communication and banking infrastructure during post liberalization period. Ahirwal region has experienced overall fast socio-economic changes during the period 1991 to 2011. The speedy socio-economic development in the region is mainly on account of economic transformation during post liberalization period. Infrastructural growth has also significantly contributed in the development of the region. But it has created very significant intra-regional differences in the area. This is quite pronounced in economic sphere as most of the developmental activities in Ahirwal region are concentrated in Gurugram district. The higher level of socioeconomic development in this National Capital adjoining district is chiefly attributed to concentration of industries and business during last two decades. Rewari district has experienced improvement in infrastructure and social parameters during first decade of twenty-first century. But Mahendragarh remains the most backward district of Ahirwal region particularly on account of very low economic development and social backwardness. There are significant implications of the ongoing developmental process and pattern in Ahirwal region. Gurugram district has emerged as the hub of neo-liberal economic activities in the national capital region. It has transformed the very nature of Ahirwal region which had been characterized by socio-cultural homogeneity. It has created acute spatio-economic differentiations within Ahirwal region with Gurugram district on the top and Mahendragarh district on the bottom. It is a classic case of breaking down of a formal (socio-cultural) region under the mighty pressure of financial capital accumulation and expanding functional (economic) zone. Defying the neo-classical economic convergence theory the new economic policy has created the spatial complex of capital accumulation and prosperity in the vicinity of Gurugram and socio-economically backward hinterland in the form of Mahendragarh district.

290

A. Yadav and M. S. Jaglan

References Atkinson A, Bourguignon F (1982) Comparison of multi-dimensioned distributions of economic status. Rev Econ Stud 49(2):183–201. https://doi.org/10.2307/2297269 Bala A (2017) Social development in Haryana: a regional analysis. Int J Acad Res Dev 2(4):145–151 Bhalla GS, Tyagi DS (1989) Patterns in Indian agricultural development: a district level study. Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, New Delhi Bhatia VK, Rai SC (2003) Evaluation of socio-economic development in small areas. Indian society of agricultural statistics, IASRI Campus, Pusa, New Delhi Bhattacharya BB, Sakthivel S (2004) Regional growth and disparity in India: comparison of preand post-reform decades. Econ Pol Wkly 39(10):1071–1077 Chakravorty S (2003) Industrial location in post reform India: pattern of inter-regional divergence and intra-regional convergence. J Dev Stud 40(2):120–152 Conyers D (2001) Regional development. Zimbabwe Open University, Harare Das A (1999) Socio-economic development in India: a regional analysis. Dev Soc 28(2):313–345 Drewnowski J (1972) Social indicators and welfare measurement: remarks on methodology. J Dev Stud 8(3):77–90. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220387208421413 Government of Haryana (2017) Economic survey of Haryana, 2016–17 Department of economic and statistical analysis, Panchkula Haryana Guilmoto CZ, Rajan SI (2002) District level estimates of fertility from India’s 2001 census. Econ Pol Wkly 37(7):665–672 Guilmoto CZ, Rajan SI (2013) Fertility at the district level in India: lesson from the 2011 Census. Econ Pol Wkly 46(23):59–70 Hazarika M, Hazarika P (2019) Inter-district socio economic development disparities in Assam, India. Int Res J Soc Sci 8(3):21–27 Jaglan MS, Sindhu R (2008) Regional dimensions and determinants of gender disparity in educational attainment in rural Haryana. Population Geogr 30(1 & 2):45–56 Kalra R, Thakur S (2015) Development patterns in India: spatial convergence or divergence? GeoJournal 80:15–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-014-9527-0 Karim M (2013) Socio-economic and political development of south Asian countries: in Bangladesh perspective. Int J Humanit Soc Sci Invention 2(2):29–43 Koropeckyj IS (1972) Equalization of regional development in socialist countries: an empirical study. Econ Dev Cult Change 21(1):68–86. https://doi.org/10.1086/450608 Kundu A (1992) Construction of composite indices for regionalization. In: Mishra RP (ed) Regional planning: concepts, techniques, policies and case studies. Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi, pp 169–190 Maasoumi E (1986) The measurement and decomposition of multi-dimensional inequality. Econometrica 54(4):991–997 Mallick J (2014) Regional convergence of economic growth during post-reform period in India. Singap Econ Rev 54(2):1–18 Moser C (1972) Social indicators: systems methods and problems. Rev Income Wealth 19(2):133– 141. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4991.1973.tb00878.x Mustaquim M, Asif, (2016) Regional disparities in level of development in West Bengal: an inter district analysis. Ann Assoc Geogr India 36(1):120–152 Nair KRG (2004) Economic reforms and regional disparities in economic and social development in India. Report of a Research Project funded by the SER Division of the Planning Commission of the Government of India, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi Nizamuddin M (2014) An empirical study on regional disparities in the level of development in India: state wise analysis. Ge-Int J Manage Res 2(8):237–255 Ohlan R (2013) Pattern of regional disparities in socio-economic development in India: district level analysis. Soc Indic Res 114(3):841–873. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-0176-8 Rai SC, Bhatia VK (2014) Dimensions of regional disparities in socio-economic development of Assam. J Indian Soc Agri Stat 57:178–190

Dynamics and Spatiality of Socio-economic Development …

291

Rajeshwari, Jaglan MS (2010) Identification of backward districts: How objective are the criteria?. Rev Dev Change 15(1):101–111 Rakesh (2009) Crop diversification and agricultural growth in Haryana (a district wise study from 1980-81 to 2006-07). M.Phil. Dissertation, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Registrar General of India (1997) District level estimates of fertility and child mortality for 1991 and their interrelations with other variables. Occasional Paper No. 1, Ministry of Home, Government of India, New Delhi Sanga P, Shaban A (2017) Regional divergence and inequality in India. Econ Pol Wkly 52(1):102– 110 Sharma A (2012) Inter-state disparities in socio-economic development in North East Region of India. J Agric Sci 4(9):236–243. https://doi.org/10.5539/jas.v4n9p236 Sharma PK (2017) Spatial variations in level of development in western Rajasthan. Ann Assoc Geogr India 37(2):131–149 Sharma RC, Kumar N (1993) Regional disparities in the levels of socio-economic development in India. In: Tripathi RS, Tiwari RP (eds) Regional disparities and development in India. Ashish Publishing House, New Delhi, pp 61–84 Slottje DJ (1991) Measuring the quality of life across countries. Rev Econ Stat 73(4):684–693 Sultana C, Aktar N (2016) Regional imbalances in the levels of socio-economic development: a case study of Malda District West Bengal. NEHU J 14(1):69–86 Takamori H, Yamashita S (1973) Measuring socio-economic development: indicators, development paths, and international comparisons. Dev Econ 11(2):111–145. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.17461049.1973.tb00302.x Tejpal, Jaglan MS (2010) Southwestern Haryana: The Shadow Zone of Green Revolution. Ann Rajasthan Geogr Assoc 27:39–45 Tripathy U, Das M, Pandhi PL (2011) Regional variation in development profile of Orissa: an econometric analysis of indicator of development. Int J Multi Res 1(6):107–130

Socio-spatial Inequalities

Socio-spatial Dimensions of Disease Transition and Health Preparedness in Haryana, India Rajeshwari and Gulshan Mehra

Abstract Haryana is an economically progressive state of India that has taken a significant leap forward during past few decades. Its economic progress is reflected in various infrastructural indicators such as educational facilities, network of motorable roads with connectivity of each village, electricity and water supply and other infrastructural facilities. This chapter examines the progress and process of health and disease transition which depicts how shift in death and disease pattern has occurred since 1966 (the formation of state) to 2016. The shift in mortality is studied with medical record data and it reveals that shift has taken place in cause of death in the state. The analysis of disease pattern has been carried out at two levels, i.e., by using medical records and household data with self-reported illnesses. It reveals that though the burden of non-communicable diseases has increased, yet the state is carrying significant load of communicable diseases. This indicates that the health transition is not complete and the state is carrying dual burden of disease. The socio-spatial analysis reveals that societal stratification, education and occupation characteristics of the households continue to impact prevalence levels of diseases and health outcomes. In terms of health preparedness there are spatial and critical gaps, particularly at the level of primary health care infrastructure. The low utilisation levels of public health care facilities mainly on account of their poor quality, further indicates poor preparedness in combating existing diseases. Keywords Mortality · Morbidity · Disease transition · Communicable diseases · Haryana · Health preparedness

Rajeshwari (B) Department of Geography, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India G. Mehra Geography, Department of Higher Education, Panchkula, Haryana, India © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 M. S. Jaglan and Rajeshwari (eds.), Reflections on 21st Century Human Habitats in India, Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3100-9_12

295

296

Rajeshwari and G. Mehra

1 Introduction Over the past centuries, mortality and diseases have been changing all over world with variations in time and space. The decline in mortality, increase in life expectancy, and a shift in the leading causes of morbidity and mortality from infectious and parasitic diseases to non-communicable, chronic, and degenerative diseases is known as epidemiologic transition. The theory of epidemiological transition focuses on “the complex change in patterns of health, disease and on the interactions between these patterns and their demographic, economic and sociologic determinants and consequences” (Omran 1971; 1982). India has a population of 1.34 billion, the second largest in the world. Evidences suggest that India has experienced decline in mortality and change in disease pattern predominantly from infectious to chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), over a period of time. It may however, be noted that different states of India have experienced heterogeneous economic growth and have revealed variations in lifestyle, health and other parameters of social development. Consequently, there have been variations in dominant cause of death and disease burden in the population across the states. These phenomena have been studied and revealed by various researchers (Visaria 2004; Quigley 2006; Joshi et al 2006). The major individual causes’ of death in India during 1980s were intestinal infections, tuberculosis, conditions originating in perinatal period, and pneumonia. The situation however, changed dramatically in last three decades. During 2016, noncommunicable diseases, namely diabetes, ischemic heart disease and cancer emerged as main cause of death. Some other studies also reveal that while per capita disease burden measured as disability adjusted life years (DALY) in India has dropped by about one-third over the past 26 years, but its magnitude, causes and risk burden varies greatly across states (GBD 2016 Cause of Death Collaborators 2017). In majority of Indian states (with an exception of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand), the proportion of deaths caused by non-communicable diseases exceeded that of communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases (CMNND). On the basis of deaths and disease burden (measured as DALY), a collaborative study published in Lancet has grouped Indian states into four different epidemiological transition levels (ETL). The high ETL group of states had 18.0% of total DALY from communicable diseases, 69.0% from non-communicable diseases and 13.0% from injuries and accidents respectively. The low ETL group is characterized by 39% of total DALY from communicable disease, 49% from non-communicable diseases and 12% from injuries. The DALY ratio of communicable and non-communicable diseases in lower middle ETL and higher middle ETL group is 30:60 and 26:63 respectively, while injuries/accidents account for about 10% in both cases. High ETL group includes the states of Kerala, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh while 7 states namely Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, J&K and Haryana are in higher middle ETL group. The lower middle group ETL includes all north eastern states and Gujarat. The states of central and western India namely Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan find place in low ETL group. It may be noted that in above mentioned study, Haryana is

Socio-spatial Dimensions of Disease Transition and Health ...

297

listed among the higher middle category of epidemiologic transition level, i.e. DALY ratio of non-communicable and communicable disease as cause of death is 63: 26, whereas injuries accidents account for 12% of total DALY rate (Dandona 2017). In another study by NITI Aayog (GOI 2018), all Indian states have been ranked on a health index which was based on 26 indicators of three domains—health outcome; health monitoring and health service delivery system. The bottom one-third states have been categorized as “Aspirants” (with index score below 48), while the middle one-third states have been termed as “Achievers” (with index score 48 to 62), showing good performance. The best performing states (with an index score above 62) have been called “Front Runners”. It is surprising that in terms of overall health index score, the economically developed state of Haryana found itself among the “Aspirant” states which is a group of mostly economically poor states and require concerted efforts on various fronts (known as EAG states1 ). A further disaggregation of health index into three different domains also reveal startling picture in case of Haryana. Its performance is poor in health outcome domain as it is marked by increase in U5 mortality and decline in sex ratio at birth (2015–16). Further, in terms of health system and service delivery, while 15 states (out of 21 large states) improved their score, Haryana showed a negative change of more than two points. The state recorded 43% indicators in ‘deteriorated’ and ‘most deteriorated’ categories (GOI 2018, p. 27). This is despite the fact that the state has shown impressive economic growth during recent past. Its gross state domestic product (GSDP) at constant prices has been growing at a rate of 8% per annum and its per capita income has been increasing by 6.7% during recent period (Government of Haryana 2020). The per capita income of the state is higher than national average both at current and constant prices. The state has fared well on demographic parameters by showing itself on the path of stabilizing its population growth with declining trend in fertility and mortality.

2 Conceptual Framework and Objectives of Study Human health is a multidimensional concept which is measured in terms of mortality, life expectancy, prevalence of diseases or illness, nutritional status and other health infrastructural factors like availability of health facilities, water supply, sanitation, etc. World Health Organization has used diseases and their prevalence as a summary measure of health status because of its consistent relationships with future mortality. An objective assessment of disease burden of a region/nation is also essential from the perspective of health policy. Recent researches have widely used self-reported illness as a measure of health status and found it to be predictive of mortality and directly linked to health seeking behaviour and the need of healthcare facilities. Hence, prevalence of diseases in a region is a summary indicator of health outcome, health coverage and health intervention measures. The basic premise of disease studies (epidemiology) is that mortality and disease are not randomly distributed across population. Following the incomparable decline of mortality in industrialized countries during late eighteenth and nineteenth century,

298

Rajeshwari and G. Mehra

Fig. 1 Epidemiologic and demographic transition overlap. Source Drawn by authors adapted from Omran (1971)

Omran has put forward a theory of disease transition (Omran 1971, 1982). The theory outlines a progression from ‘Age of Pestilence and Famine’ through the ‘Age of Receding Pandemics’ and culminates in the ‘Age of Degenerative and Manmade Diseases’ (Fig. 1). It is presented as a function of time and socio-economic development. Omran has modelled the stages of disease or epidemiologic transition parallel to demographic transition. Demographic transition is the transition from high mortality and fertility to a stable population with low mortality and fertility. In stage I, a fluctuating mortality rate reflects human helplessness in the wake of epidemics, wars and other natural and man-made calamities. The second stage is characterized with decreasing incidences of pandemics and advancement and spread of medical technologies. In the advanced third stage, when death rate reaches plateau stage and replacement level of fertility is attained, life expectancy in modern societies would converge towards limits determined by the new epidemiological conditions. The fluctuating fertility in the fourth stage suggests human decision making is sensitive to economic change. During the epidemiological transition, the most pronounced changes in health and disease may occur among children and mothers resulting in decrease in mortality. Epidemiologic transition in health and disease is therefore, closely associated with demographic and socio-economic transition and with changes in life style and modernization. Hence, a shift takes place from communicable diseases to non-communicable and life style diseases in the society.

Socio-spatial Dimensions of Disease Transition and Health ...

299

Communicable diseases consist of infectious and parasitic diseases, maternal, perinatal and nutritional disorder. Non-communicable and life style diseases include cardiovascular disorders, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, etc. Many quantitative measures have been used to study the different stages of epidemiologic transition. The ratio of deaths caused by non-communicable diseases to communicable diseases has been proposed as an indicator of country’s stage of transition (Murray and Lopez 1997a, b). The time and pace of transition varies significantly across countries. Generally, all countries of the world fall in one of these three basic models: (i) the classical model, (ii) the delayed model, and (iii) an accelerated model. The classical model describes three stages of transition as proposed by Omran. In ‘the delayed model’ the ‘fourth stage’ of epidemiologic transition is proposed by Olshansky and Ault (1986). This is the ‘Age of Delayed Degenerative Diseases’ in which declining age-specific mortality results in a gradual shift of non-communicable burden to older ages, with underlying causes of death showing little overall changes. This stage of transition is associated with population aging and has assumed greater importance as the senior elderly population, aged 80 years and older, has increased. Many developed countries are now placed in the fourth stage of demographic transition as a result of shift in diseases and population ageing (Olashansky and Ault 1986). The ‘Accelerated model’ is applied in case of Japan, which demonstrated rapid demographic and disease transition after World War II up to 1970. In the context of preceding discussion and theoretical framework, the present chapter attempts to study the pace of change and stage of health and disease transition in the state of Haryana. It studies the existing diseases pattern and the shift in the diseases and mortality from 1966–2016. It also examines the health care preparedness of the state in dealing with existing diseases. The study is divided into three sections, where first section analyses the mortality transition based on cause of death statistics. The second section shows the trend of disease occurrence over last five decades (1966–2016), and existing levels of diseases pattern with reference to social, educational and economic characteristics of population. The third section evaluates the health preparedness in terms of availability of health infrastructure and its utilization in the state.

3 Data Base and Methods The mortality shift in the population has been studied by obtaining secondary data from hospital records. The disease pattern has been studied by using both primary and secondary data. The secondary data for mortality shift relates to the cause of death statistics, while for disease prevalence indoor and outdoor patients, the record of public or government health institutions has been taken into account. The causes of death and disease statistics have been taken as per tenth international classification of diseases.2 In order to understand the pattern, all seventeen systems of diseases have been clubbed into four groups. Group I is named as CMMND (communicable, maternal, neonatal, nutritional diseases) comprising 6 broad system of diseases,

300

Rajeshwari and G. Mehra

i.e., infectious, parasitic, respiratory infections, complications during pregnancy, conditions originating in perinatal conditions and nutritional deficiency. Group II is named as NCD (non-communicable diseases) and includes the diseases of life style, namely neoplasm or cancers, diseases of circulatory system, i.e., hypertension and heart diseases, mental disorders, diseases of nervous system, sense organs, digestive system, genito-urinary system, musculoskeletal and connective tissue i.e., bones and joints. Group III is named as ‘Others’, and refers to other causes of disease which largely include symptoms, signs and ill-defined conditions and Group IV includes accidents, injury, poisoning, self-harm, etc. The primary data for diseases prevalence relates to unit level (household) data of 71st round of National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), conducted in the year 2014 (Jan. to December 2014). NSSO disease data pertains to self-reported ailments based on symptoms related to an exhaustive list of 60 diseases.3 It may be noted that self-rated health is being considered a better predictor of mortality (Idler and Benyamini 1997). This data has two reference period, i.e., current ailment (illness reported within 15 days of survey) and hospitalisation during 365 days of survey, (which was from January to December 2014). In the present chapter, the proportion of ailing persons (PAP) has been computed based on 15 days reference period while disease prevalence rate, hospitalisation rate, duration of chronic ailment and spells of ailments treated on medical advice has been computed on the basis of 365 days reference period. The self- reported and hospitalised treatment on medical advice is grouped into 15 major categories based on 60 reported diseases4 and is comparable to 10th international disease classification. PAP is computed as the ratio of current population (excluding former/deceased members) reporting ailment and the current population exposed to the risk. The hospitalisation rate however, is calculated on the basis of ratio of current population to the current indoor patients plus former indoor patients during last 365 days. It may also be noted that hospitalisation period of child birth has been excluded in this computation. Chronic disease refers to those patients suffering from specific diseases for more than one month. The socio-spatial analysis of disease prevalence refers its prevalence among population of different caste affiliation (characterised as social groups) and with different education levels. The caste affiliation is categorised into four broad social groups, which are STs (Scheduled Tribes), SCs (Scheduled castes), OBCs (Other backward castes) and ‘Others’ (all other castes other than SCs and OBCs). There is no ST population in Haryana, so there are only three broad social groups taken into account. The education level is determined by years of schooling and completed education levels. These categories are: (i) illiterate, (ii) literate but below primary, (iii) primary and upper primary, (iv) secondary, (v) higher secondary, (vi) graduate, (vii) post graduate and above. Occupation often corresponds to income levels, hence occupational engagement of households in rural and urban areas are considered separately for studying disease prevalence and its type. In rural areas six occupational categories and in urban areas 4 occupational categories have been taken into account. In rural areas, these are cultivators or self-employed in agriculture, self-employed in non-agriculture, casual/wage labour in agriculture/non-agriculture,

Socio-spatial Dimensions of Disease Transition and Health ...

301

regular wage/salary earnings, others; and in urban areas four main occupation engagements are self- employed, regular wage/salary earners, casual labour and others. Healthcare preparedness has been studied in terms of availability of health care infrastructure and of its utilization with reference to diseases. The availability has been assessed with secondary data released by Director General of Health Services, Haryana. The utilization of health services is studied with primary, unit level data of 71st round, pertaining to year 2014 (NSSO 2016). It reflects the quality and preparedness of public health infrastructure in the state.

4 Pattern of Mortality Causes This section presents the trend and spatial pattern of mortality causes.

4.1 Shifts in Mortality Causes Indian population has experienced sustained increase in life expectancy and so is true in the state of Haryana. Analysis of cause of death statistics provides significant insights into health status of people. Table 1 shows that during 1966, about 27% deaths in the state occurred due to infectious and parasitic diseases (mainly infections such as cholera, typhoid, gastroenteritis, bacterial, viral, malaria and tuberculosis diseases). Another major cause of death was conditions originating in perinatal period and maternal deaths, which accounted for about one-sixth of the total deaths. The third major cause of mortality was injury, accidents and poisoning with 16% of total deaths. It was followed by non-communicable disease causes such as deaths due to circulatory system (rheumatic heart diseases, hypertensive diseases) and it caused 9% of total deaths. The proportion of deaths due to diseases of respiratory system (influenza, pneumonia, and bronchitis/asthma) was about 6% during this period. Hence, it may be noted that during 1960s, the main causes of mortality in Haryana were communicable and primitive ailments (infectious diseases, complications in pregnancy, conditions originating in perinatal period etc.). Generally, the dominance of these diseases is seen among poorer population and it typically declines with development and availability of better access to health care as postulated by the Model of Disease Transition. The infectious and parasitic diseases continued to remain a cause of mortality as it accounted for almost one-third of total deaths during 1970s and 1980s. If one adds all CMMND (communicable, maternal and nutritional diseases together), then Group I diseases accounted for 50% of all deaths. It must be noted that accidents and injuries also showed an upward trend and constituted about one-fourth to onefifth of total mortality in the state. The shift in mortality causes started in mid-1980s with a decline in deaths from infectious and parasitic diseases. However, deaths from respiratory system of diseases and due to conditions originating in perinatal

2.18 8.90 5.27

Nervous system, sense organ

Circulatory system

Respiratory system

16.1 100.0

Injury and poisoning

Haryana (All diseases)

100.0

24.6

*

0.66

*

*

0.35

4.25

4.34

3.20

1.90

7.70

2.80

0.35

2.57

1.12

2.28

37.62

1971

100.0

21.75

*

4.6

*

*

0.10

0.50

0.86

6.3

4.70

14.2

2.46

0.18

2.66

1.39

1.23

39.41

1975

24.90 100.0

100.0

*

4.87

*

*

0.28

3.12

3.00

0.76

10.67

14.20

3.73

0.13

4.37

1.44

1.51

27.02

1985

16.90

*

2.32

*

*

0.70

1.97

7.44

6.57

11.13

11.69

2.11

0.16

3.43

2.09

2.09

31.38

1980

Source RGI. Report on causes of death in India, Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi Note * refers to the absence of these groups in disease classification

10.3 *

Congenital anomalies

Symptoms, signs and ill-defined conditions

*

Musculoskeletal system and connective tissue

Conditions in perinatal period

1.09 *

Skin and subcutaneous tissue

5.38

0.23

Mental disorders

Complications of pregnancy

2.61

Blood and blood forming organs

6.34

1.83

Endocrine, nutritional, maternity and immunity disorders

6.20

1.56

Neoplasms

Genito-urinary system

27.09

Infectious and parasitic diseases

Digestive system

1966

Group of diseases

Table 1 Distribution of deaths by major diseases in Haryana: 1966 to 2015

100.0

14.81

10.1

8.8

0.27

0.03

0.23

2.94

2.57

3.4

19.86

10.2

4.77

0.08

2.05

2.89

1.74

16.72

1990

100.0

13.4

10.2

7.7

0.31

0.03

0.26

2.8

1.98

3.12

9.7

19.2

5.1

0.13

2.8

3.1

1.8

17.55

1995

100.0

21.15

5.42

7.98

0.07

0.01

0.16

0.69

2.00

3.76

11.07

24.6

3.7

0.07

1.3

1.62

2.4

14.0

2000

100.0

24.30

6.12

3.86

0.36

0.10

0.02

0.80

2.49

5.57

9.45

20.41

3.08

0.09

2.36

1.88

1.78

17.04

2005

100.0

12.5

13.2

3.3

0.41

0.5

0.03

0.5

2.5

4.7

8.3

30.7

1.4

0.05

1.0

2.7

4.5

12.9

2010

100.0

21.73

4.01

6.75

0.11

0.78

0.05

0.23

1.39

2.13

10.68

37.14

1.81

0.06

0.92

1.12

1.33

9.77

2015

302 Rajeshwari and G. Mehra

Socio-spatial Dimensions of Disease Transition and Health ...

303

Fig. 2 Trend of major mortality causes in Haryana: 1966 to 2015. Source Drawn by authors based on Table 1

period increased during this period. In 1990s, the share of infectious and parasitic diseases declined further (13% points) and it marked a shift in leading mortality cause (Fig. 2). This decline is accompanied by emergence of mortality from diseases of circulatory system as a leading cause of death in the state. In the first decade of twenty-first century, the proportion of deaths from infectious and parasitic diseases declined further and mortality due to diseases of circulatory system kept increasing. It may however be noted that the diseases of respiratory system remained a significant cause of mortality with fluctuations. Similarly, the deaths caused by conditions originating in perinatal period also remained high with intermittent fluctuations. Injury, poisoning, accidents and self-harm (suicides) has remained the third major cause of mortality in the state during recent period.

4.2 Spatial Pattern of Mortality Causes The spatial pattern of mortality causes relates to the year 2015. At present, the major cause of mortality is diseases of circulatory system, with considerable inter-district variations. The district-wise pattern indicates that if diseases are clubbed together, then Group I diseases are leading cause of death (more than 50%) in 4 southern and 2 central districts of Haryana (Fig. 3). Group II diseases are dominant cause of mortality (more than 55%) in four districts. In another 6 districts a bi-polar pattern is visible, where proportion of deaths due to Group I and Group II diseases are almost equal. Generally, it is considered that high mortality due to Group II (noncommunicable or life style diseases) is prevalent among richer section of population as these are considered “affluent disease”. However, this is not corroborated by the spatial pattern in the state as all the districts reported significant proportion of deaths from non-communicable diseases, irrespective of their levels of agricultural

304

Rajeshwari and G. Mehra

Fig. 3 Pattern of causes of death in Haryana: 2015. Source Drawn by authors based on Table 2

or economic development. Further, the singular leading cause of death in the state is diseases of circulatory system, meaning thereby that transition is universal. Accidents and injuries are reported to be a leading cause of death (>35 present) in Gurugram, Sonipat, Yamunanagar, Fatehabad, Sirs and Bhiwani districts, which in general may be related to increase in vehicular traffic. The socio-economic impact of deaths due

Socio-spatial Dimensions of Disease Transition and Health ...

305

to accidents and heart diseases are sudden and hence devastating, which is analysed by various other studies (Table 2). Some studies have indicated that mortality from Group IV and Group II generally peak at younger ages, and the deceased are the main income earners of the household and hence it entails a very heavy social and economic cost to society. (Joshi et al. 2006). The spatial distribution pattern of mortality by cause reveals that southern districts of the state may be categorised in the second stage of epidemiologic transition where Group I diseases are main cause of death, whereas in northern districts of the state Group II diseases are the leading cause of deaths indicating these districts to be in the third stage of epidemiologic transition. There appears a north south divide in epidemiologic transition in the state which overall carries the triple burden- (i) a quantum rises in mortality from non-communicable diseases, (ii) Table 2 Causes of death by major diseases in Haryana: 2015 Districts (Group IV)

CMMND (Group I)

NCD (Group II)

Others (Group III)

Injuries/Accidents (Group IV)

Rohtak

6.25

62.50

6.25

Ambala

16.56

63.62

4.14

25.00 15.69

M C Rohtak

20.26

58.89

2.12

18.73

Rewari

23.58

56.60

0.94

18.87

Bhiwani

23.72

39.74

0.64

35.90

Jhajjar

25.00

62.50

12.50

0.00

Gurgaon

27.88

24.16

1.86

46.10

Fatehabad

27.91

25.58

4.65

41.86

Sirsa

31.18

24.01

1.79

43.01

Panipat

31.87

28.57

0.00

39.56

Yamunanagar

32.57

11.18

21.38

34.87

Karnal

36.73

22.51

23.22

17.54

Kurukshetra

37.32

34.93

0.96

26.79

Jind

40.74

29.63

0.00

29.63

Panchkula

42.04

47.77

5.10

5.10

Sonipat

46.81

14.89

0.00

38.30

Kaithal

53.99

11.23

7.25

27.54

Mewat

63.79

6.90

0.00

29.31

Mahendragarh

65.98

19.59

0.00

14.43

Faridabad

69.62

15.96

7.50

6.92

Palwal

70.59

0.00

5.88

23.53

Hisar

73.11

10.08

0.00

16.81

Haryana

29.46

44.80

4.01

21.73

Source Health and disease profile of Haryana, DGHS, Govt of Haryana, 2016

306

Rajeshwari and G. Mehra

increasing deaths from injuries/accidents and (iii) an unfinished agenda of mortality from communicable diseases.

5 Shifts in Morbidity/Disease Pattern In epidemiological studies, morbidity or disease pattern is taken as crucial indicator of population well-being. It explains health-seeking behaviour and helps in devising appropriate policies to protect and maintain human health. Hence, disease trend and its spatial pattern are studied using two methods. The first method uses secondary data of indoor and outdoor patients treated for various diseases in public hospitals, compiled by Directorate of Health Services, Haryana, as per 10th International Classification of Diseases. It may be noted that though it may provide a full spectrum of diseases, yet it suffers from underreporting. There are various studies that have empirically revealed that utilisation of government/public hospitals in curative ailments is less than thirty presents (Kumar 1994; Gumber and Berman 1997; NSSO 2006; Sharma 2015). Further, in case of emergent illnesses, the patients might visit private hospitals due to quick care and better-quality services. Nonetheless, at secondary level, this is the only source of information to study the trend and disease pattern. The second method uses NSSO household data which is based on self-reported diseases (unit level data of NSSO 71st round, health survey January to June, 2014).

5.1 Trend of Disease Occurrence The disease occurrence, measured as proportion of specific disease in total registered patients (indoor and outdoor) in public hospitals from 1966 to 2015 indicates that during mid-1960s and early 70s, CMMND, diseases of Group I, accounted for onefifth of total disease load (Table 3). Among Group II (non-communicable disease, NCD), most common diseases pertained to sense organs (mainly eye diseases) followed by diseases of respiratory system (comprising 16 and 14% of all diseases respectively). The patients suffering from genito-urinary (related to reproductive tract) and of circulatory system diseases accounted for 13% of total disease load. Hence, it may be noted that chronic non-communicable diseases were also present in mid-1960s and accounted for a noticeable proportion of total disease load. In mid-1970s there was a preponderance of patients from infectious and parasitic disease, about 29% of total ailments. The CMMND (Group I) comprised of almost 40% of disease load. Among non-communicable diseases (Group II), the most common reported diseases were of sense organs (mainly related to eye) and digestive system. The diseases of respiratory system prevailed in about 8% of all patients. During early 1980s, the proportion of CMMND diseases declined and Group II was dominated by skin diseases patients. Further, there was a steady increase in ailments

11.36 100.0

Neoplasms

Endocrine, nutritional, maternity and immunity disorders

Blood and blood forming organs

Mental disorders

Nervous system, sense organ diseases

Circulatory System

Respiratory system

Digestive system

Genito-urinary system

Complications of pregnancy

Skin and subcutaneous tissue

Musculoskeletal system and connective tissue

Congenital anomalies

Conditions in perinatal period

Symptoms, signs and ill-defined conditions

Injury and poisoning

Total

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

XI

XII

XIII

XIV

XV

XVI

XVII

18.78 100.0

100.0

*

2.15

*

*

6.94

0.11

5.65

10.24

7.18

1.29

9.34

0.36

5.18

4.60

0.30

28.90

1976

23.21

*

0.27

*

*

10.02

2.74

3.09

6.05

6.95

0.88

19.75

0.91

6.21

3.33

0.44

16.15

1971

Source Health and Disease Profile of Haryana, DGHS, Govt of Haryana, 2016 Note * refers that Group XIII, XIV and XVI were not classified separately till 1985

*

0.94

*

*

6.69

2.07

12.48

6.31

14.51

13.27

16.64

0.16

3.08

1.31

0.62

10.55

Infectious and parasitic diseases

I

1966

Diseases

Group

100.0

18.26

*

0.11

*

*

22.39

3.36

3.16

8.00

10.87

1.45

0.30

0.46

10.47

1.79

0.20

18.19

1981

100.0

17.24

*

0.78

*

*

21.78

5.13

5.90

11.33

12.62

1.86

0.71

0.47

9.62

1.33

0.36

11.00

1985

100.0

8.49

10.99

0.57

0.07

3.47

9.74

2.55

4.57

8.00

19.84

1.53

9.39

0.78

3.90

2.27

0.18

13.68

1991

100.0

7.98

13.77

0.23

0.14

4.10

8.03

2.82

4.95

8.71

19.33

1.79

9.24

0.84

3.71

2.23

0.15

11.98

1996

100.0

7.05

10.69

0.19

0.14

4.35

8.31

2.35

4.91

4.63

27.86

2.04

8.72

0.73

3.65

1.93

0.25

12.21

2001

100.0

6.07

10.04

0.16

0.09

5.27

8.79

1.69

4.81

11.27

22.15

2.13

8.88

0.82

3.96

2.11

0.24

11.52

2005

Table 3 Distribution of patients by major diseases in Haryana: 1966 to 2015 (% indoor and outdoor patients treated in government institutes)

100.0

9.64

8.73

0.71

0.11

4.76

7.53

3.43

5.09

4.18

24.22

3.53

9.44

0.56

4.72

3.72

0.24

9.40

2015

Socio-spatial Dimensions of Disease Transition and Health ... 307

308

Rajeshwari and G. Mehra

Fig. 4 Trend of major disease occurrence in Haryana. Source Based on Table 3

of patients having respiratory system diseases. The proportion of patients related to injury, accidents and poisoning was also significant and remained high (Table 3). The decade of 1990s witnessed a major shift in morbidity pattern as infectious and parasitic disease declined significantly (14%). But the occurrence of respiratory system diseases remained stubbornly high, accounting for one-fifth of total disease load. The proportion of injury, poisoning and accidents had a significant proportion in 1970s and 1980s, but it declined to less than 10% in 1990s. In subsequent years, the picture remained more or less unchanged, with diseases of respiratory system accounting for about one-fourth of total load, infectious and parasitic disease with a proportion of 12% and a steady rise in non-communicable disease load. It may however be noted that within Group II, the sense organ and nervous system diseases and skin diseases accounted for noticeable proportion (9 and 7% respectively) (Fig. 4). The above analysis shows that over the period the load of non-communicable disease has increased by more than 2 times than that of communicable disease load. It may however be noted that within Group II, the respiratory system of diseases constitutes about half of the ailments. The ailments of sense organ (largely eye), digestive system and skin are also present in a significant proportion. It needs to be mentioned that unlike mortality causes of Group II, the proportion of circulatory system diseases, neoplasm (cancer) and diabetes are reported to be quite low. The reasons for this difference may be twofold. First, empirical evidences suggest that only 20% population in case of ailments use public health services (NSSO 2006, 2016; Gumber and Berman 1997). Another reason may be that since heart diseases, hypertension require quick and immediate care, hence people might be preferring private services over public hospitals.

Socio-spatial Dimensions of Disease Transition and Health ...

309

5.2 Variations in Disease Occurrence In this section, self-reported ailments, their types and hospitalisation based on unit level data of NSSO has been analysed with reference to age, caste groups, educational level and occupational characteristics of population in rural and urban areas in Haryana.

5.2.1

Age Specific Disease Pattern

The current disease occurrence rate (15 days reference period) in the state is 66 per thousand persons with marked rural urban differentials. Its prevalence is much higher in urban areas with a rate of 82.1 as compared to 57.5 in rural Haryana. Since NSSO collects self-reported ailments, hence the perception of health and disease varies across rural and urban areas. The age specific prevalence also indicates large variations across age and in rural and urban areas. In case of rural areas, the current ailment is high among children (0–4 years), working age group (30–44 years) and elderly population (60+ age group). It is least among adolescent and young working age population (10–14 and 15–29 years respectively). It may also be noted that in urban Haryana, its occurrence is twice that of its rural counterparts in 45 to 59 agegroup and is significantly higher among 60+ aged population. About 44 persons per thousand populations are hospitalised for treatment. The statistics also reveal that hospitalised treatment is higher in urban areas across age groups as compared to their rural counterparts (Table 4). The rural-urban gap in hospitalisation is more striking among children and older age population. The age specific type of diseases is presented in Fig. 5 which indicates that the most common disease among children (0–14 age group) is infectious and parasitic infection (diarrhoea, jaundice, worm infestation, malarial fever or other viral fevers etc.). These ailments account for 85–95% disease load among children. Among Table 4 Age specific disease occurrence and hospitalization (‘000 persons) in Haryana: 2014 Current disease occurrence (15 days)

Hospitalization (365 Days)

Rural

Urban

Total

Rural

Urban

Total

98.6

57.9

81.9

26

61

40

5–9

71.3

61.1

66.4

7

11

9

10–14

27.3

34.7

30.3

10

12

11

15–29

29.3

61.6

39.6

55

60

56

30–44

81.7

88.6

84.5

44

33

40

45–59

53.6

130.0

80.8

46

88

61

60+

79.7

139.9

92.6

42

69

48

Total

57.5

82.1

66.0

42

50

44

0–4

Source Computed by authors from NSSO 71st Round unit level data

310

Rajeshwari and G. Mehra

Fig. 5 Age specific types of diseases in Haryana: 2014. Source Drawn by authors based on NSSO, 71st round unit level data

the youth of 15–29 age group, the most frequently occurring disease is parasitic infection, followed by respiratory diseases (acute upper respiratory infections and bronchial asthma). There is a shift in the disease pattern with increase in age. Among the population of 30–44 years, the proportion of infectious and parasitic disease was one–fourth and the rest of 60% was non-communicable diseases. Further in population of 45–59 years, the non-communicable disease load is higher. The most frequently occurring disease among them is diabetes, disorder of joint and bones and cardio-vascular diseases. In case of aged population, respiratory diseases are most common, followed by heart and hypertension, and disorder of joints and bones. The load of infectious and parasitic disease is relatively low (14.2%) among elderly population.

5.2.2

Disease Pattern by Social Groups

The restricted access to clean water, sanitation, nutrition and housing to certain section of population due to their social exclusion and the steep social gradient in Indian society make them vulnerable to diseases and poor health outcomes. Hence, an attempt has been made to study the disease occurrence vis-à-vis social groups in Haryana. The current disease prevalence by social groups reveals that there is a big difference in its occurrence across caste groups (Table 5). Its prevalence is highest among SCs (78/ thousand population). The high incidence of diseases among socially and economically most deprived section of the society indicates that there are inherent caste-related inequalities which cast their shadow on health outcomes too. The hospitalisation however is highest among ‘Others’ social group. The low hospitalisation rate among SCs as compared to OBCs and Others indicates their relatively poor access to curative care. It may however, be noted that chronic diseases incidences are higher among ‘Others’ group as compared to SCs and OBCs.

Socio-spatial Dimensions of Disease Transition and Health ...

311

Table 5 Disease occurrence vis-a-vis socio-economic characteristic of population in Haryana: 2014 (number per ‘000 persons) Characteristics

Current disease occurrence (15 days)

Hospitalisation (365 days)

Chronic diseases (ailing >30days)

SCs

78

38

34

OBCs

33

35

32

Others

59

73

51

Social groups

Educational status Illiterate

52

52

30

Below primary

29

18

10

Primary and upper primary

58

50

40

Secondary

20

49

19

Higher secondary

25

38

7

Graduate

9

37

23

Post Graduate+

12

71

29

Occupational Status (Rural) Agriculture/cultivators

58

57

29

Self-employed (non-agriculture)

25

26

34

Regular wage/salary

21

40

11

Casual labour in agriculture

109

55

17

Casual labour in non-agriculture

63

26

19

Others

5

43

48

Occupational Type (Urban) Self employed

29

46

29

Salary/regular wage

139

106

62

Casual labour

02

37

19

Others

05

60

38

Total

66

44

39

Source Computed by authors from NSSO 71st round unit level data

The types of diseases implicitly do not reveal a pattern with the social groups (Table 6). One may notice that infectious and parasitic disease is most commonly prevalent across caste groups and accounts for half of total disease load, yet its prevalence is relatively higher among OBCs (53%), followed by ‘Others’. Respiratory infection is the second largest prevalent disease among SCs (17% of total ailments). Among OBCs, the second most common disease is cardiovascular ailment followed

312

Rajeshwari and G. Mehra

Table 6 Type of Diseases vis-à-vis Social Groups in Haryana: 2014 (% reported during last 15 days) Diseases

SCs

OBCs

Others

All Social Groups

Infections

45.00

53.60

50.00

47.00

Respiratory

17.60

6.10

11.00

10.50

6.80

7.00

0.90

3.70

Cardiovascular

5.20

12.60

Endocrine/Nutritional

4.30

3.70

Psychiatry and Neurological

3.50

1.60

4.40

3.60

Musculoskeletal(bones)

3.50

2.80

7.40

8.00

Eye and Ear

1.10

4.20

0.10

2.80

Obstetric

0.90

0.10

0.50

0.70

Genito Urinary

0.60

0.00

0.00

1.70

Cancer

0.30

0.10

1.70

0.80

Blood Disease

0.20

0.50

1.10

0.50

0.00

0.40

0.20

0.30

7.20

1.70

Gastro Intestinal

Injuries/Accident Other diseases All Diseases

10.8 100.0

100.0

6.70 14.0

100.0

7.40 8.20

4.60 100.0

Source Computed by author with NSSO 71st Round unit level data

by gastro intestinal and respiratory infections. As far as ‘Others’ caste group is concerned, the second most common disease is diabetes followed by respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. The proportion of other non-communicable diseases is also comparatively high among ‘Others’ (Table 6). The hospitalisation rate however, indicates that socio-economically advance group (‘Others’) is in advantageous position (Table 5).

5.2.3

Disease Pattern by Educational Status

There is a growing body of research revealing that education improves public health and promotes health equity. The effects of education on health may be manifold and it may act in combination with other factors, such as income, place of residence and social status. In other words, education acts as protective factor in societies marred by income and social inequalities. Educated people tend to have better health outcomes, as education helps in promoting and sustaining healthy lifestyles and positive choices, supporting human development and community well-being. There are evidences which suggest that education in many forms impacts social relations, by changing the social environment and also enhancing the resilience of individuals and other agencies to protect themselves against potential shocks to health (Fienstein et al. 2006).

Socio-spatial Dimensions of Disease Transition and Health ...

313

Table 7 Type of diseases vis-à-vis educational status in Haryana: 2014 Diseases

Illiterate