Urban Water Supply and Governance in India

Satyapriya Rout is an Associate Professor in Sociology at University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India. Previously he taught at the department of Sociology, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. He held Sir Ratan Tata Fellowship at the Asia Research Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK, during 2012–2013, where he carried out post-doctoral research on social inequality and access to water. He was a visiting fellow at Institute for Advance Studies in Humanities (IASH) University of Edinburgh, UK during April – June 2014, for a research study on understanding global-local linkages in contemporary environmental movements. He was awarded Indo-Thai Visiting Fellowship from Indian Council for Social science Research (ICSSR) in 2010 to carry out a study on community forestry in Thailand. His research areas span: social inequality access to water, community based natural resource governance focusing on water and forest, environmental movements, and decentralised governance and development.Ruth Kattumuri is Founder and Co-Director of the India Observatory at the London School of Economics (LSE) and is an Associate of the Grantham Research Institute. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, UK and is also a Cambridge Commonwealth Fellow. Prior to joining the LSE, she was a Professor in Computer Science and Statistics in Madras, India. She has been awarded the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Award in recognition of her achievements and contributions for India’s development. Dr. Kattumuri is involved in transdisciplinary evidence based research, teaching, publication, public policy influence and advisory. Her recent work pertains to adaptation and mitigation for climate change, covering the interface with food, water and energy security; renewable technologies and low-carbon energy transitions; urban water resource management and governance; urban planning; and inclusive population development. With her extensive experience she has pioneered several innovative international programmes for knowledge exchange, capacity building and human capital development.

Introduction.- Major Policy Reforms in Drinking Water Sector in India.- Profile of the Study Region, Cities as well as the Respondents.- Water Availability and Water Service Delivery in Urban India.- Water Scarcity and Unequal Access to Water.- Institutional Dimensions of Drinking Water Governance in Urban India.- Conclusion.