Neoliberalism and water rights: The case of India

Abstract

As water is increasingly subjected to market imperatives and transformed into a means for capital accumulation, the state has been unable to manage the resource. Building on the concept of accumulation by dispossession this article focuses on local neoliberalisms, arguing that collective governance of water resources is contentious. Local neoliberalism is atypical in that it brings within its fold a localized institution, the nongovernmental organization (NGO), engaged in mobilizing citizens and contributing to accumulative practices. Privatization practices of the state and NGOs serve as an impetus to mobilize local citizens to manage water resources. Citizens resist accumulative practices but challenges to local neoliberalisms are complex as politics of inequities exacerbate inequalities based on gender, class, and caste and limit the possibilities of collective governance. The article analyzes Indian government policy documents on water and the case of Tarun Bharat Sangh, an NGO in the state of Rajasthan, India, to show that accumulation by dispossession redefines the common property of water by appropriating a basic resource and suppressing local notions of consumption and maintenance.