Evolution in Nature of Collective Action around Water-Bodies in Bangalore

Abstract

"The city of Bangalore in India has been struggling to prevent the destruction of its water-bodies. Over the last few decades, the city has witnessed sustained self-organized efforts to prevent the destruction of its numerous water-bodies. The nature of collective action has however changed over the years – what started off as a very state-led initiative in water-body rejuvenation has gradually transformed into a citizen led movement. The ideology of governance has also changed, as the nature of participants involved in the collective action process has changed. The objective of this paper is to map these changes. Using a series of intensive semi-structured interviews with stakeholders involved in the collection action around a sample of 8 water-bodies from Bangalore, I seek to understand how the nature of collective action has evolved and how the ideology of governance has also changed parallelly. I try to support the data collected through my interviews with data collected through archival and secondary research."