Reclaiming the Commons: Community Initiatives of Groundwater Management in the Indian Semi-Arid Tropics

Abstract

"This paper explores local groundwater management. Local groundwater management is either advocated as a self-standing solution, or proposed as a complement to external state-initiated regulation and appears to circumvent the enforcement problems of defining rights and entitlements. In this context, this paper explores the scope for local participatory groundwater management and the contribution it can make alongside other interventions. It first explores the legal and regulatory approaches to groundwater management in practice and tries to relate it to larger participatory approach in water resource management such as tank irrigation in South India. Further, it makes a point that these examples of local groundwater management are few and far between and came about unprompted by external support. This paper draws generic lessons to promote local groundwater management and assesses the scope and efficacy of such initiatives in the Indian semi-arid tropics."