Formal and Informal Institutions in Groundwater Governance in Rajasthan: A Case Study of Chota Nayrana and Tilona Village

Abstract

This paper examines the sustainable preservation of natural resources at the community level, with an emphasis on groundwater resources in Rajasthan, India. Considering that water is one of the resources that have been exploited by humans in an unsustainable manner - resulting in water scarcity in many places around the world - sustainable community development aiming at the preservation of natural resources has been of concern to theorists and legislators alike. They have advocated for a range of institutional and social transformations that could realise sound sustainable development of natural resources. In India, efforts to preserve natural resources at the community level have been undertaken by the Indian legislator through local level decision-making, decentralisation, strong environmental laws and incentives offered to NGOs for working with sustainability issues. Legislator’s efforts have however not been successful in many regions of India, of which Rajasthan is one. Nevertheless, in Rajasthan, despite acute natural water scarcity due to low quantity of precipitation in the region, the village of Chota Nayrana has managed to preserve and even increase the level of groundwater in the village. This has been achieved through community efforts strengthened by helpful water conservation programmes and projects by the Rajasthan State Government and an NGO called Barefoot College. However, water conservation programmes and projects introduced by the same NGO have not accomplished favourable results in another nearby village called Tilonia. This paper tests four different hypotheses connected to different institutional theories, including the theory of ecofeminism and women empowerment, for understanding inhabitants’ behaviour towards the conservation of groundwater and it seeks to explain the discrepancies in water conservation in the two villages.