Access to water is a crisis for the powerless

Water scarcity and water insecurity are created through socio-economic and political inequalities. Socially just climate adaptation for water management can go hand-in-hand with an acknowledgement of the social power vested in local elites.

Generating institutional change from both above and below requires addressing the various barriers that prevent achieving human rights for the most vulnerable communities. It also demands political mobilisation towards overcoming social barriers in the same vein as the Mahad Satyagraha of 1927.

Giving everyone a say in decision-making and removing unequal administrative measures that prevent fair access to water — such as making tubewells a public good with parameters of equal access — can be pursued.

Legal provisions towards supporting water equality need to be made enforceable. Otherwise the idea of water justice remains a mere tokenism.