The Gurgaon Project

Vishal Narain

Kathmandu, August 2010

The Project Team

• Vishal Narain– Economics, Rural Management,

– PhD (legal anthropology and irrigation)

• Sreoshi Singh

– Geographer with specialisation in Regional – Geographer with specialisation in Regional Development, MPhil in urban development and Planning.

– To still involve/hire – Research Associate or a community organizer

– Preferably a first degree/background in the natural sciences to complement the team skills

The growth of Gurgaon city

• Gurgaon is projected as a millenium city• Major outsourcing hub of northwest India

– Most preferred outsourcing and high-tech destination in North India

– Home to 80% of the foreign investment of the state of Haryana

• Drawn a large number of MNCs and corporates that have located their headquarters/manufacturing plants in the city – Hero Honda, Maruti, Alcatel, IBM, General Electric, Nestle, Pepsi, Coca-– Hero Honda, Maruti, Alcatel, IBM, General Electric, Nestle, Pepsi, Coca-

Cola

• Visual landscape – tall skyscrapers co-existing with village settlement areas and

agricultural fields gradually disappearing

• Plagued by poor infrastructure, and absence of a public transport system

• Frontiers of the city still expanding– 56 residential sectors exist, another 56 on the anvil

– Enormous implications for water and land resources

Characteristics of the city

• Three major reasons behind its growth

– Proximity to the national capital and

international airport

– Initiatives of state government like policies for – Initiatives of state government like policies for

SEZs

– Real estate boom since the 1980s

The periurban water issues

• Major Multiple claimants on water resources – Residential areas/real estate

– glitzy malls

– Recreation, amusement parks and tourist facilities

– Farm-houses– Farm-houses

– nature conservation (SNP)

• Peripheral villages have lost agricultural/grazing lands – for the above purposes

– for WTPs

– For canals to bring water to the WTPs

Periurban water issues in Gurgaon

• Falling water tables:– 70% of Gurgaon’s water needs are met trhough groundwater – Water table falling

• Rural-urban water conflicts – Farmers breaching the Gurgaon channel that brings water to the

Basai WTP Basai WTP

• Rural-urban water flows– Water tankers a common sight – Groundwater used for irrigation now transported for nurseries to

cater to urban residents

• Urban-rural water flows– Sewerage irrigation common in periurban parts of Gurgaon

• Pre-emption of water by farm-houses using expensive technologies, depriving locals of access

Sadhraana Village

• Population of 3500 people

– 425 households

• Ahir, Pandat, Rajput, Lohaar, Nai, Harijan,

BalmeekBalmeek

• Major crops grown

– wheat, mustard, sorghum, pearl-millet, vegetables

and lentils

• No irrigation canal or sewage based irrigation

– only groundwater

Land use change over the last two

decades

• 80 acres: Sultanpur National Park

• 600 acres: farm-houses

• 150 acres: Reliance SEZ

• Left with about 40% of the net cultivated • Left with about 40% of the net cultivated area recorded in the 1960s

• Land and water appropriated by the urban elite

Major pressures on groundwater

• Land and water nexus

– Land below fresh water is of the highest price

• Tubewells dug for Sultanpur National Park

• Farm-houses major appropriator of groundwater• Farm-houses major appropriator of groundwater

– Extract water using submersible pump-sets not

affordable by locals

• Equity implications

– Transport water over 3-4 km to their farm-houses

using underground pipes when the farm-houses are

located over saline groundwater

Impacts of growing pressures

– Fall in water table over last decade

• 60 ft to 100 ft

• 20 ft to 60 ft

– Farmers accessing saline groundwater– Farmers accessing saline groundwater

• unfit for agriculture and livestock

– Small and marginal farmers unable to afford

the high costs of extraction

• a submersible pump-set: Rs 100000 to Rs 125000

Responses/Adaptation strategies

• Switch to sprinkler irrigation sets

• Leave land fallow

• Take only one irrigated crop per year

• Borrow from friends/relatives• Borrow from friends/relatives

– Social capital eroded

Budheda

• 725 households and 5500 people

• Rao saab, Jaat, Nai, Dhobi, Khaati, Jogi,

Harijan, Balmeek, Kumbhaar, Ahir and Pandat

• Crops grown• Crops grown

– wheat, mustard, burseem, pearl-millet, vegetables

• Many sources of irrigation depending on location

of fields

– tubewells/submersibles/ urban sewage

Land use change

• Major source of land to supply water to the city: bears its ecological foot-print– 129 acres: WTP for Gurgaon city

– 30 acres: second round of acquisition

– 12 acres of grazing land for the same plant– 12 acres of grazing land for the same plant• Implications for landless and minority groups that use them

for livestock

– 17 acres for each of the two canals to carry water for WTP at Basai that is the major supplier of water for Gurgaon

– Left with just about a fourth of its net cultivated area

Implications

• The Gurgaon Water Supply Channel passes

through the village to carry water to Basai WTP

for Gurgaon city

– source of opportunity and conflict

– raised local water table

– pipe outlet installed for village pond

– Tube wells installed to benefit from water table rise

• Had to be removed when the NCR channel was dug

• Highlights vulnerability of farmers to uncertain water supply

Sultanpur

• Well-known for the SNP

• Pressures from the Reliance SEZ and national park: man-animal conflict

• People living in the dhaanis particularly vulnerable to land acquisition vulnerable to land acquisition

• The Sultanpur lake, home to over 250 bird species is now dry– major noise among conservationists

– reported widely in the media

– Very good case of multiple claimants over scarce water and resulting conflicts

Ghata village

• A major lake is now dry because of less rainfall and conversion of lakebed to residential area

• This lake used to be full of water in • This lake used to be full of water in monsoons and used for agriculture during rest of the year

• Authorities now building a fresh lake and drainage system

• Drying of lake reported widely in the media

Waziarabad village

• Now under the Gurgaon Municipal Corporation

• All agricultural lands acquired; livestock rearing and poultry are still common

• Large influx of migrant settlers to cater to domestic needs of urban residential areas

• Former cultivators now buy vegetables and fruits from a • Former cultivators now buy vegetables and fruits from a daily evening market

• With pasturelands gone, fodder obtained from parks of residential colonies

• Water used for small kitchen gardens, nurseries to cater to urban residential areas

• Water tankers supplying water to residential areas common

Future Work Plan

• Explore further research locations around Gurgaon in different directions

• Use that as basis for finally narrowing down to a cluster of 3 villages based on potential richness of data and comparative insights– E.g. differing levels of periurban– E.g. differing levels of periurban– Different kinds of issues: use cases as ‘archetypes’ or

representations of the kinds of water insecurity experienced by periurban residents

– Or villages adjacent to each other/close proximity to use the concept of a ‘periurban locale’ comprising villages with supportive and mutually constitutive flows and networks among them

• Show how even adjacent locations exhibit differing patterns of vulnerability depending on local factors, access to assets

Methodology

• Predominantly a qualitative research design with a mix of participatory and ethnographic approaches– On lines presented yesterday

• Smaller quantitative studies within that based on • Smaller quantitative studies within that based on what needs to be quantified and why

• The qualitative component continues through the study and does not end after the scoping study, i.e. it is more than just a means of narrowing down to the quantitative study

Specific applications of the

qualitative study

• In-depth household interviews to understand

– elements of risk, exposure, coping capacity

• Give leads into a VCI relevant to the project/periurban settings

– The livelihoods portfolio across urban and rural – The livelihoods portfolio across urban and rural

assets, patterns and role of remittances

– how different members of the household

(men/women) experience vulnerability

• Break away from household as a unit of analysis informing conventional, structured interviews

Methodology

• Focus group meetings

– Examine how different groups experience

water insecurity differently

– Identify the vulnerable groups – Identify the vulnerable groups

• Key informant interviews

– Understand land transactions, forms of

influence used to acquire land

– Insecurity of land tenure shaping water

insecurity

Methodology

• Direct observation– Observation of irrigation and water collection activities

to understand • actual access

• conflicts and their resolution• conflicts and their resolution

• user interface with technology

• Semi-structured interviews with Panchayat members, municipal officers – understand their perspectives

– identify institutional lacunae

– possible interventions

Methodology

• PRA exercises– To understand livelihoods (seasonality analyses)

– patterns of poverty and access (wealth-ranking)

– climate variability and changes in water supply (trend lines) lines)

– major impacts of development interventions on the villages (time line)

– Institutional relationships and gaps (venn diagram)

– Changes in resource use and profile (village transects, resource maps)

– Basis of PAP (Participatory Action Planning)

At the end of next six months, I

should have

• A macro level description of land use change in

Gurgaon and its implications for water use

• A brief description of villages visited and major

issuesissues

• Final selection of research sites with basic

baseline information and rationale for selection

• Listing of key issues for further investigation

(narrowing down and focus)

• Work plan for the remainder of the study