Tushaar Shah

This commentary by Dr. Tushaar Shah in the Economic and Political Weekly presents a critical analysis of the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) and elaborates on what the water sector can learn from the power sector. The Government of India’s 15-year old AIBP has come under much-deserved criticism for all-round non-performance. It was introduced to support states in "last mile" public irrigation projects, that is, projects which are nearly completed but whose full benefits can start flowing only after small, incremental investments are made. Yet, the AIBP has been used mostly for funding new projects.

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• Phase I: Investigation of the prevalence rate of fluorosis in 25 villages from Mehsana and Patan districts of Gujarat.
• Phase II: Detailed study of social cost from a sample of 235 households selected from 18 of the 25 villages.

It is difficult to draw any conclusion for this multi-faceted problem of fluorosis or to propose a universally accepted strategy. People need water, so they sink deep wells and eventually harvest poisonous water to an extent unmindfully and are finally caught up in the trap of irreversible fluorosis. The respondents of the study have very poor awareness about water quality and the availability of fluoride-free or de-mineralized water. Even if it is available, their poor affordability prevents them to purchase.

The question arises, what should the state or the people at an individual or collective level do, when the available fluoride content water in the village has to be used ‘willingly-or-unwillingly’? The study suggests the following -

• Developing awareness on fluorosis and fluoride contaminated water in the villages. 
• Providing less expensive water filters (like Activated Alumina Plant being used in Southern Rajasthan) for de-fluoridation at home.
• Developing Cooperative-Captive Plants that could be organized by the villagers and not by external agencies. Instead of a big plant, the government could intervene to set up a plant sized up to village-needs, which can be managed by the villagers themselves.  
• There is a possibility of reducing fluoride from groundwater by mixing river water with groundwater, which is now a practice in North Gujarat.
• Further, groundwater should be recharged using check-dam or any other suitable procedure, which would help reducing fluoride. 

It is time to recognize fluorosis and take some preventive measures and rehabilitate the present victims instead of covering it up behind the mask of Musculo-Skeletal Disease (MSD).

Download the report here: 

The discussion paper by Carewater INREM Foundation on possibility of revival of dug wells in hard rock India through recharge is based on a field study across ten districts of the country. The study seeks to understand how localized governance of groundwater in hard rock areas is to be pursued through pricing (water, energy), legal regulation and community institutions. Water supply augmentation and demand management are both to be taken care of, directly through regulation or through indirect instruments such as pricing.Read More

Arsenic and Fluoride are the two main natural contaminants of groundwater in India. The related diseases due to prolonged exposure are Arsenicosis and Fluorosis, prevalent in many arid villages of India. Read More