Drinking water access in Bangalore through the framework of human rights: a PhD dissertation

The overall aim of the study is to critically analyse the role of rights and obligations in attaining improved access to water in Bangalore
12 May 2009
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This PhD dissertation by Jenny T Gronwall for Linkoping University's Tema Institute looks at issues of drinking water access in Bangalore through the framework of human rights, analyzing three interlinked dimensions: the right to water as a human right; water in terms of property rights; and water rights. 

The notion of rights, while often referred to in the general water management debate, seems to allude to various rights simultaneously. A multitude of dimensions exist, where the human right to water is to be distinguished from ‘water rights’ and property rights in water resources. To provide a background for the analysis, questions relating to how rights and the instrument of law matter and are understood in practice are pertinent.

Therefore, the research included a study of a specific geographical location to find out both how access is realised in the rural, peri-urban and urban contexts and how it is affected by urbanisation and similar processes. This empirical part of the study focuses on the situation in Bangalore in southern India, a metropolis that is subject to change and transformation and suffers from water scarcity.

The study probes the following -

  • What different meanings are assigned to the notion of ‘rights’ in law in general, and in discourses on water management?
  • Is there a (human or other) right to access to water? How are the corresponding obligations formulated and fulfilled?
  • ‘Whose’ is the water in the language of law and how is this issue regulated and discussed?
  • How can the notion of ‘water rights’ be understood?
  • Where there are different kinds of rights in relation to water, do they converge or oppose each other? 

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