Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Resource Economics

Dissertation of Atoho Jakhalu

Governance of Intersectoral Water Reallocation within the Context of Urbanisation in Hyderabad

Start: January 2010
End: December 2013

 

As a result of population increase and rapid urbanization, the trend of reallocating water out of agricultural sector to meet the demands for increasing urban needs is a phenomenon that is receiving considerable attention in the literature of water resource management. Whilst these transfers of water takes place within the legal boundaries of policies and administrative allocation, with importance stressed on priority to drinking water, it is however, never without a fight that the agricultural sector gives up their water for the thirsty need of the city. As a result of which, increasing prevalence of competition and conflict between the city and agriculture is a recurring phenomenon. Handling these conflicts and the sectoral rebalancing are emerging to be a major concern of the literature. It may be noted that the study of water governance, particularly conflict in allocation and use of property rights amongst other, emerges as an essential component that is inherently a political subject, yet the politics of water governance continue to remain a black hole in the existing literature. The case of Hyderabad is representative of the problems stated above. The study, employing the Institutions of Sustainability Framework (IoS) attempts to look into the inter-sectoral competition between agricultural needs and urban drinking water. In the ensuing competition, the water related actors interact to negotiate and bargain, to eventually serve the irrigation sector, against the administrative allocation guidelines. The study employs Knight’s distribution theory to elaborate the power resources and the strategies with which the actors use these ‘power resources’ in the process of bargain and negotiation for water. And thereafter to understand the political dynamics and influence of interplay of which group of actors’ interest is defended and why, public choice theory in the traditions of Down’s concept is integrated into the study.


Researcher: Jakhalu, Atoho

Cooperation Partners: Department of Cultural Geography, University of Freiburg

Advisors: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Konrad Hagedorn, PD Dr. Christoph Dittrich

Funding: German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)


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