UNDP Report

IT IS rarely that India wins kudos for its performance in the social sector. The UNDP Human Development Report 2006, entitled Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis, gives India a pat on the back for being on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the number of people without access to clean water by 2015. However, the report points out, India lags behind the target for halving the number of people without access to sanitation by that date. Lack of clean water and sanitation facilities (wat/san, as they are called in development terminology) are not only a result of poverty, they perpetuate and exacerbate poverty. For instance, water-related diseases lead to loss of productive workdays and heightened private and/or public expenditure on health services. The extent of the problem can be gauged from the fact, pointed out in the report, that at any given time nearly one in three Indians suffers from a water-related health problem.

To break this vicious cycle of poverty and wat/san deficit, governments need to make an intervention by investing in better wat/san facilities. India, with its growing economy and population must take urgent steps to ensure water security in the medium and long terms. To make the most of its favourable demographics, it must also ensure adequate human resource development and enhanced standard of living, for which provision of clean water and sanitation are prerequisites.

The UNDP’s calculations show that $1 spent on water and sanitation can yield returns to the tune of $8 in terms of increased productivity and reduced health costs. It recommends an annual expenditure of 1 per cent of the GDP, and also calls for enhanced international aid. Further, it urges governments to make water a human right, and to systematically integrate of wat/san into overall development policies. This, however, requires a paradigm shift at the policy level. For instance, India’s prevailing subsidies structure and general infrastructure deficit, which entail the poor spending much more on water than the rich, will have to be changed. Over-drawing of groundwater and pollution of rivers must be checked. Poor demand-side management, which translates into a tendency to over-use, must be improved. How it tackles such issues will show how serious the government is about its commitment to equitable and sustainable development.