IWRA Proceedings

AbstractIn democracy, role of the government and that of the society decide direction and span of development of the nation. Particularly for resource distribution and management these roles are very important in shaping the future. It is found that generally people’s expectations are too high and they tend to be dependent on the government for all necessities and welfare activities. This mindset debilitates the social setup and affects its very fabric and culture which finally leads to a doom for the nation itself. Basic requirement is of supportive or encouraging role of the government instead of a granting or a doling one. It can instill sense of responsibility, awareness and need of mutual dependence within the social mind, which are essential characteristics of a healthy society. In case management of water resources based on shared ideas amongst the society which not only precludes social tensions but brings about social parity without remarkable external control of the government is devised, prima facie it might look an idealistic legacy but a state of India, namely Gujarat has put such a mechanism in practice with success. It has included private-public partnership and innovative financial mechanism to implement water conservation program on a huge scale. In Gujarat, under “Sardar Patel Participatory Water Conservation Program”, with the help of public partnership over 47000 checkdams (micro weirs across rivulets) have been constructed and with participation of industrial establishments about 150 weirs have been constructed across identified rivers. They all have proven very effective in improving ground water levels which had gone down seriously because of overexploitation. This program has brought about impressive results and positive socio-economic changes. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad - an eminent management school has made a detailed study of the scheme and its impacts. Crisis of Gujarat, the context in which the program was launched, objectives of the government behind the program, success in implementation of the same and the reasons behind the success are discussed in the paper. It underlines private-public partnership as an innovative way of financing and implementing governmental schemes referencing an already implemented case study. There is a belief that loosing control of the government gives way to irregularities in implementation of any project. To what extent this belief is real is also discussed in the paper.