Module 9 - India: Rationalized Public, Private, and Farmer Roles in Groundwater Management

Rajasthan, the largest state of India (supporting about 50 million people) is a desert state with 10 percent of the national area and only 1 percent of the country's water resources. The present major user of water is agriculture (83 percent of consumptive use), but projections to 2025 indicate a rapidly increasing demand for nonirrigation use. Water scarcity and deteriorating water quality restrict the availability of water for domestic uses and irrigation supply.

The critical challenge is twofold: ensuring Rajasthan's long-term, sustainable use of increasingly scarce water resources and improving the water use efficiency for agriculture. Water resources management is affected by weak capacity and uncoordinated effort among current water sector departments, a weak regulatory framework, poor management practices and unsustainable use in some areas, and high recurrent cost of delivery. Problems are inherent in past approaches based entirely on public sector resource management, with a lack of beneficiary participation in scheme management and financing.

Project Objectives and Description

The Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring Project (RWSRP) aims to improve the efficiency of agricultural water use by increasing the productivity of irrigated agriculture through improved performance of surface irrigation systems and strengthened agricultural support services. The project aims at increasing system efficiency through downsizing and improved coordination and rationalization of public sector agencies, increased involvement of users and the private sector in design and management of systems, and increased cost recovery from users. To achieve these objectives, the project finances:

• Water sector institutional restructuring and capacity building through (1) creation of a state water planning department, (2) modernization of the water sector department, and (3) piloting a community-driven institution for groundwater management.
  
  
• Improving irrigation system performance through (1) the formation and fostering of 620 WUAs, (2) rehabilitation of irrigation schemes, (3) strengthening of agricultural extension, and (4) enhancing safety of 16 dams supplying the project area.
  
  
• Capacity building for a project management unit to ensure the effective implementation and coordination of activities involving several government departments.