Shifting Frontier, Fluid Struggles

Indian cities have been growing exponentially. In the post-liberalisation era, from the mid-1990s, governments promoted urban expansion by advancing incentives for special economic zones and urban corridors. Further, the growth of outsourcing and information technology sectors facilitated demand for infrastructure and housing, boosting the real estate sector. Gurugram, erstwhile Gurgaon, is one such city. It is located in the northwest Indian state of Haryana. It has been on the world map since its emergence as a global outsourcing and information technology hub in the 1980s. Once a sleepy village, its transformation started in the 1980s when DLF (Delhi Land and Finance), a private developer, acquired land to create a business, residential, recreation, and outsourcing hub. Three factors have been instrumental in the growth of the city: its close location (about 40 km) to New Delhi (the national capital city), the proximity to the Indira Gandhi International Airport (about 12 km), and the neoliberal policies adopted by the then Congress state government to draw upon private investment.

The rapidly expanding frontiers of the city mean that there is steady encroachment of land and water resources of peripheral areas – often referred as the rural-urban fringe or the peri-urban. They have either been acquired by the state to support urban expansion or encroached upon by real estate and the land mafia. Cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Gurugram, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai have expanded by engulfing the water bodies of the periphery. This has had adverse consequences for the livelihoods of those who depended on them. Traditional water sources like tanks and village ponds, and other common property resources such as grazing lands, have a role in sustaining the livelihoods of landless households and small and marginal farmers. Women collect fodder and fuelwood from such lands, livestock owners use them to rear cattle; washer folk and potters depend on ponds for water and silt respectively.  

This story draws on research based in peri-urban Gurgaon in a village called Badsa which lies along three canals that run parallel to each other. The first two flow inwards to the city, namely the National Capital Region (NCR) Channel and Gurgaon Water Supply (GWS) Channel, transporting water to treatment plants to meet the needs of the city. The Gurgaon Water Supply Channel was built first (roughly 70 years ago), acquiring land from farmers along its stretch. Its initial carrying capacity was 135 cusecs, which has since been increased to 200 cusecs. As the demand for water increased with the expansion of the city, another channel known as the National Capital Region channel was constructed (in 2008 - 11) parallel to the GWS, acquiring plots of farmland from the same farmers a second time.

The third flow of source that runs parallel to others is, Badshahpur “Naala” (wastewater runnel). It carries the city’s waste and transects through several peripheral villages, of which Badsa is one.

Presently, the Haryana State irrigation department is seeking clearance for the third freshwater canal, which will be funded by the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority. The water would be sourced from river Yamuna, like its predecessors (the GCR and NCR channel). Its carrying capacity would be 275 cusecs.

When seen through a formal planning lens, Badsa and other peripheral villages have been mere recipients of urban-centric policies, losing their land and water sources for the construction of these canals. Signages along the freshwater canals forbid appropriation of water from the freshwater canals and duly warn violators of the penalty.

However, use of wastewater is not prohibited. Also, farmers have devised their own ways of circumventing the situation – through a mix of institutions and technologies – that have evolved along these canals.

Since the peri-urban communities are not allowed to extract water directly from these canals, hand-pumps are a common sight along the GWS and NCR canals. They have been installed to benefit from the rise in the water table. Most of these hand-pumps were installed by those who seek to practice ‘dharma’, or their faith (in Hinduism giving water to a thirsty person is believed to accumulate good karma, a part of ones' dharma); that is, these hand-pumps are installed as acts of charity and altruism. There are several such hand-pumps in Badsa village, and they are the main source of drinking water. Though the village is also supplied with piped water by the state, however, it is not preferred for drinking purpose. This is for numerous reasons, such as the presence of carcasses in the water source; people defecating and women washing clothes in the canal and the presence of insects and algae that come through the taps, claim the residents.

Simultaneously, tube wells were dug along the canals to benefit from the rise in the water table when the Gurgaon Water Supply channel was laid. However, when the NCR channel was built parallel to it, in order to augment the city’s water supply, the tube wells had to be removed as land was acquired for the channel. At the same time, there was a decline in rainfall after the 1970s (Narain and Singh, 2017) and the disappearance of what locals call the “Chau-maasa”, the four-month monsoon period. Together, these policy and climatic changes have influenced the water (in)security of the peri-urban communities and increased the dependence on wastewater – an important source of irrigation for wheat, paddy and jowar. A common narrative from the field is, “Yeh toh ganda paani hai. Jab kuch nahi hota, tab isko istemaal kartey hain” (This water is dirty and bad for any use; we use it when we have no option for irrigating our fields) (Singh and Narain, 2019).

The shift to wastewater farming is a new phenomenon, which while being criticised by farmers is gaining popularity. A farmer, standing in wastewater till his calves and irrigating his paddy field, claimed that he smelt foul for three to four days after irrigating and the water also caused itching. To prevent itching, he applied mustard oil as a slippery protective layer but there was no solution for the smell. We asked, “then why do you use wastewater?” After observing silence for a few seconds, he looked at us, then corrected the flow of water in his field, and in a deep and calm tone replied “laachar hai hum” (We are helpless).  Another farmer threw his hands in the air and said, “toh aur kya karoon?” (what else should I do?).

A wide range of technologies are used to access the wastewater depending chiefly on topography and the location of the fields relative to the wastewater canal; electric pump-sets, diesel pump-sets, tractors and pipe outlets.

Interestingly, none of the wastewater irrigated produce is used for self-consumption. The wastewater irrigated produce is sold in the wholesale market of Delhi and Gurgaon. Wastewater is also used as a substitute for rainfall for paddy irrigation. Farmers wait for the rains; when the rains fail, they apply wastewater. 

There are also institutional innovations around the use of wastewater. At Badsa, farmers contributed financially to dig a furrow to carry wastewater from the runnel to a village johad, a former freshwater village pond. The furrow ends in the pond - in which the wastewater is stored - to which the farmers refer as a “stock”. Two reasons are given for this; first, this new infrastructure is a collective coping response to mitigate the impacts of the uncertainty in the availability of wastewater; converting wastewater from a flow to a stock helps deal with the uncertainty in the availability of wastewater. There were times when the wastewater runnel is shut for maintenance, but the wastewater stored in the pond, is pumped and applied to the crops. Second, it is easier to apply wastewater to the fields surrounding the johad, i.e. the fields located in the vicinity of the pond are roughly a kilometer from the main runnel. Farmers’ proportionate contribution (in terms of capital or labour) in the construction of the furrow describes how new institutions develop surrounding the commons. 

It is interesting to note that even though farmers collectively paid for the expenses incurred in the digging of the furrow in proportion to their land- holding near the johad and the furrow (Indian Rupees 100 per acre of land to be irrigated), anyone can extract water from the johad. However, irrigators take turn to maintain the flow in the furrow recharging the pond. The liberal access to and appropriation by non-contributors has to do with the 'waste' nature of the resource.  “It is after all the waste of the city, what is the point in stopping others from using it”, says a farmer who had contributed financially for the furrow. 

During a recent field visit (January 2020), we discovered that the wastewater furrow was closed by the construction of a tarmac road and the (wastewater) pond was nearly dry in comparison to our earlier visit in (May 2018).

It is interesting to note that even though farmers collectively paid for the expenses incurred in the digging of the furrow in proportion to their land- holding near the johad and the furrow (Indian Rupees 100 per acre of land to be irrigated), anyone can extract water from the johad. However, irrigators take turn to maintain the flow in the furrow recharging the pond. The liberal access to and appropriation by non-contributors has to do with the 'waste' nature of the resource.  “It is after all the waste of the city, what is the point in stopping others from using it”, says a farmer who had contributed financially for the furrow. 

During a recent field visit (January 2020), we discovered that the wastewater furrow was closed by the construction of a tarmac road and the (wastewater) pond was nearly dry in comparison to our earlier visit in (May 2018).

This contribution has been drawn from a project titled, Climate policy, Conflicts and Cooperation in Peri-urban South Asia: Towards Resilient and Water Secure Communities, under the CoCOON (Conflict and Cooperation over Natural Resources in Developing Countries) - CCMCC (Conflict and Cooperation in the Management of Climate Change) programme funded by the NWO, The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research .