Privatizing India’s water system, which has a history of failure, is a bad idea

Privatizing India’s water system, which has a history of failure, is a bad idea, says Makarand Purohit. “The state governments and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) encourage private parties to come forward and participate in the water and sanitation sector by opening up several opportunities like Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mission (JNNURM) and urban infrastructure development scheme for small and medium towns (UIDSSMT) under public private partnerships (PPPs) for them. This is surprising considering the privatisation of the Shivnath river was a big blooper on the government’s part. Though the shortage of government funds to supply water to the industries was cited as the reason for the privatisation of the river water, it didn’t really work out that way. In fact, it not only affected the livelihoods of thousands of people around the river with RWL restricting the villagers from using the water by fencing it, the arrangement also resulted in huge financial loss for the government.”