IMPACT OF SWAJALDHARA SCHEME ON THE RURAL LIVELIHOODS: A CASE STUDY OF PURBA MEDINIPUR DISTRICT IN WEST BENGAL

Abstract

To achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goal of securing “Water for All” which ensures sound health of rural people especially of women population and a sustainable environment, reforms in the rural drinking water supply sector in India were adopted in 1999 in India and Pilot Projects in some selected districts across 26 states were taken up. The basic concepts of the reforms include community participation in the planning, implementation, operation and maintenance of the schemes of its choice. This is a paradigm shift from supply driven to a demand responsive approach, centralised to the decentralised service delivery, from the top down to the bottom up approach and ultimately to change the role of the Government from that of a service provider to a facilitator. Swajaldhara is part of those reform initiatives in rural water supply & sanitation sector in India. On 25.12.2002, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Sri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, launched Swajaldhara Scheme by scaling up the said Sector Reforms initiatives throughout the country. Water supply is ensured to the rural population by Piped Water Supply Schemes (PWSS) and Spot Source Water Supply Schemes (SSWSS). A SSWSS is adopted to cater smaller population and also where the raw water requires no or minimum treatment. Swajaldhara lies in this category. This paper attempts to analyse the impact of Bajitpur Matangini Swajaldhara Scheme (BMSS) on the livelihood of rural people of Bajitpur village of Purba Medinipur district in the state of West Bengal. A cost – benefit analysis in the form of simple income saving due to subscribing Swajaldhara, has been carried out. The impact of clean and pure water for drinking and sanitation upon health is explored. Also, secondary income from kitchen garden as a byproduct of Swajaldhara has been taken into consideration. The study reveals that the overall impact of Swajaldhara scheme is positive and significant, and hence it demands a systematic and well-organised planning-execution approach to such sector-reforms projects.