Tracking policy and budgetary commitments for drinking water and sanitation : a study of select states

This report examines the fund flow processes of the different institutions/line agencies in India that are involved in the implementation of water and sanitation schemes. Research was carried out during August - December 2015. The Report contains a brief overview of the water and sanitation policy landscape at the Central government level, followed by an analysis of the fund flow mechanisms of water and sanitation-both rural and urban- in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Apart from this, a detailed analysis of state budgets for water and sanitation - both rural and urban was undertaken.

The Report is divided into five Sections. Section I, the Introduction, lays out the objective and scope of the study. It provides details of the methodology, limitations and key findings of the study. In Section II the policy landscape of water and sanitation in the country is discussed. In Section III, the institutional and fund flow mechanisms in water and sanitation of the select states have been discussed. This is followed by a budgetary analysis of water and sanitation in the study states in Section IV. Finally, in Section V, recommendations with key advocacy messages have been put forward.

Thhe study concludes that sanitation has got increased attention since the launch of  the national sanitation programme, Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), in October 2014. However, the diversion of focus from water towards sanitation, comes at the cost of cutting down allocations in rural water or 'adjusting' funds from one scheme to the other. This is a cause of concern at a time when six of the seven study states have been declared drought affected. Further, states are found to be increasingly switching from ground water sources to surface water sources. Ideally both water and sanitation need equal importance in terms of
provisioning and policy efforts.