Introduction

Abstract

It is generally agreed that the uni-dimensional definition of poverty as economic deprivation has given way to a multi-dimensional understanding of poverty as capability deprivation in terms of what Amartya Sen has called ‘functioning’ (which may include political participation, access to social processes irrespective of gender, class or ethnicity and access to natural resources). Here, the link between water and poverty becomes obvious in view of what United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Human Poverty Index defines as “percentage of population lacking access to safe water.” The welfare (well-being) approach also talks of command over resources which are defined in terms of money, property, social relations, psychic and physical energy etc. The focus is on objective living conditions, basic needs and their determinants. Water related problems seem to fit into this framework as well. Now it is commonly acknowledged that water problems affect the poor adversely in terms of their ‘livelihoods’ (agricultural productivity, loss of natural resources), ‘health’ (water quality, waterborne diseases, reduction of productive capabilities), and ‘vulnerability’ (droughts, floods etc.). And they are caught in a vicious cycle wherein water issues further deepen poverty and thereby affect more adversely their access to water.