Costs of Resource Degradation Externalities - A Study of Groundwater Depletion in Andhra Pradesh

This paper looks in to the process of environmental degradation and the resultant externalities in the context of groundwater depletion in drought prone regions. The main objective here is to estimate the costs of groundwater depletion externalities and examine the costs and benefits from groundwater replenishing mechanisms in different ecological contexts. This study shows how groundwater exploitation in India is resulting in economic losses to individual farmers apart from ecological degradation. It is argued that policies towards strengthening the resource base (abatement mechanisms) and equitable distribution of the resource (property rights) would be beneficial, economically as well as ecologically. The cost-benefit comparison is in favour of investment in replenishment mechanisms such as irrigation tanks and percolation tanks. The situation of over extraction and the resultant environmental degradation is a consequence of lack of appropriate and adequate policies (policy failure) for managing the subsurface water resources. Hither to, groundwater policies (subsidised credit, power, etc) are in the nature of encouraging private initiatives in groundwater development. While these policies helped in promoting groundwater development in the regions where groundwater development was below potential, they have led to over exploitation of the resource in fragile resource regions. On the other hand, no attempts were made (at the policy level) to strengthen the natural resource base in terms of replenishing the water table. On the contrary, groundwater development is seen as a substitute for tanks, which are the main agents of replenishment.Environment, Degradation, groundwater, externalities, Costs, Andhra

Cost of resource degradation externalities: A study of groundwater depletion in Andhra Pradesh

This paper looks in to the process of environmental degradation and the resultant externalities in the context of groundwater depletion in drought prone regions. The main objective here is to estimate the costs of groundwater depletion externalities and examine the costs and benefits from groundwater replenishing mechanisms in different ecological contexts. This study shows how groundwater exploitation in India is resulting in economic losses to individual farmers apart from ecological degradation. It is argued that policies towards strengthening the resource base (abatement mechanisms) and equitable distribution of the resource (property rights) would be beneficial, economically as well as ecologically. The cost-benefit comparison is in favour of investment in replenishment mechanisms such as irrigation tanks and percolation tanks. The situation of over extraction and the resultant environmental degradation is a consequence of lack of appropriate and adequate policies (policy failure) for managing the subsurface water resources. Hither to, groundwater policies (subsidised credit, power, etc) are in the nature of encouraging private initiatives in groundwater development. While these policies helped in promoting groundwater development in the regions where groundwater development was below potential, they have led to over exploitation of the resource in fragile resource regions. On the other hand, no attempts were made (at the policy level) to strengthen the natural resource base in terms of replenishing the water table. On the contrary, groundwater development is seen as a substitute for tanks, which are the main agents of replenishment.Environment, Degradation, Groundwater, Externalities, Costs, Andhra Pradesh, South India

How Participatory is Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM)? A Study of Water User Associations (WUAs) in Andhra Pradesh

It is argued that the reason for the ills of irrigation management is the alienation of farmers from the process of planning and implementation. Often 'lack of political will' is identified as the main reason for the tardy progress in irrigation reforms at the state level. Andhra Pradesh has demonstrated the political will by initiating widespread irrigation reforms through legislation. This paper, based on the situation after six years of WUAs in existence, makes an attempt to provide a comprehensive view on the status and functioning of the Water Users' Associations in the State. It is argued that while substantial amounts of money were spent on the reform process, the money was used mainly for improving the ailing irrigation systems rather than strengthening the formal institutional structures. Though some benefits in terms of increased area under irrigation in canal systems and improved quality of irrigation is evident, the sustainability of these benefits is rather uncertain in the absence of efficient institutional structures. Despite the fact that WUAs are promoted as non-political institutions, 'elite capture' and political involvement dominate their functioning. And the present trend appears to be towards further politicization of these institutions. More importantly, even after six years of their existence devolution of powers to WUAs has not taken place, as most of the important functions like assessment, collection of water charges, sanctioning of works, etc., are still in the hands of the irrigation department. In the absence of devolution of powers the WUAs are aiming for political gains rather than improving the systems. It is argued that political will is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for making the WUAs autonomous and self-sufficient. Restructuring and reforming of the State irrigation departments and the bureaucracy is critical for effective and sustainable irrigation institutions.participatory, Irrigation Management, water, Andhra Pradesh

Community watershed management in semi-arid India: The state of collective action and its effects on natural resources and rural livelihoods

"Spatial and temporal attributes of watersheds and the associated market failures that accelerate degradation of agricultural and environmental resources require innovative institutional arrangements for coordinating use and management of resources. Effective collective action (CA) allows smallholder farmers to jointly invest in management practices that provide collective benefits in terms of economic and sustainability gains. The Government of India takes integrated watershed management (IWM) as a key strategy for improving productivity and livelihoods in the rain-fed and drought-prone regions. This study investigates the institutional and policy issues that limit effective participation of people in community watershed programs and identifies key determinants for the degree of CA and its effectiveness in achieving economic and environmental outcomes. We use empirical data from a survey of 87 watershed communities in semi-arid Indian villages to identify a set of indicators of CA and its performance in attaining desired outcomes. Factor analysis is used to develop aggregate indices of CA and its effectiveness. Regression methods are then employed to test the effects of certain policy relevant variables and to determine the potential effects of CA in achieving desired poverty reduction and resource improvement outcomes. We find a positive and highly significant effect of CA on natural resource investments, but no evidence of its effects on household assets and poverty reduction outcomes. This may be attributable to longer gestation periods for realizing indirect effects from collective natural resource investments and the lack of institutional mechanisms to ensure equitable distribution of such gains across the community, including the landless and marginal farmers." authors' abstractCollective action, Institutions, Property rights, Watershed management, Poverty, Environmental impacts,

'Slippage' : The Bane of Rural Drinking Water Sector (A Study of Extent and Causes in Andhra Pradesh)

Slippage is one of the main bottlenecks of achieving full coverage of water and sanitation services in India. Slippage is the term often used to reflect unsustainable service delivery of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, especially in rural areas. Off late slippage is attracting attention at the policy level though slippage is as old as the coverage of water supply services. This paper makes an attempt to identify the causes of slippage in a systematic manner. The broad objectives of the paper include : i) assess the extent of slippage at the national and state level; ii) identify the causes of slippage at various levels; and iii) provide some pointers for policy based on the analysis. The extent of slippage is quite substantial even at the aggregate level. The situation is alarming in some of the states where the extent of slippage is as high as 60 percent. Our analysis at the national, state and habitation levels suggests strongly that policy makers should look beyond the often repeated supply sided strategies. As evident from the experience of Andhra Pradesh, the demand side and governance factors play an equally, if not more, important role in addressing the sustainability issues. So far the experiences are that large investments in water sector would not automatically lead to increase in coverage. The sector also needs a sound policy and capacity so that money is spent effectively and leads to increased water security. The policy should also address resource sustainability and behavioural change goals instead of relying upon a one-sided target driven approach. These aspects are highlighted in the proposed guidelines and their effective implementation needs to be ensured.slippage, India, supply side strategies, policy

Concurrent Context-Free Framework for Conceptual Similarity Problem using Reverse Dictionary

Semantic search is one of the most prominent options to search the required and relevant content from the web. But most of them are doing key word and phrase wise similarity search. It may or may not find the relevant information because they directly search with that phrase. But, in most of the cases documents may conceptually equal instead of term wise. Reverse dictionary can solve such type of problems. This will take meaning of the word and it will return related keywords with respective ranks. But main problem here is building such dictionaries is time and memory consuming. Cost effective solutions are required to reduce search time and in-memory requirements. This paper focuses on such aspects by utilizing concurrent programming and efficient index structures and builds a framework to Conceptual similarity problem using reverse dictionary. Simulation results shows that proposed approach can take less time when compared to existing approaches

Sustaining Rural Livelihoods in Fragile Environments : Resource Endowments or Policy Interventions?

This paper primarily assesses the status of rural livelihoods in fragile environments with diverse resource endowments and policy interventions. The objective was to examine the effectiveness of resource enhancing policy interventions like watershed development in reducing resource endowment imbalances across villages and regions. Livelihood assessment was carried out using the sustainable rural livelihoods (SRL) framework in the fragile regions of Andhra Pradesh. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to assess the rural livelihoods covering all the 555 households in three sample villages. It is argued that resource endowments determine the level and dynamics of livelihoods at the household level rather than policy interventions per se. On the other hand, policy interventions, given the status and structure of the economy, only act as catalysts. Policies for strengthening the resource base are necessary but not sufficient to address the livelihood issues. In the present case it is shown that availability of water (irrigation) is more important than the recent policy interventions like watershed development for improving the livelihoods. Nevertheless, policy interventions towards human capital development (education, skills, etc) could be rewarding in the long run. Unless policies are directed towards bringing changes in natural resource endowments (especially water) at the household level, it is unlikely that the on going policy interventions would transform the rural livelihoods in the fragile environments.Rural livelihoods, resource endowments, watershed development, policy

Sustaining rural livelihoods in fragile environments: Resource endowments or policy interventions?

This paper primarily assesses the status of rural livelihoods in fragile environments with diverse resource endowments and policy interventions. The objective was to examine the effectiveness of resource enhancing policy interventions like watershed development in reducing resource endowment imbalances across villages and regions. Livelihood assessment was carried out using the sustainable rural livelihoods (SRL) framework in the fragile regions of Andhra Pradesh. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to assess the rural livelihoods covering all the 555 households in three sample villages.Rural livelihoods, resource endowments, watershed development, policy interventions, Andhra Pradesh

Monte Carlo Simulation of Smectic Liquid Crystals and the Electroclinic Effect: the Role of the Molecular Shape

Using Monte Carlo simulation methods, we explore the role of molecular shape in the phase behavior of liquid crystals and the electroclinic effect. We study a "bent-rod" mesogen shaped like the letter Z, composed of seven soft spheres bonded rigidly together with no intra-molecular degrees of freedom. For strongly angled molecules, we find that steric repulsion alone provides the driving force for a smectic-C phase, even without intermolecular dipole-dipole interactions. For weakly angled (nearly rod-like) molecules, we find a stable smectic-A (SmA) phase and a strong electroclinic effect with a saturation tilt angle of about 19 degrees. In the SmA phase we find evidence of vortex-like point defects. We also observe a field-induced nematic-smectic phase transition.Comment: 10 pages, including 10 postscript figures, uses REVTeX 3.0 and epsf.st

Bright Lesion Detection in Color Fundus Images Based on Texture Features

In this paper a computer aided screening system for the detection of bright lesions or exudates using color fundus images is proposed. The proposed screening system is used to identify the suspicious regions for bright lesions. A texture feature extraction method is also demonstrated to describe the characteristics of region of interest. In final stage the normal and abnormal images are classified using Support vector machine classifier. Our proposed system obtained the effective detection performance compared to some of the state–of–art methods