Measuring Water Poverty in Rural Communities in Arid Plains, Haryana (India)

By : Swati Thakur

Page No: 369-393

Abstract
The water scarcity issues are diverse incorporating physical unavailability to socio-economic drivers of its accessibility and use within the given set of environmental condition. WPI presents a multifaceted framework to evaluate water scarcity and identify needy areas to prioritize management action taking natural and socio-economic factors into consideration. The present study applies this indicator based approach to understand various dimensions of water scarcity in arid plains of one of the ecological and economic backward districts in India. With 39 sampled villages of Mahendragarh District multivariate analysis has been used to identify its regional disparities and associated dominant factors of water poverty. The study brings out spatial variations in the magnitude of water poverty scores within the district and concludes that local, holistic water assessments on location specific basis are much needed to support conventional measurements of water management planning and policy to develop rural areas.

Author :
Swati Thakur
Department of Geography, Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/ATNAGI.2021.41.02.10