Groundwater Markets in India: A Legal and Institutional Perspective

R. Maria Saleth
Additional contact information
R. Maria Saleth: Institute of Economic Growth

Indian Economic Review, 1994, vol. 29, issue 2, 157-176

Abstract: Impressed by the superficial efficiency and equity benefits, a number of research studies have projected the groundwater markets as an alternative institutional option for better groundwater utilisation and management. Such an euphoric projection, however, misses not only the legal vacuum within which the currently observed water markets operate but also their fundamental negative ecological, equity, and efficiency effects. Taking a fresh look at the water marketing activities from a legal, ethical, and institutional perspective, this paper tries to show that under the current legal regimes governing groundwater resources in India, water markets are: (i) extralegal and inconsistent with any ethically grounded equity notions, (ii) instruments of rent-seeking behavior contributing to widespread aquifer depletion, and (iii) transitional as rental markets for irrigation assets (i.e., wells/pumpsets) emerge when water marketing ceases with the dissipation of the Ricardian rent due to intense competition among water sellers. Finally, the paper identifies the legal and institutional conditions under which groundwater markets could have their maximum efficiency and equity benefits that too without violating the sustainability requirements of the groundwater resource system.

JEL-codes: O13 Q25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1994
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dse:indecr:v:29:y:1994:i:2:p:157-176

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.ierdse.org/

Access Statistics for this article

Indian Economic Review is currently edited by Pami Dua (Editor) & Ram Singh (Associate Editor) and Sunil Kanwar

More articles in Indian Economic Review from Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics University of Delhi, Delhi 110 007. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Pami Dua ().