Geography of inequality, geography of development: Water politics in India

Sruthi Herbert

World Development Perspectives, 2024, vol. 33, issue C

Abstract: Based on fieldwork conducted in Kerala, India, in this article, I focus on the micropolitics of water – both its infrastructure creation and management strategies. I argue that water becomes a means of social control through its role in reproducing existing social hierarchies. Focusing on Jalanidhi, a world-bank-led water management program and connecting this to the history of development in my fieldsite, I show that structural inequalities of caste and gender are inscribed on development and infrastructure geographies. The article highlights the limitations of both left-led and neoliberal ideas of development and necessarily trouble the dominant narrative about Kerala being an alternative to mainstream ideas of development.

Keywords: Geography of Development; Geography of Caste; Water politics; Kerala and Development; South Asian Studies; Caste in India; Gender and Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wodepe:v:33:y:2024:i:c:s2452292923000668

DOI: 10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100550

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