By Hrishikesh Utpat
The Aam Admi Party (AAP), after forming the Delhi government with outside support from the Congress, has taken some radical steps. A much-publicized step has been the provision of free water to every household in Delhi. Although the election manifesto promised 700 liters of free water per household per day, the target was revised 670 liters on assuming office. This policy was implemented within days of taking office.
In an interesting move, the AAP has declared that the policy of free water shall be revised after a period of 3 months. It is presumed that this review will be done to check the economic feasibility and practicality of the policy. The free water policy is not flawless. The chief issues with this policy are:
- No income-based targeting
The policy of free water applies universally; there is no income based targeting. As a result, every household in Delhi has access to free water. What this means in real-time terms is that a successful high-income businessman shall be treated at par with a poor migrant who has come to Delhi from a neighboring state looking for employment. This is significant in view of the fact that while Delhi has the highest per capita income throughout the country (Rs. 2.1 lakh), it also is home to over 22 lakh BPL individuals.
- No targeting based on number of people in household
The AAP water policy is not based on the number of people per household. According to the Economic Survey of Delhi (2012-13), the per capita daily usage of water is 172 liters. Subsequently, 670 liters (or 700 liters) of water would be adequate for a family of 4 members of less.
According to the Economic Survey of Delhi (2012-13), the percentage of households with 4 members or less is 46%. This means that the majority of the population 54% – shall not be benefiting from this scheme given the fact that their natural water consumption is greater than 700 liters and that pricing is not done in slabs.
- Going to lead to excess usage and wastage in many households
According to the Economic Survey of Delhi (2012-13), 22% of the population has 3 or lesser members in it. Considering an average per capital usage of 172 liters, this means that households will be provided with an excess of 154 liters, 326 liters or 498 liters free every day depending on family size. Translated into total terms, this means that a staggering 20,95,53,470 (approx. 21 crore) liters of excessive water will be provided every day. The households to which this excess amount will be provided will have no incentive to their reduce consumption. Instead, there is plausible cause to believe that consumption would be increased given that this water is free. As a result, there is a seemingly paradoxical co-existence of wastage with the fact that 54% of the population will not be benefiting from this scheme.
- Not addressing other issues
Despite the party manifesto clearly stating that AAPs first priority would be to ensure that every house in Delhi gets clean water, no steps have been taken on this front. Instead, human and financial resources are being dedicated towards providing free water to a limited section of Delhi society. The free water scheme applies to only those households that have pipelining connections. According to the Economic Survey of Delhi (2012-13), 75% of households have access to processed pipelined water. It would be better if resources were dedicated to extend pipelining to the remaining 25%.
The AAP also says that it aims at cracking down on the water mafia and reforming the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). However, there have been reports emerging from areas such as the Asiad colony in South Delhi of the DJB-tanker mafia nexus creating an artificial shortage of water. People in these localities are not getting water, irrespective of it being free or priced. This is an important lesson towards understanding that free water is not needed to crack down on the tanker mafia indeed, provision of free water has no direct bearing on this nexus; stronger implementation of laws is essential to crack down on the water mafia.
- Fiscal imprudence
The AAP manifesto further says that it shall repel the current law that increases cost of water. According to the 2010 DJB pricing policy, the tariff structure is such that there shall be an annual price rise of 10% beginning from January. This tariff structure was decided to account for inflation and price rise on an annual basis. So, while the water policy itself is leading to under-recoveries, the price rise policy is to be dismantled.
It has to be borne in mind that there is no such thing as free water just as there are no free lunches. The cost of providing Delhi with 700 liters of free water every day has to be accounted for somewhere else; either via increased taxation or by deficit financing. Ultimately, this burden is shouldered by the population of Delhi. Therefore, this skewed policy is providing water paid for by the aam aadmi.
- Conservation Issue
One of the chief aims of this policy is to increase conservation of water. AAP leader Yogendra Yadav has stated that the AAP believes that by giving 700 liters free water and by putting a price on the entire amount if even a drop beyond the 700 liters is used, people will be convinced to use less than 700 liters. But as has been shown above, this policy is generating vast amounts of excessive water to households that do not currently need them without any incentive to reduce consumption. Similarly, households with more than 5 members will be consuming more than 700 liters as a part of their daily need. They will be physical unable to reduce their consumption below the 700 liter mark.
It would be more prudent to devise slabs to track water usage. Instead of providing 700 liters, water up till 700 liters can be charged a specific rate, and consumption above that volume can be charged a higher rate. It has to be borne in mind that water usage can be tracked precisely; hence tracking its consumption and pricing can be highly accurate.
Conclusion
Fundamentally, the objective of the policy adapted by the AAP is a fair one in todays times, where high inflation is making day-to-day life difficult for the common man, affordable access to water is essential for the masses. Unavailability and the tanker mafia have made water an unaffordable commodity to the weaker sections of society. The AAP policy aims at rectifying this issue. And yet like many other policies adopted by the AAP the design of this scheme is flawed.
It would be much better if the AAP were to dedicate its resources in solving fundamental water-related issues throughout Delhi. The AAP has also shown on various occasions that it has a good communication network established at the grass root level. Perhaps this network can be leveraged to report and crack down on the water mafia.
The AAP has repeatedly shown that it can correctly identify problems that the common man faces. However, it has yet to prove its track record in formulating solutions to these issues, let alone implementing them. It would be prudent for Delhi if the AAP were to stop implementing populist and quick-fix solutions and formulate mature and sustainable policies, as a responsible government should be doing.
The author has completed his BE (Computer Science) from MIT College, Pune, and his currently pursuing a masters degree in Economics. He particularly enjoys social sciences, and has chosen to study Economics because it provides the perfect blend of Science and Social Sciences. Currently preparing for the UPSC Civil Services Exam, Hrishikesh hopes to serve the country by joining the bureaucracy having cleared the Preliminary exams for the Civil Services in 2013, he will be appearing for the Mains exams in December. His passions include reading, writing, travelling, mountaineering and teaching. Currently affiliated with the prestigious Chanakya Mandal Pariwar organization in Pune, Hrishikesh teaches a wide range of subjects such as History, International Relations, Economics, Mathematics and Statistics.