Access to Water, Time Allocation and Income in Rural India

43 Pages Posted: 16 Jul 2014 Last revised: 18 Jul 2014

See all articles by Hans P Binswanger-Mkhize

Hans P Binswanger-Mkhize

University of PRETORIA

Sharmistha Nag

National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER)

Hari Nagarajan

Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA)

Anirudh Tagat

Department of Economics, Monk Prayogshala; Monk Prayogshala; Monash University - School of Mathematics

Date Written: June 1, 2014

Abstract

In this paper we show that investments to improve the supply and management of water reduce the time spent in fetching water by both men and women, which in turn will lead to a reallocation of the time saved to productive activities, and result in increased incomes. Using the national ARIS/REDS panel data of the NCAER we show that political reservations in the local government for vulnerable groups like scheduled castes and tribes, and women lead to greater local government investments in water supply and improved management. Political reservations are shown to increase the time spent by women in all productive activities, especially in self-employment in farm and non-farm activities. Increases in self-employment are shown to have the greatest impact among the productive activities on household incomes.

Keywords: Drinking water, political reservations for women, Panchayats, India

JEL Classification: B21, C26, H41, H42, J22

Suggested Citation

Binswanger, Hans P and Nag, Sharmistha and Nagarajan, Hari and Tagat, Anirudh, Access to Water, Time Allocation and Income in Rural India (June 1, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2466862 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2466862

Hans P Binswanger

University of PRETORIA ( email )

Pretoria 0002
South Africa

Sharmistha Nag

National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) ( email )

Parisila Bhawan
11 - Indraprastha Estate
New Delhi, 110002
India

Hari Nagarajan (Contact Author)

Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) ( email )

Anand - 388 001
India

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.irma.ac.in/ifaculty/facultydetails.php?fid=428

Anirudh Tagat

Department of Economics, Monk Prayogshala ( email )

Powai
Mumbai, Maharashtra 400072
India

HOME PAGE: http://www.monkprayogshala.in

Monk Prayogshala ( email )

Powai
Mumbai, Maharashtra 400072
India

HOME PAGE: http://www.monkprayogshala.in

Monash University - School of Mathematics ( email )

Melbourne
Australia

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