Groundwater scarcity impact on inclusiveness and women empowerment: Insights from school absenteeism of female students in two watersheds in India

ABSTRACT

A survey was conducted in eight secondary schools located in two watersheds in Gujarat and Rajasthan (semi-arid region of India) to assess students’ perceptions about groundwater scarcity issues and the impact of the scarcity on their educational opportunities. Survey responses to a detailed questionnaire by a cohort of students in both watersheds; school attendance records of year 8 class students (13–14 years old) and responses gathered via a socio-economic survey involving 500 families in the study area were used in the study. In both watersheds, >90% students identified groundwater scarcity as a major issue. Required to work at home or farm, about 65% students in Gujarat and 60% in Rajasthan missed school for up to 2 days/month; and a smaller proportion (∼ 30%) missed schools for 4 or more days/month. School absenteeism was found to be linked with gender; female students missed schools more frequently than their male counterpart. The school attendance records in Rajasthan showed that the frequency of female students missing schools for 5 or more days/month was on an average 2–10 times greater than that for males. The gender difference in absenteeism in all schools was statistically significant (P < .018**). The study highlighted that groundwater scarcity in the study area, and consequent demand on their time for household work including fetching drinking water are contributing factors towards limiting their educational and economic opportunities. Groundwater scarcity can be one of the key factors that can limit inclusiveness and empowerment of women and need to be considered in policy-making.

KEYWORDS:

• Groundwater over-exploitation
• water security
• school absenteeism
• educational opportunity
• women empowerment

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the students and teachers from the eight schools that participated in the survey. In addition, we acknowledge the contributions of numerous staff from the Development Support Centre (DSC) Ahmedabad (Gujarat), MPUAT Udaipur (Rajasthan) and from local district administration offices for their help in the survey.

Notes on contributors

Rai S Kookana is a research scientist with CSIRO and an Honorary Professor with the University of Adelaide, Australia. His research interests include water quality and water security issues and their impacts on communities and the environment.

Basant Maheshwari is a professor at Western Sydney University, Australia. His research focusses on transdisciplinary aspect of water resources planning, environmental management and sustainability.

Peter Dillon is an Honorary Research Fellow with CSIRO Land and Water and an adjunct Chair at the University of Adelaide and Flinders University. He participated in hydrogeological aspects of the ACIAR MARVI project.

Seema H Dave was a researcher at Development Support Centre (DSC), Ahmedabad, India, and is currently a Ph.D. Scholar at the Western Sydney University. Seema has been engaged in community development, including the role of groundwater in well-being of village communities.

Prahlad Soni is a Research Associate at Vidya Bhawan Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Badgaon, Udaipur (Rajasthan), with an interest in community engagement, crop demonstration experiment as well as deep groundwater monitoring, data collection and analysis.

Hakimuddin Bohra is an Agricultural Engineering Specialist with Vidya Bhawan Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Udaipur, India. He has carried out numerous agricultural development and extension projects. Hakimuddin facilitated the schools engagement program in this project in Rajasthan.

Yogita Dashora is a Research Scholar at Maharaja Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur (India), with an interest in research on groundwater recharge, irrigation water management and community engagement.

Ramesh C Purohit is a Professor with Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology and his research interests include irrigation water management, hydrology and community engagement.

John Ward is a senior scientist with the Mekong Region Futures Institute. His research focusses on bridging science-policy boundaries, integrated natural resource management and participatory processes.

Sachin Oza is the Executive Director of DSC, a multi-state non-government organization in India. The DSC works extensively with rural communities for enhancing their livelihoods through participatory natural resource management. Sachin is involved at the grassroots as well as in capacity building and policy influencing.

Pratibha Katara is a Ph.D. scholar with Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology and her research is focussed on catchment scale modelling to understand groundwater recharge and management.

Kamal K Yadav is Assistant Professor of Soil Science with Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur (India). His research focuses on environmental issues with natural resources management.

Maria E Varua is a Senior Lecturer and the Director of Academic Programs (Economics, Finance and Property) at the Western Sydney University. Her research focusses on environmental and resource economics, econometrics, capacity building, gender and corporate social responsibility.

Harsharn Singh Grewal was a Senior Researcher at Western Sydney University (Australia). His research interests include nutrient and water management, improving irrigation and water use efficiency, groundwater management, sustainable cropping and farming systems and community engagement.

Roger Packham is an associate professor at Western Sydney University with an interest in systemic development and facilitation and participatory methods as applied to complex issues. He has acted as a consultant in many countries for a range of organisations. He also has an interest in values-based education.

Anand Singh Jodha for a specialist at Vidya Bhawan Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Udaipur, India. His main area of work include agricultural extension, soil and crop management for livelihood improvement and transfer of technology through participatory engagement of farmers.

Ashishkumar Patel is a Programme Executive (Technical) at DSC, Ahmedabad (India) with an interest in sustainable livelihood development of rural harmers through participatory Natural Resource Management.

Additional information

Funding

The project was jointly funded by the Australian Centre of International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and the participating organisations that the authors were affiliated to.