Decentralisation and the Politics of Water Allocation in West Bengal

In order to overcome inefficient allocation of natural resources, there is a trend to make government more accountable to local people through decentralisation. Today, when farmers are moving away from the agricultural sector in West Bengal, India, for which water scarcity is one of the main causes, low participation in the local government are a cause for alarm. I search for the causes behind the low level of participation of local people in decision-making processes regarding water management. I analyse the complex process of decentralisation, and show how water allocation at the village level is nested within various levels of hierarchy. These involve politics over access to water and relations of power that include interactions between political parties, government agencies and the local elite. The political interference in the decentralisation process creates problems in local participation and decision-making that lead to a skewed allocation of water.