Socio-economic Analysis of Arsenic Contamination of Groundwater in West Bengal

This book presents a socio-economic analysis of the issues linking technological innovation in providing arsenic-safe drinking water in rural areas. It presents concrete field based experiences of experiments and case studies depicting the plight and sufferings of people due to failed technological deployment strategies over the past two decades in West Bengal, the most arsenic-exposed state in India and also the first to act for remediation of the crisis. One of the greatest challenges in arsenic-exposed zones is to provide sustainable access to reliably arsenic-safe free water. For nearly twenty years the Government of India and national water distribution institutions in collaboration with multi-lateral funding agencies have sought to pump in money, push technology collected through global tenders, and enlist the support of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), but their efforts have yielded little success. This book is the outcome of the authors’ intensive fieldwork, guided by the conceptual framework of the latest literature on environmental economics and consumer behaviour. It presents a framework and estimates based on field level primary data. Secondary official source-based data are also collated from various scattered sources into a valuable, comprehensive collection. Lastly, the book includes a revealing analysis of factors affecting households’ participation.

Dr. Abhijit Das is currently an Assistant Professor in Economics at Vijoygarh Jyotish Ray College in Kolkata, West Bengal (India). He has been researching extensively over past one decade in the various villages of rural West Bengal to understand the social, economic and political issues that drives lack of access to safe drinking water. His field research has been primarily funded by University Grants Commission of Government of India. He has published more than 15 peer reviewed articles.

Dr. Joyashree Roy, Professor of Economics, coordinates the Global Change Programme and also directs Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund Project at the Jadavpur University. She is in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winning panel –IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). She has been involved in preparation of Stern Review Report, Global Energy Assessment and many other national and global reports. She has published more than 80 peer reviewed articles. She is researching in this area for more than two decades.

Sayantan Chakrabarti is a development communication consultant. Few of his notable projects, till date, are ‘LIFE / DEATH’ – a documentary film on the arsenic crisis; ‘Commons’ – a multi-media communication series explaining the idea and necessity of Commons; ‘Dhumil Hota Astitva’ – a film highlighting the impact of environmental pollution on heritage; ‘Mother Anonymous’ – addressing the plight of surrogate mothers; ‘Buy Buy King’ – exploring lack of consumer choice; ‘Harit Lehar’ – explaining the need of composting as a sustainable method of waste management. He also assisted Dr. Rohit Jigyasu for the paper ‘Appropriate technology for post-disaster reconstruction’ in the book ‘Rebuilding after disasters from emergency to sustainability’, published by Taylor and Francis in 2009.