Infrastructure disarray in the clean Ganga and clean India campaigns

Abstract

The notion of the infrastructure gap is widely articulated in development studies to denote lacunae and areas of need in infrastructure functioning and connectivity across regions and nations. Sanitation infrastructure is one of the clearest areas in which to examine this gap. To close the gap, government and multilateral agencies are espousing citywide inclusive sanitation. This means comprehensive sanitation services for all through a combination of centralized and decentralized projects and a variety of techniques and services. However, this diversity of projects, techniques, and services will create additional challenges for infrastructure connectivity and functionality that need to be addressed through empirical research. We explore the gaps in wastewater and fecal sludge management infrastructure in India by approaching the problem from the activities and perspectives of three nonstate leaders and their associates. We argue that the notion of infrastructure disarray is an appropriate orienting idea as it points to an emerging field of experimentation and innovative activity while also showing how conditions of dysfunction and disconnection are sustained and reproduced. Taking disarray as a condition of infrastructure confusion among overlapping and disconnected segments of the sewage services chain, the cases show how nonstate actors and their communities are confronting disarray, reproducing these conditions of disarray, or grappling with ways to overcome this disarray.This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Sustainable Engineering of Water Engineering Water > Planning Water Human Water > Water Governance