The Times of India | Happiness from subsidy: It’s complicated by factors such as neighbour’s envy

I am a relatively poor man. Govt does a lot for me. Or at least in my name. In Bengaluru, for example, govt has kept the price of water low, so that I can afford it. Though it costs them roughly Rs 100 a kilolitre to provide, they charge everybody only about Rs 10 and give a subsidy to cover the rest. Honourable intentions, no doubt, for which I am sincerely grateful. What hurts me a little bit is that my supremely rich neighbours also use this subsidy in large amounts. To wash their grand cars and water their sprawling lawns. Read the full article here.

Mint | India cannot solve its water crisis without proper pricing

A few years ago, the mayor of a Karnataka town asked me how she could prevent people from wastefully washing their yards, walls and vehicles with water from the municipal water supply. She told me she had organized awareness campaigns, promoted conservation efforts and even personally remonstrated with citizens, but to little avail. When I asked her how much they paid for the water, she replied that the monthly charge was a few tens of rupees per connection, but this was not strictly enforced. She was taken aback when I told her that was why her conservation efforts had been unsuccessful. Read the full article here.

Moneycontrol | Bangalore Water Crisis: Marginal pricing of water, subsidies to poor may curb water woes

Barely a few days into summer and there are already reports of Bangalore facing a severe water crisis. Groundwater is depleting and borewells are running dry. The price charged by private tankers have doubled. Some apartment complexes and RWAs are already rationing water and cutting off water supply to households for a few hours in the daytime. Meanwhile, the state government has decided to nationalise all private water tankers in the city. This is a complex problem with multiple causal factors – geography (Bangalore is situated far away from any naturally occurring water body), weather (weak southwest monsoons), and mismanagement. Mismanagement takes the shape of encroachment and building property on lake beds, failure to enforce rainwater harvesting systems, not providing piped water supply to peripheral areas, and unabated exploitation of ground water. Read the full article here.