Does irrigation mediate inclusiveness in health outcomes? This is the basic question this article is trying to address in the context of two villages in northeast Karnataka. The findings of this micro-level study show that public irrigation facilitates trickle down of positive health outcomes to the marginalised sections of the society in terms of caste and gender. On the other hand, such inclusiveness in health was not observed in the village where majority of households depend on private sources of irrigation. The above outcomes are explained in terms of inequities in access to resources including water, land and education. This study shows that public irrigation plays instrumental role in achieving larger developmental goals including health in a rural society.
BorooahV. (2010). Inequality in health outcomes in India. Personal RePEC Archives. Retrieved 6 January 2014, http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/19832.
2.
BurneyA. J.NaylorR. L. (2012). Small holder irrigation as a poverty alleviation tool in Sub-Saharan Africa. World development, 40(1), 110–123.
3.
Census of India. (2011a). District census handbook. Bellary District. Retrieved 25 October 2018 fromhttp://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/dchb/Karnataka.htm
4.
Census of India. (2011b). District census handbook. Bidar District. Retrieved 25 October 2018 fromhttp://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/dchb/Karnataka.htm
5.
Census of India. (2011c). District census handbook. Gulbarga District. Retrieved 25 October 2018 fromhttp://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/dchb/KarnatakaA.htm
6.
Census of India. (2011d). District census handbook. Koppal District. Retrieved 25 October 2018 fromhttp://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/dchb/Karnataka.htm
7.
Census of India. (2011e). District census handbook. Raichur District. Retrieved 25 October 2018 fromhttp://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/dchb/Karnataka.htm
8.
Census of India. (2011f). District census handbook. Yadgir District. Retrieved 25 October 2018 fromhttp://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/dchb/Karnataka.htm
9.
DamleC. B. (1989). Land reforms legislation in Karnataka: Myth of success. Economic and Political Weekly, 24, 1896–906.
10.
DomenechL.RinglerC. (2013). The impact of irrigation on nutrition, health, and gender areview paper with insights for Africa south of the Sahara(IFPRI Discussion Paper 01259). International Food Policy Research Institute.
11.
Economic Survey Karnataka. (2017–2018). Retrieved 9 March 2019 fromhttp://planning.kar.nic.in/docs/Economic%20Survey%20Reports/ES_17-18/English.pdf
12.
Ganesh PrasadG. S. (2002). Public resource and private appropriation. Economic and Political Weekly, 37, 28–29. https://doi.org/10.2307/4411561
13.
GhoshS. (2011). Catastrophic payments and impoverishmentdue to out of pocket health spending. Economic and Political Weekly,46(47), 63–70.
14.
Human Development Report. (2018). Retrieved 9 March 19 fromhdr.undp.org/en/2018
15.
Human Development Report Karnataka. (2005). Retrieved 25 March 19 fromhttp://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/stateplan/sdr_pdf/shdr_kar05.pdf
16.
JacobS.BalmurliN.IndiraP. (2015). Explaining village level development trajectories through schooling in Karnataka. Economic and Political Weekly, 50(52), 54–64.
17.
KumarS. A.K.AcharyaA.NagarajN.BaruR.AcharyaS. (2010). Inequities in access to health services in India: Caste, class and region. Economic and Political Weekly, 45(38), 49–58.
18.
MagistroJ.MichaelR.SteveH.FritzK.PaulP.ElizabethW.RobertY. (2007). A model for pro-poor wealth creation through small plot irrigation and market linkages. Irrigation and Drainage, 56, 321–334. https://doi.org/10.1002/ird.300
19.
PolakP.RobertY. (2006). Creating wealth from groundwater for dollar-a-day farmers: Where the silent revolution and the four revolutions to end rural poverty meet. Hydrogeology Journal,14, 424–432. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-005-0011-2
20.
ScariaS. (2017). Caste and gender in relation to health inequality: A village study from Kerala. South Asia Research, 37(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/0262728016663273
21.
SenA. (2002). Health: Perception versus observation: Self-reported morbidity has severe limitations and can be extremely misleading. British Medical Journal, 324, 860–861. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.324.7342.860
22.
SenA. (1999). Development as freedom. Oxford University Press.
23.
SenG.IyerAGeorgeA. (2002). Structural reforms and health equity: A comparison of NSS surveys, 1986–87 and 1995–96. Economic and Political Weekly, 37(14), 1342–1352. https://doi.org/10.2307/4411960
24.
SenG.IyerA.MukherjeeC. (2009). A methodology to analyse the intersections of social inequalityin health. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 10(3), 397–415. https://doi.org/10.1080/19452820903048894
25.
SenG.IyerA. (2012). Who gains, who loses and how: Leveraging gender and caste intersections to secure health entitlements. Social Science and Medicine, 74(11), 1802–1811. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.05.035
26.
SrinivasanJ. T.RatnaR. V. (2009). Impact of irrigation water quality on human health: A case study in India. Ecological Economics, 68(11), 2800–2807. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2009.04.019
27.
ThimmaiahG.AzizA. (1983). The political economy of land reforms in Karnataka, A South Indian State. Asian Survey, 23(7), 810–829. https://doi.org/10.2307/2644290
28.
Twelfth Five Year Plan. (2012–2017). Planning commission(Vol. I.).Government of India.
29.
VasaviA. R. (1999). Agrarian distress in bidar. Economic and Political Weekly, 34(32), 2263–2268.
30.
WDR. (2008). Agriculture for development. The World Bank.
31.
WilliamsD.R.MohammedS. A.LeavellJ.CollinsC. (2010). Race, socio-economic status and health: Complexities, ongoing challenges and research opportunities. Annalsof the New York Academy of Sciences, 1186, 69–101. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05339.x
32.
World Bank. (2020). Pandemic, recession: The global economy in crisis. World Bank. Retrieved 8 August 2020 fromhttps://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/global-economic-prospects
