Administrative Practice and Social Norms: The Case of Domestic Water Supply

SHEHRYAR KHAN (REASEARCH FELLOW) SDPI

I. Research focusII. Geographical locationIII. Historical background of municipal servicesIV. Domestic water supply in NawansherV. Research questionsVI. MethodologyVII. Conflict and institutional responsesVIII. The loop systemIX. Social and Political dynamicsX. The Politics of AccessXI. Moral relationshipsXII. Intrusion of social norms into official normsXIII. Formal Governance modelXIV. limitations of Governance model

To illustrate how social norms affect the institutional provision of water supply.

In a decentralise context, to examine the role of Nazim in managing Access to water supply.

To demonstrate at an abstract level, the limitation of Governance model.

Urban union council Nawansher located in Abbottabad District.

The social-cultural dynamics in Nawansher are based on kinship ties particularly among the dominant tribe Jadoons.

Due to migration and increase in population, Nawansher has expanded to ‘new’ Nawansher

Majority of population in ‘new’ Nawansher comprises non-Jadoon tribes, namely Rajpoots, Syed and Kashmiris.

In 1867-68, the British introduced municipal services in Nawansher.

Locally elected people and an elected chairman managed in the past municipal services.

The decentralisation reforms in 2001 altered the structure, functioning and central role of the town committee.

The town committee is now an institution with formal rules and consists of officials who perform different functions

In Nawansher there are two main sources of water: a natural spring and tube wells.

The main source which provides water to local residents are tube wells constructed at different locations.

Headed by a state official, the town committee assume a central role in the management and operation of the water supply system.

How access to drinking water is managed by a local institution “town committee”.

What are the problems in the management of water supply?

How people register their water complaints in the town committee and how they get resolved and by whom?

Ethnography- Participant observation and informal interviews:

On ground observation of people and institution in real time and space.

Focusing on the water supply case study made me aware that close observations of social events requires attention to social and political dynamics.

To observe instances when official norms and official practices were challenged by informal social norms.

Through informal encounters and interviews, I learnt about local citizens difficulties in gaining access to water.

Access to uninterrupted water supply became a source of conflict between the town committee and residents of old Nawansher.

Local residents blamed pump operators and technical staff for not performing their official duties.

Town committee had its own logic and accused the community of illegal appropriation, lack of rainfall and the gap between demand and supply

The conflict over the distribution of water supply was related to “The loop System”.

The problem of access was partly due to the design of the distribution system, in which water flows in a loop

Because water flows in a loop, residents of hamlets (Shoaib Zai, Musa Zai, New Muhala and Khalil Zai) in old Nawansher do not receive water conveniently and expediently.

These hamlets faced water crises from the past two years. The residents blamed the “Ex-Nazim for their situation”

Two hypothesis are considered for understanding the social and political dynamics of access.

i) Infrastructure projects provide opportunities for local political elites to benefit from them.

II. These elites extend favours to those who have close association with them viewed in terms of kinship ties and social relationships.

The construction of loop system privileged those politically affiliated with the ex-Nazim.

The loop system also benefited people of Damtour who had primordial ties with the ex-Nazim

In Nawansher, People frequently make reference to these loyalties in terms of social expectations and obligations from their leaders.

The loop system also stretched the political constituency of the Ex-Nazim beyond Nawansher.

Schaffer and Wen-hsien (1972, p.21) argues that “different access can actually produce different politics … for example the establishment of system of distribution can be intended or appear to provide access for some who would otherwise be excluded”.

By examining the role of incumbent Nazim in managing access to water supply, politics is also associated with illicit transactions, fears and conflict of interests

The incumbent Nazim opertionalised a water supply project (NUDP) for securing access for the residents of excluded hamlets.

The most interesting and surprising fact was that the Nazim used the project for the residents who were associated with his own Biradari and his followers at the cost of Khalil Zai and Musa Zai.

The Nazim wanted the interests of his own family and followers to be promoted at all costs.

As narrated to me by one official, “the Nazim only cared about his own people in accessing water, and was less concerned if certain people were excluded.”

In the Nazim’s view, the interests of his political/personal clients were more important than following official norms and formal Processes of service provision.

The traditions of moral obligations and kinship ties are deeply entrenched in Nawansher.

Officials had to take into account the kinship ties and social relationships of the Nazim.

The involvement of the Nazim in administration, clearly demonstrates that local governance is dominated by differences in power relations based on politics and imbued with moral arguments.

The water supply staff were caught between the political interests of the Nazim and the bureaucratic norms underpinning their official duties.

The technical staff’s bureaucratic procedures and standardised rules could not have made any difference in challenging the rationality of the Nazim.

Bureaucratic rationality was equally problematic due to social and kinship relationships, and rational accountability was dependent on actors’ formal responsibilities.

In reality, officials had to respond to the demands of the community, driven by its moral relationships with the Nazim.

Citizens' faced enormous problems in securing access to water through formal channels

The formal system of treating complaints in an impartial manner proved difficult because:

1. The system was heavily politicised (personal loyalties and social relationships)

2. Officials were constraint to extend preferential treatment in order to avoid negative assessment

3. The administrative practice and performance of officials is linked to the assessment of political and personal relationships.

GOOD GOVERNANCE MODEL EMPHASISE ON:

An effective, transparent and well performing institutions

The normative literature on governance predominantly reflects principles and conceptions drawn from Western political systems.

The normative framework becomes the sole point of reference for evaluating countries like Pakistan.

Ethnographic accounts and encounters with political and state actors shows:

In the private sphere, there are people and groups who pursue their independent interest in opposition to the independent functioning of the state.

How state institutions perform in reality, how official authority is subverted, and how people struggle for rights and entitlements are embedded in the private sphere.

As argued by Gretchen and Steven “in contrast to official norms, which are communicated, written and widely accepted as official”, informal social norms enable us to get a better understanding of how they affect the expected official behaviour of the state officials.

The literature on Governance becomes “subtractivist” when comparing Pakistan to an ideal construct