Multidimensional analysis of water sector performance in India: an index approach

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Multidimensional analysis of water sector performance in India: an index approach Ashish Chopra1   · Parthasarathy Ramachandran1 Accepted: 19 August 2020 © Operational Research Society of India 2020

Abstract This article is about the development of a new index for integrated assessment of water sector performance in India. It has been widely accepted and cited that for integrated assessment of the water sector, a multidimensional index is required. Water Poverty Index (WPI) is a multidimensional index used internationally at different scales and levels for performance analysis of the water sector. The methodology used to calculate WPI is based on subjective weight method i.e. equallyweighted average of its five components, namely resources, access, capacity, use, and environment. The main objective of this study is to remove the subjectivity in assigning weights by using data envelopment analysis (DEA). In India, water-related challenges and problems vary from state to state due to geographical and institutional constraints. In this study 11 major states of India are considered to assess the role and impact of these constraints on the overall water sector performance. DEA methodology has been used in this study to benchmark the water sector performance of different Indian states. In this study, we have used DEA to calculate the aggregate index for different states of India. A total of 20 variables, capturing the multidimensional aspect of the water sector have been used in this analysis. This study could be helpful for policymakers to prioritize and understand the area of improvement in the water sector. Keywords  Water poverty index · Data envelopment analysis · Water sector performance · India

Ashish Chopra: Equal contributor. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (https​://doi.org/10.1007/s1259​ 7-020-00476​-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Ashish Chopra [email protected] Parthasarathy Ramachandran [email protected] 1



Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India

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1 Introduction The water problem in India is complex. India sustains nearly 17% of the world’s population but having only 4% of global water resources [23]. It’s a matter of concern as nearly 600 million people face high to extreme water stress in India. In terms of access to safe water and improved sanitation also situation is alarming as 163 million lacks to safe drinking water and 210 million lacks access to improved sanitation. India ranks 120th among 122 countries in the water quality index [1]. Also, 500 children under the age of five die from diarrhea each day in India plus 21% of total communicable diseases are linked to unhygienic water.1 Further, the problem is complicated due to the seasonal and temporal variability in the availability of water across the country. Most of the river basins are waterstressed and the quality of water is also deteriorating due to the pollution caused by i