State Community Interfaces in Drought Risk Reduction

Abstract

newlineDrought like situations are embedded in the everyday lives of several marginalised newline communities in Rural India. This study has attempted to analyse the vulnerability contexts of newline a Santal community to drought in Purulia, West Bengal. In this context, it has specifically newline examined the livelihood practices of diverse intersectional actors in the community and how newline they socially construct their understanding and experiences of drought. This study has also newline examined how social actors representing the state define and construct the contexts of drought. newline A key research concern has been to understand the everyday livelihood struggles of newline marginalised social actors among the Santal community in the context of state-community newline interfaces in drought risk reduction and the accompanying contradictions in their respective newline knowledge systems. The underlying assumption is that actors representing the state and newline community are located in different hierarchies of power with different values, interests, and newline knowledge. It is in these differences of knowledge frames and conflicting interests that the newline processes concerned with risk reduction happens. newline This study strives towards addressing the gaps in literature that have primarily newline naturalised drought and ignored the politics of distribution, resource use conflicts, property newline rights and technological choice in determining vulnerability. It draws on a wide range of newline conceptual approaches such as social construction of drought, political economy contexts of newline vulnerability, and social interface analysis. This thesis argues that livelihood uncertainties and newline subsequent vulnerability of marginalised communities to drought is not an exclusive outcome newline of a natural event. Instead the discourses and practices surrounding drought, which are socially newline constructed in specific temporal and spatial contexts can enhance or reduce people s newline vulnerability. They are politically and economically influenced as a result of diverse policy and newline technological interventions. And the prevailing power relations in terms of social positions and newline ability to access basic livelihood resources that determine who is able to draw the outcomes of newline such interventions in their favour. newline This study has adopted a qualitative research method. Guided by an ethnography-based newline fieldwork, this study has tried to develop a situated account of the lived realities and newline experiences of the Santal community and their social encounters with the state. The findings newline of this study show that the discourses of drought, livelihood uncertainties and associated newline scarcity is socially constructed by diverse set of actors situated across different locations, social newline positions, and related political and economic contexts. Drought induced vulnerability is more newline a reflection of the social-ecological changes, historical specificity, and dynamics within the newline local to broader political economy. Further, the dynamics of the political-economic context and newline situatedness of social actors determines the nature of knowledge systems. It also influences the newline community actor s capabilities to act on existing knowledge in sustaining livelihoods and newline coping effectively. Yet, the coping capacity and ability to adapt differed from one actor to newline another based on their social positions, social networks and access to livelihood resources. In newline this regard the dynamics of the state community interfaces in drought risk reduction also newline often reflected the contradicting values, interest, knowledge and mediating power relations.