Administrative Practice and Social Norms: The Case of Domestic Water Supply by Dr. Shehryar Khan Toru, Research Fellow, Sustainable Development Policy Institute

1. SHEHRYAR KHAN (REASEARCH
FELLOW) SDPI

2. I.
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Research focus
Geographical location
Historical background of municipal services
Domestic water supply in Nawansher
Research questions
Methodology
Conflict and institutional responses
The loop system
Social and Political dynamics
The Politics of Access
Moral relationships
Intrusion of social norms into official norms
Formal Governance model
limitations of Governance model

3. 
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.

4. 
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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.

6. 
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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

7. 
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.

9. 
How access to drinking water is
managed by a local institution “town
committee”.

What are the problems
management of water supply?

How people register their water
complaints in the town committee and
how they get resolved and by whom?
in
the

10. Ethnography- Participant observation and
informal interviews:
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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.

11. 
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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”.

12. 
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”

14. 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.

15. 
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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 exNazim
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.

16. 
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

17. 
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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.”

18. 
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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.

19. 
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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.

20. 
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.

21. GOOD GOVERNANCE MODEL EMPHASISE ON:

An effective,
institutions
transparent
and
well
performing

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.

22. 
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