Do political connections moderate the correlation between drought and households’ water poverty? Empirical evidence from India

Water poverty is a global issue and it gets exacerbated by climate change-induced droughts. While the impact of drought on water poverty is well documented, we contribute to the literature by exploring the role played by political connection in shaping households' water poverty in the face of drought. We use two rounds of nationally representative household-level panel data from the India Human Development Survey (2004–05 and 2011–12) to generate a multidimensional water poverty index and a variable representing political connection. The long-term rainfall data from the India Meteorological Department is used to construct the drought variable. Our empirical findings show that drought is positively correlated with households’ water poverty. However, the correlation between drought and water poverty is moderated by political connectedness: politically connected households affected by drought have lower water poverty than non-politically connected households who also face drought. An analysis with disaggregated water poverty measure indicates that politically connected households have lower deprivation from access, quality, storage and capacity dimensions of water poverty compared to their non-politically counterparts. A fractional regression analysis with district level data also provides evidence of the moderating impact of political connection proving the consistency of our empirical findings. We recommend initiating specific water poverty alleviation programmes that preclude political elite capture from the distribution of water utility services. We also recommend the Panchayat systems to become more inclusive such that the benefits of water related programmes reach the most vulnerable people to ensure water security.