Environmental Communication and Water Management in India : A Civil Society Perspective

This book analyses the underlying communication strategies and approaches of grassroots water management practices in India through a case study-based ethnographic approach.

Drawing from fieldwork experiences, this volume provides a detailed overview of Parmarth, a not-for-profit NGO, which is the case study for this research. It presents an in-depth theoretically informed analysis of data collected through multiple methods, which includes key informant interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation, and document reviews, among other approaches.

The book examines Parmarth’s strategies and processes to mobilise women as important stakeholders in the region’s water conservation initiatives. It discusses communicative actions, tactics and campaigns in water interventions and the role of various stakeholders ranging from local community members to civil society.

Accessibly written, this volume is a must-read for scholars and researchers of media and communication studies, environmental communication, ecology studies, development studies, public policy, sustainable development, water management, sociology, and political science.

Ram Awtar Yadav is an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Raebareli, India. Before joining NIFT, he worked as Assistant Professor with the Faculty of Journalism and Creative Studies at Jagran Lakecity University, Bhopal. He obtained Ph.D. from the Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad, India, in 2021. He did his Masters in Electronic Media from Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication, Bhopal, in 2011, after which he worked as a journalist with The Hitavada, an English daily of Bhopal for around four years. He also worked as an assistant professor at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Guru Ghasidas University, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, before embarking on his doctoral journey.

Kanchan K. Malik is a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Hyderabad (UoH), India. She is a Faculty Fellow with the UNESCO Chair on Community Media and Editor of the newsletter – CR News. Kanchan’s PhD from UoH contributed to policy advocacy by civil society groups for community radio in India. With a dual Master’s in Economics and Mass Communication, she worked as a journalist with The Economic Times and as faculty in two reputable state universities before joining UoH in 2007. Her academic interests include Community Media and Women Empowerment, Journalism Studies, and Media Ethics. Kanchan was awarded the 2022-2023 Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship to visit the University of Texas at Austin. She is a co-author (with Vinod Pavarala) of the much-cited book Other Voices: The Struggle for Community Radio in India (2007). Kanchan’s recent co-edited volume (with Vinod Pavarala) is named Community Radio in South Asia: Reclaiming the Airwaves (Routledge: 2020). She published a manual last year titled Strengthening Gender-Sensitive Practices and Programming in Community Radio (UNESCO: 2021).