Governance Network and Social Infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir: The Study of Urban Drinking Water Services in Two Capital Cities

Abstract

Providing public services is considered an essential mandate of the government to retain institutional legitimacy among citizens. Governance structures are subject to periodic innovations through changes in political leadership, regulatory priorities, and enhanced budgetary provisioning in critical social Infrastructure. Such infrastructures are beneficiary-friendly and help improve the governing class's political legitimacy. The lack of it causes social unrest, and the governance system becomes a contested entity. The paper attempts to track the condition of reforms initiated in the social Infrastructure, service delivery, and Governance in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The paper discusses the shift in the political dynamics post-abrogation (August 5, 2019) of   Article 370 and bringing the state under the UT. This historical event of abrogating J&K's special status calls for a shift in governance networks and social Infrastructure with the support of central budgetary assistance and policy guidelines. With the new experimentation of bringing central laws to J&K, the study dissects and understands the changes in governance networks with a focus on social Infrastructure as regards urban drinking water in two capital cities of J&K, i.e., Srinagar (Summer Capital) and Jammu (Winter Capital).