Diagnoses: matching people and programme: at what prices?

Abstract

During last year, a drought prone district was experiencing acute scarcity of drinking water. The state government, however, was very keen to provide drinking water facility to as many villages as possible. Thus, under a UNICEF project, more than 1,200 newly designed hand pumps were installed. These pumps worked alright for some time. However, during the summer months, when the pumps were needed most, most of them broke down. This led to lot of discontentment among the people. The chief minister of the state as well as the minister hailing from the district were very keen that the hand pumps should be repaired at the earliest possible opportunity.