Governing India’s Water Resources

Context

India has a population of almost 20% of world population but only 4% of fresh water resources. NITI Aayog claims that 600 million people suffer high to extreme water stress. Precipitation is plentiful, but not all of it is used effectively because of institutional issues, water storage problems, and water distribution inconsistencies. Water governance is not just a challenge but a problem for India.

Institutional Framework and Hydrological Federalism

India has a multi-level legislative and institutional system to oversee water systems:

• Constitutional Division: “Water” is a State subject (Entry 17, State List) and is under the control of the States in respect of its supply, irrigation and drainage. In case of inter-state rivers, however, the Union Government has jurisdiction (Entry 56, Union List), and any legal dispute is solved by the Union Government through Article 262.
• The Ministry of Jal Shakti: It was formed in 2019 by unification of various ministries and is the apex ministry to overcome the administrative silos with an integrated approach of ‘One Water’.
• Technical Monitoring: Central Water Commission (CWC) is responsible for surface water planning and flood control, and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) for aquifer assessments.
• Competitive Federalism: NITI Aayog, which has introduced the Composite Water Management Index (CWMI), has introduced evidence-based monitoring and accountability in the arena of Competitive Federalism by ranking states.

Transition to a Circular Water Economy: Core Flagship Missions

India is gradually moving towards a resource recovery regime from a supply-side engineering to a demand-side sustainability:

• Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM): Concern is on laying last mile infrastructure to provide 55 litres of per capita potable tap water to all rural households and is targeted for 2028.
• Atal Bhujal Yojana: Addresses the problem of groundwater over-exploitation, which India is the world’s biggest over-exploder, by setting up water budgeting in communities and participatory aquifer management.
• Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY): Focuses on agriculture sector which uses more than 80 percent of the freshwater. It is promoting precision agriculture with the concept “Per Drop More Crop”.

Aligning Global Best Practices with Indian Governance

Indian policies are increasingly following the path of global ones that are based on circularity, technology and market incentives, in order to create resilient infrastructure:

1. Scaling Wastewater Reuse

• • The National Framework for Safe Reuse of Treated Sewage Water (NFSWT) is based on the principles of global circular loop systems, which will mandate thermal plants within 50 km of cities to consume treated sewage.
  • AMRUT 2.0 has focussed on the integration of urban areas by ensuring 100% recycling of sewage in urban local bodies. Gujarat has taken a step further with the formulation of the first-ever state-level comprehensive policy to utilize industrial waste-water in India.

2. Efficient Irrigation & Crop Selection

• • Precision Technology: India-Israel Water Cooperation: States are adopting drip irrigation and fertigation on a local level to minimize agricultural runoff.
  • Demand Management: The “Sahi Fasal” campaign appeals to farmers in arid areas to grow millets, pulses, which are climate-resilient crops, instead of water-hungry crops such as paddy and sugarcane.

3. Technological Innovation

• • Subsurface Mapping: The National Aquifer Mapping Programme (NAQUIM) is a spatial data collection programme that maps the aquifers using advanced heliborne geophysical surveys enabling local bodies to set sustainable extraction ceilings.
  • IoT & Smart Metering: The smart water meter and leak detection systems installed in cities such as Pune and Nagpur have reduced the non-revenue water losses in urban metros by 20-35%.

4. Economic Instruments

• • Green Credit Framework (GCF): ‘Water credits’ are created so that private companies can trade environmental credits by investing in catchment rehabilitation. This mechanism brings together corporate environmental compliance and ecological revitalization, and tightens the connection between them.

Way Forward

India needs to overcome the issues with its disjointed state level policies to meet the economic targets of 2047 as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 (Clean Water & Sanitation). The shift from administrative to ecologically-based River Basin Management (RBM) is a necessary step. Structural water deficits can be avoided in India by a localized mode of community participation and strict industrial wastewater metrics.

Source: The Hindu

UPSC Mains practice question 

Q. Discuss the major challenges in governing India’s water resources in the context of climate change, urbanisation, and inter-state river disputes. Suggest a multi-level governance framework to address these challenges.

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