Water Governance and water framework in India

Government of India released the water policy and water governance framework. Draft National Water Framework Bill, 2016 states, “Under the Indian Constitution water is primarily a State subject, but it is an increasingly important national concern in the context of: (a) the right to water being a fundamental right; (b) the emergence of a water crisis because of the mounting pressure on finite resources; (c) the inter-use, intra-State and inter-State conflicts that this is leading to, and the need for a national consensus on water-sharing principles, and on the arrangements for minimising conflicts and settling them quickly without resort to adjudication to the extent possible; (d) the threat to this vital resource by the massive generation of waste by various uses of water and the severe pollution and contamination caused by it; (e) the long-term environmental, ecological and social implications of efforts to augment the availability of water for human use; (f) the equity of distribution based on types of use and users, area specific issues, different economic sectors, location of countries or states, i.e. upstream or downstream, that share river water; and particularly to safeguard future generations against water crisis; (g) the international dimension of some of India’s rivers; and (h) the emerging concerns about the impact of climate change on water and the need for appropriate responses at local, national, regional, and global levels.” The salient features of Indian water framework and governance is shown in Table 3.

Table 3 Salient features of water governance in India

Elements	Key features	Management framework
Governance regime	Democracy, federal structure	Participative leadership
Administrative rule	Decentralization	Domination by district and provincial administrations.
Decision-making process	Bottom up in general.	All decisions are made based on aspiration and active participation of stakeholders. In case of large river basins and international basins, decisions are taken by high power committees with representatives from state government and other stakeholders.
Budgetary system	Water users sharing participation	A part of the financial sources comes from water users and the rest from government budget.
Role of water in regional development	Limiting factor	Priority on water balance consideration, especially in water poorer states and regions.
Management responsibility	River basin and regional authority	Equitable distribution of water and prioritisation for domestic consumption.
Role of government in construction of infrastructure	Enabler	Capacity building for strengthening government administration, user community and other stakeholders.
Project setting	Integrated approach	Environmental sustainability interests basis
Project interest	People aspiration	To solve water-related problems in diverse geographical situations. Location specific solutions are invited.
Project preparation	Based on master plan	Approved based on comprehensive study.

India’s water policy is not only guided by a drive to mitigate water crisis but also by integrated water resource management (IWRM) and sustainable development goals of the United Nations. IWRM is a “cross-sectoral policy approach” (Global Water Partnership, 2010) and calls for an ecosystem based approach in water management.