Responsible, harmonious, just and wise : Will this be true of India's new National Water policy?

Guest Post by: Chicu Lokgariwar

Image Courtesy: The Hindu

Just two months away from the deadline, the draft of the new national water policy has now been made publicly available for comment. This post recaps discussions that have been initiated by citizens in 2010 and 2011 regarding the direction that a new water policy needs to take.

Villagers near Khuri in Jaisalmer on their way to fetch drinking water. Photo: Subir Roy

It was in 2010 that the Ministry of Water Resources determined to adopt a new national water policy. Since last year,the ministry says that national level consultations are underway. In July 2011 Sh.Bansal stated that a new water policy will be brought out by March 2011. As of January 2011, the draft hadbeen circulated to water experts- with the injunction that it not be shared. It has now been released and is available here on the MoWR for review and comments.

However, discussion about the new policy has been ongoing among the public for the last two years. What little the public knew, or deduced, offered cause for alarm. Sh.Bansal has stated that "his ministry would focus on intra-state linking of rivers as a part of integrated management of river basins". Speculation that the 'new' National Water Policy will merely be a warmed-over version of the old one has engaged concerned citizens since 2010. In order to check that possibility, Mr.Ramaswamy Iyer published an article titled 'Approach to a new national water policy' which emphasized that instead of a revision of the 2002 document, a fresh start is required. He stated that the principle on which the new policy should be based is the 'Responsible, harmonious, just and wise use of water'. This shift from a supply-demand mindset to a holistic science-based perspective was seconded by Mr.Narasimhan even as he explained the political challenges confronting such a shift. 

In 2011, Mr.Iyer followed up on his efforts to give direction to the policy by creating an alternative draft for the National Water policy. This document, first published in the Economic and Political Weekly and then made available on the India Water Portal clearly illustrates the radical shift needed in our perspective towards water. The discussion generated by this draft illustrated the eagerness with which people wish to contribute to the democratic creation of a national policy. Mr.Banerjee's response to the alternative draft also reiterates the need for decentralisation, demand management, and a multidisciplinary perspective. 

Have these efforts- initiated by citizens- had the hoped for effect? An article by the Hindu suggests otherwise. It appears that the old mistakes are being made again. Privatisation of water services, which has not proved to supply water to the poor in an equitable manner anywhere in the world, is being lauded. Centralization of mediation measures is being proposed. Lip service is being given to the supply of basic water needs to the poor without any discussion of how that might be made possible. The same is true for the notion that 'displaced persons need to be made partners in development'. Not only is there no description of how that might be done, but there is also no questioning of the necessity of this displacement. Sh.Thakkar states in the article that this draft proves that the government does not learn from the past.

A more cynical point of view might be that the interests of the government have very little to do with the interests of the citizens, the nation, or the earth itself. The draft is now available for comment.

We encourage our readers to go through the draft and offer their comments, which may be mailed to nwp2012-mowr@nic.in.