Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR)

The Dam Safety bill, 2010 introduced in the Lok Sabha in August 2010 and approved by the cabinet earlier this year was referred to the Standing Committee on Water Resources, which was scheduled to submit its report within three months. The bill which is still pending seeks to provide for the surveillance, inspection and operation of all dams of certain parameters to ensure their safe functioning.

This document informs of the mechanisms through which development, conservation and management functions related to water as a natural resource are carried out in India.

The document provides the details of the institutions responsible for water management:

• At the central level
• At the state level

Article  246   includes the following clauses:

• Notwithstanding anything in clauses (2) and (3), Parliament has exclusive power to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in List I in the seventh Schedule (in this Constitution referred to as the "Union List").
• Notwithstanding anything in clause (3), Parliament, and, subject to clause (1), the legislature of any State also, have power to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in List III in the Seventh Schedule (in this Constitution referred to as the "Concurrent List").  
• Subject to clauses (1) and (2), the Legislature of any State has exclusive power to make laws for such State or any part thereof with respect to any of the matters enumerated in List II in the Seventh Schedule (in this Constitution referred to as the "State List").  
• Parliament has power to make laws with respect to any matter for any part of the territory of India not included in a State notwithstanding that such matter is a matter enumerated in the State List.

This document is a model bill for the regulation and control of the groundwater. It provides the details of the definitions and the process of implementation of the bill and includes:

• The title, extent and commencement of the Act
• Definitions of terms included in the Act
• Mode of establishment of a groundwater authority
• Details on powers to notify areas for control and regulation of groundwater and on the use of groundwater in  notified areas
• Details of the grant of permit required to extract and use groundwater in the notified area
• Registration of existing users in the notification areas
• Mechanism of registration of new wells in the non notified areas
• Power resting with the authority to alter, amend or vary the terms of the permit
• Cancellation of permit or certificate of registration or license
• Powers of the groundwater authority
• Service of orders
• Delegation of powers and duties
• Details of mechanisms for dealing with offences
• The powers resting with the state government to make rules for the implementation of the Act.

The document emphasises the need for periodic modifications in the water policy. This is  in terms of planning and management of water resources by taking into consideration the changes in economic, social, climatic, demographic situation of the country and the urgent need to conserve the available water resources.

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Volume I is divided into six chapters and includes:

Chapter 1: Provides a brief introduction on the background of the National Water Mission in the context of the threat of climatic change and its impact on reduction in the water resources in the country.

Chapter 2: Describes the objectives or features of the National Water Mission

These two documents by the Government of India, Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) provide information and details on the 'Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies' scheme that has been launched by the Ministry under the state sector, one with domestic budgetary support and the other with external assistance.

The National Water Mission (NWM), under the aegis of the Ministry of Water Resources, is one of the eight missions being constituted under the National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC). The NAPCC was launched by the Prime Minister in 2009 as a nation-wide effort to tackle climate change.

Entry 56 of List I of Seventh Schedule provides that "Regulation and development of inter-State rivers and river valleys to the extent to which such regulation and development under the control of the Union is declared by Parliament by law to be expedient in the public interest".

Original document can be viewed here on the Ministry of Water Resources website

This report by the Advisory Council on Artificial Recharge of Ground Water, the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India is divided into the following sections: