Summary Record of Proceedings of National Water Resources ...

Integrated water resources planning at the basin level, conservation of water,preservation of river corridors, recharging of our aquifers and their sustainablemanagement and improvement of water use efficiency are among the broad areas thatneed our urgent attention. Our irrigation systems need to shift from a narrowengineering-construction-centric approach to a more multi-disciplinary and participatoryapproach. Incentives need to be provided to narrow the gap between irrigationcapacities created and those being utilized. We also need to move towards transparentand participatory mechanisms of pricing of water by the primary stakeholdersthemselves. The local communities have to be involved actively in the management ofwater resources.As you all are aware, groundwater has a prominent role in meeting therequirements of water for drinking and other purposes. In spite of its vital importance,there is no regulation for its extraction and coordination among competing uses. Weneed to, therefore, initiate steps to minimize misuse of groundwater by regulating theuse of electricity for its extraction. We also need to move to a situation wheregroundwater can be treated as a common property resource in a way that protects thebasic needs of drinking water as also the livelihoods of our poor farmers.The 12 th Plan, which was adopted by the National Development Councilyesterday, has dwelt on these and other issues confronting the water sector and calledfor path-breaking reform. In fact, water was one of the critical areas on which I touchedupon in my address yesterday to the National Development Council.Outlays for the water sector have been increased substantially. But these outlayswill deliver only if they are matched and supported by better management and goodgovernance. An urgent national consensus on the common denominators of watergovernance is therefore essential and the first critical step towards achieving watersecurity and sustainability for all.One of the problems in achieving better management is that the currentinstitutional and legal structures dealing with water in our country are inadequate,fragmented and need active reform. It is in this context that a suggestion has beenmade for a national legal framework of general principles on water, which, in turn, wouldpave the way for essential legislation on water governance in every State.Friends, I would like to emphasize the need to see the proposed national legalframework in proper perspective. The framework would be an umbrella statement ofgeneral principles governing the exercise of legislative, executive or devolved powersby the Centre, the states and the local governing bodies. The central government, Irepeat, does not wish to encroach, in any manner, upon the constitutionally guaranteedrights of States or to centralize water management.As we move into the Twelfth Plan period, the Indian economy and society willface daunting challenges in the water sector, both in terms of quantity as well as quality.There is a need, therefore, to take urgent and pragmatic decisions because water22