India 2018

Water Resources 519
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Water Resources
THE Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
lays down policies and programmes for development and regulation of the
water resources of the country. It covers sectoral planning, coordination, policy
guidelines, technical examination and techno-economic appraisal of projects,
providing central assistance to specific projects, facilitation of external assistance
and assistance in the resolution of inter-state water disputes, policy formulation,
planning and guidance in respect of major, medium and minor irrigation, ground
water management, command area development, flood management, dam
safety and river development and Ganga rejuvenation (including its tributaries
rejuvenation), regulation and development of inter-state rivers, implementation
of awards of Tribunals, water quality assessment, bilateral/external assistance
and matters relating to rivers common to India and neighbouring countries.
National Water Mission
With a view to address climate change and the related issues, the National Action
Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) laid down the principles and identified the
approach to be adopted to meet the challenges of impact of climate change
through eight national missions. National Water Mission is one of the missions
under NAPCC.
The main objective of the National Water Mission is "conservation of water,
minimizing wastage and ensuring its more equitable distribution both across
and within states through integrated water resources development and
management". The five identified goals of the mission are: (a) comprehensive
water data base in public domain and assessment of impact of climate change
on water resource; (b) promotion of citizen and state action for water
conservation, augmentation and preservation; (c) focused attention to vulnerable
areas including over-exploited areas; (d) increasing water use efficiency by 20
per cent, and (e) promotion of basin level integrated water resources
management.
The main activities undertaken under the National Water Mission include: (i)
Comprehensive Water Data Base: India-WRIS (Water Resource Information
System), a portal for providing information on water resources was developed
by Central Water Commission. All the data pertaining to surface and ground
water are available on this portal. GIS data pertaining to surface water resources
and ground water resources are displayed on the site of India-WRIS; (ii) NWM
web portal: An independent Web Portal of NWM is also in place. The portal
aims at providing all the information relating to water resources, organisations
and their activities on different aspects of water resources at one point; (iii)
Assessment of Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources: NWM has
identified eight river basins (Mahanadi, Mahi, Luni, Tapi, Sutlej, Sabarmati,