Strengthening institutional mechanism

• Reorientation / reorganisation and creation of institutions in water sector with multi-disciplinary and participatory approach • Establishment of state-level River Basin Organisations (RBOs); Water Regulatory Authority (WRA); centre based Water Disputes Tribunal (WDT) • Adoption of appropriate PPP model to improve service efficiency • Adoption of stringent water laws

• • Water resource maintenance is generally neglected as the schemes are under non-plan budget • Harmonising the various water uses for the optimum utilization of the available resources with due regard to existing agreements or awards of tribunals under the relevant laws • Active participation of Water Users Associations (WUA), women and other stakeholders

• State level RBOs involved in the decision making • Local bodies such as municipalities and gram panchayats should particularly be involved in the operation maintenance and management of water infrastructures, with a view to eventually transfer the management of such facilities to the user groups / local bodies • WDT should resolve the disputes expeditiously in an equitable manner • Evolve a broad over-arching national legal framework of general principles on water • Amendment in Indian Easements Act, 1882

• Data monitoring, compilation and analysis poses financial burden • Consensus among diverse institutions • Minimising the politicisation and judiciary time-consumption for water related issues • Existing law provides uncontrollable accessibility and ownership of landowner to ground water

• Indus treaty 1960: allocates water of Indus, Jhelum and Chenab to Pakistan and the waters of Ravi, Beas and Sutlej to India; Ganga water treaty (1986) between India and Bangladesh; ‘benefit-sharing’ arrangement between India and Bhutan;: had positive impacts but now need to modernize few elements of these treaties • Interstate disputes on water systems subsists • More emphasise given to irrigation sector leading to discord among water allocation • Minimal interaction among stakeholders leading to poor service and water allocation practises • High rate depletion of groundwater • Only 9 PPPs in water and sewerage sector (2009)

[Contributor: Deepshikha Sharma, PhD Scholar, TERI University, New Delhi, India]