NATIONAL WATER POLICY OF INDIA

Q.1) Key objectives and goals covered in the policy document, year of release, agency
responsible, etc.
Ans.)
YEARS OF RELEASE:
 The first National Water Policy was adopted in September, 1987
 It was reviewed and updated in 2002 and later in 2012.

AGENCIES RESPONSIBLE:
 National Water Policy is formulated by the Ministry of Water Resources of
the Government of India to govern the planning and development of water resources
and their optimum utilization.

OBJECTIVES & GOALS:

 The main objective of this national policy was to provide sufficient water to the areas
which are not getting adequate amount of water.

 The aim of policy is also that suitable measure would be taken in order to conserve
water resources, by minimizing it's lose at storage.

 This policy also aims to improve the quality of water of the water bodies in India by
reducing water pollution.

 The policy also aims to reduce soil erosion as well as the silting of river beds.

 The policy aims at increasing water table by recharging ground water.

 It seeks to ensure that a considerable share of the water needs of urban areas are met
through recycling of waste water, and ensuring that the water requirements of coastal
cities with inadequate alternative sources of water are met through adoption of new and
appropriate technologies such as low temperature desalination technologies that allow
for the use of ocean water.

 It seeks to optimize the efficiency of existing irrigation systems, including rehabilitation of

systems that have been run down and also expand irrigation, where feasible, with a
special effort to increase storage capacity.

 Incentive structures will be designed to promote water-neutral or water- positive

technologies, recharging of underground water sources and adoption of large scale
irrigation programmes which rely on sprinklers, drip irrigation and ridge and furrow
irrigation.
Q.2) Actions taken so far by the Government and effectiveness evaluation
Ans.)

ACTIONS TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT:

 India has been successful in creating live water storage capacity of about 253 billion cubic
meter(BCM) so far.
 A unified Ministry of Jal Shakti was launched in May 2019 as an immediate response to the
escalating water crisis in the country. Ministry of Jal Shakti is trying to upscale from 18%
piped water supply to further up. Wherever it is already provided, it is around 40 litre per
capita per day with 100m lead distance.
 Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA), an intensive water conservation campaign built on citizen
participation to accelerate water conservation across the country.
 The government launched the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) with an aim to ensure piped water
supply to all rural households by 2024.
 The Government has been promoting the adoption of ‘Rainwater harvesting’ as a mass
movement. ‘Rainwater Harvesting’ is also an important component for achieving the goals of
‘Water Security’. ‘Shelter Security’ and ‘Ecological Security’ enunciated in the Hon’ble Chief
Minister’s 15 Point programme. Universal adoption of Rainwater Harvesting by government
departments, Non- Governmental organizations (NGOs).
 Comprehensive amendments to various Waste Management Rules including Municipal Solid
Waste, Plastic Waste, Hazardous Waste, Bio-medical Waste and Electronic Waste notified.
 Ban on burning of leaves, biomass, municipal solid waste.
 Installation of on-line continuous (24x7) monitoring devices by major industries
 Preparation of action plan for sewage management and restoration of water quality in aquatic
resources by State Governments
 Implementation of National River Conservation Plan for abatement of pollution in identified
stretches of various rivers and undertaking conservation activities which inter-alia include
interception & diversion of raw sewage, construction of sewerage systems, setting up of
sewage treatment plants, low cost sanitation facilities, education and awareness creation,
community participation, electric/improved wood crematoria and river front development.

EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATION:
 Three versions of the National Water Policy (NWP) have failed to make any perceptible
difference in improving water management in India. The excuse that water is a state subject
and thus central government cannot do much is not valid.
 Many states have adopted a state water policy. Even such state-level policies have failed to
make any significant impact in improving their water management practices.
 Reasons for the NWP basically being a paper exercise are many, including lofty drafting and
policy prescriptions that are divorced from reality; lack of courage at the Water Ministry to
take a firm stand on any of the provisions at either the drafting or the implementation stages;
the practice of keeping specialists away from policies; and the dominance of generalists who
 have neither a demonstrable understanding of the complexities of the water sector nor a
long-term commitment to it.

Q.3) Gaps and discussions on the relevance and adequacy of the policy
Ans.)
ADEQUACY OF THE POLICY:
 Production of food grains will have to be raised to around 350 million tonnes by the year
2025. The drinking water needs of people and livestock have also to be met. Domestic and
industrial water needs have largely been concentrated in or near major cities. However, the
demand in rural areas is expected to increase sharply as the development programmes
improve economic conditions of the rural masses. Demand for water for hydro and thermal
power generation and for other industrial uses is also increasing substantially. As a result,
water, which is already a scarce resource, will become even scarcer in future. This
underscores the need for the utmost efficiency in water utilisation and a public awareness of
the importance of its conservation.
GAPS IN THE POLICY:
 After 7 seven years of previous updation, there are a lot of changes which need to be
addressed and the prioritization of the water usage needs to be defined.
 Spring sets in Himalayas have been decreasing without any active step by the
government.
 Revitalisation of rivers needs to be brought in focus because many of our rivers and rivulets
are drying and the policy parameters need to be set up accordingly.
 Budgeting needs to be done in a way that it covers all levels from the basin to sub basin.
 The water used in irrigation sector gives the efficiency of 30-38%, the water for drinking
water supply and sanitation in the urban area bears the losses around 40-45%. Villages
on the other hand get very less amount of water so the supply needs to be balanced.
 To overcome the natural and human caused challenges like- adverse effects of climate
change, extreme rainfall, water scarcity during summers, drying up of rivers, degrading
water quality and river pollution
 In irrigation sector, command area development has not been done. Around 21 million
hectares of land has been created for irrigation but it is not reaching the farmers because the
small channels have not been constructed.
 India has not really paid much attention to its groundwater levels yet. As per NITI Aayog’s
report last year, 21 cities will be deficient in ground water by 2020. More options have to
be looked into for avoiding such circumstances.
 The extraction rate of groundwater is more than the replenishing rate in most of the cities
which causes overexploitation. For example, Delhi is extracting 130% groundwater which
means it is using 30% more than the replenishing rate.

Q.4) Interlinkages with the other relevant policies

Ans.) Other connected policies and ministries include:
 A unified Ministry of Jal Shakti was launched in May 2019 as an immediate response to the
escalating water crisis in India. The Jal Jeevan Mission and Jal Shakti Abhiyan were also
launced under this.
 Government also talks about Nal Se Jal to provide piped water supply to every household
by the year 2024.
 Command Area Development - It was launched in 1974 to improve the irrigation
potential utilization and to optimize agricultural production through efficient water
management.
 The Government proposes to enforce water use efficiency certification for industrial and
domestic sector under new water conservation scheme. It is proposed to set up a “National
Bureau of Water Use Efficiency (NBWUE)”, under the Scheme “Implementation of National
Water Mission” during the XII Plan.
 The National Water Mission will take into account the provisions of the National Water Policy
and develop a framework to optimize water use by increasing water use efficiency by 20%
through regulatory mechanisms with differential entitlements and pricing.

Q.5) Steps required for addressing the gaps and making the policy relevant for today
Ans.)
 The new policy framework should be based on the recommendations of NITI
Aayog’s Composite Water Management Index 2.0, 2018 which are very realistic and alarming
at the same time.
 The aspects of basin and sub basin planning has to be looked into for setting up realistic
targets.
 Emphasis needs to be shifted towards participatory groundwater management to ensure
sustainability and quality of water.
 Technological innovations like censors, geographic information systems (GIS) and satellite
imagery need to be introduced to modulate the water and track the flow.
 Calibrating agriculture with Water Management
 Another important aspect can be interlinking rivers to transfer water from surplus basins to
deficient basins to balance out the water availability.
 Better Technologies: Globally available technologies like micro irrigation should be
implemented where every single drop of water is used. India is still following age old practice
of dam construction and then conveying water through open canals which creates problems
like water logging and does not even transfer the real quantum of water to the source which is
uneconomical and creates water hazards.
 To propose a River Basin Management Bill which envisages setting up of river basin
authorities which would be managed by a two tier structure- a governing council and an
executive board.
 The governing council will mainly be executing a river basin management plan. If
river basin has to be taken as a hydrological unit, consensus is required at the
basin level between the states involved and within the constitutional framework.
 It will be the first time when there will be a consensus building mechanism at the
political level in the river basin ensuring solving issues and problems at the basin
level only instead of coming to the centre. This will save time and efforts of
the dispute tribunals.
  To take care of the integrated water management. It forces the integration of water
resources with other resources like land and issues like the environment and quality of
the resource. It also forces integration of water resources with themselves- groundwater,
surface water and planning and policy formation for the entire water available in the
basin.

Q.6) List of References

Ans.)
 https://www.drishtiias.com/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/policy-watch-national-
water-policy
 http://nwm.gov.in/?q=objective-national-water-mission
 https://brainly.in/question/9697996
 http://teriin.org/sites/default/files/2017-12/persp
 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07900627.2019.1576509?journalCode=cij
w20
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Water_Policy
 https://pib.gov.in/newsite/printrelease.aspx?relid=112603
 https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/water/jal-shakti-abhiyan-what-can-make-it-more-
impactful-66878