Comparative assessment of national water policies of India

The water management was in the hands of local communities in the pre-independence India. In 1945, Central Water Commission (CWC) was set up to coordinate with the state governments to control, conserve and efficient utilization of water resources. The Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR), Government of India was assigned the responsibility to formulate policies, plans and programmes to manage the water resources. The national water management policies are extremely important from legal and institutional perspectives as these reflect the direction of the government in context of water resources planning and management. To ensure that these policies are acceptable and beneficial to all, public consultation process plays an important role. This paper reviews the evolution of National Water Policies in India along with the identification of contentious issues and the perspective of the Punjab State.