The National Water Policy 1987 and 2002

In one line

India has issued three national water policies, in 1987, 2002 and 2012, and none of them could be enforced because water is a State subject.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: the National Water Policy 1987 was the first, adopted by the National Water Resources Council. It established the principle of integrated water resources development and management, set an order of priority among uses, and called for a national information system. The National Water Policy 2002 revised it, adding emphasis on participatory management, on private sector participation and on water quality. Both were advisory, and the constitutional position is why.

The constitutional problem, stated first

Nothing about Indian water policy makes sense until this is understood, and it should be the first paragraph of any answer.

Water is a State subject. Entry 17 of the State List covers water, that is to say water supplies, irrigation and canals, drainage and embankments, water storage and water power, subject to the provisions of entry 56 of the Union List.

Entry 56 of the Union List covers the regulation and development of inter-State rivers and river valleys to the extent to which such regulation and development under the control of the Union is declared by Parliament by law to be expedient in the public interest.

Article 262 empowers Parliament to provide for the adjudication of disputes relating to the waters of inter-State rivers, and to bar the jurisdiction of courts including the Supreme Court in such disputes.

The consequence. A national water policy cannot direct a State to do anything about the water within it. It can only state a common position that the States are invited to adopt, which is why every Indian water policy is a document of recommendation.

The 1987 policy

What it was. The first national water policy, adopted by the National Water Resources Council, which is chaired by the Prime Minister with the Chief Ministers as members. Its adoption by that body is the nearest thing to a federal consensus the subject allows.

Its four contributions.

Water as a national resource to be planned as a whole. The policy asserted that water is a prime natural resource, a basic human need and a precious national asset, and that planning should proceed on a hydrological unit basis, meaning the basin or sub-basin rather than the administrative district.

An order of priority among uses. Drinking water first, then irrigation, then hydropower, then navigation, then industrial and other uses. That ordering has been substantially reproduced in every later policy and is the single most quoted feature of Indian water policy.

A national information system. A standardised database of water resources, because allocation between States is impossible without agreed figures.