State responsibility in the drinking water sector - An overview of the Indian scenario (2007)

This paper published on the International Environmental Law Research Centre (IELRC) site examines the performance of the obligation by Indian State in terms of universalising access to drinking water to its population. The paper intends to portray that the Indian efforts to provide drinking water to its population show some serious policy shifts in the approach towards the realisation of the goal.

Traditionally water supply in India was limited to major towns and cities and that too was within the boundaries of state/provincial units. With the spread of the process of urbanization and declining public health standards in both urban and rural India, post-independent India took a serious initiative in the form of laws and policies.

A two-way approach is adopted by India, in this regard, which includes:

• Legislations focusing on water supply and at times on water supply and sanitation, to be driven by the state agencies
• Policy initiatives by the central government in order to assist and supplement the states’ activities with the overall objective of providing safe drinking water and thereby promoting public health.

In effect, the relationship between the right to drinking water as a basic human right and the responsibility of the State for realisation of the right in the Indian context faces some limitations. These limitations include the allocation of legislative power on water supply to the states within the Constitution; inadequacy of finance available at the disposal of states which is to be supplemented by the initiatives of the Central Government; and the administrative and financial autonomy, yet to be enjoyed by the local bodies in spite of powers been vested by the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution of India. These limitations indicate a rather difficult way of effectuating drinking water right in India.

The Tenth Plan indicates the measures to be adopted for reforming the drinking water sector in India, which include the need for people’s participation; need to create awareness about the economic use of water; need for private actors’ involvement; conservation of water resources; active integration of drinking water supply with sanitation programmes; filing of returns by Panchayati Raj Institutions3; constitution of village committees in charge of operation and maintenance of water works; and promotion of traditional methods of water conservation.

The paper is divided into the following sections:

• Introduction
• Legal framework for drinking water in India
• Policy framework on drinking water in India
• Decentralisation measures in the drinking water sector
• Conclusions

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