International Environmental Law Research Centre

 This paper published on the International Environmental Law Research Centre (IELRC) site discusses the impetus and rationale for the initiation of the legal restructuring to the water sector in Andhra Pradesh and examines the trajectory in debates demanding reforms within the irrigation sector in India and compares it to the reality of the reforms carried out by the State.

Based on this, the paper argues that legal reforms to the irrigation sector are long overdue, but the suitability of the framework adopted by the Andhra Pradesh Government, premised as it is on the “Participatory Irrigation Management” model, needs critical evaluation. Read More

 This paper published on the International Environmental Law Research Centre (IELRC) website highlights the case of the Tirupur Water Supply and Sanitation Scheme and sheds light on the new and emerging legal arrangements in promoting public-private partnerships, in the water sector. This case study examines the reasons behind the new project and the institutional, financial and legal aspects of the Tirupur PPP.

It also examines important legal issues such as the right to water, competing interests in water, financing of projects, waste water management and the environmental consequences of the PPP. More particularly, it questions the wisdom of planning a water supply project that seeks to prioritize the needs of a polluting industry over the basic water needs of the region.

The New Tirupur Area Development Corporation Limited (NTADCL) is the first public private partnership, set up in 1995 primarily to supply industrial water to Tirupur, a major export centre for knitwear, in India. This water supply and sewerage project is also the first project to be structured on a commercial format; first concession by a state government to a public limited company to draw raw water for domestic and industrial uses and to collect revenues; the first index-based user charges and direct cost recovery for urban environmental services.Read More

 This article published in the Journal of the Indian Law Institute focuses on some of the principles underpinning water sector reforms that have been highlighted in existing national and international policy documents, analyses a limited number of regulatory changes that have been proposed in recent years to put the water law framework in line with proposed policy initiatives, provides a general analysis of the law and policy changes that have been introduced and finally, provides some pointers for moving beyond existing reforms with a view to correct some of the perceived shortcomings of existing water law reforms.Read More