Besides water scarcity, allocation of water has become an important concern in India over the last few decades. This is especially true in the drier areas of Western Rajasthan where along with limitations in physical availability of water, social and economic aspects of water scarcity have made water allocation among different users a complex issue.
The paper titled 'Inter-sectoral water allocation and conflicts: Perspectives from Rajasthan' published in the Economic and Political Weekly, informs that inter-sectoral allocation of water includes:
Water scarcity and the lack of mechanisms to ensure that its different uses are considered in view of its overall availability exacerbate inter-sectoral water allocation conflicts. Conflicts may arise in different contexts and due to different reasons such as:
These categories are not exclusive and many conflicts overlap. However, the legal aspects of water-use conflicts have not been given much attention in the literature, except in the case of interstate river water conflicts and international water conflicts.
The paper presents the case of an intersectoral dispute over the water in Lake Rajsamand in Rajasthan. This case reached the Supreme Court of India to demonstrate how the existing law and policy framework have limitations in addressing inter-sectoral allocation of water and related conflicts.
The analysis reveals the following:
The paper argues that the regulation of inter-sectoral allocation of water is one of the major unaddressed challenges for water law and there is an urgent need to take this issue more seriously. The analysis in this paper shows that conflicts concerning intersectoral allocation centre around claims made by users for the available water without taking into consideration the manner in which the water is made available, the factors that restrict its use, and the consequences of the allocation on downstream users.
The paper ends by suggesting that it is time to devise a framework that does not look at water merely as a natural resource to be allocated efficiently, but rather as one that regards it as a fundamental right to be allocated equitably, as a key component of the environment, and as the direct and indirect source of numerous livelihoods. This will however involve the need to place existing legal principles at the centre of intersectoral allocation to arrive at comprehensive, equitable and environment-friendly outcomes.
Download a copy of the paper below.