COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN WATER
MANAGEMENT IN INDIA DATES BACK TO 3RD CENTURY B.C.
: SETHI
WATER
RESOURCES MINISTER ADRESSES STOCKHOLM SYMPOSIUM
India’s Water Vision
- 2025 addresses the need of empowerment and participation of
communities for the development and management of its scarce water.
Community participation in India in the development and management
of water resources was not new to India as it has its ancient
roots. Farmers in the 3rd century B.C. managed irrigation
systems. Thousands of small irrigation tanks in southern part
of India were built in historical period in which the ownership
and operation and maintenance vested entirely with the farmers.
Shri Arjun Charan Sethi, Union Minister of Water Resources, said
this today while he was addressing the 13th Stockholm
Water Symposium/Water Week and Global Water Partnership Meeting
being held at Stockholm. Shri Sethi, who is currently in Sweden
leading an Indian Delegation at the Stockholm Water Symposium,
focussed his speech on the Community Participation in Water Resources
Development and Management in India. The symposium is attended
by intellectuals and water experts from all over the world.
The Minister further
said that economic development of a country is greatly dependent
on the management of its water resources. Integrated Water Resources
Development and Management with active participation of the community
is most vital for poverty reduction and environmental sustenance.
The concept of involvement of farmers in irrigation management
system has been widely accepted by the Government of India. Emphasising
the importance of the Participatory Irrigation Management, the
Minister said that National Water Policy 2002 provides for promoting
farmers participation and transferring the management of such
facilities to the user groups. In order to promote participatory
irrigation management, one-time functional grant is given to the
registered Water Users Associations for operation and maintenance
farm development works, the Minister said. The Minister identified
and outlined such users associations and committees functioning
in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, etc.
Shri Sethi said
that with the per capita availability of water going down and
on the other hand the increase in demand, it has become imperative
to develop and manage the water resources on a drainage basin
concept with the active involvement of communities. The Minister
informed the gathering that India has 16% world’s population but
has only 4% of the world’s water.
