NATIONAL WATER POLICY
ENVISAGES SEVERAL PROGRESSIVE STEPS TO MEET THE NEED – SAYS ARJUN
SETHI
The Water Resources
Minister, Shri Arjun Charan Sethi has strongly defended the revised
National Water Policy- 2002, saying that it envisages several
progressive steps within the existing Constitutional and Federal
framework. He said one of the criticism against the Policy has
been the lack of definition of the water rights. But, it is well
recognized that sustainable water, agricultural and rural development
calls for well defined and enforceable land and water use rights.
Water right of any kind is a legal issue which has been defined
in certain parts of the country through customary laws. To be
enforceable, such an issue has to be embodied in the form of legal
documents for which only the state governments have the Constitutional
jurisdiction and have to enact appropriate loss. Shri Sethi was
inaugurating a two-day Workshop on the Action Plan for implementation
of the revised National Water Policy here today.
Shri Sethi said
any policy formulation is a dynamic process and has to adopt and
adapt to the changing needs of the changing times. He said no
body claims that the NWP-2002 is a perfect policy framework but
it definitely envisages certain progressive steps which can meet
the needs of the present time. On private sector participation,
he said the policy only provides a window for participation of
the private sector in managing the water resources facilities
like dams, pumping houses, water carriers and distribution networks
and it in no way confers the right of water on them. Therefore,
it should not be construed as privatization of water resources.
He further said community participation with involvement of all
stakeholders in project planning and participation in water resources
management have been specially focused upon in the revised policy
and this is definitely a new step. Quoting the Prime Minister’s
opening remarks at the 5th Meeting of the National
Water Resource Council, Shri Sethi said, due care is being taken
for active involvement of the community at all levels by the Centre
as well as the State Governments.
The Minister
hoped that the two-day Workshop will deliberate all important
issues relating to water management which will form important
feedback for finialising the action plan for the implementation
of the new Water Policy. He also hoped that concrete suggestion
on the Action Plan will help for moving closer to our vision of
optimal and sustainable development of water resources in the
country. This will definitely help achieving accelerated and equitable
economic development.
Shri A. K. Goswami,
Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources welcomed the dialogue on
the NWP and stressed the need of involving NGOs, Experts and others
working in the water sector to optimally use the scarce committee.
Shri Suresh Chandra, Chairman, Central Water Commission mentioned
that NGOs can play an important role in water resources development
and management in the rural and agricultural fields. He also mentioned
some of the issues and views of NGOs expressed in the earlier
six workshops held in Bangalore, Pune, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati,
Lucknow and Jaipur. Smt. Radha Singh, Additional Secretary, Ministry
of Water Resources while introducing the objectives of the Workshops
emphasised the importance of NWP and its implementation through
an operational action plan with active community participation.
Shri A. C. Tyagi, Commissioner, Policy Planning, MoWR gave the
vote of thanks.
About 100 participants
from NGOs, Specialised Institutions, Experts and former Water
Resources Secretaries and Chairmen, CWC besides the representatives
from Central Ministries/Departments/Organisations associated with
water resources sector are participating in the Workshop.
