Water is not just a resource; it is also the confluence of political and ecological realities. At CPR, this has been central to our interdisciplinary work on river basin management, interstate cooperation, the politics of infrastructure, federalism, and long-term water security. Our continued engagement with questions of India’s water policy spans decades, with stalwarts like Ramaswamy R. Iyer, B. G. Verghese and R. Rangachari informing the discourse in the past. Through the TREADS Initiative, we further this work by rethinking river water management and its systemic underpinnings for a more equitable water governance infrastructure. These concerns remain intricately connected to how we imagine our shared future.

This World Water Day, we are reminded of why our work remains crucial. Revisit some of the work by CPR’s faculty and researchers on India’s water ecologies, governance and security.

Find more of our work on water here.

Why Do Interstate Water Disputes Emerge and Recur?

This monograph uses the Krishna river dispute as a case study to argue that India’s interstate water conflicts stem from set of legal ambiguities, political antagonisms and physical asymmetries calling for interstate cooperation rather than purely legal solutions. Read here

 

 

Water and Federalism

The study identifies federal consensus-building about the Centre’s role and autonomous institutional architecture for data as the two foundational pillars and makes concrete recommendations to improve federal governance for long-term development and water security. Read here

 

 

The Right to Water, Law and Municipal Practice: Case Studies from India

Recognition of the right to water in Indian courts has had little impact on the ground. This paper explores the disjuncture between what happens in the court and the everyday reality of living with a less-than-perfect claim on city water services in India’s urban slums. Read here

 

 

 

The Evolution of the Right to Water in India

The paper reviews the articulation of the “right to water” in India to show that this articulation has largely been oblivious to the international human rights movement on water. Beyond the mainstream articulation of the “right to water”, the paper describes the specific articulation of the right by two marginalised groups, namely the Dalits and Adivasis. Read here

 

The Decentered Construction of Global Rights: Lessons from the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation

The global right to water is constructed out of the myriad struggles and claims of people experiencing the lack of something essential to a dignified existence, and who cannot obtain an adequate response from their immediate political and legal environment. Read here

 

 

Flows and Flaws: Diverting the Debate on Water with China

Can we frame the water debate with China in ways that can create institutional entry points for a whole set of missing issues that are currently invisible to the mainstream policy and research gaze? Read here

 

 

 

Conserving Freshwater Ecosystems in India: A Call to Action

This paper calls for an urgent and greater focus on implementing conservation actions for freshwater ecosystems in India and suggests a strategy to enhance focus on their conservation. Read here

 

 

Convenience over Control: Qualitative Insights from Water System Users in a Rural Setting in Gujarat, India.

This study suggests that piped water system designs should enable operational flexibility, tailored to community needs, so that water is available when needed. Read here

 

 

Disputes, (de)Politicization and Democracy: Interstate Water Disputes in India

The aleatory nature of politics reshapes the nature and extent of a dispute and contributes to its frequent recurrence. Discourses of policy and governance reforms usually do not account for this contingent nature of politics. Read here

 

 

Water Disputes and the Environment: Transboundary Dimensions

This chapter analyses India’s transboundary water relationships, arguing that despite its hydrohegemonic tendencies and preference for bilateralism; shared environmental risks in South Asia create an opportunity to build regional institutions, starting with disaster resilience as a foundation for cooperation. Read here

 

 

The Human Right to Water in Rural India – Promises and Challenges

India has made remarkable progress in rural drinking water access, rising from 18 percent coverage in 1974 to at least 72 percent today. While this reflects significant advancement in realising the human right to water, full and universal access remains an ongoing challenge. Read here

 

 

The Right to Water in Rural India and Drinking Water Policy Reforms

This chapter uncovers the role played by the state in providing significant resources,like water, to all in rural India. It further analyses the changes that have taken place and the gaps that have arisen in terms of aligning the policy framework with the human right to water. Read here

 

 

Whither India’s Federal Governance for Long-Term Water Security?

The discourse about federal governance is generally dominated by that of fiscal federalism. This chapter takes a closer look at the historical changes in budgetary allocations of the Centre and select states for water resources governance, and argues that federal water governance in India is weakly structured to pursue its development and sustainability goals. Read here

 

 

Shifting Scales from International to Subnational: A Comparative Analysis of India and Germany’s Federal Water Governance

This paper examines the River Basin Management trajectory of Germany vis-à-vis India through a comparative lens. It argues for acknowledging structural differences to enable meaningful knowledge exchanges and  collaborations at the sub-national scale. Read here

 

 

Unravelling Rural India’s enduring water indigence: framing the questions, issues, options and opportunities

The paper extensively reviews India’s centrally sponsored programme for improving drinking water supply coverage in rural settlements. Read here

 

 

India should take a leaf out of Singapore’s water harvesting to solve its crisis

How have India’s collaborative arrangements with Singapore fared? Read here