There should be a national ...
Published by Yogesh Agrawal, Director (retired), Minor irrigation schemes, Water Resources Department at Govt of Rajasthan
There should be a national policy regarding water sharing of inter state rivers. The basis may be to safe guard the rights of existing users regarding quantum of water being used by them at present. Also what are the reasonable needs of a particular state. Is it essential that most of farmers should cultivate high water requirement crops like rice and sugar cane. Also the canal design and construction procedures are to be changed so that the head portion and tail portion farmers get water simultaneously. If a broad based national policy is framed, I hope the interstate water disputes can be amicably settled. The states should also settle the inter district water disputes in their own state, based on this national policy.
1 Comment
Totally agree with you Sir. There needs to be an evaluation of required quantity of water for various uses. Farmers who are dependent on water rich crops need to be compensated accordingly to switch to drought resistant crops. Unless a wholesome approach is adopted in basin wide management such conflicts would persist.
Published by Dr. Vidhya CHITTOOR VISWANATHAN, Impact Director at AquaSPE