India’s water future 2050: potential deviations from ‘business-as-usual

The debate on India’s ambitious river-linking project is highly polarized. While the proponents insist that scores of highly qualified engineer-years have been invested in studying the feasibility of the links, the analysis is not available in the public domain. On the other hand, the opponents argue that the project is a conspiracy to hide the past inefficiencies of the irrigation bureaucracy; and yet, the alternatives proposed by them for India’s impending water chal-lenge also seem far from concrete. This article critically examines the National Commission Integrated Water Resource Development (NCIWRD) report, which has repeatedly been cited as the basis for planning and justifying the project, and outlines a framework for research which will help in raising the level of this important national debate by helping to develop a refined, textured and nuanced understanding of ‘India’s water future 2050’. BACKGROUND India has, for long, been toying with the idea of having a national water grid to overcome the spatial inconsistencies in demand and availability of fresh water resources. The idea of transferring the floodwaters of the Ganga-Meghna-Brahamaputra (GMB) basin to the water-starved basins in western and peninsular India has been in existence for long.1 The idea acquired a new life when, based on a public interest petition, the Supreme Court of India issued an order directing the government to implement the plan prepared by the National Water Develop-ment Agency (NWDA)2 in 10 years. The government, in response to the court directive, set up a (now disbanded) high powered taskforce with the mandate t