An Insight into Sub-National Water Disputes in India: Diagnosing Water Laws and Issues of Governance

Abstract

Water disputes have always been critical challenge for India. The water disputes in British India were not as much complex as they are today because during that period no province or princely state was having autonomy in administrative affairs. Whenever any water dispute would arise that used to be resolved easily with the unilateral inference of Union administration. After the independence of India, the majority of the states were reorganized, merged, separated, and created on a linguistic basis so that the unity and integrity of the country could be protected. Therefore, after the creation and separation of states, the river got divided between them. Consequently, a river became an entity with many stakeholders made it difficult for the government to resolve these disputes amicably. This paper attempts to analyze major factors of the reoccurrence of water deputes in India. Moreover, it throws light upon problems of management and governance of water disputes.