Disputes over water access and the situation worsening with population growth, economic expansion and climate change have led to increased violence, the report further stated
About 0.5 per cent or 300 of the murders recorded in India in 2019-21 were due to water-related conflicts. Photo: iStock Dispute over property or land or access to water was behind nearly 16.8 per cent of murder cases recorded in India between 2019 and 2021, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). This figure suggests that every sixth such murder taking place in the country in the said period could be attributed to the aforementioned causes.
About 0.5 per cent or 300 of the murders recorded in India in 2019-21 were due to water-related conflicts, the UNODC’s Global Study on Homicide Report 2023 further elaborated. It was released on December 12.
Source: UNODC’s Global Study on Homicide Report 2023
Moreover, in India, disputes over access to water led to cases of interpersonal homicide outside families acting as a prominent driver to it, further stated the report.
Murder is the unlawful killing of a person with intent or malice aforethought, while homicide is the killing of a person, whether lawful or unlawful, intentional or unintentional.
Disputes over water access and the situation worsening with population growth, economic expansion, and climate change have led to increased violence, the report further stated.
Natural resource scarcity already has an impact on international homicides, the report noted. Competition over resources has led to increased violence, it said.
Data from the Pacific Institute, for instance, showed there has been a significant increase in incidents of violence in relation to water resources since 2015. Southern Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Central America have reported most such incidents. Pacific Institute is a non-profit that provides science-based solutions for water challenges and investments.
The other reasons behind such murders (in the interpersonal category), as per the report, include murders related to honour killing, love affairs, illicit relationships, personal vendetta or enmity, dowry, witchcraft, psychopath or serial killers, lunacy, road rage, and rape.
The UNODC report especially singled out the year 2021. “Despite consistent stability in the global count of homicides over the two decades that just passed by, with the number of such cases found to be approximately between 0.4 and 0.45 million victims annually in the period, year 2021 stood out as exceptionally lethal,” it stated.
At least 232 Indians lost their lives in conflicts related to water in 2017-19, a report released by the National Crime Records Bureau in 2020 had stated. It had added that water-related crimes recorded in India had doubled in 2018, in comparison to 2017.
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