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In November 2019, the Union government constituted a committee under Mihir Shah (Member, Planning Commission) to draft a new National Water Policy after almost three decades. India adopted its first National Water Policy in 1987, which was later followed by revisions in 2002 and 2012.
When India adopted its first policy in 1987, it was among the very few countries in the world that took a chance in a structured national framework for water governance. The subsequent revisions done after almost a decade were meant to renew this vision. But instead, this framework has remained trapped between technocratic control, weak language, and minimum implementation. Much of the criticism from civil society on the issue has focused not just on what these policies say, but how lightly they say it.
Across all three policies, the language is largely normative rather than binding. Phrases such as “should be optimised,” “needs to be managed,” and “efforts should be made” run throughout the text. In policy design, language determines enforceability. A policy that says “states should adopt basin-level planning” leaves room for inaction; one that says “states must adopt” creates accountability. This distinction has had real consequences.
Members from civil society organisations have also argued that the 1987 and 2002 policies were shaped by a narrow group of bureaucrats and technocrats within the central water ministry, with no public consultation. Therefore, the 2012 policy tried to mark a partial shift. A draft was placed in the public domain and around 600 public comments were reviewed before adoption of the draft. Yet even this more consultative process failed to fundamentally change the structure of governance.
This gap becomes most visible in the idea of basin-level planning. All three policies advocate managing water along hydrological units such as river basins and sub-basins rather than administrative boundaries. In theory, this looks good but in practice, it is largely absent. Also, research has suggested that it can’t be done in India. This has not been taken up by the government even one single time. For example, river systems like the Ganga and Brahmaputra span multiple states. But there is no institutional mechanism strong enough to enforce basin-level governance. Multiple big projects have been designed and implemented but within state silos, which have often ignored upstream and downstream impacts.
It is in this context that the 2020 draft National Water Policy, prepared under Mihir Shah, begins to mark a departure from earlier policies.
Unlike earlier policies that largely focused on expanding supply and stayed silent on where the water is overly extracted from, this draft shifts the starting point of the conversation.
This shift is most evident in the agriculture sector, which accounts for the largest share of water use — roughly 80 per cent in India. A significant proportion of freshwater continues to be used for a narrow set of crops such as wheat, rice, and sugarcane representing 90 per cent of India's crop production driven mostly by procurement and pricing policies. The draft proposes crop diversification towards less water-intensive crops like millets, pulses, and oilseeds, backed by changes in procurement systems, including their integration into schemes like the Mid-Day Meal programme. This moves the policy beyond technical fixes and into the realm of incentives.
At the same time, the draft moves toward a more integrated understanding of water systems through Integrated Water Resources Management. It treats surface water, groundwater, and wastewater as interconnected, rather than as separate domains governed by different institutions which was never done in any of the three policies before. By emphasising reuse and recycling, the policy also attempts to reduce pressure on freshwater sources, while its focus on water quality brings attention to an issue that has long remained on the margins.
Taken together, the 2020 draft reframes the problem by shifting the focus from building more infrastructures to managing how water is used. And yet, despite this shift, the policy remains unaccepted.
Under India’s framework, the National Water Policy is adopted by the National Water Resources Council (NWRC), chaired by the Prime Minister and comprising chief ministers of all states. It is meant to be the country’s highest political forum on water. But since its creation in 1983, the Council has met only six times, the last being in 2012 to adopt the previous policy. In the years since, even as the water crisis has deepened, the body responsible for setting national direction has remained inactive.
The Mihir Shah Committee submitted the draft report of the new NWP in October 2021 and there has been no information publicly available as to what has happened after this and whether it has been placed before the Council or not. It exists, but without political consideration. This is not merely administrative delay; it reflects the difficulty of what the policy demands. What this leaves us with is a familiar gap. India has the diagnosis, it has a draft, and it has an institution to act. What it lacks is the willingness to move from recognition to decision.
Abhay Tomar is Research Associate, Office of Member of Parliament; Director, PALIPRAYAS Foundation, and former LAMP fellow 2024-25
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth