GROUND WATER GOVERNANCE AND LAW: FROM FORMULATION TO IMPLEMENTATION

Abstract

Groundwater has become crucial to India's growth. Over half of agriculture relies on well irrigation, which is deep-rooted yet inefficient. Growing population and shifting consumption habits, as well as natural fluctuations in monsoon cycles and climate change, are making future water availability predictions more uncertain. Groundwater recharge potential is also changing due to more intense and unpredictable rainfall. India's groundwater regulation needs revision due to the strategic relevance of aquifers for storage. Policymakers recognise that huge portions of the country are strained and facing a grim future under business as usual. The political, social, economic, and administrative institutions that impact groundwater usage, development, management, equity, and efficiency are called groundwater governance. Notably, it entails creating, establishing, and implementing water policies, laws, institutions, and administration. It stresses the need to clarify government, civil society, and business sector roles. Pressure on groundwater resources requires scientifically-based policies to address use and misuse. Legal frameworks are essential for effective governance, shaping policy decisions into rights and duties, and ensuring democratic control and accountability. This article examines India's formal groundwater governance legislative and institutional structure, focussing on implementation, enforcement, and compliance. To begin with, groundwater is integrally related to land under Indian law, hence the state does not own it. Nearly half of states and territories have approved groundwater laws using federal model bills. After monitoring and frequent inspections, the Central Groundwater Authority has informed specific administrative regions, limiting the present legislation. Neither component is flexible or broad enough for equity or sustainability. The federal government is pushing state legislators towards progressive groundwater management, recognising the state as the trustee at all levels. A fundamental motivation for such change is the need to break the relationship between land and groundwater property rights, which right-holders strongly oppose. Administering formal groundwater laws can be challenging because to numerous users, monitoring challenges, outdated scientific knowledge, and financial and technological limits. Path dependency at the law-making stage involves more of the same: the same command and control system based on licensing for new wells in a few notified areas; and the same upholding of existing rules for right-holders already
benefiting from them while stricter rules apply to new users only.