India's 2020 Draft Water Policy Remains Unadopted Three Years After Submission

India's National Water Resources Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, last met in 2012 and has not convened since, leaving the Mihir Shah Committee's draft National Water Policy submitted in October 2021 in institutional limbo without any publicly disclosed government decision. The draft represents a significant departure from the three previous policies adopted in 1987, 2002 and 2012 by shifting from supply-focused infrastructure expansion to demand management and integrated water resource governance.

India's first National Water Policy in 1987 was revised in 2002 and 2012, but across all three versions, language remained largely normative rather than binding, with phrases like should be optimised and efforts should be made creating room for inaction at state and local levels. Basin-level planning across hydrological units spanning multiple states has been advocated in every policy but never institutionally implemented, with major projects on rivers like the Ganga and Brahmaputra proceeding within state administrative silos that ignore upstream and downstream impacts.

The 2020 draft prepared under Mihir Shah, a former Planning Commission member, proposes crop diversification away from water-intensive wheat, rice and sugarcane, which account for 90 per cent of India's crop production, toward millets, pulses and oilseeds integrated with procurement reforms. The draft also adopts Integrated Water Resources Management, treating surface water, groundwater and wastewater as interconnected systems rather than separate domains. Agriculture accounts for roughly 80 per cent of India's freshwater use, making agricultural policy reform central to any meaningful water governance shift.

The National Water Resources Council has met only six times since its creation in 1983, and the current policy vacuum means states are operating without updated national direction during an intensifying water crisis. The author argues that India has the diagnosis, the draft policy and the institutional forum to act, but lacks the political will to move from recognition to decision. Without adoption of the 2020 draft or an equivalent framework, India's water governance will continue to prioritise short-term infrastructure over sustainable basin management.

Key figure — Agriculture accounts for roughly 80% of India's freshwater use