Whither India’s Federal Governance
for Long-Term Water Security?
Srinivas Chokkakula and Prakriti Prajapati
Abstract India’s federal governance for long-term water security has not
received its due attention. The discourse about federal governance is generally
dominated by that of fiscal federalism. The limited work about federal water
governance is restricted to interstate river water disputes and their resolution. Poor
indicators of national water resources governance do not inspire confidence about
its long-term security. The chapter posits that this is an outcome of the federal
constituents—the states and the union territories—assuming exclusive powers
over water governance. They pursue inward and territorialized strategies for water
resources management, leading to conditions akin to a collective action problem
to pursue national development and long-term security goals. It is long recognized
that the Centre has to play an anchoring role and work with states towards pursuing these goals. Does it have the required leverage to influence states? This
chapter, perhaps a first, is a modest effort to address this question. It takes a closer
look at the historical changes in budgetary allocations of the Centre and selects
states for water resources governance towards an empirical assessment of this
leverage. The chapter concludes that the federal water governance in India is
weakly structured and poorly nurtured to pursue its national development and
long-term sustainability goals.
Keywords Federal water governance Á Centre–state relations Á Water federalism Á
India’s national water security
S. Chokkakula (&)
MoJS Research Chair—Water Conflicts and Governance,
Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, India
e-mail: srinivas@cprindia.org
P. Prajapati
Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
G. Chadha and A. B. Pandya (eds.), Water Governance and Management in India,
Water Resources Development and Management,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1472-9_7
165
for Long-Term Water Security?
Srinivas Chokkakula and Prakriti Prajapati
Abstract India’s federal governance for long-term water security has not
received its due attention. The discourse about federal governance is generally
dominated by that of fiscal federalism. The limited work about federal water
governance is restricted to interstate river water disputes and their resolution. Poor
indicators of national water resources governance do not inspire confidence about
its long-term security. The chapter posits that this is an outcome of the federal
constituents—the states and the union territories—assuming exclusive powers
over water governance. They pursue inward and territorialized strategies for water
resources management, leading to conditions akin to a collective action problem
to pursue national development and long-term security goals. It is long recognized
that the Centre has to play an anchoring role and work with states towards pursuing these goals. Does it have the required leverage to influence states? This
chapter, perhaps a first, is a modest effort to address this question. It takes a closer
look at the historical changes in budgetary allocations of the Centre and selects
states for water resources governance towards an empirical assessment of this
leverage. The chapter concludes that the federal water governance in India is
weakly structured and poorly nurtured to pursue its national development and
long-term sustainability goals.
Keywords Federal water governance Á Centre–state relations Á Water federalism Á
India’s national water security
S. Chokkakula (&)
MoJS Research Chair—Water Conflicts and Governance,
Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, India
e-mail: srinivas@cprindia.org
P. Prajapati
Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
G. Chadha and A. B. Pandya (eds.), Water Governance and Management in India,
Water Resources Development and Management,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1472-9_7
165